Today is the 70th Anniversary of VE Day (Victory in Europe Day) and that is when the Germans on the Channel Islands decided to give up to the Allies.
I have reached this point in my family's history and it is then that both sets of family were freed, and eventually return home to Jersey.
In Wurzach, the months between Dec 1944 and Liberation on 28 April 1945 were some of the most depressing of their time there. Major Ray had taken over as Camp Deputy after the removal of the divisive Captain Hilton; and he had to lead everyone through the winter months. After the destruction of Frankfurt and the internee post awaiting delivery, there was no mail delivery for months. The distribution of Red Cross Parcels was cut from once a week to once a fortnight. The school rooms were surrendered in early 1945 to house 72 Jewish internees from Bergen/Belsen. The Rev. Cecil Atyeo from Jersey died in camp and there was a request to Biberach camp for a priest to move across. They all refused, the reason given was that there was no single room for him, almost impossible in an overcrowded camp like Wurzach. In Jan 1945 a large group of British and Dutch Jews arrived to be interned, this left the Schloss even more overcrowded and tensions apparently began to mount.
Meanwhile the Allies were pushing into Germany and the news of the front is recorded in Doughty's diary.
'18 April De Gaulle's troops are heading this way.
23 April Thousands (of German refugees) have passed ---- in the last 48 hours, probably without any food.
24 April Rumour has it that the Americans or French are only 8 miles away.
SATURDAY 28 APRIL - LIBERATION HAS COME.
At 12 noon a tank was seen coming over the top of the hill----the tank had stopped---the least sign of opposition would have been the end ----- because the French told us afterwards all their guns were trained on this building thinking it to be a German headquarters. -- we in the camp owe our lives to the German Volkstorm, the old men of the village who ran towards the tanks with white flags.'
The French Morroccan troops did not believe the internees were British until they made little Union Jacks for their lapels and pointed them out. The French took away the Schloss guards, who were actually village police, and were going to shoot them until the internees told them that they were not concentration camp guards. The guards saved the internees and then the internees saved the guards.
On May 8 1945 the war in Europe ceased and a Union Jack was finally hoisted over the camp. The picture below is of that moment and comes from the collection of R.H.Mayne my second cousin as published in Roger Harris' book.
Hoisting the Union Jack in the Camp Courtyard, from Islanders Deported by Roger Harris.
On May 29 the news of the date of the repatriation was announced, and on June 2 1945 the first 300 islanders were taken to Mengin and then flown by Dakota to England. Within a week the rest followed.
Repatriation, Internees --waiting to be flown to England, another photo from the R.H.Mayne collection.
There were several 'wits' who made up poems on departure and this is an anonymous one collected by Roger Harris.
Goodbye to the Schloss
We've got another boss
Since the Fuehrer's fallen rather low!
Now we've got the keys
Goodbye to the fleas, Thanks for the stay
But we must go!
Meanwhile back on Jersey ---
No fuel was issued on the ration at all in February, no heating, cooking or lighting again. The islands were running out of flour, due to a mistake by the British Red Cross, who stated that the Vega was only to take flour on it's third trip. The Bailiff of the island made the following announcement on Feb 6 1945,
'--the civilian bread ration must be reduced by half-- The stocks of flour and of grain under our own control would not maintain the civil bread ration on the existing scale beyond the 10th February. The proposed cut should make possible a continuation of the bread ration for a week after February 10th. If help does not reach us by then, --- the bread ration must cease entirely. A.M.Coutanche, Bailiff.'
The Vega arrives back on February 13th with her second supply of Red Cross parcels, which were given out on February 20th.
The new commander of the Channel Islands was Vice-Admiral Huffmeyer who said 'I have only one aim: to hold out until final victory.'
A fire broke out in March in a hotel, next to the ammunition dump, yep, you've guessed it, the ammo dump went up too.
Allied planes were overhead everyday as the allied armies battled through Europe to Germany. In early April German troops are ordered to shoot without warning at thieves targeting growing food or the famous Jersey glasshouses.
May. 'By the beginning of May 1945 the German army had been completely defeated.' June Money. The news of Hitler's death comes overnight and 'It is learned that ---- the possibility of the Germans holding out -- is becoming less likely' L.P.Sinel. Union Jacks are beginning to be seen around the island as rumours went all round the civilians. The German soldiers were depressed, scruffy and underfed; they began telling the islanders that they were 'Poles, Czechs, Austrians,- anything but German' L.P.Sinel. Huffmeer tried to get an armistice but had to surrender finally on board HMS Bulldog moored in Guernsey.
Crowds gathering to meet the liberators. June Money Aspects of War, The German Occupation of the Channel Islands.
May 8 1945. The day was of great expectation and then nothing happened. Then the children were sent home from school and loudspeakers were erected. The E.P. bulletin announced that Winston Churchill was to speak at 3.00pm and at 3 a great cheer arose as he started to speak. When he referred to 'our dear Channel Islands' being freed another huge cheer went up. Union jacks and flags were hoisted at the end of it and the prisoners held by the Germans were slowly being freed too. The British Navy was approaching Jersey and on May 9, HMS Beagle hove into view.
Two British naval officers, Lieut. R Milne and Surgeon-Lieut. Macdonald landed and were mobbed by the islanders. The first thing they did was hang a Union Jack out of the Harbour Office window to huge cheers. More forces arrived, many of them Jerseymen, the first being Captain High Le Broque, who had left in 1940 with his unit.
The Germans gave up their arms willingly enough and were put to work cleaning up. By May 13 the bus services were restored and so was the telephone service. Sterling currency was restored and the German rule of the road Drive on the Right was changed back to driving on the left. All through May celebrations went on and memorials for the dead were held, prisoners freed and sent home and on June 7 1945 their Royal Highness' King George and Queen Elizabeth visited the island.
Some of the Internees did not arrive back until September 1945 but they did get home. I have not been able to find out when my family reached home but they did; and here they are.
From Left to Right Fredrick Bernard (Bern) my grandfather, Jean? wife of Richard Mayne, the boy who tried to get the German chocolate, Elizabeth (Betty from the letters) Bern's wife and my grandmother, Aunty Dolly, from the letters, the younger man is either Robert Junior (Bobbie from the letters) or Richard, and the man on the right is Bob (Bob from the letters) my grandfathers younger brother.
Writing this blog has been quite emotional for me and I have cried a few tears towards the end. I have found out quite a lot about the hardships faced by my family and I am glad that they all came home.
Thanks
My thanks go to
Mrs Bernice Smart, nee Mayne, my mother,who I still miss; who gave my sister and I the courage to just go for it (and a fund of war stories.)
Mrs Betty Fry, nee Mayne, my mother's sister.
Mr Richard Mayne, who was wise enough to gather much information and give it to The St
Peters Bunker War Museum.
Bibliography
Richard Mayne. Jersey Occupied. Jarrold and Sons. 1970. ISBN 853062137.
Roger. E Harris. Islanders Deported. Part 1. Channel Islands Publishing Society. 1980. ISBN
0902633635.
Roger. E. Harris. Islanders Deported. Part 2. Channel Islands Publishing Society. 1983. ISBN
0946806039.
L.P.Sinel. The German Occupation of Jersey. Corgi Books. 1945. ISBN 552080985.
Dr. John Lewis. A Doctor's Occupation. Starlight Publishing. 1982. ISBN 09525665919.
R.C.F.Maugham. Jersey Under the Jackboot. W.H.Allen & Co.Ltd. 1946. ISBN 0450047148.
June Money. Aspects of War. The German Occupation of the Channel Islands. J.P. Money. 1985.
Roy Thornton Collection. Photo included in 'TS Dinard, Past and Present' by Ray Goodfellow at
The Channel Islands Monthy Review, Journal of Channel Islands Refugees in Great Britain. Printed by Swain & Co, Ltd, 'Advertiser' Office, Stockport.
References
Preston Doughty, diaries kept secretly at Wurzach Internment camp, quoted by Roger.E.Harris. Islanders Deported Part 1.
Red Cross Organisation at www.redcross.org.uk for the contents of Red Cross Parcels and the leaflets on posting to Prisoners of War.
No comments:
Post a Comment