Fact Check: WWII German Occupation and Wartime Relics of Guernsey Islands

Scraps of land in the ever-changing waters of the channel. Guernsey and its neighboring islands

have a unique distinction which sets them apart from the rest of the British Isles.

The islands of Guernsey, together with the rest of the Channel Islands, the only part of the British Isles to fall

to Nazi Germany in the Second World War. The only place where the Union flag gave way to the Nazi swastika. I'm here to

find out about the unique wartime experience of these islands and the people who lived on them.

Do you remember them arriving quietly? [music] It was a big adventure for us as kids.

I'm traveling across these islands to explore the extraordinary wartime relics above and below the ground. And watch as

the remnants of the Second World War are once again brought [music] to the surface.

What a place. Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Herm make up the Bailiwick of Guernsey,

an archipelago off the coast of France. These islands of Guernsey are subject to the British Crown, but are run by

independent governments. They are small in area, but have played an outsized part in history.

During the Second World War, they were transformed into fortresses as they became integral parts of Hitler's

Atlantic Wall, his defense against invasion from the Western Allies. I'm arriving in St. Peter Port, the

capital of Guernsey. Strategically positioned overlooking the harbor and with a clear sight of the

other Bailiwick Islands, towers Castle Cornet. For centuries, it's been the key to

controlling [music] Guernsey. In the 13th century, the castle was built on a rocky promontory that still

forms its foundations. This castle changed hands many times through its history. And one of those

occupations has left an enduring mark on the fabric of this castle. And that is the German occupation because in June

1940, German troops landed on Guernsey and the island remained occupied till the very

last days of the Second World War. They instantly realized that this was a hugely strategic point allowing them to

control St. Peter Port and therefore the island of Guernsey. And so they set about reinforcing its already powerful

defenses with 20th century technology. Hitler was very proud of having taken British territory. So, weapons,

artillery, and hardware poured into these islands on an unimaginable scale. When the Germans left,

all of that stayed behind and much of it still exists. This is an artillery platform built on

the orders of Henry VIII. Now, when the Germans arrived here, they quickly realized that this castle was built with

the wisdom of the ages. So, rather than replicate it or replace it, they decided to reinforce it. Which is why, uniquely

in the British Isles, this is the only place you can see Henry VIII's defenses enhanced

by Hitler. I'm meeting Shaun Festung Guernsey, a local collective of enthusiasts

dedicated to making the vast number of German structures on the island available to the public.

The group take their name from the publication Festung Guernsey, a German blueprint for turning the entire island

of Guernsey into a fortress. This is a great Was this a Was this a a machine gun

position or what was This was a mortar position. >> When you came to work at the castle, did

No one knew this was here? They knew it was here, but it'd been filled in with bricks sometime in the '80s. So, to all

intents and purposes, this is this has been lost. Yeah. Um I grew up in playing in this. So,

when I first thing I asked if could I open it, and my boss said yes. We removed We estimate in excess of 80 tons

of brick rubble. Must have been very exciting for you to sort of reveal the extent of this little network of World

War fortifications. It's always exciting to come back into somewhere cuz obviously after 30 odd years, I'd

forgotten exactly what it was. And being able to with my knowledge from now as to when I was a child, um being able to

understand what it is. It was uh quite very fascinating. In the years ahead, do you think Festung Guernsey, your group,

and other enthusiasts and historians are going to find yet more German wartime archaeology

here? There's lots that we don't know. Although we know where the main structures are from the book Festung

Guernsey, we're discovering new things every time we start looking. When we reopened this bunker, we found small

bits, German coins or decontamination bottles, maybe a bayonet occasionally or something like that, ammunition. So,

there's going to be plenty more digging for you in the years to come. I think digging is a passion of Festung if

there's concrete involved, so we won't stop. Shaun remembers well what it was like as

a child to be playing in the German fortifications, and speaks about it with a certain sense

of excitement. When he was a child, the occupation had ended and the bunkers were abandoned.

Some people on the islands, however, remember the occupation itself when there was a very different atmosphere.

Molly, Roy, and Diana all stayed on the island with their families as the German troops arrived and they think back on

that time with mixed emotions. I was almost nine when the Germans came. 14

when it's when it's the liberation. My sister and I we were too old and we would have had to go with the school

children and teachers. Um mom and my mother didn't want to separate us

because we were at different schools at the time. So three times we walked down to the

harbor being crushed panicky people crying.

It was awful. And then we came back with our little bags

and my father said, "Right, I'm going to have to stay look after my grandfather." So we

stayed. We remember them arriving quietly. It was only my mother that showed a lot of

worry when the Germans arrived. She was so frightened. During the time my mother and father

felt that we should have gone away, you know, it would have been better.

But at the end we were still together, still a close family and she was very pleased we did stay.

You know, when I think back I was only what, 6 year old. They were just ordinary

kids of their own like back in Germany and they didn't want to be here.

So they they weren't frightening in that way at all, you know.

And I mean that, you know, it was a big adventure for us as kids. I mean it was a it was a bad time for

our parents and what have you. You know, they were struggling to keep things going. But, I mean, as

youngsters, you didn't worry about that. In the fields opposite where we were living,

the Germans would go on like maneuvers, and you'd see them all rushing across the field and to a bank and

but firing blanks over the field and you know, that was all exciting and nice

to watch. There were quite a few of us left who'd been at school together. We were really having quite a a lovely

holiday. Long, it was nice weather. We picked up sort of certain amount of apprehension from my mother. We lived in

a very old Guernsey farmhouse. Um it had outside stone stairs, and there was a wall space where we could look over into

the road, but they couldn't see us. So, we used to we used to chuck things at them.

And um we I think we were quite abusive, actually. We

We Straight away, we didn't like them. They were quite nice to children. I I don't think we came across many who

weren't friendly. It was quite a unique experience to be brought up in an occupied territory.

I'm not going to say that it was enjoyable, but it was exciting. The German occupation left a vast

legacy, not just concrete and steel. Guernsey local historian Richard Heaume has spent his life collecting, and today

the German Occupation Museum is filled to the brim, an absolute treasure trove. I have come to see some of the more

unusual items in Richard's collection. This is one of the objects from your excellent museum that caught my eye cuz

it's not not that normal, is it? It's a No. No, it's rather romantic. >> I must admit, I don't show the album to

many people. You are privileged and see the full album. So this is a photograph album belonging

to a a young Guernsey woman. Yes. Her maiden name was Freda Oliver. She seemed to have spent quite a bit of

time with a particular German under officer, a Paul Schlimbach. Do you think he sketched her? Yeah, he sketched her.

And he also had a camera. Being a German, we civilians couldn't have a camera, but the Germans could. And he's

kept a record of their love affair in Guernsey. He was a very handsome, good-looking man, and she was

a very attractive lady. I love you forever. They were very passionate. That's rather beautiful, darling. I love

you more than ever. So do you think this was acceptable to people of Guernsey that

she was dating There were so many Germans and so few local girls. They offered gifts and nylons and chocolates

and flowers. And sparkling conversation. Yes. And you must remember in 1940-41,

the world was really at Germany's feet. We thought it was a German domination forever. It's easy in those years, this

dates from 1942, for a local girl to fall in love. I mean, if you didn't know there was a war

on, you'd think this is this is very romantic. This this is romantic. And it was a love affair which lasted. And they

married. So these two ended up getting married? >> Yes, they got married. They got They got

married in England as prisoners of war when he was a prisoner of war, went to Germany,

then came back, resettled here, worked here, and married here. So he became a a Guernsey man?

>> Yes. Yes. I mean, this is 1943. He could have been on the Russian front

fighting in one of the most appalling conflicts the world has ever seen. Instead, look, they're having a lovely

time in what looks like they're having a very nice time in Guernsey. Do you think Do you think the German

garrison were thrilled to be here? I think they were very lucky. Some of the garrison were shipped off from here in

'43 to the Russian front and that was a fear they had. While they were here, they were okay, but to be sent to the

Russian front was almost a death penalty. When we think about the Second World War,

we think of this image of German troops as barbaric, you know, involved in the Holocaust, extraordinary

mass murder taking on the Eastern Front. What was the reality of the German occupation here in Guernsey? In

Guernsey, it was quite different. They they they felt they'd come on holiday.

They really were happy here. They were were able to relax. They could go on the beach. They could even go home on leave,

right back to Germany until June '44. And of course, they had the privilege of meeting Guernsey people, Guernsey girls.

They were just human beings. And some of them ended up Mhm. coming back here after the war and settling

with them. >> Yes, that's right. Girlfriends. Yes. Now, I must ask you, this caught my eye.

What on earth are these? I have never seen this in all of my

travels. Well, what do you think it is, Dan? No idea. Right.

These cones go up the nostrils of a horse. A horse? Yes, it's a horse's gas mask.

>> What? This is a horse's gas >> And those are the goggles which go with it.

That is something else. Now, would the horse tolerate putting those cones up his nose?

>> no, there was one or two instances of the horses bolting, but they did have to try it.

The Germans had a fear of gas in the Second World War and they thought, well, they need to

protect them not only their men with gas masks, they needed to protect their animals.

So, this was provided. Each horse had its own gas mask. Well, I've never seen one of those before. You have got

an extraordinary museum here. Thank you very much for showing me around. >> It's a great pleasure, Dan. The museum

shows the wealth of unique objects the Germans left behind. It's a fascinating picture of what life in the Third Reich

was like. But not everything is neatly preserved in the museum.

I'm on my way into the Rouge Rue Tunnels. These tunnels were used to store

abandoned German military vehicles. They were raided for scrap in the years after the war, but they've been sealed

off ever since. I can't wait to see what might be in there.

There's just so much wartime detritus left in here. I mean, look at this little collection

here. Forks, cutlery, and glass bottles. It's the base of a German radar. In the

Second World War, radar was one of the most rapidly evolving and top secret fields of scientific research

that are now just a rotting piece of junk. Wow.

A whole tunnel packed with what look like, well, wheeled vehicles. Looks like

they all seem to be the same kind of type. They all look like soup kitchens, mobile field kitchens, just backed up in

here. There must be 20 at least. I don't think I've ever seen

so many big pieces of German war material left over in one place ever before.

Here you go. Here's some quite well preserved ones. You can see these huge big round spaces in the center where

they would have had a giant pot cooking all the food required for a a unit out

in the field. You know, there are Well, there are dozens of these mobile field kitchens here. And it just

drives home the amount of German troops that were stationed on this tiny island. The scale of the Second

World War. This is just one scrap of territory on the very far-flung edge of Hitler's empire. And yet the amount of

hardware required to keep the men fed, it just brings home the scale

of what was, of course, the largest, most destructive war in human history.

The presence of history on Guernsey is almost overwhelming. People here have a strong attachment to

the island's past and a dedication for preserving that heritage and making it accessible to everyone, locals and

visitors alike. While the tunnels are still far off from being open to the public, an incredible

amount of work has gone into the next place I'm visiting. More than a thousand tons of earth and

spoil had to be shifted to restore it. I don't think I've ever been anywhere that

gives a better impression of the gigantic scale of building that occurred in Hitler's Third Reich. Just the amount

of concrete and steel you you in this structure makes you think that he didn't just do it on this island, but in fact,

he turned giant stretches of the European coastline and huge parts of the continent itself into massive

fortifications and defensive structures. And so many other parts of Europe, these have been buried or filled in or

dismantled, but here in Guernsey, thanks to organizations like Festung Guernsey, they remain.

And it's not just the scale of the materials that were used, but it was the millions of people that were caught up

with the building and the servicing of these structures. The crew of this particular place alone was about 15

young men, all to perform one very important task. All the men were stationed here to

ensure the smooth operation of that enormous gun.

This was French. It had been captured after the Germans defeated the French in 1940.

It was First World War era, capable of firing a round about 6 in wide, 22 km out to sea.

There were four of them in this one German battery alone. This was the weapon with which Hitler

was confident he could take on the giant Allied landing force when it appeared on the horizon.

Today, the gun here at Battery Dollmann is the last of its kind in Europe. As you walk around these giant gun

emplacements, you can't help thinking how futile the whole thing was. They were never used in the way their

architects intended. An Allied amphibious fleet never did try and seize back the Channel Islands from determined

German defenders. But that's not to say the Allies never landed here, because they did.

The British were determined to learn what was happening on their occupied islands. They sent over commando raids

to gather intelligence on the islands, their people, and their ever-growing defenses. There were six commando raids

on Guernsey and Sark during the Second World War, but the most mysterious of them occurred here at Petit Bot Bay

on the 1st of February, 1944. It appears that two commandos landed here. They made their way up these

cliffs and went a couple of hundred meters inland. No one knows what their target was. There was a radio beacon up

there designed for allowing German aircraft to find the airstrip in bad weather or at night. But, they never

made it that far. Instead, they came across a German patrol. They overpowered some of the German soldiers and then

fled back down to the beach and disappeared, leaving their boat here on this beach.

No one knows what the true target of this raid was or if it was just a training mission.

This mysterious raid might be lost to history. There's no mention of it in the official accounts, were it not for the

local historians piecing together diary extracts from people living here at the time. And I love the story because it

shows that despite all the work that's been done on the Second World War here, there are still so many mysteries that

remain. I'm meeting Major Marco Ciotti, who studied the raids on the islands of

Guernsey to see if he can dispel some of the uncertainty surrounding. Marco, you're a serviceman and you've

made a study of some of the raids that took place here in Guernsey and Sark. Were the British

landing more on the Channel Islands because of the their fellow British subjects here or or were they doing this

all along the French coast as well? It wasn't exclusively the Channel Islands. Uh there was the Normandy coast

as well. Although, there was quite a focus on the Channel Islands. I think probably Churchill was keen to find out

uh what the German strengths here were and it probably rankled a bit as well that that that part of the British Isles

was occupied. What were their objectives? Just to find out what's going on or were there any specific

objectives? It was to find out uh as far as they could what was going on and if possible to take prisoners to take back

for interrogation. They were interrogated by a special unit in London. Tell us about the one you think

is most remarkable. The one that really caught my eye to start with then was Operation Basalt,

which took place in Sark overnight the 3rd, 4th of October 1942. That particular raid was led by a man called

Major Geoffrey Appleyard. It was the second attempt to to land on the island. They were trying to take prisoners of

war. Very modest aims really, just intelligence gathering, fact-finding, but it it went on to influence special

forces operations throughout the the rest of the Second World War. Following the trail of Geoffrey

Appleyard leads me to another of the islands of Guernsey. Only a short boat ride away and at just

two square miles the island of Sark feels like it's a world away.

With cars prohibited, the island's unspoiled landscape makes me feel like I've stepped back in time. And climbing

up the Hogs Back in broad daylight I can only imagine what it must have been like to covertly reach the island's shore in

the dark. Late in the evening of the 3rd of October 1942, Geoffrey Appleyard and 11 other commandos scaled these cliffs

leaving their boat just out to sea. They headed inland and they stopped at that house just there. In it, they found the

formidable Mrs. Pittard. She didn't seem at all concerned by the fact that all these armed men had suddenly turned up

in the middle of the night. She furnished them with very useful intelligence and she told them where the

Germans were sleeping. They headed a bit further inland and snatched some German prisoners, but then the alarm was

raised. A firefight broke out. Germans were killed, but they did manage to bring one German soldier, an engineer,

back down here, down the cliff and out to the waiting boat before they went full speed back to Britain.

Appleyard's raid on Sark certainly didn't go as planned and he and his commandos were very lucky to make it out

alive. The death of the German captives was controversial and would be argued about for years to come. It also sparked

a far-reaching and instant reaction from Germany. This raid drove Hitler mad with rage. It

prompted him to issue his now infamous commando order. In it he said that commandos were criminals, bandits and

they should not be subject [music] to the Geneva Conventions. The German army was to shoot them on sight. This order

marked an escalation in the German army's progress towards fighting a war of barbarism and criminality.

A small raid with big repercussions for the course of the war. Appleyard's legacy lives on to this day

in the form of a famous fictional character. During his time in active service, he

worked alongside an officer in naval intelligence. This officer was a budding novelist. He

was so impressed with Appleyard that it's said that he modeled his new fictional hero on him.

The officer's name was Ian Fleming. His hero was one James Bond. As for brave [music]

Mrs. Pittard who opened her door in the middle of the night and gave valuable intelligence to commandos

helping to make it one of the most successful raids on the Channel Islands during the war,

she was arrested by the Germans and deported to a camp in Germany itself. Thankfully, she survived. She returned

here to Sark where she died and is buried here in the cemetery.

Each of the islands of Guernsey had a very different experience during the war.

In Alderney, everyone was evacuated. In Guernsey, many were evacuated, but about half the population stayed on the island

and lived through the occupation. Here in Sark, no one was evacuated, and life went on pretty much as normal. And

that came down in large part to a very remarkable woman who lived here, Dame Sibyl Hathaway, Seigneur of Sark,

her hereditary ruler until she died in 1976. She spoke fluent German, and she had an

inherent understanding of the deference, the respect for hierarchy shown by German military officers. She insisted

that the German commandant bowed and kissed her hand, and she helped to ensure that life went on here pretty

much as normal for the islanders, and the island's only Jewish inhabitant was able to live here unmolested

for the whole of the course of the war. Although conditions worsened throughout the war and the strictures became

tighter, the regime on Sark was notably less ruthless than on the other islands of

Guernsey. The occupation here on Sark was gentler than on some of the other

Channel Islands. There's one episode really sums up that story for me. As the war went on, the German authorities did

become more nervous about the local population. A German order went out that people here were to hand in their

radios. They didn't want them having access to independent news sources and finding out that the war had turned

against the Germans. But many people didn't hand in their radios, and on this tree, mysteriously, a list appeared, an

anonymous list of inhabitants who hadn't handed in their radios. This was taken to the German commander,

who tore it up, said it was the act of a traitor. And from then on this tree

has been known as Traitor's Tree. As I make my way back to Guernsey, I pass by Herm, one of the smaller islands

of the archipelago. Tucked away in the middle of the Bailiwick, it experienced a very

different war. The Germans claimed Herm along with the rest of the islands, but never undertook any real building there.

Occasionally, German soldiers would come over to hunt rabbits or practice with landing craft, but Herm was left almost

entirely untouched by the occupation. I've come back to the coast of Guernsey now,

>> [music] >> and I've come to see a bunker that was part of this coastal defense network.

The group Festung Guernsey [music] are restoring it. The plan is to open it to the public, but before they do, I'm

having a sneak preview because in it there's some fascinating wartime features.

Incredibly strong construction. Deep underground, big concrete walls and steel. Look at this steel door.

Ah. There we go. Behind that big steel door, there's an

anteroom here where they've got the the rifle rack, the Mauser K98s here ready for the infantrymen to come out of their

barracks and go and take on the allies landing on the beaches. Gas masks. Into the main accommodation here. And

these are the sleeping quarters. And it is astonishing. This has been reconstructed. This this what it would

have been like. And And what was so special about this bunker, the reason they decided to

reconstruct this one, is because it has the original murals from the soldiers that were stationed here. Look at this.

There's something quite beautiful about this sword. It says, "Comrades, remember,

be brave." And then someone's done some wiring over it and written some slightly more

prosaic instructions. Here are the bunks suspended off these chains on ceilings. There would have

been 12 men stationed here. Some of them would have been on duty around the clock. The others would have

taken their turns to have a rest in these bunks. But you get a sense here that you don't get elsewhere of the

humanity of the people that would have been posted here, writing letters, thinking about home,

thinking about the other fronts, how the war was going. And they would draw, they would make

things, as humans do. They were trying to make their surroundings just a little bit more

enjoyable. Incredible mural of a pot of flowers there.

And then the pride, the song of the infantry. People here were infantrymen. They were the ones at

the tip of the spear. They were the ones going to do the fighting. There was a great pride to that. And here they are,

great camaraderie. It's amazing how they would have seen themselves as a tight unit, singing away, fighting together,

singing together. Crossed bayonets or knives with leaves. So it's a funny mix of of military, of

camaraderie, and of, well, abstract art and flowers. But this is the really chilling bit over

here. This is an area which we know from other bunkers, and we have the evidence here, was reserved for pictures of

senior political and military figures. This essentially says, in German, "Loyalty is the mark of honor." So

the importance of of loyalty. And in this border here, sheathed in, you know, oak

leaves, we know that there would have been a picture of Adolf Hitler in here.

And subordinate commanders in these these ones. A picture of Hitler here and a demand

for absolute loyalty. These men would have known that meant they were supposed to fight to the last. I've visited so

many sites in the Channel Islands, but what really strikes me about this one is for the first time I feel

connected with the individual Germans who served here in the garrison. It's too easy to think of the German

occupation here as being a time of war crimes, out of covering this landscape in concrete, but in this room you just

get a glimpse of a different kind of German occupation, of thousands of young men far away from home worrying about

the course of the war and their fates, and trying to make their little corner of the German Empire

just that little bit more pleasant. For the German soldiers in bunkers like that guarding this coast,

for most of the war their main enemy would have been boredom. But that all changed after D-Day in 1944.

As Allied troops crossed the channel and swept through northern France, Hitler refused to evacuate the garrison here,

so Churchill just let them rot. 30,000 Germans isolated in the Channel Islands. And with the onset of winter, the food

supply began to run out and there was the risk of famine. There was

really, I think, very little food coming in at all. And the Germans, of course, were getting

very, very hungry by then. We had a big garden and we grew a

a lot of vegetables. If they came round begging, my mother would give them something to eat. You know, the food

[clears throat] was scarce. And I can remember being hungry then. Well, grandmother used to make

uh parsnip cake out of parsnip parsnips and carrot cake and

yeah, one particular day she she made a a cake. I don't know to this day what did she

use to make it, but it is was something new. And uh this particular night, we're

having a a bath and we couldn't wait to get out the bath and try this new cake, you know.

We were so exciting. And when we did, it was the most horrible tasting thing. It was

It was so bitter. What she used, I've no idea. But she'd make another one.

We children used to go scrounging. And when the Guernsey boys used to um unload the lorries of potatoes, if

the Germans weren't looking, they'd tip it for us. And we'd go under the Germans, the the horses' bellies and

before it went in the gutter, we'd share the potato or two. Um but there was one day

I think I was showing off perhaps. I was a bit older maybe and I was on the stepboard of the lorry.

Uh this lorry full of potatoes, I was filling my basket. And with that, I

heard a steps of the Germans coming down and shouting.

I started running and he started running and caught me at the bottom. And he kicked me and I went home.

But we went back the next day. We had to. I don't know how my mother managed, but

um lots of It was queuing really for a half a swede

or parsnip. But if the Germans were there, they'd be served first, of course. Priority

wherever they went. I don't speak about it too often because um she was so brave, really, and she did

so much. It was kindness. People were trying to help each other. We used to take a big enameled bowl

with potatoes, if you had potatoes and veg and what have you. And not that far away from where we were

living, there was a there was a a bake house and they used to accept all these and

put them in the ovens where they baked the bread. And you'd go at, you know, 6:00 in the

evening to collect the evening meal. And my eldest brother had a pair of roller skates

and we had an old pram and I'd sit in the pram and he'd roller skate and we'd go down and fetch the

dinner. And this particular night, we picked up the dinner. We had to come up over a

hill, down the other side, and a right hand turn into the lanes and to get home. And we came down over the the hill

and he was going a bit too fast and we couldn't make the turn and the pram tipped up.

And there was all the dinner, the potatoes and everything rolling down the road.

So we thought, "Oh my god, this has ruined the meal. My father will kill us."

So we scooped up all the veg and the potatoes, put it in in a bowl and carried on.

And he could never make out why there was no gravy. >> [laughter]

>> He was bone dry. Not all memories from that time bring a smile to Roy's face. >> When my father was um

he was in charge of a large batch of greenhouses. Two or three times he caught Germans in

the greenhouses. They were so off for food themselves that uh they were they were

they were killing cats and dogs. We felt sorry for them, really. Yeah, you could pick them out easily.

They just had nothing, eh. You could never imagine people treating other people that way,

you know. It was shocking, really. As the war progressed, the occupation

became harder for the people of Guernsey. In the winter of 1944 to '45, the food

supplies on the island had reached a critical level and the prospect of making it through

the winter looked bleak. But help came in the form of a slightly delayed Christmas miracle. On December

the 27th, the Red Cross ship Vega reached Guernsey loaded with food parcels,

>> [music] >> tons of salt and soap, medical supplies, and even chocolate.

We went 6 [music] weeks without bread, eh. Um

until the Red Cross ship brought in flour. There was this lovely condensed milk in

the parcels and a whole spoonful of that was lovely, yeah. And my mother said, "Right,

liberation, when we're liberated, you can have a tin each." So, liberation day, she put

three tins on the table and after about two spoonfuls, we fell as sick as dogs. That's as far as we got.

It was so rich. >> [cough and clears throat] >> And our stomachs weren't used to

food like that, you know, and we couldn't manage any more. When I think back, it was a dreadful

thing that I did. We went to collect our Red Cross parcels, brought them home, and I can remember my mother saying,

"You must all be responsible for your own Red Cross parcels." Because by then people were breaking in at night, either

the slave workers who were starving to death, or the Germans were very hungry by then.

I took my Red Cross parcel up to bed. And my brother, who was nearly 2 years older than me, brought

his up and put his into his bedroom and then went downstairs cuz he didn't go to bed at the same time as I did. And by

the time he came upstairs, I had gone into his parcel, taken his chocolate, and eaten it all.

So, he nearly killed me. And my mother came up and said, "Well, you know, that was a wicked thing to do.

And when the next parcel comes, you will give all your chocolate to Tony."

So, I thought, "Mhm, she'll forget about that." But, of course, she didn't. And when the next parcel came, I had to hand

it all over. Which was right and proper, so I never pinched anything out of his parcel.

>> [laughter] >> The arrival of the Red Cross parcels marked a turning point for the people of

Guernsey. Well, they'd been saved from starvation, the occupation continued. Things were

very different on the neighboring island of Alderney, the final stop on my trip around the

islands of Guernsey. Challenging weather conditions mean the only way I can get there today is by

air. On the short flight across, I'm passing over the Casquets, a group of rocks just

off the coast of Alderney, site of another commando raid of the Second World War.

Whilst the jagged rocks look stunning from above, they're incredibly treacherous for ships, and I have to

say, I'm glad I don't have to navigate around them in these gales.

Second in size after Guernsey, Alderney measures only 3 miles in length by 1 and 1/2 miles in width. Nevertheless, the

small area is jam packed with history. Alderney's story is a little bit different to that of the other Channel

Islands during the Second World War. First of all, when the Germans landed here, they discovered the population had

fled. So, it was empty, a blank slate. They could do what they wanted. It was also strategically positioned quite

close to the coast of France. And so, they turned it into one massive integrated fortress of concrete and

steel. But because there were no civilians around to record what was going on, there's an air of mystery

about what happened here in Alderney during the war. And

what remains. On the 20th out of June, 1940, the entire island of Alderney was evacuated.

The number of people left on the island was in single figures. Beda is one of the local residents who

fled before the German troops arrived. Only 12 years old when she was evacuated, she remembers those days and

her return to the island like it was yesterday. We were at war, but I didn't understand what it meant.

It wasn't until we were actually being evacuated that we knew, you know, something was

up. I was 12 12 in the March and we left in the June. So, when did you realize that you had to leave?

We were sent home and told to come back, I think it was at 2 o'clock.

But by the time we got home, Mom had packed our cases. The last words my mother said, "Look

after your little sister. Never part. Never be apart." And I we I I kept my word.

What was it like as a young girl saying goodbye to your mom? Were you scared?

>> No, they wouldn't come down. We said goodbye at the door at on the steps. But the worst part was Uncle Arch.

Uncle Archie standing on some crates, waving goodbye when they were uh singing

"Auld Lang Syne". And I can't stand that bloody song to this day.

From the day we were there we did we were coming back. There was never any

any doubts. We went to Blackpool on a week's holiday. We went to the fortune tellers. She said, "When you go back

you'll have information." And sure enough when we opened the door there was this letter on the floor

with a thing "Do you want to go back to Alderney and when?" And my father put on the first available

boat. And we set sail at half past 11:00. We were in a gale and then somebody

said, "Oh, there's the lighthouse." And then one of the young crew men came up and said, "Do you realize we're going

over a minefield?" And I thought, "Surely not, you know, we've come all this way."

And then we won't make it. So for the rest of the journey uh I was there looking over the side

there for mines. But of course they'd all been cleared and I didn't know. The

the pulled a fast one on me. Well, as soon as we got on the shore

I looked up and I just said "Home." And what did Alderney look like? >> Terrible.

Very depressing. Bleak. It was awful. But

well, we were glad to be home. There was plenty of barbed wire around and all all over the place. And

presumably also it was covered in all this concrete and steel. And my grandfather

after being home a few days, he come back laughing one day. Mom said, "What's up, Pa?" He said, "I never thought

they'd come a day on Alderney when I'd be lost." And he'd been out there with all the

German bunkers. He's like in a maze. He couldn't find find his way out for some time. Were you

happy to be back? It was a a mixed feeling. I should think cuz some of them turned

around and went back. They couldn't face it. But we were all glad to be back.

At least at least our family were anyhow. Listening to Beda makes me wonder what

happened to all the equipment the Germans left behind. On Monday the 8th of May 1945, Prime Minister Winston

Churchill announced the end of the war in Europe. And the Channel Islands would be freed

the following day. Every year since then, Guernsey celebrates Liberation Day on

May the 9th with 2020 marking the 75th anniversary since the end of the war.

As the occupation ended here on Alderney, the island was not only covered in barbed wire, steel, and

concrete, also full of guns, vehicles, and other hardware. Some has been found, but a lot remains

undiscovered to this day. Historian Trevor Davenport has spent decades investigating where remnants

might have been hidden on this small island. Trevor, why did the Germans put so much war material, so many

fortifications on this tiny little island? Well, it's one of these questions that's been asked since the

war. Alderney is so heavily fortified because one, it was small, two, the population had basically left. And so he

could do what he want. And they basically fortified the whole island, and you could stand from one position

with an almost fire a catapult shot to the next one. They were that close, within hundreds of meters of each other,

less than hundreds of meters of each other. >> When people came back after the war,

what on earth did they do with all the military material that was here? Alderney surrendered a week after Jersey

and Guernsey on the 16th. And within a week, most of the prisoners of war were sent away to become prisoners of war

mostly in the UK, but they kept about a thousand Germans left and the main reason they were used was to tidy the

island up and of course get rid of the minefields. Because there was this mass of hardware that was left here. It was

an impossibility for the people to come back. The period from the 16th of April through to the return of the islanders,

the engineers were over here with German prisoners cleaning up the island, but they really never cleaned it

up fully. Recently, the focus has turned to a local quarry which might hold some of the answers.

Why did you start investigating the quarry? When everybody came back, uh they built a new power station and

the water in the quarry was used for cooling the electricity generators. But when the engineers were over

cleaning up the island, they had been dumping stuff in there. You could see it and there were uh for instance, you can

see barbed wire, you can see some tank traps and it was then suggested that perhaps there was a lot of other stuff.

So in the big scrap drive in the 50s, the Guernsey company came over and supposedly at great expense pumped the

quarry out. And what was dumped in that quarry, we didn't know. But it was always suspected

that a lot of stuff had been dumped in there. So there's lots of stories, lots of rumors. Do we have any hard evidence

about what might be down there? Well, this photograph was once taken in the 1950s and where the quarry had been

pumped out and plain as a pikestaff, I could see four FT-17 tanks there. There's a an FT-17 on its side. Yeah.

There is an upside down, looks like an FT-17. I don't know because we can only see the tracks.

There is one upside down, there's its turret, there's the tracks, there's another one on its side and that's

possibly another one. The story goes that they were possibly taken out, but other stories say they were left in

there. There is There's just a huge mound of wartime detritus, though. It's extraordinary.

If that If that Some of that stuff is still there now, guns, war material, tanks,

this would be an unprecedented haul of Second World War archaeology. Absolutely. What do you think might be

down there? We just do not know, but my guess is there's a lot more than a single K18 gun

in there. Spurred by these rumors, Simon Livsey decided to dive into the quarry.

He couldn't believe his eyes. I'm dying to find out what might be hidden beneath the water.

So, this is the quarry? This is. Here you are. Trevor showed me the picture of this when there was no water. This was a

dry quarry. You say you guys think the British just overwhelmed by all the stuff there, they just pushed it into

here? Yeah, I think that's what's happened. So, you chucked it all in the quarry, they filled the quarry up, and

it's been like that ever since? Yep, full of fresh water. >> You think the stuff down there won't

have been corroded too badly? >> It's not as corroded as badly as it might be if it was in seawater,

definitely not. >> have been diving the Channel Islands, you've been recovering Second World War

weapons and objects. Have you ever seen anything like this before? No, it's it's just absolutely

extraordinary what's down there. And there's just so much. Why do you think no one went in there for all these

decades? And why did you decide to investigate I think there was a bit of diving early on in the '50s for the

brass, cuz there was a lot of empty um shell cases and things, and they they went after those for the metal. But

apart from that, no, no one's really been in there for a very long time. And you know, all sorts of rumors

about various things. Um but we you know, until we actually get in there and see, we just we just don't know.

>> And when you went down for the first time, did what you saw exceed your

expectations? >> Totally. And it's it's it's mad. It's incredible. You've seen all that

stuff and you've only been 9 m down. How How deep is it? Uh it's 25 m deep. >> What? At the deepest point, which I

think is sort of in the central area here. So, you haven't been halfway? No. No. I mean, it's it's it's not easy

diving. >> If you've seen things like shell cases and tank tracks on that top level,

dare we dream about what might lie at the absolute bottom? They might have put the heaviest equipment in first, right?

There is a theory that maybe a lot of the drawn or wheeled um

guns on the island may be in there as well. So, that's that's quite exciting. And we've heard rumors there's a

half-track that they used to get rid of the equipment at the end of the war. The British army got pictures of it, so we

know that exists. Who knows what's in there? If there are artillery pieces and if there are mechanized vehicles down

there, it will be well, surely the greatest haul of Second World War archaeology in Western Europe.

I can't think of anywhere else where there's that much stuff in one place.

There's a lot in there. So, there's a lot to be done. Right. I can't wait to get in. Oh, yeah. We'll get Get you in

there and then you'll see what I mean. I find it absolutely astonishing to think that right here in the middle of this

small island there might be a huge find of Second World War archaeology almost entirely untouched. I've been so lucky

to see such a array of Second World War archaeology since I've been on Guernsey's island, but I think today's

going to be a highlight because we've just got the go ahead for the dive. I'm heading into that quarry and I can't

wait to see what's down there. I'm heading back to the quarry and this time

I'm going in. All right. See you on the other side. >> At first, all I can see is murky water.

Green. [music] Algae all around me. But as my eyes start adjusting to the

environment and as I dive deeper into the quarry, [music] suddenly I can make out shapes in front

of me. And I cannot believe my eyes. >> [music]

>> Here in the depths of the quarry, I find myself surrounded by German military hardware as far as the eye can see,

which admittedly isn't very far. >> [music] >> But everywhere I turn, something new

emerges from the murk. >> [music] >> Then from out of the darkness appears

what looks like the barrel of a huge gun. [music] Floating right next to it, unlike

anything I've experienced before. I could spend hours down here if it wasn't for the small issue of

oxygen. Reluctantly, I make my way to the surface,

but I'll be back. >> [music] >> Right.

It's pretty amazing. There was quite limited visibility, but we got right down on a

huge German artillery piece, German gun. You could see the the wheels,

the barrel stretching off into the murk. And there's just a huge stack

of equipment from the Second World War. Never seen anything like it. Just piled

one on top of the other from guns to ventilation ducts to shell cases.

And that's just a tiny tiny little part of this quarry that we could that we could see and try and

uh investigate. Goodness knows what's in the rest of it. We didn't even get to halfway down.

What a place. Don't think I've seen anything like it. As with so much else on these islands,

the wartime past is still lurking just below the surface. Well, that dive was extra- I don't think

I've ever done anything like it, really. As I went down through the murky layers of that quarry, I just realized that all

around me there was a mound of military equipment from the Second World War. I cannot wait to come back. Cannot wait to

dive it again and hopefully retrieve some of that stuff. And Alderney, like all the islands of Guernsey, is just

full of history, full of archaeology. There is a lot left for me to explore here. I'm going to be coming back.

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