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Guernsey Occupation


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Only a few photos, but I thought I may as well post them.

Observation tower, one of two, with emplacements below.

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A small part of the Brock Battery

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Brock Battery gun placement

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Brock Battery bunker as seen from the beach side, its fairly large!

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A nicely restored Flak 88 outside the museum.

width=640 height=480http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o72/rik242_2006/photobackup2017.jpg[/img]

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Wow, nice pictures! I really want to visit the channel islands once, they seem so nice and not too far away.

 

There should be another Liberation tour in Guernsey in 2010, which is a good time to visit Guernsey. They are very friendly people and getting there is very easy from Weymouth or Poole, but you can fly there from Heathrow or Eastleigh.

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Alternate you can got to Jersey, where the real people are. I suppose as the CI rep I'd better do my bit for Alderney, the most northerly of the main islands. this was completely evacuated in 1940 and after that became the only Nazi concentration camp on British soil. there area number of fortifications on the Island, and some were used to shell Cherbourg. the island was also the top guard for the Race of Alderney that runs down the Contentin peninsula to St Malo.

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Rick, there were Russians, probably the most represented, BUT, I use the term Russians bear in mid a lot of the USSR personnel were not Russian any more than I am English, I am a Jerseyman. The British government's treatment of the ex slave workers is not something to be proud of. There were also woman , Romanians, French forced workers,anyone the Nazis had that were breathing at the time. The whole subject is still inflammatory on the island's , especially for reasons which Won't go into (Jack has put a hold on the subject) in Jersey. Sufficient to say that one lady, a friend's Grandmother used to tell of when she slept in her bedroom which close to the road, she was woken every morning by the sound of shuffling feet as the slave workers were marched from the camp at La Moye to the sites at St Peters. the Famous 'Underground Hospital; properly HO8 now called Jersey War tunnels, the story i was told was that when workers died they were cemented into the floor. Strenuous efforts have been made to decry this story. But it is known that the so called 'Unfinished tunnel ' does contain the remains of workers buried in a cave in. Personally Would like the place sealed up as the war grave it is not exploited for tourism. Anyone visiting the Island should visit the site at La Houge bie. to the east of the island. This is now a memorial to the slave workers. Undoubtedly Alderney, away from all prying eyes was the site of the worst atrocities carried out during the Occupation. Probably the most grisly is the reusable coffin. See the Jersey Occupation memorial web site.

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Many moons ago when i was a kid (should that be many, many moons ago?)

Dad and I attended an auction where we bought some stuff amongst which was a box of books... inside which, we found a peice of paper neatly folded in the fonticpiece.

 

It was an original requisition order from the German High command on Jersey, requisitioning a car... giving the reg no. of the car and stating that the sum of £12 would be paid for the vehicle which would be collected on a given date. It had the official eagle & swastika stamps all over it and a very interesting little document... Often wondered what the vehicle was... and was / am a little surprised that they even offered to pay for it... perhaps they didn't... and the offer was a means of stalling the owner from shoving it into the sea before the occupiers got their hands on it :dunno:

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My old Doctor had an American 1938 Packard, got stolen off him and apparently ended up in France as a German staff car. Another Luftwaffe officer was famous for using a Jaguar, I think it was a 120 stolen from the estate of a Jewish person who had the sense to get to UK. Apparently he smashed it up one night whilst drunk. If anyone's intrested I think I have details of the German order vehicle requisitions somewhere.

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My old Doctor had an American 1938 Packard, got stolen off him and apparently ended up in France as a German staff car. Another Luftwaffe officer was famous for using a Jaguar, I think it was a 120 stolen from the estate of a Jewish person who had the sense to get to UK. Apparently he smashed it up one night whilst drunk. If anyone's intrested I think I have details of the German order vehicle requisitions somewhere.

 

 

 

I think the Jag may have been an SS100, the XK120 was PW Tony.

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But it is known that the so called 'Unfinished tunnel ' does contain the remains of workers buried in a cave in. Personally Would like the place sealed up as the war grave it is not exploited for tourism.

 

Back around 1987, I went to Jersey with small group of mv owners, on a "BBC tour". Don't know if you remember them, Tony? Nothing to do with TV or radio :-D, it was the Bordon, Bagshot & Cranleigh group. Anyway it was around Battle of Britain week and the local mv owners hosted us and I do remember being taken to this unfinished tunnel, the entrance was very overgrown and when unlocked, inside was littered with debris and old tar barrels that had leaked, seem to recollect remains of German horse drawn field kitchens and horse gas mask lens, but it was very dark and only torches to see with.

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That was probably at L'Aleval, AKA The German Road of St Peters Valley. There was an incident in the late 1960's where two kids were killed in the tunnels. After that they were cleared, work being down by Blashford Snell of Op Raliegh, and the tunnels sealed. There are some on private land but most are now empty or being used for other purposes.

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