263. British Isles, Nazi Rule - The Nazi Occupation of the Channel Islands

Battleground

Goalhanger Podcasts

History

4.6 • 703 Ratings

🗓️ 5 March 2025

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode of Battleground '45 Saul and Patrick look at the Nazi Occupation of The Channel Islands, the only part of British territory occupied by the Germans in World War Two. Together they examine the complexities of this occupation, the treatment of the locals, the collaboration and resistance that arose, and the lasting questions it raises about wartime choices. They also look at few instances the war came ashore on the otherwise peaceful islands, with commando raids and the remarkable story of double agent Eddie Chapman. If you have any thoughts or questions, you can send them to - [email protected] Producer: James Hodgson X: @PodBattleground Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:22.8	entrepreneurs like you. Sign up for your $1 a month trial at Shopify.com slash setup. Hello and welcome to Battleground 45 with me, Patrick Bishop and Saw David.
0:47.7	Well, today we're going to focus on one very small part of the battlefield.
0:52.9	In fact, scarcely a battlefield at all. I'm talking about the Channel
0:56.1	Islands, which is a cluster of pleasant small islands, which despite being much closer to France
1:02.7	than to Britain, are actually owned by the British, by the British Crown. One of the
1:08.5	islands is only 26 miles from the French coast.
1:11.7	80 years ago, the 100,000 or so islands were enduring their worst months of the war.
1:16.8	Having been invaded by the Germans in the summer of 1940, life had been fairly easy,
1:21.5	as long as you were not a member of the tiny Jewish population,
1:24.6	or one of the many thousands of slave labourers, particularly Soviet Ukrainians,
1:29.1	interesting enough, sent there to build the fortifications.
1:32.6	The people of Jersey, Guernsey and Aldony could clearly see to the west, the Sherbourg or the
1:37.6	Gotontan Peninsula, which had been liberated way back in August 1944. But the Allies decided not to waste any further time
1:46.2	launching an attack on the islands as they're intent in getting the war over by Christmas.
1:52.3	But with a garrison cut off, both locals and Germans were now on the verge of starvation.
1:56.8	Yeah, Churchill didn't seem that bothered, declaring in a memo, let them starve, no fighting,
2:02.7	they can rot at their leisure. And it's not entirely clear from that, Patrick, whether Churchill meant the Germans or the civilians.
	...

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