Guernsey / Themed route
Liberation of Guernsey
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Each of the Islands of Guernsey had distinct experiences during the Second World War, becoming part of the Atlantic Wall when German troops arrived to claim the Islands. The history of the Occupation can be found in museums but is also notably visible around the island with fortifications dotted along the coastline.
The Channel Islands were the only part of the British Isles to be occupied by the German Armed Forces during World War II. Each Island experienced a different Occupation. About half of the resident population of Guernsey remained in the Island, other residents having evacuated just before the arrival of German forces. Around 6,000 of a population of 47,000 evacuated from Jersey. Virtually all of the resident population of Alderney, however, was evacuated and the occupying forces arrived to an almost uninhabited Island. All of the Islanders who remained experienced five hard and hungry years living under stifling rules and regulations.
Most Sark residents remained on the Island during the whole of the Occupation. Conversely, Herm and Lihou Islands were left mainly uninhabited by German forces, who visited these Islands for target practice, training exercises and as hunting grounds for food.
Nowadays, the Islands’ intriguing history can be experienced by touring around museums and memorials and visiting abandoned bunkers and German fortifications that still dot the landscapes of many of the Islands.
