Occupied Channel Islands Part 3 - Operation Sea Lion - Unternehmen Seelöwe - Nicolle and Symes

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With a combination of rare private footage and other primary source material we’ll see what the occupiers were up to while waiting for the British to come to their senses and negotiate. As the Battle of Britain raged overhead and the preparations for the invasion of Britain continued along the coast of France the garrison troops had little more to do than train. Finally in September with the Nicole and Symes affair the true nature of the occupation became evident.

The Germans had expected the British to put up a fight for the islands and the attack on the two ports situated in Jersey and Guerney which took place on June 28th were intended to be just the opening shots. By then the islands had been almost entirely demilitarized but nobody had bothered to tell the Germans. Surprised by the lack of air-defense a reconnaissance plane was sent out and it was decided that the Islands were open.

Soldiers were quickly flown in, communications were established and air defense was set up. The headquarters for the occupation authorities was installed in the Harbor Hotel in the St. Peter port.

The importance the German High Command gave to the Channel islands can be seen by the size of the occupational force. On Guernsey there were 12,000 soldiers which gave a ratio of one soldier for every two civilians on the island. In comparison, in France the ratio was one soldier to every 80 civilians.

The occupation began almost leisurely. Many still believed that even with Churchill as the new resident of 10 Downing Street, that a negotiated peace between Britain and Germany would happen. It was well known that Churchill was intent on maintaining the British Empire, and with France knocked out of the war, the Soviet Union a German ally, and with the American public little interested in getting involved in another European war that seemed a logical conclusion. Britain literally stood alone.

Even during the Battle of Britain which began on July 10th the Germans on occupation duty remained out of harms way. Their experience was similar in many ways to that of those on occupation duty in Norway.

One of the favorite things for Luftwaffe crews to do in their free time was to go on sightseeing tours of the damage that they had caused just a few days before.

Here is some great private footage of German Luftwaffe Ju-52 crews training in late 1940 or early 1941. The runtime of the reel is 7.55 min.

The Battle of Britain raged on through the Summer of 1940 and was intended to soften Britain up for the planed eventual invasion which was called Operation Sea Lion, or Unternehmen Seelöwe. But preparations and training for this massive invasion were being completed in France. Other than seeing the impressive formations of planes flying overhead those stationed on the Channel Islands were little effected.

This Unternehmen Seelöwe footage is truly fabulous. If you are interested in seeing more let me know.

The Battle of Britain didn’t go as planned, the RAF was not destroyed and the German Kriesgmarine was not in control of the sea lanes. The chances of success for Operation Sea Lion was considered too slim and it was formally called off on September 17 1940.

The occupiers wanted to get along with the local population. They used propaganda to show how order was being kept and that things had gotten back to normal. Interned soldiers were shown happy and healthy but then on September 4th things changed.

On that day, two British agents, Lt. Symes and Lt. Nicolle were brought to the Southern coast of Guernsey by a British torpedo boat and managed to land at Petit Port. They were dressed in civil clothes with the intention of spying for the British government. On the island they were hidden by family and helped by friends. Without accomplishing much they were supposed to be picked up by a rescue boat 3 days later but it never arrived and so they were trapped.

Ambrose Sherwill, Attorney General and President of the Controlling Commission, was informed about the presence of the spies early on . Worried about what would happen to those that had helped them if found out, Sherwill came up with a plan. He found uniforms for them and they were to turn themselves in claiming that they’d always been on the island. He hoped that they’d be treated as POWs and not shot as spies.

The German authorities got wind of their presence, declared an amnesty for soldiers who had not yet surrendered and got them to turn themselves in. But they reneged on their promise not to punish those that had helped them, and picked up their friends and relatives. Sherwill went in to protest and was then himself arrested for his involvement. In total 16 were deported to France. Here is the proclamation that was releases on Christmas Eve of 1940.