Living with the Enemy: An outline of the German occupation of the Channel Islands with first hand accounts by people who remember the years 1940 to 1945

by Roy Mc Loughlin

Foreword by Jack Higgins, Master thriller writer and international bestseller. The Channel Islands hold a unique place in British history, not least because during the Second World War they were the only part of the British Isles to be occupied by the Nazis. For five long years the Swastika flew here in place of the Union Jack and all the worst excesses of Nazi rule were present in some form or other. The iron fist in the velvet glove policy did not last long. The Secret Field Police employed Gestapo operatives on secondment and many Islanders soon experienced the horror of the early morning knock on the door leading to brutal interrogation in a manner familiar elsewhere in occupied Europe. Only those who experienced the Occupation know the anguish of it. Many thousands of Channel Islanders received prison sentences of one kind or another for contravening the law of the jackboot. To be a Jew was a crime under the anti-Semitic laws and even keeping a radio to listen to the BBC news broadcasts meant a stiff prison sentence. Many Islanders went further, assisting Russian slave workers and others on the run, eventually being sentenced to terms in French prisons or concentration camps such as Ravensbruck and Belsen. In some cases they died there. As in all occupied countries a small number of people collaborated with the enemy. That fact is meaningless when considered in the context of the unfailing loyalty of the vast majority of Channel Islanders who stubbornly persisted in the face of armed might and brute force in fighting their own war of non co-operation. They never lost faith in their belief that one day liberation would come. Living with the Enemy is a stunning account of how a small population with a belief in themselves, their own integrity and loyalty to the Crown were able to stand up to a country which at the time controlled the whole of Europe but most importantly played their own part in the eventual destruction of the Third Reich. Jack Higgins

Genres: History, Nonfiction, World War II, War, Holocaust

222 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

Reviews

[Bev Walkling · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was given this book by a relative who had visited the Channel Islands, and was interested in reading it to prepare myself for a visit I will be making to the Channel Islands very shortly. I had read several other books on Guernsey and Jersey before reading this one so didn't come at it with a blank slate.This book is absolutely loaded with pictures which I found fascinating and does an excellent job giving an overview of what life was like in the various Channel Islands without going too heavily into detail. There are lots of first person memories recounted and lest anyone think the Islanders got away with it easy during the war it makes it very clear that they did not. Included in the book are several things told from the viewpoint of the Germans as well.The author stated that "the average soldier felt almost as much of a victim of the situation as the people whom he had over-run". Both the Islanders and the Germans were starving by the last year of the war, and when Red Cross parcels arrived, the Germans could not partake of them.

I'd highly recommend this book to anyone planning a visit or just interested in what life was like for the Islanders living under the Nazi regime.

[P.E. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This quick survey gathers significant facts, aptly paced and illustrated and proves a mighty appetizer as to the general History of the Channel Islands!

Purchased while on a one-day visit in St-Hélier.

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Ce petit livre n'a pas la prétention de faire une monographie exhaustive du sujet mais se lit bien et offre à la lecture une bonne variété d'anecdotes et d'aperçus de la vie de tous les jours dans les Îles anglo-normandes ! On apprend en quoi ces îles font figure d'exception dans l'histoire de la Seconde Guerre Mondiale !

Acheté lors d'une visite d'un jour à Jersey

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating but bizarrely structured. It skips around somewhat chronologically within otherwise-ordered chapters, and the last few chapters seem like an odd recap of everything already covered.

[Don · Rating 2 out of 5]

We've had this book in the house for a few years now since a family holiday to Jersey & I've only just got around to actually reading it.
Whilst I'm generally a fan of all books about WW2 - though usually fiction rather than non-fiction - I found this book at times a hard read. sometimes it seems to have too much detail & yet at other times too little. It feels incomplete & as though sections of it have been written by different authors.
It gives the reader a general picture of life in the Channel Islands during the German occupation, but very much feels as though it has been written for the tourist market rather than the reader who seriously wants to find out what life was like " Living with the Enemy.

[Sammy Reeves · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short and easy read. Great use of first hand accounts and pictures. Really enjoyed reading it over a long train journey. Some vivid accounts and insight into the Islands culture and this period of history.

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bought this whilst on holiday in Jersey - (it being the story of the German Occupation of the Channel Islands) I thought it was pretty interesting.

[Benedict · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this up by chance in a thrift store - seeing a book about the Nazi occupation of Jersey excited me since I was interested in the subject due to reading When The Germans Came.

This book is from 1995 and serves as a summary of the occupation, with quotes from various people who lived through it. It begins with some loose pre-war background, a run-through of the main events during the occupation, some specific stories, and finishes up with some testimonies from German occupiers, all with pages of photos between each section.

Heads up, the photo pages contain a photo of a decapitated cat, which took me by surprise and shock since the rest of the photos are nowhere near as graphic in nature. I ended up covering the photo up in my copy. Just putting that here in case anyone else who is sensitive to animal cruelty imagery needs a warning.

The book itself is fairly brief. This is, by far, not my first foray into WWII literature and this comes across as attempting to grab attention rather than have any useful analysis. I was already a bit skeptical at the opening introduction basically saying "look at Britain and France and their stupid appeasement policy that caused all this" when, well yes, with the benefit of hindsight that was a bad move, but at the time we had a generation of people traumatised by The Great War and no one wanted to risk another conflict. Which is to say this book lacks any nuance. People making decisions then didnt have the hindsight we have now. The chronology of the narrative jumps around a lot and I'm sure we covered the same points multiple times.

Not overly impressed. As a first introduction to the Channel Islands Occupation it's not terrible, but a far better book exists now, and I'd recommend When The Germans Came so much higher than this.

[Amy DeWolfe]

There was lots of good information in this book and the first hand accounts give a great view of what it was like for both sides.

[Diane M aka Nanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating! Informative & genuinely engaging.

[Doris Powell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another saga of the Channel Islands under the Nazi regime during WW2. I liked this book because it gave insights about the people--both the inhabitants of the islands and the German soldiers. The German soldiers were depicted as human, except, of course, the secret police who were just all around nasty. I especially enjoyed the ruler of the island Sark. She was autocratic, and even the Germans bowed down to her.

[K.C. Finn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely fantastic book, so much more interesting than a lot of the WW2 books I've been reading because it looks very closely at the people of the islands and the human face of war and occupation. Also extremely useful research material and very in depth and compellingly written.

[Brenda Schenck · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not quite as easy or entertaining as the novels on the same topic, but still good.

[Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Took a little time to get through. Very interesting, but the writing style was a little awkward for me.