Jewels and Jackboots:: Hitler's British Isles, the German Occupation of the British Channel Islands 1940-1945

by John Nettles

This book was born of a series of documentary films about the German Occupation of the Channel Islands from 1940 to 1945 entitled The Channel Islands at War. It is also the fulfilment of an ambition to tell in much more detail than was possible in those documentaries, the true story of those extraordinary years. The Channel Islands were the only British soil to be occupied in the war, the Islanders the only British citizens to fall under German rule. How the Islanders reacted to the invaders has recently been the subject of heated argument and impassioned debate and for very good reasons which are explored in this book. It used to be thought that the Occupation of the Channel Islands was a rather gentle, even benign affair, utterly unlike that of, say, France or Holland on mainland Europe. It was believed that by and large the German invaders behaved reasonably well and kept within the terms of the Geneva Convention. For their part the Islanders responded by offering no resistance to their masters and only co-operating, not collaborating, with them according to that same Convention. It was certainly uncomfortable but not horrendous. Unpleasant but not unendurable - the conquerors and the conquered getting along together in what was thought to be the very model of a model occupation. That is not the whole truth. The real history of the Occupation is much different from that. It is more morally complex, ambiguous and difficult. It is the story of a sustained and wholesale attack on human values, of great suffering, venality, violence and grotesque and hideous murder. It is also the story of extraordinary courage, wise and resourceful leadership and, surprisingly, given the awful conditions, much good humour. This is the story which is told in Jewels and Jackboots. From the bombing raids on St Helier and St Peter Port in June 1940 to Liberation on 9th May 1945 the narrative unfolds largely through the words of those who actually endured those years, those people who were actually there when thousands of their neighbours were taken from their homes and shipped away to camps across Europe, there when the slave workers arrived from the eastern front, actually there when the Jews were rounded up and haled along the Via Dolorosa and actually there when after five long years the British soldiers returned once more to the Islands. Alongside the words there are the pictures that illustrate the progress of the Occupation every step of the way. Photographs of the heroes of those times of course and pictures from the Island of Alderney where untold hundreds of Todt workers worked and died. Extraordinary photographs too of the Germans as they arrived in the Islands, tall, handsome, proud, immaculately uniformed. Then, in stark contrast, photographs of the Wehrmacht in the final days of occupation. There are the stories too of the American PoWs, Clark and Haas and their successful escape from the Islands and of the three Jersey boys Audrain, Gould and Hassall who failed so tragically in their attempt and were betrayed by the mother of one of the lads. Every respected authority has been consulted to help establish the truth of the account of the Occupation that appears in this book but it is the voice of the Islanders themselves which is its most fascinating and important feature. Their stories as told to me and published here are among the most moving, marvellously humorous and wise I have ever heard. The reader cannot fail to be touched.

Genres: History, World War II, Nonfiction

579 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 25, 2012

About the author

John Vivian Drummond Nettles, OBE, is a British actor and author. He is best known for his starring roles as detectives in the crime drama television series ''Bergerac'' (1981–1991) (as title character Jim Bergerac) and ''Midsomer Murders'' (1997–2011) (as Tom Barnaby). He has also narrated several television series.

Reviews

[Agnes DiPietrantonio · Rating 4 out of 5]

An up close look at what occupation really involved

I started reading this book as a curiosity and ended up with a much better understanding of what the occupation meant. Difficult times brought out the best and the worst in the inhabitants. I sometimes wonder how the British managed to win this war. They seemed to lack any comprehensive understanding of what occupation would mean to these islanders who they abandoned to the Nazi occupiers. A true story of survival.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting but not as good as I hoped. Rather dry. More about political problems rather than day to day general citizens problems.

[Deborah Sowery-Quinn · Rating 4 out of 5]

My sister visited the Channel Islands a few years ago which sparked an interest in me as I knew nothing about them nor the part the islands played in the war. At the time I read The Guernsey Literacy and Potato Peel Society which was entertaining, as was the film, but this book is non-fiction and I found it very interesting, tho repetitive at times.

[Cynthia Oconnor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very Interesting

A very good book. Learned many things about this time and place in history. Much food for thought.
We can all learn a lesson from this.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Detailed and absorbing, but somehow not wholly satisfying examination of a difficult episode in British history.

[Lia · Rating 2 out of 5]

This could be a great book (probably is) but you wouldn't know it from the Audible edition. It's read by some kind of computer generated voice - I just couldn't listen to it

[Patricia Boyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent history of the German occupation of the Channel Islands. I was interested in the occupation of Jersey since my great-grandparents lived through the occupation.

[Kathy]

I have my doubts as to the innocence of certain individuals of the period on the Channel Islands. Traitors, betrayers, insincerity, indifference, all of these rise up in this historical account of the Channel Islands of the period. No doubt about it war does bring out the worst in people and shows up the good! Many Islanders who suffered and died through neglect, indifference, betrayal or simple abandonment, they or their descendants have every right to ask for justice from many Islanders for what they went through. But with so much criminal action meted out by so many during WWII no doubt it was difficult, perhaps even impossible to judge so many at the end. This is a stoic, calm and analytical look at the Channel Islands of the 1940s but it produces emotional and tormented images too. For those interested in WWII period and who wants to know more about the Channel Islands and it's people during this period this book is well worth reading, this will open your eyes to the repercussions of war on normal communities.

One certainty I feel is true, the Channel Islands were abandoned by Britain, who turned it's back on them. Yet, after the war there was this arrogant expectation of how the Islanders behaved while occupied. I have to ask, where did the British feel that they had the right to judge people who were faced with such evil, with absolutely no support! It was the British Government who was guilt of a crime against the Island people! Not the islanders!

Even though I read this over several months, I found the retelling of this history fascinating.

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is good if a bit repetitive in places. I learned much about the Channel Islands during WWII. It was scary and fascinating to learn about it.

[Robert Omalley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, well researched but a little disjointed and repetitive.

[Sue Griffing · Rating 4 out of 5]

As other reviewers mentioned, repetitive in places but absolutely fascinating. I learned so much about these islands and what the people went through during WWII.