Jersey
under the Swastika!

Page 20 - Philip Frederick Le Sauteur

CHAPTER SEVEN (SECTION 1)

Feeding the Islanders

It has been said that an Army marches on its stomach. It can be said quite as truthfully that it is on their stomachs that people live — and only on their stomachs that they can hope to continue living in the normal reading of the term. War brings many changes in the lives of all people, but the basic factors remain constant, and any interference, in the main, is destined to bring about changes which may be characterized as catastrophic.

The problem of food, naturally, had always occupied the thoughts of those responsible for the feeding of the Islanders, and the foresight of local trades in anticipating shipping difficulties had resulted in the holding of heavy stocks, especially of foodstuffs and other essentials. So, when the occupation became factual, the prospects in this direction appeared to be quite good. And they would probably have continued to be so, had not the German Military Authorities immediately earmarked a considerable proportion for the use of the German forces.

At this particular moment, the only commodities officially subjected to rationing were sugar (4 ozs.), butter or margarine (4 ozs.), cooking fat (4 ozs.), and meat (12 ozs.); but the shops generally wisely did their best in rationing the other foodstuffs unofficially. Many orders were — expectedly! — issued by the Authorities, and very early after the occupation (in August) one was issued prohibiting the cooking of meat on Thursdays and Fridays — an order which held good until the meat ration was reduced to 4 ozs., when, it was assumed, it was considered no longer necessary.

Luxuries in the food line very speedily began to disappear from the shops, assisted in great measure, no doubt, by the rapacious appetites of the occupying forces, who appeared to have had no time for eating during their "Grand Tour" of France, and were therefore making up for lost time, so to speak. Judging by the general appearance of the troops, it must be said, British propaganda reports of food shortages in Germany, at least as they affected the troops themselves, were exaggerated.

A regulation was enacted under which the sale of cakes, rolls and currant bread, was banned. It was also ordered that bread itself was to be made with a 20% part of potato in the flour, and this must be at least 24 hours old before being sold. The initial attempts at making bread in this fashion were most unappetizing, and after many trials with smaller percentages of potato, the use of potatoes was abandoned. Another, and very important, factor which did not help the quality of the bread was the absence of yeast, its place being taken by sour dough!

In spite of the considerable stocks at the beginning of the occupation, those specially of flour quickly began to run low, and in September of that year a week's supply of flour was obtained from France, whose own stocks cannot have been too high, as that supplied to us was of the 1940 harvest, and thus really far too moist for immediate use. During this month, the meat ration was reduced to 8 ozs., and the shops by now were becoming so empty of commodities that many of them only remained open for a few hours daily.

With many members of both sexes, smoking is almost a prime necessity in life's needs, and the requisitioning of millions of cigarettes at a time by the Military Authorities made itself keenly felt everywhere. They became more and more difficult to secure, until by the latter part of the year practically no stocks at all were available for the population itself.

Supposedly with a view to ensuring an equitable (?) distribution, the Commandment introduced a rationing scheme, this allowing for 20 cigarettes a day for the troops, but only a mere 20 a week for male civilians. There was also, an allowance of tobacco — two ounces. There was this unfortunate proviso (so far as civilians were concerned), however — where the available supplies were insufficient to meet the ration, the daily ration of the Germans was given priority over the civilian's weekly share.

During November, the cooking fat ration having come to an end, and margarine having been taken off "the menu" for a while past, the total ration of fat was now only four ounces of butter. During January of the second year of occupation, the ration of butter was further reduced, this time to two ounces.

With so little to purchase in the way of foodstuffs over the bare ration, the prices of vegetables rose steadily — examples being, 3/6 per pound for haricot beans, and 5d. each for leeks. So it became necessary to control all prices officially.

The German Authorities provided the EVENING POST with a long diatribe for publication, drawing attention to the benefits conferred on Jersey under the Third Reich, and giving details of their plans to make the Island self-supporting. In place of the inevitable "spud", a quantity of wheat would be grown during 1941, but with a population of 1,000 to the square mile, plus an occupying force of some thousands, it would have needed an emulation of the miracle of the two loaves and five small fishes to make Jersey independent as regards food.

On February 17th, bread itself was rationed on the basis of 3 lbs. a week for children under 10, 6 lbs. for manual workers, and 4½ lbs. for all other people.

Before the occupation, with a population of nearly 60,000, the weekly consumption of flour was in the region of 70 tons, but shortages in other items of food resulted in a jump of 118 tons weekly for the reduced population of 40,000. The consumption of the occupying forces is not included in this figure, as they had rye bread, for which they brought their own materials.

The serious shortage of meat resulted in experiments in supplying soup in milk bottles in lieu of the ration, but this proved to be so unpopular that it was not continued for long.

Jam was rationed at the rate of one pound per fortnight, but this was for the children only.

As an indication of the extent and influence of the food shortage, it is of interest to note that the verdict given at several inquests on cases of sudden death was "due to under-nourishment."

The illicit killing of pigs had been steadily increasing, and measures were introduced by the States to cut down the mortality rate. Fairly high prices for the "black market" meat had been ruling, so as to cover the risks which those concerned had been taking, and despite restrictions, the racket was very widespread. This was due in no small measure to the fact that all local pork brought to the slaughter house was taken over by the Germans, whilst the civilians — when they did get any pork — had to be satisfied with the poorer quality imported from France. This latter fact somewhat eased people's consciences, and very few indeed refused the opportunity of a little additional meat, even if obtained through black market channels.

The latest restrictions certainly did ease the situation for the pig world a trifle, but only to the detriment of the cattle, which in their turn received the attention of the unofficial butchers.

The black market also operated in other directions, the handling of goods smuggled in from France, as well as the excess stocks of some of the more fortunate householders — and, presumably, the proceeds of the many robberies of foodstuffs which had been occurring quite regularly. The heavy demand resulted in the asking of extremely high prices — and obtained, as well! — for such items as sugar (15/- a pound) and tea. Such luxuries as chocolates — smuggled in by the crews of the barges — had almost no limit to their monetary value, while cigarettes arriving by the same channels were sold at 3/- to 4/- for 20.

After a period of 4 ozs., the tea ration was reduced to 2 ozs. Tobacco still being off "the menu", so to speak, induced many smokers to try out ersatz concoctions. The leaves and petals of every known weed, vegetables and plant, seem to have been tried, each of which, in the opinion of someone, was "just as good", with the result that an evening spent in company with an ersatz smoker was on a par with a dinner party in a destructor.

Despite the fact that a big proportion of the 1940 crop had been shipped away either to England, or been taken over by the Germans — and despite the fact that the people of Jersey will aver in the years to come that they lived on nothing but "spuds" during the first year of the occupation — there was a considerable plus of potatoes this year (1941). The 1940 "new" potatoes were still being consumed, but somewhat naturally a proportion of these were not really fit to eat. These were usefully turned into potato flour. Many gadgets were devised for grinding these potatoes — the first stage in the conversion process — it being essential to treat from 10 to 15 pounds of potatoes to obtain a single pound of the flour. The finished product was nearly pure flour, and this made an excellent substitute for cornflour.

During the course of the year, shop-opening was further officially curtailed, this to Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Butchers' shops opened on Fridays and Saturdays only. So that the town became even more dead-looking than before. The only time when there was any animation (apart from the German soldiers on their "Marks-to-Goods campaign") was when anything extra to the normal rations — be it watercress of baking powder — was on sale. News of anything additional to the bare rations spread like wildfire, and the stuff was sold almost before it arrived into the shops.