Jersey
under the Swastika!

Page 38 - Philip Frederick Le Sauteur

CHAPTER ELEVEN (SECTION 2)

1943

A local clergyman, his wife and daughter, were imprisoned for news distribution, and enquiries were proceeding with respect to another radio news case at St. Saviour's, as a result of which sixteen persons, including Deputy Mourant and Canon Cohu (the Acting Rector), were subsequently sentenced to terms of imprisonment ranging from two years downwards. Many of these people were still in Germany when the end of hostilities came and Jersey was again free.

After a quiet period, anti-aircraft batteries again went into action, this time on the night of March 22nd. Compared with a year previous, there was a distinct decrease in the intensity of the barrage put up. At one time there must have been more than one hundred guns of various calibres in the Island, which all went into action at the least possible excuse — by now, however, the number seemed to have been reduced by half.

An R.A.F. plane crashed into the sea off Corbiere on sunday, April 11th. A.A. guns opened fire at it, but it was already in trouble before that happened, and the German guns could hardly claim that they had been responsible for its destruction.

A further word about that new Eastern Railway. It was clearly evident that it was being laid down with more speed than efficiency. This struck many people. For instance, no hard core was being laid under the sleepers, these being laid down directly on the ground after six inches of soil bad been removed.

The curfew reverted to 11 p.m. on May 1st. During that afternoon a big bomber, with an escort of several fighters, passed over the Island. The raiders shot up a big ship in the roads, as well as some of the flak positions which had opened fire on them. An Me. 109 joined in the fun, and for a few minutes things became quite hectic With planes chasing each other about 200 feet above the roofs of the houses in town. As far as could be learned at the time, there were no casualties amongst the aircraft.

One also gleaned that the night before a barge loaded with horses had been sunk off Gorey, and that another barge leaving the Island was machine-gunned off Corbiere, and had to put back with casualties.

R.A.F. fighters passed quite low on the morning of May 15th, shooting up the patrol boats which, every night, were stationed at intervals off the coast. Rumour had it that one of these boats had been sunk off Corbiere. It was certainly the case that casualties were being brought ashore later in the day.

On the evening of the 16th, big scale mock invasion exercises were carried out in the approaches to the harbour precincts, and apparently this must have got the A.A. gunners' nerves worked up, for, during the early hours of the following morning, they opened fire on their own planes, the latter being on their ways to S. W. England, until they hurriedly gave recognition signals. The engine of one of the planes stopped abruptly, and it was said that the machine had crashed in St. Aubin's Bay.

The obvious need of the A.A. gunners for practice was catered for by a solitary Heinkel which, for several days, towed a target at even height and speed for their benefit. The shooting against this mark was quite accurate — a marked difference from when the gunners became excited in actions against the "enemy" planes.

It was naturally, difficult securing accurage information of such happenings, but from what could be gathered, there was a fracas at the German-occupied Ritz Hotel on the night when the fall of Tunis was announced, as a result of which, it was stated, two officers and fifteen men found themselves compelled to decamp in a hurry. It seems to bave been suspected that they bad gone into hiding in the Westmount to First Tower district, and an extensive search of houses in the area was made, but whether or not the men were ever traced is not known.

After a hurried laying of a special gas main from the gasworks to the power station, followed by a lengthy wait while the necessary machinery was arriving, part of the electricity supply was now being produced by gas plant.

The hours of gas supply were again changed, gas now being available from 7.30 a.m. until 3.0 p.m., and from 5.0 p.m. until 8.0 p.m.

Following a night of considerable R.A.F. activity in the neighbourhood, the morning of May 22nd brought the very pleasant sight of a ship of between 2,000 and 3,000 tons perched firmly on the rock of Noirmont. Whether the two items are in any way connected is not known — she may have been damaged by planes and run on the Grunes aux Dardes in her hurry to reach harbour. It would appear that no lives were lost, and the vessel remained for some time, until the sea itself achieved its usual practice of levelling things off!

Engendered by recent happenings, and added respect for the R.A.F. and Jersey's own submarine menace (the rocks themselves) was shown by the fact that the lights at Noirmont, Greve d'Azette and St. Clement's were now put on whenever shipping was in the neighbourhood, and ships arriving were now frequently equipped with the hitherto-scoffed-at British idea of barrage balloons. The first two so fitted were unlucky with their choice of weather — one got entangled with the barbed wire with which the piers were so liberally festooned, whilst the other got hooked up in the peak of a crane, and had to be shot down — exit two new balloons!

R.A.F. fighters treated a gun position at L'Etacq to a few bursts of machine-gun fire on the forenoon of the 25th, after having a general look around the Island.

Despite the fact that the funeral was held half an hour earlier than had been unofficially disclosed, many hundreds of people lined the roads from the hospital to St. John's Cemetary at 7.0 a.m. on the morning of June 6th, to pay homage to Sergeants D.C. Butlin and A. Holden, two R.A.F. men whose bodies had been washed ashore. The public were not allowed into the cemetary during the ceremony, being represented by States Members and others, but credit must be given to the Germans for the respect shown. Full milititary honours were given, and later in the day many wreaths were laid on the graves by civilians.

Following a spate of anti-invasion manoeuvres, there was a general alarm on June 8th, but the reason was not disclosed. There was another alarm, this on the evening of June 11th. Another quickly followed, this being two days later. The reason for these frequent "panics" was not made known, but they may, of course, have resulted from small scale Commando raids somewhere along the French coast.

During this period, despite the obviously nervous state of the garrison troops regarding the possibility of invasion. there seemed to be no air activity in the locality by either side. The translation of the message read out by Major General Schmettow, the Military Commandant, to a big parade of troops held to commemorate the anniversary of the occupation, expressed the intention of the Germans to holding on to the Island "until the last drop of blood", holding up as an example the heroic stand at Stalingrad.