Evacuation of civilians from the Channel Islands in 1940

The evacuation of civilians from the Channel Islands in 1940 was an organised, partial, nautical evacuation of Crown dependencies in the Channel Islands, primarily from Jersey, Guernsey, and Alderney to Great Britain during World War II. The evacuation occurred in phases, starting with school aged children, their teachers, and mother volunteers. The islands and the British military began the evacuation following the Allies' loss in the Battle of France, after which the British Army withdrew from the islands.

Background The occupants of the Channel Islands became involved in European events of 1938–39 only as distant and worried listeners to the radio and readers of newspapers. The declaration of War by Britain on 3 September 1939 increased the concern. However, life in the islands continued much as normal. By spring 1940 the islands were advertising themselves as holiday destinations.

On 10 May 1940, the Phoney War ended and Belgium and the Netherlands were invaded. Little did the islanders imagine their homes would be under German occupation for five years, before liberation on 9 May 1945.

When it became clear that the Battle of France was lost, time was limited for anyone to evacuate, even so 25,000 people went to Great Britain, roughly 17,000 from Guernsey, 6,000 from Jersey and 2,000 from Alderney in the ten days before the German troops landed at the end of June 1940. Most civilians who were evacuated went to England.

Volunteers and early evacuees The National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939 passed on 3 September 1939 enforced full conscription on all males between 18 and 41, however it only applied to the United Kingdom and had no effect in the independent Channel Islands. A number of men, especially those who had served in the Royal Guernsey Militia or the Royal Militia of the Island of Jersey as well as men who had been in the Officers' Training Corps at Victoria College, Jersey and Elizabeth College, Guernsey travelled to England, volunteered and were swiftly taken into the armed services, the Jersey militia men leaving as an organised unit.

By mid May 1940 the news was not good; Germans were fighting in France and individuals as well as whole families were making plans and taking the ferry to England. Even so, holidaymakers were still coming to the islands. By the beginning of June, the evacuation of Dunkirk was the main topic of conversation, resulting in more people considering leaving the Channel Islands. Paris surrendered without a fight on 14 June.

Not knowing that on 15 June the British Army commanders had decided the Channel Islands were not defensible, the islanders were surprised to see the resident army units quickly depart on ships, with all of their equipment; the islands were being abandoned. The "Channel Islands had been demilitarised and declared... 'an open town'...", without telling anyone, until after the islands had been bombed on 28 June, as the British government did not want to invite the Germans to take the islands.

June 1940 evacuees

School children On 19 June the Guernsey local paper published announcements that plans were well in hand to evacuate all the children from the island, telling parents to go to their schools that evening to register and to prepare to send the children away the next day. Some schools asking that the child and their suitcase be brought so it could be checked. Teachers were told they were expected to travel with their children bringing assistants to help, mothers volunteered.

Some schools decided to relocate in total, whereas others had their children scattered amongst local schools all over England, Scotland and Wales. 5,000 schoolchildren evacuated from Guernsey and 1,000 stayed with 12 teachers. Amongst those who stayed were a number from the Castel school, who through a misunderstanding about the boat departure time, missed the sailing.

In Jersey there was no instruction to schools; people could decide themselves if they, or their children, should evacuate. Only 1,000 evacuated with 67 teachers, many travelling with their parents. The remaining 4,500 remained for the occupation with 140 teachers.

Other evacuees Mothers with children below school age were authorised to go on the first ships, as were men of military age.

In Jersey, where the school children were on two weeks holiday to help with the potato harvest, everyone who wished to leave was asked to register. Queues quickly appeared, with 23,000 eventually registering. The civil service could not cope and scared of potential riots with desperate people trying to get on ships, announced that it was best to stay in the island with the result that only about 1,000 Jersey children were evacuated with their parents and 67 teachers.

As soon as the majority of the first wave had departed, ships were made available for anyone else who wished to depart, however with the fear of ships being mobbed, riots amongst travellers and in the empty towns, with looting of empty houses and shops, as had happened in France on the Channel coast, the authorities pushed the message that 'staying was best', with posters saying "Don’t be yellow, stay at home", (the "patriot" responsible for this poster fled to England). This led to confusion and disorder, especially in Jersey where the authorities did not think it necessary to evacuate children, therefore it was safe for adults to stay.

The reasons why people stayed or evacuated were personal, ranging from fear of the unknown to noble thoughts of continuing the fight with Great Britain. Only a few people were put under pressure to either evacuate or stay, often due to their important jobs.

The island authorities assumed that all locals who particularly feared a German occupation would leave the islands, such as people of the Jewish faith. Some certainly did, however it came as a surprise to find out later that others had decided not to leave or who were barred from entering the United Kingdom, because they were "aliens", resulted in around 20 people the Germans would define as "Jewish" becoming trapped in the islands.

Houses, cars and businesses were abandoned by those evacuating. Some locked their front doors, some did not, reasoning that someone would break the door to get in anyway. Some gave away pets, others just released them, many put them down. Some gave away furniture and belongings, some gave it to someone for safe storage, others simply walked away, leaving dirty dishes in the sink and food on the table. The withdrawal of cash from banks was limited to £20 per person. People could take just one suitcase.

The Lieutenant Governor of Jersey and Lieutenant Governor of Guernsey left their islands on board ships on 21 June 1940, the day France surrendered.

Ships

Ships urgently needed to evacuate soldiers from France in Operation Aerial, were diverted to help civilians in the Channel Islands. Marshal Philippe Pétain requested an armistice on 17 June and on 19 June nearby Cherbourg was captured by German forces.

25 ships took people from Guernsey on 21 June alone, ships like the SS Viking, built in 1905, and which served as HMS Vindex until 1918. Requisitioned in 1939 as a troopship, she transported 1,800 schoolchildren from Guernsey to Weymouth. Eighteen ships sailed on 21 June from Jersey including the SS Shepperton Ferry carrying military stores and 400 evacuees. Evacuation ships stopped on 23 June, when ships sailed for England empty. The regular cargo boats and ferries were asked to resume normal service and six evacuation ships were sent to Alderney on 23 June, where previous ships had docked and left almost empty of passengers. 90% of all Channel Island evacuees were taken to Weymouth Harbour, Dorset.

Several ships including the Southern Railway SS Isle of Sark, the normal cross channel ferry, were docked in St Peter Port harbour on 28 June when the Luftwaffe arrived and six Heinkel He 111 bombers attacked Guernsey. Lewis machine guns on the ships opened fire, to no visible effect. The bomb damage was mainly to the harbour where lorries loaded with tomatoes for export were lined up. 34 people died. A similar attack occurred in Jersey where nine died. That night the Isle of Sark sailed for England with 647 refugees. She was the last ship to sail, its Captain, Hervy H. Golding being awarded an OBE for his actions that day.

The fact that Guernsey was loading ships with tomatoes rather than people indicates the lack of panic; ships from Guernsey and Jersey designated to carry evacuees were sometimes packed, but others did not sail to their full capacity. No hospital ship had arrived to take the elderly and sick away. Several ships, including the Guernsey lifeboat, were machine gunned by German aircraft. With enemy aircraft and submarines operating in the Channel, it was lucky that no evacuation ship was sunk.

Aircraft

R.A.F. units moved from Dinard in France to Jersey on 15 June, No. 17 Squadron RAF and No. 501 Squadron RAF flying sorties until 19 June, in support of the evacuation from Cherbourg, when the aircraft flew to England and the ground support units were evacuated on the SS Train Ferry No. 1. Other military planes were using the Islands - on 17 June 1940, a de Havilland Dragon Rapide DH.89 plane arrived in Jersey from Bordeaux evacuating Général de brigade Charles de Gaulle from France. He stayed for lunch whilst waiting for the plane to be refuelled, before flying on to London.

319 people evacuated the islands on five civilian de Havilland Express DH-86 aircraft, between 16 and 19 June, landing in Exeter.

Evacuees in the UK

Schools Upon arrival in England, the Guernsey school children were met with mountains of jam sandwiches, bread and butter and tea, before being given a medical and put on crowded blacked out trains, machines most island children had never seen before, to be transported north. There were 5,000 Guernsey children with their teachers and 500 mothers who became teaching assistants. Elizabeth College, Guernsey sent initially to Oldham, moved on to Great Hucklow and Buxton in Derbyshire Intermediate School for Boys merged with Oldham Hulme Grammar School Intermediate School for Girls went to Rochdale Ladies' College went to Denbigh in Wales Forest and St Martin's Schools set up in Cheadle Hulme in Cheshire Other primary schools managed to keep pupils together and established themselves in several small communities.

Most Alderney and Jersey school children were scattered, attending different local schools, except Victoria College, Jersey pupils who congregated at Bedford School

In the years to come, children leaving school at the normal age of 14 went into occupations including war industries and would join the Home Guard. 17-year-old girls could join the ATS or WLA.

Families

Some reception centres run by The Salvation Army and WVS helpers were surprised to discover that Channel Islanders could speak English, having arranged for translators to be available, islanders answering questions put to them in French with their own local Patois which the translators could not understand. Some ignorant people asked if they had sailed across the Mediterranean and why were they not wearing grass skirts.

Stockport received at least 1,500 refugees and would years later erect a blue plaque to commemorate the event, others went to Bury, Oldham, Wigan, Halifax, Manchester, Glasgow and many other towns.

Some mothers travelling with children whose husbands either stayed in the islands or had joined the armed services initially found attempts were made to take their children away as it was considered they could not possibly look after them with their husbands away.