CIOS Review 26: Escape from Alderney

Description

No 26 in the series of WW2 Occupation reviews published annually in turn by Jersey and Guernsey: Escape from Alderney – An Occupation soldier in Guernsey.

With the passing of the years, the importance of recording the memories of those who lived through the dark years of the Occupation becomes ever more pressing and, in this Review, we give due prominence to personal reminiscences of both the military and civilian sides.

Wilhelm Burkert’s recollections of his service on Guernsey as a German Army pastor is at once fascinating for its insight into the spiritual conscience of the soldier, as well as valuable for the observation it contains on the military command.  No amount of research into the surviving documentary archives can throw such preceptive personal commentary on the dry historical facts.

Of equal importance to the contemporary viewpoint is Dr August Hartmann’s paper on his service as a German naval doctor in Jersey, and especially for the information he provides on the evacuation of the wounded from the besieged St Malo and the naval battery on C?zembre. To this, Pierre Renier adds a valuable postscript detailing the final decoded messages from the isle prior to its surrender, and a separate list of the Hafenschutz vessels in the Channel Islands.