ISLANDERS AT WAR
In June 1940, as France was overwhelmed by the German Blitzkrieg, Charles de Gaulle flew from Bordeaux to London – and into exile. He would become one of Europe’s leading post-war figures, but it could have turned out very differently. New evidence gives us a better understanding of Jersey’s vital role in the future of France says the Editor of Jersey Heritage TV, Alastair Layzell
We have always known that the aeroplane carrying de Gaulle from Bordeaux to London on 17th June 1940 stopped in Jersey to refuel. Now, a detailed analysis of this historic flight suggests that, if it had failed to land in the island, the aeroplane would almost certainly have run out of fuel over the English Channel. And newly uncovered weather reports reveal that mist and low cloud meant a successful landing here was not guaranteed…
To understand the events of 17th June 1940, when General de Gaulle fled France for London, we need to know what went on in the days before it. Speaking in Jersey in 2022, Professor Julian Jackson, author of A Certain Idea of France: The Life of Charles de Gaulle explained that de Gaulle strongly opposed the idea of seeking an armistice with Germany…something favoured by Marshal Philippe Pétain
What were de Gaulle’s motives? Professor Jackson believes they can be traced back to his writings in the decade before the Second World War…
In June 1940, Charles de Gaulle was virtually unknown in France, even less so in England. Few could have imagined that he would lead a victory parade down the Champs Elysée in August 1944 or that he would become President of France in 1958 and create the Fifth Republic. As Julian Jackson says in his book: “During his thirty years in politics, de Gaulle was the most revered figure of modern French history – and the most hated.’ Yet ‘In France today, Charles de Gaulle is everywhere: in memories, in street names, in monuments, in bookshops.’ Over 3,600 localities have a public space named after him. He is a colossus in the political history of France…
The day after passing through Jersey, General de Gaulle broadcast from London on the BBC his famous ‘Appel’ to all Free French ending with the words, ‘Whatever happens, the flame of French resistance must not be extinguished and will not be extinguished.’ Aired at 10.00 pm British time (11.00 pm in France) few people heard it - but it was re-played four times the following day.
Slowly, those who had fled France ahead of the German invasion came forward. Listen to General de Gaulle’s speech here…
There is an interesting pendant to the story of de Gaulle’s brief stop in Jersey on his way from Bordeaux to London on 17th June 1940. It involves an RAF Wing Commander who thought he had piloted the de Havilland Flamingo which carried the General…and a forgivable case of false memory…
Seeing the Occupation of the Channel Islands through German eyes has always been controversial. When Channel Television reporter Alastair Layzell went to Bavaria in 1985 to interview Baron Hans Max von Aufsess he thought that, after four decades, viewers would be interested in the memories of someone who had been a key member of the German Field Command. But some Channel Islanders were offended that he should give airtime to Baron von Aufsess, the man who had been Head of Civil Affairs in the German Field Command, charged with mediating between the military and the States of Jersey and Guernsey…
Hans Max von Aufsess was born in Berchtesgaden in 1906. He became a member of the National Socialist Party in 1933, the year Hitler became Chancellor, and qualified as a lawyer a year later but claimed never to have been a convinced National Socialist and, indeed, his wife was arrested and imprisoned in 1944 for openly criticising Hitler. He could trace his family back to the tenth century in Upper Franconia in Bavaria and it was there, at Schloss Aufsess, the castle which bears the family name, that Alastair Layzell interviewed him in 1985.
After the war Baron von Aufsess was detained for two years in a prisoner-of-war camp in Northumberland where he was required to work as a gardener, digging and restoring the garden of a stately home just outside the village of Bardon Mill, and enter a de-Nazification programme. In all this time he wasn’t sure of his wife’s fate and that of his three children. The Baron and the Baroness were finally re-united in 1947. He practiced as a lawyer and ran the family estates but also became a prolific author of books about Franconia. He died in 1993, eight years after his interview with Alastair Layzell in which he said, of his time in Jersey: ‘they were the most important years of my life.’
Down the centuries Jersey men and women have signed up to defend Britain in times of conflict. Jersey contingents served in the two world wars of the twentieth century. And in the second of those war came to the Channel Islands – the only British islands to be occupied by Nazi Germany.
In June 1940, Jersey played a vital role in rescuing soldiers of the British Expeditionary Force trapped in St Malo as German troops swept through France. Responding to a call from the Admiralty, local boat-owners set sail for France to take part in what amounted to a ‘mini Dunkirk.’ The heroism of those who sailed south was later recognised by the British government in the permission granted to the St Helier Yacht Club to wear the defaced Red Ensign.
For eighty years this was a story about soldiers, so it was remarkable to find, in 2022, that among the human cargo of one motor yacht was a group of civilians. The story of the Weindlings changed our understanding of the events of June 1940.
In the summer of 2022, Irene Probstein’s emotional return to Jersey included a lunch given in her honour by the St Helier Yacht Club which culminated in her telling the whole story of the week in 1940 when she and her family fled Belgium ahead of the Nazi invasion.
Production of this feature was enabled by the generous support of Irène Weindling Probstein and Suzanne Weindling Burakoff in memory of Samuel Weindling and Claire Weindling, Irène’s parents and Suzanne’s grandparents. Owing to their good judgement and brave devotion they brought their family safely out of the imminent danger posed by the German occupation of Belgium and France when they passed through Jersey to freedom on that crucial day in June 1940.
The part Jersey played in the evacuation of troops from St Malo is well-known. But interviews with those who took part, recorded for a Channel Television documentary series Summer 1940, have recently been re-discovered and digitised. They include the testimony of Victoria College PT teacher and volunteer lifeboatman, Reg Nicolle, who captained the little boat Peirson.
Bill Coom captained the Desirée and never forgot the spectacle of the Royal Engineers destroying the lock-gates at St Malo to deny their use to the Germans.
In France, on the night of Sunday 16th June 1940 Paul Reynaud’s government fell and a new government was formed under Marshal Pétain, the hero of Verdun. His ministers agreed to seek an armistice with Germany.
On the morning of Monday 17th June, General Charles de Gaulle, refusing to accept an armistice, left Bordeaux for London to rally the Free French. His aeroplane stopped in Jersey to refuel.
That night, Britain’s prime minister, Winston Churchill, made a short broadcast on the BBC in which he could not deny that the news from France was very bad.
Thanks to the efforts of staff at ITV Channel, we can see the three episodes of Summer 1940. Produced in 1980 to mark the fortieth anniversary of these momentous events, they contain the testimony of many of those who were there; eyewitnesses to history.
There is always time to remember. With the launch of the feature film Dunkirk in 2017, Islander Clive Kemp was persuaded to talk about his experience of living to fight another day…
“I can see it now…there was just mayhem”
- Clive Kemp
Leo Harris’s father, a successful garage owner, brought his wife and two sons to Jersey from Edinburgh before the Second World War to escape the threat of German bombing raids. He opened the Marina Hotel at Havre des Pas - which is how the Harris family came to be trapped in Jersey when German troops arrived in July 1940. Leo and his older brother, Francis, saw the Occupation through the eyes of youngsters but things turned serious in 1944 when Francis was imprisoned for helping himself to a German rifle. He was not released until Liberation Day, 9th May 1945…
How did Jersey men and women react to occupation by German troops from 1940 to 1945? Those in charge knew they had to be careful about upsetting the occupiers for fear of reprisals on the local population. Others, especially youngsters, wanted to take more direct action. To find out more follow the 'Resistance Trail' below...
Resistance Trail
In 1985, to mark the fortieth anniversary of the Liberation, BBC reporter and producer Beth Lloyd set out to interview those who were there. She ended up with enough material to fill eighteen programmes. Most of those who were interviewed are no longer with us, so her documentary series is an important historical record…
What happened after the Occupation? How was Jersey reconciled with its German occupiers? The Jersey Peace Trail is a series of short films presented by young people from the Island’s schools. Discover stories of peace and social justice – not only from the post war years but also in other aspects of island life, including Elizabeth Fry’s campaign for reform of the prison…
