The military occupation of the Channel Islands by Nazi Germany lasted for most of the Second World War, from 30 June 1940 until liberation on 9 May 1945. The Bailiwick of Jersey and Bailiwick of Guernsey are British Crown dependencies in the English Channel, near the coast of Normandy. The Channel Islands were the only de jure part of the British Empire in Europe to be occupied by Nazi Germany during the war. Germany's allies Italy and Japan also occupied British territories in Africa and Asia, respectively.
As part of the Atlantic Wall, between 1940 and 1945 the occupying German forces and the Organisation Todt constructed fortifications around the coasts of the Channel Islands such as this observation tower at Battery Moltke.
Memorial in Saint Peter Port: "This plaque commemorates the evacuation of children and adults ahead of the occupation of the island by German forces in June 1940. Four-fifths of the children and altogether almost half the population of Guernsey were transported to England so that scarcely a family was undivided. À la perchoine."
1940: A group of girls evacuated from the Channel Islands to Marple, on mainland Britain, try on clothes and shoes donated by the United States.
German soldiers in Jersey
Alderney
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Alderney is the northernmost of the inhabited Channel Islands. It is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown dependency. It is 3 miles (5 km) long and 1+1⁄2 miles (2.4 km) wide.
English Channel with Alderney in the middle
Alderney camps memorial plaque
Vegetation of Alderney (cabbage trees)
Les Étacs – gannet colony