The Second World War reshaped the world order, nations were destroyed, and others were
formed, never before had a conflict reverberated throughout the world with such devastating
impact. As such, smaller theatres of the war can easily go overlooked, this is the case with the
German Occupation of the Channel Islands, which endured through most of the conflict from
the thirtieth of June 1940 to the ninth of May 1945.1 During these five years of occupied
German rule, the islands shared no forms of communication with their British counterparts
and were instead left entirely to their own devices. This chapter in history provides a unique
insight as to how British subjects conducted themselves when under hostile rule in the
twentieth century, whilst the UK itself has never been successfully invaded since 1066. The
Channel Islands have been under the rule of the British crown since that very invasion, thus,
the two territories share a relationship of nearly a millennia. Therefore, the experience of the
Channel Islands and its populace serves as an invaluable resource, to compare the potential
conditions in which the British mainland may have also undergone.