Hypocritical occupation of Great Britain

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Everyone is sure that Great Britain was never occupied by Germany, but this is not entirely true. The Channel Islands off the coast of France were occupied, they belonged to Great Britain. It will be very useful for every Russian person to find out exactly how this happened.

In 1940, Churchill made a fiery speech about a possible Nazi German invasion of Great Britain: “We will defend our island, whatever the cost, we will fight on the coast, we will fight at the landing points, we will fight in the fields and in the streets. we will fight in the hills, we will never surrender. It all sounded very beautiful, but this is what exactly happened in reality when the Germans occupied in 1940-1945. British territory in Europe - Channel Islands off the coast of France …

During the occupation, not a single shot was fired - not a single partisan was found on the 66 thousand British on the islands. Not a single German soldier was killed or even wounded. The general opinion was expressed by a certain Dr. John Lewis - "any sabotage will be not only dangerous, but also completely counterproductive."

Nobody came out to fight on the fields and streets. Courts worked, but according to the laws of the Third Reich, the British police continued to serve on the streets - they were only paid in the Reichsmarks. Cinema and theaters worked. The British did not groan with oppression. Volunteer detachments guarded airfields from where planes took off to bomb London. Everyone was convinced that London would fall.

"Resistance? What kind of resistance?" - the islanders asked with surprise the British writer Madeleine Bunting, who wrote a book about the occupation in the nineties, and interviewed many eyewitnesses for this. 570 people were sent to concentration camps in Europe - among them there were three Jews, three communists, the rest - "for criminal offenses" ("pickpockets", violation of the curfew, theft of food from warehouses), 22 did not return.

No, what I mean, resistance happened. A certain man refused to live in the same house with his wife, who sewed clothes for German soldiers. Once again, a German corporal, who was standing by a citizen, photographed his daughter without permission. He bravely complained to the commandant's office, and the soldier was transferred to another house. By the way, wait, the soldier was paid generously.

Denunciation was widespread, informants received 20-50 Reichsmarks for denunciation. For example, one islander reported to three friends that they were listening to British radio, and they were sent to prison.

"Two good friends" betrayed an old woman who hid an escaped prisoner from a German camp.

After the liberation, the traitors were not convicted, because, you know, something like that happens: what is so terrible here, people wanted to earn a little extra money, all the damned invaders are to blame. Not a single incident of collaboration has been investigated.

There was only one case of real courage. Mary Ozanne, a Salvation Army preacher, protested the brutality of Soviet prisoners of war on the islands. She was warned that it would not end well. She said she didn't care and she protested anyway. The woman was sent to prison, where she died in April 1943.

Other cases of resistance - even stand, even fall. For example, an incident is described where a German soldier, drunk in the ass, came down the stairs, and the British police saw this and did not help him. He fell down and lost consciousness - then they called an ambulance for him. These are how brave people were, not what they are now.

On the islands there were 4 concentration camps for prisoners of war (mainly from the USSR) who built military fortifications. 700 people were killed and buried on the island. As is clear from the case of the old lady, they were sometimes hidden and fed, but in general, such acts of kindness were rare. The islanders did not want to quarrel with the Germans, and did not want to get involved in problems. "But they treated the prisoners with sympathy," as the historian writes. The prisoners from this, of course, became much better.

On May 9, 1945, German troops surrendered on the islands - moreover, on one island they surrendered altogether on May 16 only, since no one came for them. The islanders happily greeted the British, officials promptly removed portraits of Hitler, flags with swastikas, and hung portraits of the king. And even in the center there is now the area of Liberation from the yoke of the accursed occupation. The same police that served under the Germans honorably served in the honor of the king.

Churchill's beautiful words remain in the memory, and the British are often quoted as a sign of the courage and resilience of their nation. This is wonderful because it is often better not to know the truth.