Surreal Footage of British Life Under Nazi Occupation

They never taught any of this in school. Thank you!

surprisingly, the Channel Islands remained occupied until the very end of the war. a successful raid was launched by the Kreigsmarine from Jersey against the costal harbor of Granville in Normandy in 1945.

I've never seen the footage of the British officer driving Germans! Crazy scene

Subtitles don't match the audio. Looks like they belong on a different video.

Very heavily skewed narration, I would have expected better from Smithsonian. I live on the Channel Island of Jersey. The islands were de-militarised by the British government in June 1940 and British officials and their families evacuated. The islanders however were left behind and had no realistic option other than to accept German occupation. There were no British military forces left to 'defend' the islands, so the local government, in an effort to protect the lives and property of islanders, reluctantly accepted German rule for the next 5 years.

I spoke with residents of St Peter Port in 1975 who experienced the occupation. According to them the German garrison on Guernsey were, by the time the war in Europe was coming to its close, half-dead from starvation. They weren't doing too good themselves either.

Never knew this.

It would be nice to see the whole documentary sometimes instead of just three minutes.

You forgot that the british decided to withdraw, strategically, before the germans even thought about attacking.

I never knew about this or thought about these islands in ww2. Thanks

I am from Guernsey and everyone here knows about this. There are dozens of bunkers around the island and there used to be massive guns. Alderney had 4 prison camps and thousands of deaths were there

I live on Guernsey and I am proud . Our history is amazing . If you want to come and see . We will be glad to see you with welcome arms

“All slaves” except that one german officer that is shovelling too. Must have been the only one, an anomaly.

How can i watch the full documentary in the UK?! Im desperate...

Britain practically destroyed Germany's Navy and airforce before any other country stepped in. And yes, I'm American,who understands the real history of ww2. Britain done the hard work

I remember seeing the transmission for the surrender of guernsey in a museum their, also went in a half built bunker, if you can would recommend a visit

Got to see this firsthand while visiting Jersey...

None of this should ever have happened. It's horrible.

Yeah I remember that one of the very first missions that the British Special Forces undertook was a raid on one of these islands.

They aren’t British at all, they are under direct control of the queen but she delegates the running of the Channel Islands to local assemblies