discussion LIBERATION - 73rd anniversary

[Peter Gillson]

Hi

Today, 9th May is the Anniversary of the Liberation of Guernsey, a day of celebration and commemoration.

Our local BBC station has produced a short (45min) programme which may be of interest to anybody who is interested in the last month of the War.

A Guernsey priest and teacher, Douglas Ord, kept a diary throughout the war. The radio programme made by the BBCis John Nettles (Bergerac) reading extracts of the diary during the last month of the war, leading to the. Liberation On 9thMay 1945.

To put a little historical context to some of the references: food was not abundant throughout the War but in the period after D-Day when the Channel Islands were cut off from France and all food suppliers the situation ecame critical. That winter of 1944/45 was a period of the greatest food shortages with many people facing starvation. Indeed if it had not been for food parcels provided by the Canadian Red Cross a large number of people would have starved. The programme mentions 'the Vega' which was the ship which delivered the food food parcels.
The following are references made in the programme which may need a little explanation:

The 'Cats whisker' is a type of home made crystal radio which was common throughout the war. In the 1990's when my paternal grandmother died and we cleared her loft we found the thin wire arial for Dad's radio still in place. Being caught with one did result in people beinf deported to Germany.

'Biberach' was the concentration camp where Islanders inturned.

The 'Admiral" is to Admiral Hoffmeyer who was based in Guernsey and in control of the whole Channel Islands and was a fanatical Nazi.

'Historic States Meeting' - was a meeting of the States of Deliberation, our own parliament.

Her is the link to the 'listen again' part of the BBC website: Link

It is available for 30 days.
Peter

 

[Guest]

Hi Peter nice one and thanks for the heads up on this, I'll have a listen tomorrow while at the bench :thumb2:.
Pete :sleeping:.

 

[Peter Gillson]

When you hear the price pf cigarettes, you will appreciate why my grandad smoked dried rose petals.

Peter

 

[Guest]

Hi Peter, I found the programme very interesting, as you mention cigarettes £7.10s up to £10.00 a packet
old money, now day's that would buy a small country.
But seriously it must have been very dark times.
Cheers Peter for posting the link:thumb2:.

 

[Peter Gillson]

Glad you liked it. This was a dark time for the Islands. Different occupied countries had their own experiences, what was particularly different for the Channel Island was being cut off after D-Day, and the hardship which the isolation brought, something I don't think many other places had to suffer.

You can appreciate why it is such an important part of our history, and why it has been the focus of many of my models:

One representing the evacuation - families had about a day to decide whether or not to evacuate their children:

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based on a well known photo:

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Based on another propaganda photo:

The composition of this one is not too good - the figures should be closer, and perhaps 3 would have been better the two:

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in 1/72 a 21cm howitzer which was part of Batterie Elefant:

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searchlight at Fort Houmet, again based on a photo:

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1/72 Wertzberg radar. It is unusual in being mounted on a small bunker. All the photos I have seen of these in Europe were on a much lower, ground level construction. All that remains now is the concrete structure, co-incidentally it is very close to where my wife was brought up, as a child she and her friend used it as a den.

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and finally, one which is quite personal. after a commando raid in 1940 the Germans realised that they did not know who was on the Island so they introduced ID cards which had to have photos attached. They sub-contracted the photography to the photographer who worked for the local newspaper who used the opportunity to 'liberate' some film which he used to take photos of the Germans. Although most ID cards were destroyed after the War, the duplicate records kept by the efficient German army still exist. Here is a photo of my dad'd record:

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He was 14.

Here is a little diorama of him about to have his photo taken:

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the composition is not very good, there are too many points of interest, but it is a diorama I wanted to build for a long time.

 

[Guest]

Hi Peter Wow what can I say :thumb2:.
Pete.

 

[Gary MacKenzie]

Very informative.
The civilian models look good , what are they based on ? ( i.e. who makes them )

 

[Jim R]

Hi Peter
Your models are not only superb but are very personal to you and the people Of Guernsey.
Thanks for sharing.
Jim

 

[Peter Gillson]

Very informative.
The civilian models look good , what are they based on ? ( i.e. who makes them )

Gary

Some of them were made a few years ago, i will check to find ut where I got them from.