As we approach our 80th Anniversary of Liberation, we’re reflecting on the bravery of Islanders through the Occupation. One of the most infamous acts of resistance was keeping the Islands of Guernsey up to date with news from the outside world.
Read on to discover the secret organisations who kept our Islands informed.
In 1942, the German Occupation of the Channel Islands during World War II resulted in the confiscation of all radios and televisions. Islanders were unable to receive any trustworthy information as they were cut off from Britain, and instead, they only received news that was filtered and distorted by Nazi propaganda. As a result, several groups across the Islands sneaked out past curfew to meet in secret locations as an act of resistance.
Throughout the island’s Occupation, two significant news outlets were created. Guernsey Underground News Service (GUNS) and Guernsey Active Secret Press (GASP). These news outlets were a large part of Guernsey's resistance as collecting and sharing news was a small act of defiance, some braver locals shouted news across town while cycling to spread information quicker. These updates about how the war was developing helped to boost Guernsey's morale during the ongoing events of the war.
Guernsey Underground News Service was founded by four locals, Ernest Legg, Charles Machon, Henrietta Gillingham and Joseph Gillingham, later joined by Frank Falla and Cecil Duquamin. GUNS relied on islanders with secret radios listening to BBC news as well as carefully preparing newsletters to distribute across Guernsey, and by its peak 300 copies of GUNS were being delivered every day. However, the GUNS members were eventually betrayed and caught by German Forces, and sent to prisons across Europe. Sadly two members passed away while in prison, including Charles Machon in Hamelin Prison Hospital in 1944.
One member, who did survive, was Frank Falla, who returned to Guernsey to compile a huge volume of accounts, which aimed to portray the Channel Island's resistance to the Occupation. Decades after the war these documents were discovered at the back of a wardrobe, and are now being studied at Cambridge University. In 2017 a Blue Plaque in memory of the GUNS members was unveiled on the site of their former office at the Bordage.
Guernsey Active Secret Press was a smaller news outlet that distributed typed news sheets to a select group of islanders throughout the German Occupation. From June 1942 to May 1945 the group distributed weekly and monthly newsletter to islanders and was run out of an office above a bicycle shop, now a restaurant in St Peter Port.
It is believed around 35 islanders were involved in producing the press, but that many more were involved in the news sheet distribution. GASP were so secretive about their work that some of their descendants didn’t know about it until the discovery of secret pages in a loft many years later that inspired deeper research. GASP was never caught by the Nazis, and operated secretly throughout the war.
A Blue Plaque for GASP was unveiled on Tuesday 6th May, two days before our 80th Liberation Day.
As our 80th Liberation Day approaches, it is the perfect time to remember the Islanders who never stopped resisting the German Occupation and remain an important part of our island’s history to this day.
Sources:
https://www.visitguernsey.com/articles/2018/the-real-secret-society-of-the-occupation/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-guernsey-61354690
Further reading:
https://guernseypress.com/news/2017/04/24/guernsey-underground-news-service-blue-plaque-unveiled/
