Stamps of the occupied Channel Islands
As the German Blitzkrieg raced across northern France in 1940, the British Channel Islands made an easy — if not strategic — target for the German forces.
Although they are British soil, the islands are much closer to France’s coast than to England’s. As well, much of the population had recently been evacuated and the islands were fully demilitarized. The Luftwaffe and ship-borne infantry merely needed to arrive and claim the islands. It was a propaganda coup for Hitler to have “conquered” some British soil. It was also a foreshadowing of what the British people should expect if the Battle of Britain was lost.
The initial German policy was to treat the islanders well, but the hallmarks of Nazi occupation soon appeared — deportation of Jews and “undesirables” to concentration camps, importation of brutally treated slave labourers to build fortifications, excessive punishment for infraction of increasingly oppressive regulations.
The major difference between the occupied islands and the rest of Nazi-occupied Europe was that the island area was small and the number of occupiers was comparatively large; there were two Germans for every three islanders. This made serious resistance impossible.
A woman caught daubing V for victory on a German sign was sent to die in a camp. Mrs. Winifred Green was imprisoned in France for answering a “Heil Hitler” greeting with “Heil Churchill!” (She survived and was called “Mrs. Churchill” on return.) So sabotage usually was at a subtle level, and stamps became one successful method.
By December 1940 the stocks of British 1d stamps were running out. A first stopgap measure was to allow 2d stamps to be “bisected” (cut diagonally) to serve as 1d stamps. Next, a crude swastika overprint was devised in Jersey to cover British stamps. At that time, the Bailiff of Jersey still had enough power to have Berlin listen to his complaint about defacing the
King’s portrait; the stamps were destroyed. What were needed were locally produced stamps.
Guernsey produced the first, with the Germans insisting that there could be no image of the King or England. Designer E. W. Vaudin’s design featured the Arms of Guernsey; three heraldic lions on a shield. The Germans never did catch on that this crest was almost identical to the Personal Arms of the Sovereign of England.
And Vaudin went a little further; he took the dangerous step of adding a tiny V in each corner. Again, the authorities missed the sign that had become a symbol of resistance all over Europe.
Jersey followed, copying the Guernsey design that had already been passed. Now the designer added his touch. Col. Norman Rybot, a retired Indian Army officer had received the DSO in the First
World War for his actions in Mesopotamia.
Two years as a POW in Turkey did not endear him to now being a virtual prisoner in his Jersey home. His version of the 1/2d green carried the letters AABB in the corners, which he said stood for “Atrocious Adolf Bloody Benito.” The 1d red had corners AAAA, for the Latin “Ad Avernum Adolf Atrox” (“Go to Hell Atrocious Adolf!”) This wasn’t universally known until after the war, but I am sure there were war-time islanders in the know, snickering when posting a letter.
By 1943, authorities in Jersey felt a more attractive set of scenes of the island was needed. Yet again, the stamp designer pulled one over on them. Artist Edmund Blampied had a good reason to despise the occupiers — his wife Marianne was Jewish. So all six stamps have numerals of value on inverted Vs. But the 3d “Gathering Seaweed” is the bravest; the script initials on either side of the 3 are G R- the monogram for “Georgivs Rex”, King of England.
On Jan. 6, 1943, the field commandant gave his official approval of the designs.
The Channel Islands were bypassed on D-Day, and the nearly-starved residents had to wait for the general German surrender for liberation. A final postal notethe first location liberated in Jersey was a radio repeater station.
A Mr. Warden, postal employee, became tired of waiting for British troops to land, so he went into the building and told the officer in charge that he was taking them prisoner in the name of the post office. The enemy surrendered. He must have been wearing his uniform with the really shiny buttons that day.