Evacuation of civilians from the Channel Islands in 1940

The occupants of the Channel Islands became involved in European events of 1938–39 only as distant and worried listeners to the radio and readers of newspapers. The declaration of War by Britain on 3 September 1939 increased the concern, however life in the islands continued much as normal. By spring 1940 the islands were advertising themselves as holiday destinations.

On 10 May 1940, the Phoney War ended and Belgium and the Netherlands were invaded. Little did the islanders imagine their homes would be under German occupation for five years, before liberation on 9 May 1945.

When it became clear that the Battle of France was lost, time was limited for anyone to evacuate, even so 25,000 people went to England, roughly 17,000 from Guernsey, 6,000 from Jersey and 2,000 from Alderney in the ten days before the German troops landed at the end of June 1940. Most civilians who were evacuated went to England.

The National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939 passed on 3 September 1939 enforced full conscription on all males between 18 and 41, however it only applied to the United Kingdom and had no effect in the independent Channel Islands. A number of men, especially those who had served in the Royal Guernsey Militia or the Royal Militia of the Island of Jersey as well as men who had been in the Officers' Training Corps at Victoria College, Jersey and Elizabeth College, Guernsey travelled to England, volunteered and were swiftly taken into the armed services. The Jersey militia men leaving as an organised unit.

By mid May 1940 the news was not good, Germans were fighting in France and individuals as well as whole families were making plans and taking the ferry to England. Even so, holidaymakers were still coming to the islands. By the beginning of June, the evacuation of Dunkirk was the main topic of conversation, resulting in more people considering leaving the Channel Islands. Paris surrendered without a fight on 14 June.

Not knowing that on 15 June the British Army commanders had decided the Channel Islands were not defensible, the islanders were surprised to see the resident army units quickly depart on ships, with all of their equipment, the islands were being abandoned. The "Channel Islands had been demilitarised and declared... 'an open town'...", without telling anyone, until after the islands had been bombed on 28 June, as the British government did not want to invite the Germans to take the islands.

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Wikipedia