Memorial at the war cemetery in Howard Davis Park
That Was Jersey |
Local history for everyone |
CHANNEL ISLANDS |
Many memorials have been erected to remember and commemmorate the Occupation years and the Liberation which ended them.
The Occupation tapestry was created for the 50th anniversary of the Liberation in 1995. It tells the story of the whole Occupation experience, and is housed in a separate gallery by the Maritime Musuem, along with fascinating visual displays.
The War Cemetery is located in Howard Davis Park near St Luke's Church. It contains the graves of those Allied airmen or sailors who died in fighting over or around the Island. These include some of the crew of British ships (Charybdis and Limbourne) fighting in the Gulf of St Malo in 1943.
Occupying the site of the German underground hospital, the war tunnels now give an insight into the work given to the Organisation Todt workers. The tunnels are extensive, and this is the one example open to the public. The tunnels housed a fully-operational hospital, as the Germans were expecting Jersey to be invaded next after the Allies invaded Normandy. However the anticipated invasion never came, there were no German casualties and the hospital proved unnecessary.
The website of the Jersey War Tunnels includes an animated map showing the German-dominated areas as the war progressed. (On the War Tunnels website, go to Education, and choose War in Europe.) There is also a World War II Timeline showing information about Jersey in the wider context of the war.
A former German bunker houses the Holocaust Memorial at La Hougue Bie. Much of the information about deportees, escapees and other people involuntarily involved in the conflict is to be found on the Occupation Memorial website
The commando raid of Christmas 1943 is commemorated at Petit Port, on the north coast near Egypt. It was a reconnaissance raid; Captain Ayton was seriously wounded by a mine as the group of commandoes returned to the beach to leave the Island. The Captain died the following day, and a memorial recalls this raid.
From the very start of the occupation, many Islanders became unemployed. Many had worked in the tourism industry, which had ceased overnight. The States found some creative ways of giving work to these people. The building of the north road was one of these projects. Work helped to keep a sense of normality in community life, reduced the chances of idle hands being used by the German forces, and gave money to families who needed it. La Route du Nord was built as a positive contribution to the Island of Jersey. There is a memorial in the car park opposite La Fontaine, dedicating the road to the Jersey men and women who lived under the Occupation.
The plaque on the old lighthouse now situated outside the Maritime Museum on the New North Quay explains its purpose:
It commemorates more than 300 people who were deported, and especially remembers the twenty who never came back.
During 1943 a number of prisoners of war were brought to Jersey. Their POW camp was located in Pier Road, The prisoners were soldiers from French North Africa, and they came to Jersey from either Alderney or France.
A memorial has been placed near Green Island in memory of the three young teenagers who tried to escape from there in May 1942. Their story is written on the memorial stone:
A young French pilot crash landed in Trinity in 1942. The place is marked by a memorial which tells his story:
