CHANNEL ISLANDERS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25717, 13 December 1944, Page 2

CHANNEL ISLANDERS

SUFFERINGS OF PEOPLE MEASURES FOR RELIEF Relief is at last on its way to the people of the Channel Islands, who arc facing their fifth winter of de r privation and suffering as prisoners of ihe German occupation forces, states the staff correspondent of the Sydney Morning Herald in a cablegram under date November 27. Two British relief ships are at present at Lisbon (Portugal), awaiting the end of negotiations between Britain and Germany before sailing for the islands. The German garrison was cut off from the mainland when St. Malo (France), their last supply port, fell to the Americans in August! The islanders’ story since the invasion in June, 1940, is being pieced together in London from reports believed to be reliable. Sixty thousand men, women, and children on Jersey and Guernsey are allowed 41b of bread and 2oz of butter a week. Sugar and flour stocks are exhausted. Before D-Day the islanders received 2oz of meat a week, and once a month were given a quantity of macaroni or vermicelli. They now get neither. There is no salt on the islands, and buckets of Channel water, collected by the few who are given access to the beaches, are sold for cooking. Black marketing is rampant. Tea, otherwise unobtainable, costs 10s a lb. Country people make tea from white mangolds, which are grated and baked until the shreds are black. Most children hav<s a single pair of wooden clogs, which were formerly issued every six months, but are no longer being supplied. There is no leather, but old motor tyres, asbestos sheeting, and other materials are used for repairs. Clothing, when obtainable, brings fantastic prices. Many wear clothes of sacking or canvas. There are no ansesthetics, and surgery that would merely prolong life for a few months is not performed. Those prepared to co-operate witn the Germans —they are fairly numerous—receive preferential treatment. In Jersey alone there are 3000 illegitimate children of German fathers. There are as many Germans on Guernsey as British—2o.ooo. There are 15,000 troops and 2000 Todt (fortressbuilding) workers' on Jersey, where Russian war prisoners were shot after digging their own gravest