9th March 1945
Occupying forces mount a desperate raid on Granville
By March 1945, things were looking bleak for Germany. It was losing the war, and the occupying for on Guernsey was running low on supplies. Fortunately, for them, they knew where to find some: Granville. They just needed to formulate a plan, and find the right team for the job.
Vital information
Granville lay just 60 miles (95km) away from Guernsey, and 30 miles (50km) from Jersey. By this point in the war, the part of France that included Granville was in Allied hands. The Allies themselves had set up a prisoner of war camp for captured German soldiers, from where two had escaped the year before.
They’d made their way back to the Channel Islands with valuable information. They knew, first hand, that the Allies has stocks of coal, which the Germans desperately needed, and which signal needed to be given to get the sea gates to open.
The Germans plotted a raid on Granville, with the sole intention of taking those supplies, and bring them back to Jersey, Guernsey and Alderney. They put their plan into action on the night that straddled the 8th and 9th of March.
Easy entry
They gained access to the port without any difficulty and attached mines to several Allied ships that were moored there. The charges blew, and caused severe damage, but not enough to complete sink them.
Realising what had happened, the Allies put up a fight. The allies lost 22 men, with several others taken back to the Channel Islands as prisoners of war. The Germans lost just six.
Even so, the raid was not a great success. The German raiders managed to take away just a single load of coal which, though useful, would have been short of what they’d been aiming for.
Just two months later, the occupying forces surrendered the Channel Islands to the Allies, and for them the war was over.
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Other events that occured in March
Guernsey’s island-wide police force is established
- Guernsey's island-wide police force took over from a system of local parish constables.
- Read more…
Guernsey to UK telephone connection inaugurated
- Guernsey was connected to the mainland telephone network in 1931.
- Read more…
Famed printer Thomas de la Rue born
- Known as the Father of the Playing Card, this printer set up a business that's still thriving.
- Read more…
Birth of Baron James de Saumarez
- Guernsey-born Baron James de Saumarez fought in many of the Royal Navy's biggest sea battles.
- Read more…