When Germany occupied the originally 'demilitarised' Channel Islands in
1940, Hitler ordered the area to be staunchly fortified with colossal
permanent structures like Battery Moltke on Jersey. As it was the only
piece of the British Isles in Nazi control, he was determined that the
islands should remain German forever. Churchill was equally obsessed,
urging numerous commando raids and harebrained schemes for the invasion
and liberation of the islands. But when France was freed in 1944, the
Channel Islands were completely bypassed. German troops were cut off
from their supplies and the island population began to starve. Occupied
for almost the entire war, these quintessentially English islands serve
as a fascinating microcosm of what Britain might have been like under
Nazi rule. With one German soldier to every three islanders, resistance
had to remain at a low level: possession of a radio merited a prison
sentence.The Last Raid is an atmospheric account of life under German
occupation, as well as the political manoeuvring behind the scenes. With
the first detailed account in English of the Granville Raid, a unique
German commando operation, Will Fowler combines the social experience of
war with the military to form a fascinating chronicle of the fight for
the Channel Islands during the Second World War.
