Allied attack plans ‘a shock’ to CI Occupation Society president
DETAILS of how the Allies had planned to attack and retake the Channel Islands during the Occupation, potentially leading to enormous loss of life, have come as a shock to the CI Occupation Society president.
Although Phil Martin knew that such plans existed, he had not realised how much work had gone into what would have had ‘huge consequences’ for the islands’ residents.
The details have been revealed in a new book by military historian John Grehan.
The Allied Assault On Hitler’s Channel Island Fortress was the result of Mr Grehan going through previously classified documents at the National Archives.
While several operations were considered, they eventually came down to three, with the code names Concertina, Coverlet and Condor – assaults on Alderney, Guernsey and Jersey respectively. Collectively they were known as Operation Constellation.
Mr Martin said the 1975 book The German Occupation Of The Channel Islands by Charles Cruickshank referred to these plans, put forward by the Lord Louis Mountbatten’s Combined Operations Group. But there had been no mention of them in the 1955 book Islands In Danger.
‘Evidently Cruickshank had access to files that were not available in the 1950s,’ he said.
John Nettles made reference to the operations in his 2015 book Jewels And Jackboots, but Mr Grehan’s goes into much more detail.
‘[This] did surprise me as to the possible effects on the islanders if they had been carried out,’ said Mr Martin.
‘The background and information contained in the book was a shock to me, that so much preparation was put into the planning, and replanning of a possible assault with huge consequences for the islanders.’
But the plans were eventually not carried out, partly due to the huge force required to recapture the islands at a time when the Allies did not have the capacity to cover the amount of equipment, planes and troops needed to carry out the attacks.
John Grehan has written more than 20 books covering every period of military history as well as editing or contributing to hundreds of books and magazines, including another book earlier this year in which he teamed up with local author Simon Hamon – Storming Hitler’s British Fortress, about the commando raids on the Channel Islands during the Occupation.
