CHAPTER TWELVE (SECTION 3) 1944 The telephone staff resumed their duties on the 12th, though the phones were still cut off for general use. Between the hours of 8.0 a.m. and 8.0 p,m., however, doctors, hospitals, the Fire Brigade and such essential services, were able to make calls. As it was not possible to put through calls to them from any ordinary telephone, this was not a very valuable concession and if, for example, a house was on fire, it was necessary to contact a medical man or someone else whose telephone was working, in order to call the Fire Brigade. The night of the l3th was one of great air activity, with local flak in operation and shrudding explosions along the French coast. There was an action against some German shipping during the early hours of the following morning in which, according to the B.B.C., the ASHANTI and a polish destroyer sank three ships, left two afire, and stopped and damaged the remainder of a convoy of M-class minesweepers. Actually, only two of the seven vessels reached the harbour, one of whch had a bare space forward, normally occupied by a gun and the other, though bearing no immediately visible signs of damage, was berthed so as to groud at low water, and many men were later working feverishly on her. Ambulances and charabancs were busy all of the morning bringing casualities and survivors up from the piers, and watchers from the south coast reported that the sky was lit like daylight by the numerous star shells during the action. Later on, during the afternoon, an American Tornado fighter, which was apparently in trouble, crossed the Island at a very low altitude and crashed on a farmhouse at Le Marais, St. Ouen's. Both the plane and the house were burn out, and the pilot was killed. The occupants of the house — a woman and some children — had miraculous escapes, leaving their home by the front door as the machine crashed into it from the back. That same evening, a couple of planes came fairly low over town before going off southwards, and during the night there was spasmodic A.A. fire against a continued stream of aircraft. It appeared to be general for the guns only to open fire when planes flew so low as to be likely to attack. In the midst of this great air activity, there was a tremendous flash, followed a second or two later by a big bang, making it appear that a fair-sized bomb had been dropped on the Island. No intelligence, however, could be gleaned afterwards on what had caused this explosion. Another bomb was dropped on Elizabeth Castle at about 9.0 a.m. on the 15th, not a single detail could be had about this. Amongst the consequences of the military events of this period was a cut in the bus services, only one service being run morning and evening on each route. Priority tickets were provided for regular long-distance travellers, limited to up to 60 per cent route. The weather during this period varied considerably — strong winds, drizzle, rain, occasional spells of sunshine — anything but the right kind of weather for the job in hand. But, in spite of this, the evidence of the presence of the Allied airforces was continuous, but not a single Luftwaffe machine had been espied since the invasion began. By the night of the 16th, the flashes of gunfire were clearly visible from St. Martin's. The American troops had reached the coast at its closest point to the Island, almost precisely four years after a similar sight had heralded the arrival of the German forces. It was a pleasant coincidence that the Columbia Broadcasting Company man who reported over the radio ovelooking the Island of Jersey should be a Larry Le Sueur, who almost certainly was of a family originating from Jersey. All these happenings brought great hopes to the Islanders, alas, only to be shattered — of an early release, it being then generally believed that the Germans would withdraw their troops while there was still time to prevent their being trapped. The only German reaction, unfortunately, was to speed up the fortifications still being constructed on the north and east of the Island, and to place mined triangular tank traps on the beaches, and mine the anti-glider poles on beaches so fitted, and generally to prepare for the defence of the Island. Somewhere in the region of 140 survivor and wounded were brought ashore on the 17th, the result of an engagement between the Islands. During the early hours of the following morning, there was another engagement to the south, two barges just managing to get near to the pierheads before sinking in the fairway, whilst a minesweeper was towed in minus her bows. Other ships were said to have been sunk in this action. It was reported that an Allied plane had been shot down into the sea off Corbiere during a particularly intensive burst of flak, but no definite confirmation of this could be obtained. At 8.0 a.m. on June 19th, two groups of Lockeed Lightnings came over. They were flying very fast, as well as very low. One group turned west and dropped a bomb on a gun site at "St. Anne's", Tower Road, but, being an enclosed space, no idea of the damage could be ascertained. The second group went eastwards, and aimed two 560 lb. bombs at a militry post at Platte Rocque, La Rocque, the first of which landed on the beach, and the second in the garden of the house next to Platte Rocque, just alongside the road, so straddling the gun position at which they were aimed. There was, of course, heavy flak opposition, and certainly no blame could be attached to the pilot for the fact that the bombs missed their prime target by a small margin. Unfortunately, however, there was very considerable to civilian property along the La Rocque coast road, quite a number of houses being damaged beyond repair, whilst many more were rendered uninhabitable. Once again the Island's luck held good, and there were no more than a few minor injuries sustained amongst the inhabitants of the completely-wrecked bouses. Subsequent reports indicated that, at about the same time as this raid, Lightnings attacked a U-Boat in Guernsey Harbour, and in this case alas! — had the misfortune to miss their prime target. The town of St. Peter Port suffered very considerable material damage from the blast of the explosions, but here, too, there were no serious casualties amongst the inhabitants. Later in the morning of the same day, a four-engine U.S. bomber came low over St. Helier Harbour, spraying it with machine-gun fire, white light A.A. shells burst all round. Two barrage balloons, set loose, no doubt, by the continuing high winds passed over the Island on the evening of the 20th, one falling victim (their first) to the A.A. — cum-coast defence battery at Samares, whilst the other evaded their erratic shooting and passed out to sea. A short spurt of light flak later that same night, set fire to one of the two German planes which — it later appeared — must have been experimenting with the dropping of supplies of ammunition in case the Island should become completely cut off. The blazing craft crashed into a field at Samares, and for over an hour ammunition, verey lights and petrol tanks were exploding. The crew all lost their lives in the inferno, and the occupants of neighbouring houses had a very narrow escape when one of the engines landed on a small patch of ground between two houses. Meanwhile, the other plane continued to unload its supplies by parachute, which were often illuminated by the glare of the fire as they drifted down to the ground. An article in the Island's EVENING POST reported — reputed to have emanated from Berlin — referred to the "single air attacks" on the Channel Islands, claiming that twelve planes had been shot down over Guernsey and six over Alderney, whilst damage to civilian property was confirmed. Reference was made to the strong defences of the Islands, and to the fact that it would be possible "in case of being cut off" for the Islands to hold out for a considerable time. During a particularly concentrated dose of flak against two or more passing aircraft on the evening of the 21st, it was noteworthy how quickly everyone dived for some sort of cover — the narrow escapes of the last few days had not been without their lessons. The assault on Cherbourg and the air attacks on Alderney were, to say the least, distinctly audible, and they caused the whole of the Island to rock. Another naval engagement off the South coast during the small hours of the 23rd resulted in a ship's being sunk and severely damaged, acccording to the B.B.C. news. Local evidence included many star-shells, as well as a ship ablaze at St. Brelade's. Later during the morning, an American Thunderbolt made a safe forced landing on the sand hills at the bottom of Jubilee Hill, being escorted right down by several other machines. The pilot was lucky in having picked one of the very few stretches not mined. In almost perfect weather, the R.A.F. took full advantage somewhere around, as evidenced by the continual bombing during the night and day of the 24th. In yet another naval action south-east of the Island, an escort and a supply ship were sunk, whilst the following night (25th) the third successive night battle resulted in another ship being sunk off the Paternosters. According to a Dutch barge skipper — who certainly should have been in a position to know — twenty-two ships had definitely been sunk, as well as many others damaged, in the waters around Jersey in the eighteen days since the invasion of Europe began. Rain came, and this reduced flying operations for a few days, though a Fortress did make a sedate tour over the Island at about 2,000 feet on the 25th, completely ignoring the heavy flak as though it was beneath its dignity to take any notice of it though for some reason or other the plane fired off a few verey lights — maybe it was just another way of saying Good Morning! Much heavy gun-fire off the south-east coast evidenced another sea battle during the early hours of the 27th, and later in the morning several ambulances loads of wounded were brought up to the pier. During the action, a shell landed in a garden at Samares, after having passed between two houses. With Jersey's usual good luck, this, too, failed to explode. Another action took place well to the southward the following night, in which two German patrol boats were sunk and a third believed damaged, according to B.B.C. news. The town was thronged with German scuttlers, survivors of the numerous ships which had been recently sunk, and who seemed to be getting out of hand. There were several mêlés, fortunately only amongst themselves, and two of the men were only restrained with difficulty from "commandeering" the Bailiff's car from outside the Court. Local authorities showed signs of awakening to the possibility of the new situation, and the Constables of the Island appealed for volunteers to give temporary accommodation to anyone rendered homeless by war action, whilst St. John Ambulance published a list of the places where first-aid treatment would be available after any incident. Some 4,000 French men and women O.T. workers, arrived on the 27th from Alderney, after having spent a day or two in Guernsey. Several hundred political prisoners, hitherto kept in Alderney, were brought along with them. According to the French workers, at least 900 had died in Alderney from ill-treatment, and those who saw the new arrivals brought up the piers testified of their pitiable condition. The French workers themselves were in very little better state, it being more than six weeks since they had the opportunity of washing with soap, and their clothing was little better than rags.