Sundry Occupation photographs

Sundry pictures of the German Occupation

This page contains a wide range of pictures taken during the German Occupation. See Photo gallery of the German Occupation for more galleries on specific subjects. Further photographs will be found on pages containing individual articles on the German Occupation.

Railways

Just over a decade after the Jersey Eastern Railway from St Helier to Gorey closed down, with the land returned to private ownership, the Germans requisitioned land and built their own version, running from Gorey to town. Instead of having a town terminus at Snow Hill, the new railway, built by Organisation Todt, looped around La Collette, through a tunnel, on a trestle across the English Harbour, along Commercial Buildings, across the Weighbridge and then westward along the Esplanade. As soon as Liberation came, German prisoners of war were ordered to dismantle the railway and remove all tracks

A map of the German Occupation rail network

Railway lines being laid by Organsiation Todt workers
Harbour railway bridge
A narrow-gauge railway track ran along the quayside at St Aubin
Map of German railway lines throughout the island
German railway lines at St Helier harbour
An Organisation Todt railway engine
Railway lines laid at the Harbour by the Germans
The Germans ran a railway line across the entrance to the English Harbour on stilts
Organisation Todt railway line along St John's Main Road
Railway line along coast at La Collette
Trains moving sand from Grouville Bay

At sea

German minesweepers in St Helier Harbour
Naval assault detachment
A lookout on a German ship
Troops onboard ship - a Star Snaps of Charing Cross print
A German boat on patrol in island waters
Germans off Noirmont in an amphibious vessel
A German naval vessel in island waters
A German naval vessel in island waters
A German naval vessel in island waters
A painting of an allied attack on shipping off the coast at Noirmont
A commandeered lorry and other vehicles en route to Granville
Fritz Breithaupt, minesweeper commander
German minesweeper crew
Gorey Harbour in 1944
Commissioning of new minesweeper in 1942
Minesweeper in dry dock at St Malo
Minesweeper at St Malo
NAval crews
The States tug Duke of Normandy in 1940
St Aubin's Harbour in 1944
St Helier Harbour in 1943
St Helier Harbour in 1945
St Helier Harbour
A harbour protection vessel in St Helier Harbour in 1945

A German minesweeper in St Helier Harbour

Senior German officers

Pictures of the various high-ranking German officers in charge of military operations in Jersey from 1940 to 1945 and visiting top brass

On 11 July 1941 the Oberbefehlshaber West (commander in chief, west) Field Marshal Erwin von Witzleben, paid a one-day visit to Jersey accompanied by the commanding Admiral in France, Admiral Schultze, his chief of staff, Rear-admiral Litzmann, the Channel coast naval commander, Vice-admiral von Fischel, and the naval artillery commander in Normandy, Captain Fink. The party paid a visit to the naval coastal artillery battery Lothringen at Noirmont Point

A visit by Field Marshal von Reichenau in September 1940
The final German commandant, Admiral Huffmeier, visits Sark
Commandant von Schmettow and senior officers
An inspection by General Stulpnagel, German military commander of France
Huffmeier
von Schmettow
von Schmettow
Captain Gussek at Government House
Capt Gussek takes the salute as troops march past in the Victory Parade
Rudolph von Schmettow
Major Knackfuss
Baron von Aufsess
Erich Gussek
Erich Gussek
Friedrich Knackfuss
Colonel Knackfuss
General Schmundt
General Stulpnagel

Miscellaneous subjects

Construction of St Catherine reservoir dam

A captured British lorry
St Aubin's Harbour 1944
St Helier Harbour 1945
Gorey Harbour 1944
Unloading at Victoria Pier
Work starts on one of the many German seawalls built throughout the islands
Lager Udet
A death notice issued as a warning to islanders
Organisation Todt camp on People's Park
Aerial view of prisoner-of-war camp at Pier Road
A military vehicle is unloaded at the Harbour
A landmine explodes in St Ouen's Bay
Luftwaffe band
German field post office in Beresford Street
The former Grouville Holiday Camp became an internment camp
The former Grouville Holiday Camp
German water wheel in Grands Vaux
A German flag flies over the Pomme d'Or Hotel
Von Schmettow's headquarters in St Saviour's Road
German prison at South Hill
The power station on Queen's Road was well defended
A German funeral
Organisation Todt huts at People's Park
The German flag flies over the Town Hall
The Operation Todt centre at People’s Park
The Germans created their own hospital in the Merton Hotel
A German Organisation Todt locomotive at the Weighbridge
Trestles carried a rail track across the Harbour
A gun being unloaded at the Harbour early in the Occupation
The harbour at St Helier was a prohibited area
German tunneA German tunnel
A personnel carrier newly arrived at the Harbour
Captured French tanks in a shed at St Peter's Barracks
The German radio station at St Helier's harbourmouth
Sand was extracted from this area of Grouville Bay for concrete making
Construction of a seawall in St Ouen's Bay
Maison Maret field hospital
Sentry box at the end of St Catherine's Breakwater
The entrance to the Harbour Commandant's office at the Pomme d'Or Hotel
An Evening Post notice announcing the military zone
The Germans' own newspaper which they ordered the Evening Post to print for them
The cemetery at St Brelade's Church was used by the Germans
Nurses
Ouaisne in 1942
Portelet Holiday Camp turned into accommodation for German soldiers
Portelet Holiday Camp
Portelet Holiday Camp
Les Maltieres stone-crushing plant behind Grouville Bayu
A cow being brought from Alderney to Jersey in 1941
Krichefski's, a St Helier shop branded as a Jewish establishment
Air raid shelters
PC and soldier in front of the Pomme d'Or Hotel
People's Park
People's Park
Pier Road
Ritz Hotel
The Organization Todt bakery at Goose Green, Beaumont
Issuing gas masks
A harbour crane
The Weighbridge
Valambrosa, Beaumont