Living with the Enemy: An Outline of the German Occupation of the Channel Islands with First Hand Accounts by People Who Remember the Years 1940-1945

'Living with the Enemy' provides an in-depth study of how the Channel Island population - of those that remained to experience neary 5 years of German occupation - and covers 4 of the main islands being Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney and Sark. What came over to me was the feeling that if you followed the German rules of occupation then life was relatively quiet and continued on for certainly the first 3 years without undue hardship, compared to mainland European countries that suffered a much stricter regime. The book conveyed a mutual respect between occupier and the occupied as the Germans themselves regarded a posting to the Islands as a quiet retreat away from other war fronts. Life did harden later in the occupation particuarly following the D Day invasion when eventually the Islands were cut off from receiving supplies. Guernsey experienced English investigative commando landings which caused problems particuarly with concealing the soldiers from the Germans though a truce ended with surrenders and transport to POW camps in Europe.Overall the book was revealing and I found myself almost living the life, having previously watched the 'Enemy at the Door' vintage TV series [available as a boxed set of 8 episodes - great value and highly recommended!]. The book is inexpensive, excellent value and well written.

A nicely written, concise insight into the Channel islands occupation period. With the current re-run of "Enemy at the Door" on TV (Channel 81) it explains a great deal about the relationship between the German occupiers and the islanders portrayed in each episode, and the fairly light-handed authority not experienced in other conquered territories.

We visited the Channel Islands around l947. People were very friendly but somewhat cautious which was understandable. Beautiful islands. Thankfully not wrecked by the German invasion as they are strong people. I had hoped the book would give more personal accounts from the people who lived through this time. However, facts were interesting too.

Very interesting book for me as I have visited Jersey Many times as my brother lives on the island.I particularly liked the interviews with the German occupiers and their opinions of us English.Anybody who has not been to the Channel islands are missing a treat.

A real; eye-opener to the sort of life the Islanders had to tolerate.

After living for thirty years in Guernsey I found this book very interesting and gave a real insight into what it was like to live in the island during the occupation.

As a regular visitor to the Channel Islands I found this book so interesting and also moving. In fact it made me shiver and realise how lucky we are.

A revealing series of episodes and reflections to illuminate a dark period in our British history. The humanity and the brutality live together in these pages in vivid memoir