18. Citizens Resisted As Often As They Could
At first, the German soldiers who took over the island were impressed with the immediate surrender, and they were totally satisfied that the British had accepted their fate and given up without a fight. They claimed that they would only leave behind ten soldiers, and the leaders of the Channel Islands breathed a collective sigh of relief, believing that life could continue as normal. Some people tried to escape the islands on rowboats, but many of them were killed attempting to leave.
The people who stayed behind were strong, and they did not want to give up their homes. They believed that it was their duty to fight the Nazis whenever they could. Two of the Nazi soldiers were murdered in their beds when they stayed at a hotel, and then the German doctor was killed when one of the civilians went in for a checkup. This changed everything. The Germans now believed that this peaceful surrender was simply a trap, and that they were trying to regain their control over the islands again. In response, they sent dozens of troops in order to try to keep the population under control. However, this did not stop more acts of defiance. For example, the Airport Controller on Jersey, Charles Rouche, ordered the grass to be cut to only 2 inches, which was not enough friction to land a plane, and it caused German planes to crash land. Anyone who was caught defying the Germans, however, were either executed on the spot, or sent to a concentration camp.