Following Marshal Petain’s appeal to the Nazis for an armistice, the fate of the French Fleet became a matter of the gravest interest to Britain, now left as the only bulwark of Western civilization.
With sorrow the British people heard the news that, following demilitarization and partial evacuation, the Channel Islands had been bombed by Nazi 'planes and then occupied by enemy detachments. Some
Travelling along the South Coast we approached at dusk searchlight stations whence one can sometimes see the German beams across the Channel. Here between 20 and 30 miles from the enemy the armed dark
A refugee from Jersey, while waiting for nightfall to escape from the island, saw Nazi troops pass within a few yards of him. Reaching England safely, he told his story to Laurence Wilkinson of the "D
Volunteer demolition squads from the Royal Engineers helped in the destruction of French harbour works. One of these parties working at Brest had the added excitement of being marooned off the Breton
Passengers two miles out at sea on the last ship to leave Cherbourg on June 19 saw the whole quayside fall in ruins as British Marines blew up the docks. This story of the end of the great French port