A gallery of photographs of German troops at leisure

German troops at leisure

A barbecue for German troops

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  Islanders could not post anything outside the island, except to Guernsey, but there were no restrictions on the German occupiers writing home ...
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  ... this was a typical German postcard, sent to Hamburg, in early 1944, before D-Day brought a stop to outgoing mail, with both Jersey and German stamps applied
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  Another letter home in 1944 with a mix of Jersey and German stamps
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  A card sent to an Army comrade back in Germany
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  No doubt their fuhrer was a popular subject on postcards home
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  Another card to the Hennig family in Hamburg, perhaps the last sent only a month before D-Day

German soldiers with a requisitioned car - we are told that, unusually, the owner received compensation for the loss of the vehicle - £125

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  Havre des Pas pool in 1941
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  German cavalry officers exercise their mounts on the beach at Beaumont
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  Aberfeldy Hotel 1944
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  Aberfeldy Hotel 1944
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  Aberfeldy Hotel 1944
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  Soldiers cleaning their equipment
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  This photograph shows German soldiers with nurses dressed as 'Easter bunnies'
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  A gun crew relax outside their hut
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  Luftwaffe airmen in 1940 with a requisitioned Jaguar SS
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  NCOs at the Aberfeldy Hotel in 1944
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  Off-duty soldiers walk along King Street
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  German soldiers walk past the Town Hall
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  At Portelet
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  Off-duty soldiers soaking up the sun
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  Athletics in St Brelade's Bay in 1942
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  Signals platoon billet in St Lawrence requisitioned house

Outside the Grand Hotel which was commandeered by the Germans

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  Grouville Bay
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  Troops' accommodation
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  Relaxing at St Brelade's Bay
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  Afternoon tea
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  A group snapshot at St Brelade's Bay Hotel
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  The junction of Halkett Place and King Street in 1941
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  Outside Burtons, converted to a shop for the German troops, in 1942
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  A poor quality photograph of German soldiers relaxing on the beach outside Le Hurel Tower at Grouville. It must have been taken by a German because no islander would have been allowed on the beach - certainly not in the open with a camera
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  Athletics at the FB Fields
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  Sports day on the beach at St Brelade
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  A meal in Trinity
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  St Aubin
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  Machine gun battalion troops relaxing at St Mary
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  St Aubin
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  Off-duty at Le Perquage, St Lawrence
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  Netherby Court, Beaumont in 1943
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  Heinz Fischerman with a requisitioned motor cycle at Bras de Fer, Trinity
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  Broadlands, St Saviour
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  Flak battery troops in Trinity
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  German soldiers with their 'Jerrybags'
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  Butchering pigs at an unknown farm
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  Another pig

At Gorey with a requisitioned car

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  German soldier Horst Hermann (1925-2007) who served in Jersey from 1943 until the Liberation, photographed by a colleague at St Brelade in 1944. His story is told on an Occupation history website. He revisited Jersey in the years after the Occupation
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  Engelbert Hopper, a colleague of Horst Hermann, who also returned to Jersey after the Occupation
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  Alfred Knipps with a requisitioned car at Georgetown Park Estate

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  EngelbertHoppe
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  Heinrich Bakker and comrades
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  Heinrich Bakker and comrade
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  Heinrich Bakker and comrade
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  Heinrich Bakker
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  Hermann Tenhundfeld
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  Horst Herrmann
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  Horst Herrmann on a return visit to the island in the 1980s
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  Horst Herrmann on a return visit to the island in the 1980s
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  At the St Brelade soldatenheim
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  At Le Braye
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  At Plemont
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  Outside the Town Hall in 1943
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  Germans relax
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  A propaganda photograph of islanders and Germans
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  A German soldier with a local family
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  German soldier and Jersey policeman
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  Germans at West Park
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  Inspecting a gun from a different era at Elizabeth Castle
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  Two policemen and a German cyclist at the Weighbridge
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  German officers in Jersey
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  A German soldier with a 'requisitioned' Morris 8
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  Germans relax
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  Germans relax at Oak Walk, Mont Fallu, St Peter. The house is a cottage ornee, built probably around 1816.
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  Germans billeted at Millards Corner
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  Troops on exercise take a break
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  A soldier at Havre des Pas, from an Imperial War Museum film
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  A commandeered Jaguar SS100 in 1940
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  Outside Demi des Pas Hotel with a requisitioned car in 1940
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  A jaguar requisitioned by Luftwaffe men
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  Outside the Ritz Hotel in 1940
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  In front of a Soldatenheim
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  Havre des Pas Pool in 1943
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  Aberfeldy Hotel 1944
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  Aberfeldy
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  Befriending a local family

A German choir in Bath Street in 1943

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  It is not clear where in Jersey, or when, this picture of German soldiers cleaning their boots was taken
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  Germans relax
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  Germans relax
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  German soldiers were billeted at this farm
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  Walking along St Saviour's Road
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  A tour of Mont Orgueil Castle
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  Luftwaffe personnel in the grounds of St Ouen's Manor
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  A genteel tea party for Germans and nurses
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  A German choir in the centre of St Helier
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  German soldiers with a commandeered car at St Helier Harbour
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  Presentation of a Luftwaffe Cup for physical training
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  A German band performs in the Parade
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  A German soldier with a Jersey family
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  Buying an icecream at Charing Cross
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  Charing Cross
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  A postcard sent to a friend in SS headquarters, Berlin
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  Off-duty German soldiers in a busy Queen Street
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  Either these Germans could not read the signs at the Airport or they did not care
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  Some families befriended Germans and were ostracised by the community
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  Photographs of their soldiers with 'British Bobbies' made marvellous propaganda for the Germans
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  A Jersey policeman gives directions to a German sailor
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  A German band marches through the streets of St Helier
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  A marching band was guaranteed to draw a crowd for a German photographer

German soldiers relaxing in the sea

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  A notice at Elizabeth Castle of German food rations
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  Burtons, on the corner of Halkett Place and King Street, was established as a special shop for Germans
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  A window display including German-English dictionaries
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  German bands were frequently seen on the streets of St Helier
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  The Forum was the Germans' cinema
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  German troops on an outing by bus
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  German officers riding on the beach
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  A propaganda photograph taken at l'Etacq
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  The Mayfair Hotel was a recreation centre for the Germans
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  German motor cycle and sidecar combinations were a common sight
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  A Jersey policeman outside the Town Hall with Germans
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  Two German sailors
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  Germans relaxing on the beach
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  A mounted German officer

Photographs of 'British Bobbies' chatting happily to German soldiers were frequently taken for propaganda purposes. These Jersey policemen do not seem unwilling to pose for this picture at the bottom of Conway Street, which surfaced in 2023. Le Huquet's was a coal depot on the corner adjacent to the Pomme d'Or Hotel, which later acquired the property for expansion

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  The Forum Cinema was used by the German troops
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  Some shops were commandeered for the German troops
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  Germans shopped freely when they arrived but were soon controlled as stocks dwindled
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  Even this dog seems uncertain about befriending a German
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  Two German soldiers pose for a snapshot at La Haule
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  German soldiers with rabbits
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  German soldiers relax at St Aubin
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  German officers relax at St Brelade's Bay Hotel
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  A social event for Germans at a St Brelade hotel
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  German soldiers enjoyed swimming during their leisure time
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  A Feldpost postcard from 1944 showing a German uboat crew
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  German window shoppers
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  German bookshop in King Street
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  Off-duty soldiers at the Harbour

German soldiers with a large lobster. As this story from the Facebook group Fortress Jersey reveals, such delicacies were soon to become the preserve of senior officers: Engelbert Hoppe, who was stationed at Infantry Strongpoint Corbiere, recalled that in August 1944 "Joszef the 'fisherman' came up to me and tried to explain in his broken German that there were ‘fish around for fine people’. I didn’t quite understand and asked him how he knew. He took me outside the bunker and pointed out that there were baskets attached to floating markers in the small bay on the south side of the causeway out to the lighthouse. These baskets were to catch ‘them fine fish’. Confused as to how fish could be caught in a basket, I rushed down to Mr Le Brocq and explained the situation. He told me that the catch in the baskets would be lobsters, a kind of shellfish with eight legs and two claws, and a delicacy when prepared. Looking it up in my dictionary, that I always had at hand, I found the German word Hummer for it. But I had never seen or eaten it. I promised to present one to Mr Le Brocq should we be able to catch any. I told Joszef to take the rowing boat whenever he needed it, with one or two of the crew. I would tell the lighthouse crew that he was fishing (I knew ‘in troubled waters’). A day later, in the early morning, Joszef came back from his fishing tour with two lobsters of blue/black colour in a pail. As soon as possible I went down to the tearoom, bringing the promised lobster. They invited me over for lunch and to show me how to prepare it. Joszef, of course, knew how to handle lobsters, and although two or three of the crew didn’t want to try it at first, they changed their minds after Joszef had poured boiling water over the lobster and cracked the shell. I went down to have my lunch and found that Mrs Le Brocq didn’t have the rough way of dealing with lobsters like Joszef. She opened the shell for me and I was enthusiastic about the wonderful meat. During the week four or five more lobsters were landed but then the ‘lobster season’ suddenly ended. The reason was simple. We later learnt that lobsters were meant for ‘Higher Headquarters’ so we lost that wonderful new source and never saw a basket again”

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  Off-duty soldiers stroll down King Street
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  German graves
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  Walking through Howard Davis Park
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  A Luftwaffe funeral
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  Germans relax
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  Germans relax
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  A German soldier at Ahier's newsagent in York Street
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  A German soldier photographed in front of an unknown Jersey cottage ...
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  ... and Germans relaxing on the rocks at La Corbiere ...
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  Propaganda picture at Elizabeth Castle
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  Propaganda picture at Elizabeth Castle
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  Propaganda picture at Elizabeth Castle
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  Propaganda picture at Elizabeth Castle
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  A photograph taken by Paul Leubbe
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  Paul Leubbe
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  A local cobbler at work for a German soldier
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  German soldiers outside the Town Hall
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  A German officer commandeered this holiday camp chalet at Portelet in 1941
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  A German officer examines a herd of pigs
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  Queen Street
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  Queen Street
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  Germans with a requisitioned car
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  St Brelade's Bay
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  Accommodation in Tabor Lane
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  Mulcaster Street
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  Engelbert Hoppe in St Brelade's Bay
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  NCOs at La Moye Golf Hotel
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  Albert Pier
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  Charing Cross
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  Outside the Hotel de l'Europe in Mulcaster Street
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  St Saviour's Road
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  At the Barge Aground, St Ouen's Bay
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  Luftwaffe commandeered house
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  German officers play chess outside their Hougue Bie accommodation

Germans with a commandeered motor cycle in Gorey Village

St Peter Collection

These photographs form part of a collection taken in St Peter in 1943, at and around St Peter's Garage. They were offered for sale on EBay by a specialist supplier in January 2025. Further photographs from the collection showing German soldiers at work can be found on our page of images of Germans at work

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Frank Zuhorst's album

A selection of pictures from an album created by German soldier Frank Zuhorst

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  Luftwaffe sports
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  Luftwaffe sports

Soldatenheims

Several properties throughout the island were taken by the Germans for use as Soldatenheims by off-duty troops

A German officer and nurses outside the Soldatenheim at Seafield, Millbrook

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  Seafield, Millbrook - Soldatenheim III - a rest facility for German soldiers
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  Seafield Soldatenheim
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  Officers relax at a soldatenheim
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  Outside the St Brelade's Bay soldatenheim
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  Soldatenheim
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  German officers relax outside the St Brelade Soldatenheim
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  The Fort d'Auvergne Hotel at Havre des Pas was taken over as an Offizerheim (officers' home)
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  Inside the Soldatenheim - St Brelade's Bay Hotel
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  St Brelade's Bay Hotel Soldatenheim
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  St Brelade's Bay Hotel Soldatenheim
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  St Brelade's Bay Hotel Soldatenheim
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  At the St Brelade's Bay Soldatenheim
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German instructions for daily supply of dairy products

An album of photographs by a Soldatenheim resident

These photographs are from an album assembled by a German soldier living at the Soldatenheim in St Brelade's Bay - now, once again the St Brelade's Bay Hotel

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  The Soldatenheim, a photograph ...
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  ... and a painting
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  View from the Soldatenheim
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  A photograph of the coastline
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  A coastal tower
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  A Jersey cow
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  Portelet Bay
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  St Aubin's Fort
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  St Brelade's Bay
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  A watercolour of the bay
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  Sunset in an unspecified location

A further album of photographs

These photographs were probably taken by an official photographer to chronicle the life of German soldiers in the only occupied British territory

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Choirmaster

Ludwig Pitz was the choirmaster of the Inselchor (Island Choir), and was stationed in the Channel Islands with the German army as part of the occupying force. Musicians have a long historical role within the military, stretching into the Medieval period. Both Hitler and his propaganda minister, Josef Goebbels, understood the importance of music as means of uniting Germany and instilling patriotic fervour within the population.

They placed special emphasis on producing recognisable and stirring music. "Die Fahne Hoch!" also known as the "Horst Wessel Song" was one of the most famous products of their efforts. In addition military-style bans could be found in almost every uniformed organisation in the Third Reich between 1933 and 1945.

In the Channel Islands, music served as both entertainment and a distraction for the German garrison and the local population. According to Brian Matthews, author of The Military Music and Bandsmen of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich, "it befell the lot of the two military bands of the Luftwaffe and the Heer to provide light relief for both German garrisons and the civillian population alike."

Musical performances were frequent. One contemporary poster from Guernsey advertised concerts to be held "jeden Dienstag, Donnerstag und Samstag," (every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday).

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• German Occupation
• Photo gallery of the German Occupation