War Pictorial News, July 9, 1945; Die Deutsche Wochenschau, August 1, 1940

War Pictorial News, which ran from 1940-46, was produced by the Ministry of Information in Cairo, for distribution to allied troops in the Middle East and the Mediterranean.

This fascinating piece of film of the Liberation of Guernsey is hosted in high quality on the Internet Archive. The first three minutes of the film feature: 'British reoccupation of the Channel Islands. Brit. warships steam into a Guernsey port. German troops march from a castle and lay down their arms. King George and Queen Elizabeth enplane in England and later deplane on Guernsey.' There are very clear depictions of the British troops in the Town streets being cheered, kissed and presented with flowers, and later the King and Queen arriving in Guernsey and being met by huge crowds. The Queen is presented with bouquets of flowers by three very sweet young girls, and the royal couple are shown in Candie Gardens.

Technical details of the film and more about its contents, including details of the types of weapon laid down by the German soldiers, can be found at the interesting website Colonial Film: Moving Images of the British Empire.

For the other side of the coin, the beginning of the Occupation, the German point of view is represented by Die Deutsche Wochenschau, no. 517, from 1st August 1940. This was a newsreel produced under the Third Reich from June 1940 until March 1945. The section about the Occupation of the Channel Islands begins at 15:27.

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The Priaulx Library has two DVDs available covering the German Occupation: The Occupation of the Channel Islands (three films), which 'tell the true story of the Occupation entirely in [islanders'] own words,' Clearview Projection Partnership, 2005, and In Toni's Footsteps, the Channel Islands' Occupation remembered, High Tide productions, 2004.