Did you know about the “Robin Hoods” of the Channel Islands?

The story of Robin Hood, the outlaw who stole from the rich and gave to the poor, is a compelling one. The real-life story of the “Robin Hoods” of Guernsey, however, is even more incredible: rather than outlaws, they were sworn officers of the law who stole from the occupying German forces and gave to the starving civilians of Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands, the only part of the British Islands to fall to the Germans in World War II. (The Channel Islands in World War II)
 
The States of Guernsey Police Service had 33 men when Germany invaded the Channel Islands in June 1940, and had no way to fight back against the overwhelming force: by 1944, 13,000 Germans were in Guernsey alone. Constables Kingston Bailey and Frank Tuck were the first police officers to fight back with acts of peaceful resistance such as painting “V for Victory” signs on walls and disabling German vehicles by filling their gas tanks with sand.

In the winter of 1941-42, when the local populace was starving while the Germans had well-stocked cellars, Bailey and Tuck began breaking into German stores and giving the plundered canned food to those who needed it. Soon enough, almost the entire police force was involved in the clandestine redistribution of food.
 
Bailey and Tuck were captured by German soldiers lying in wait for them in March 1942, and the entire police force was arrested later that day. Half of the force was released, but 17 men were held. They were interrogated and some tortured, threatened with the torture and murder of their families, and finally forced at gunpoint to sign a German confession they didn’t understand.

The men were brought before Guernsey’s Royal Court, legally still a part of the British court system, for trial. The local authorities advised them to plead guilty, promising them that any convictions would be ignored after the war. Unfortunately for the constables, the Royal Court was actually reduced to a kangaroo court under a German thumb. 16 of the 17 detainees were given conviction of imprisonment and hard labor ranging from 4 months to 4 and a half years, and were deported to concentration and labor camps on mainland Europe. One of the men died there; another was a mere 99 lb (45 kg) and unable to walk when liberated by U.S. troops late in the war.

The survivors returned to Guernsey after the war to carry on with their lives, but one more act of injustice was waiting for them. Despite earlier promises to the contrary, they were barred from rejoining the police force due to their “criminal history.” The government was trying to downplay the cooperation the Channel Islands authorities had with the Germans, and kept up the pretense that the constables were ordinary criminals convicted in a fair trial. Decades of appeals and litigation failed to overturn the Nazi conviction. All the constables are now dead, and a final, failed legal attempt in 2018 has seemingly exhausted all possibilities to erase the stain of a Nazi show trial on the honor of the Robin Hoods of Guernsey and on the Guernsey legal system.
 
If you want to learn more about the German occupation and the spectacular fortifications of the archipelago, join us on our Normandy-Channel Islands tour.