GUERNSEY HAS A GREAT STORY TO TELL

“This island, what they had to endure here...

It's unimaginable. And no one knows.

These people had to actually live with the enemy...”

Invaded in June 1940, the Channel Islands were the only British territory to be occupied by the Germans during the Second World War. Guernsey provided inspiration for the international best - seller "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society", which shines a spotlight on one of the darkest  periods in the island's history.

The successful novel by Annie Barrows and Mary Ann Shaffer has been adapted to the screen. The movie of the same title came out in April 2018. Lily James (Cinderella, Mamma Mia 2, Downton Abbey) plays free-spirited writer Juliet Ashton, who forms a life-changing bond with the eccentric Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society when she decides to write about the book club they formed during the Occupation in Guernsey during WWII. 

WATCH THE TRAILER

Directed by Mike Newell, the cast also includes Michiel Huisman (Game of Thrones, Orphan Black, The Age of Adaline), Glen Powell (Hidden Figures, Everybody wants Some!), Jessica Brown Findlay (Victor Frankenstein, Downton Abbey), Matthew Goode (The Imitation Game, Downton Abbey, The Good Wife), Tom Courtney (45 Years, Doctor Zhivago) and Penelope Wilton (The Best Marigold Hotel, Downton Abbey, The BFG).  THE HISTORY BEHIND THE BOOK AND THE MOVIE: THE OCCUPATION OF GUERNSEY 

Here's a timeline of the extraordinary events that changed a tiny island forever. 
1 September 1939 Nazi Germany invades Poland
3 September 1939 Britain and France declare war against Germany
May/June 1940 The Nazis defeat British and French armies and set up Lutwaffe bases along the French coast. British troops withdraw, leaving the Channel Islands vulnerable.
28 June 1940 The Germans bomb St Peter Port, Guernsey, killing 23. Almost half of the civilian population of Guernsey, including four fifths of its children are evacuated to England, leaving only 25,000 behind.
30 June 1940 The Wermacht discovers that Guernsey is entirely undefended. The island is forced to surrender to its German invaders, who are so determined to defend it against British recapture, that they install up to 37, 000 soldiers and ring the perimeter with concrete bunkers, trenches and artillery position.
1940-1945 With a ratio of two soldiers for every civilian, there is little opportunity for resistance. Anyone caught trying to escape to Britain is imprisoned or shot. As many as 2000 Channel Islanders are deported to German camps and those left behind suffer terrible deprivation, food shortages and a huge crime surge. The island remains occupied for the duration of the war.
6 June 1944 D-Day landings - the Allies invade Normandy. As they recapture France, the Germans on Guernsey are cut off along with all supplies of food, coal and medicine. Both occupiers and islanders are forced into starvation.
8 May 1945 The war in Europe ends. The British send HMS Bulldog to Guernsey to accept the surrender of the occupying German forces.
9 May 1945 Now celebrated as "Liberation Day", British soldiers of Task Force 135 take back control of the island. 

LISTENING COMPREHENSION ACTIVITY
Watch the video and complete the task in the worksheet below
WORKSHEET
In the following clip Juliet has just joined The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and takes part in a meeting in which she reads and discusses her biography of Anne Bronte.

READING COMPREHENSION ACTIVITY (Book summary + two excerpts from the book)