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For one day each year, the shadow of the sun helps tell precisely the story of Guernsey’s Liberation.
The obelisk of the Liberation Day monument, commissioned in 1995, casts a shadow which points to three inscriptions that record the major events on 9 May 1945.
The liberation was announced by Prime Minister Winston Churchill at 3pm on 8 May in a VE Day speech.
Churchill said: “hostilities will end officially at one minute after midnight tonight, but in the interests of saving lives the ceasefire began yesterday to be sounded all along the front, and our dear Channel Islands are also to be freed today”.
The next day, after five years of Occupation, HMS Bulldog, which had sailed from Plymouth, arrived in the waters off Guernsey.
07:15 On the quarter deck of HMS Bulldog Major Gen. Siegfried Heine signed the German surrender.
08:00 In front of huge cheering crowds, British Liberation forces landed and marched through the streets of St Peter Port.
10:15 the Union Flag is unfurled at the Royal Court
Sark was liberated on 10 May and the German troops in Alderney surrendered on 16 May.
The main liberation forces arrived in Guernsey on 12 May.
Pictured: The Liberation Monument was designed by Eric Snell for the 50th anniversary. The obelisk is made up of 50 granite sections to mark that, the cut angle at the top represents the trauma of the Occupation.
Pictured top: Inside the HMS Bulldog off Guernsey. Seated around table, left to right, were Rear Admiral Stuart, DSO, DSC(Retd.), Lt. Col. E G Stoneman, Wing Commander 'Archie' Stewart, DFC, Major John Margeson, Col. Herbert Ralph Power (standing) in charge of civil affairs unit, and Captain Lieut. Armin Zimmermann. Standing in left corner is Intelligence Corps Captain Herzmark and an interpreter.
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