Disillusionment in the Schlaraffenland : German Soldiers in the Occupied Channel Islands, 1940–1945

When the German occupation of the British Channel Islands began in 1940, many members of the Wehrmacht believed they were stationed in a Schlaraffenland , a paradisical ‘Promised Land’. At the Islands’ liberation five years later, German soldiers, having experienced an occupation characterised by monotony, loneliness, starvation and resultant distrust of leadership, had become so worn down by the geographic conditions of the Islands that they believed such a Schlaraffenland could be almost anywhere else. This radical shift in perspective demonstrates troops’ descent into disillusionment. Exploring the geographic causes of this disillusionment and how geography shaped soldiers’ responses to it, this article highlights how soldiers in rural and isolated postings had profoundly different experiences of occupation from those of their counterparts in more densely populated areas. In studying these occupation experiences, historians can understand more clearly the complex ideological landscape of troops and the ways the physical landscape shaped their behaviours.