A decent man

The Nazi occupation of the Channel Islands was the longest lasting of any in Europe, nearly five years, ending on the very day of the German surrender; and the islands also had a far bigger number of troops relative to the population than any other territory occupied by the Nazis, at times being nearly a quarter of the total. The initial bombardment of Jersey and Guernsey cost 44 lives, equivalent, proportionately, to about 27 000 on the mainland.

A general practitioner with a special interest in obstetrics, John Lewis, who practised on the island throughout, wrote a memoir entitled A Doctor’s Occupation. It is not a literary masterpiece, …