Besides being the only British territory occupied by the Germans in the Second World War, it is perhaps less generally known that the Channel Islands were fortified out of all proportion to the rest of Hitler’s Atlantic Wall: a legacy that is explored in individual chapters on Alderney, Guernsey, Jersey and Sark.

First-hand accounts of all seven Commando raids are brought together for the first time. A summary of how the Islands’ hotels were put to use by their German guests may intrigue present-day visitors, and a review of the war museums gives an insight into the variety of relics that enthusiasts have had the foresight to preserve. The war cemeteries are described, and there is a list of every grave of both sides of the two World Wars. Annotated aerial photographs form an important aspect of the book — among them unique pictures of Sark for which exceptional permission was granted to enter the island’s inviolable airspace.