Local historian Mark Lamerton published a history of Jersey’s Liberation in 2000 as a project for the millennium, but the new history is much more than a revision of that book.
‘Since publishing the first book, my vision had been to produce another volume about the transitional period of reorganisation and the handover back to the civil administration. However, I obtained so much more information on Liberation and the training of Force 135 that from 350 pages, the whole text ended up at 1,200,’ he said, adding that the only practical approach was to publish it as a two-volume set. The two books contain ten times as many photographs as the original single volume.
Launched at the Jersey Museum on Friday, Liberated by Force 135 also puts considerable emphasis on source material and annotations that enable the reader to track down specific references to individuals, whether members of the Liberating forces or some of those deported to internment camps in Germany who have their own story to tell.
Mr Lamerton was partly inspired to include such detail by information he discovered about his own family.
‘If someone recognises a relative in a photograph, for example, they could go to the Archive or JEP and obtain a copy for their family.
‘I have also tried to incorporate lists of those involved where they exist, so I’d like to think that somebody could pick up the book and, if they saw a name they recognised, find out more about the person’s experiences,’ he said.
What has engaged Mr Lamerton most in this expanded story is the post-war detail of setting Jersey on course again after the interruption of the Occupation.
‘It’s been reinforced to me that the planning was a bit like a mini D-day. They had a plan for absolutely everything, whether communications, banking, rehabilitation of property, air and boat services – every aspect had been considered and the logistics looked into.’
Fascinated by local history since he was a child – when he created his own collection in an upstairs bedroom to which he charged sixpence admission – Mr Lamerton hopes that readers will enjoy the publication as much as he did researching it.
‘The project is self-funded and published, not a profit-making venture, and therefore I hope to recover the cost of having the book printed, while keeping the retail price affordable. It is a labour of love and the reward is to see my 26 years of research in print.
‘It started as an interest, turned into a hobby and then became an obsession. People would cross to the other side of the road because they would know what I would ask them or want to talk about,’ he said with a smile on his face.
Copies of the two-volume history are available in a special edition with slip case at £48, or £39 for the loose books, and can be purchased at the launch, which takes place between 5.30pm and 7pm on Friday 20 March at the Jersey Museum, or online using the website: force 135.je.
- The JEP is publishing a series of extracts from Mr Lamerton’s work throughout this week. The first can be found on pages 16 and 17 today.
