Red Cross food parcel boxes and contents
Firstly, I realise this is not the best place for this thread, but the boxes all came to the Island of Jersey bring much needed extra food for the Islanders during the time of the German Occupation and I could not see a better place to put it.... if there is one then please move it accordingly.
As some of you will realise the Channel Islands were Occupied by the German's for 5 years. After July 44 the Islands were cut off from France, where most of the supplies for the Islanders and Germans came from. Once cut off the food situation became really bad and some people were starting to starve. The German's allowed the Bailiff of Jersey to send a radio message to the International Red Cross asking for supplies to be sent to aid the civilian population. In December 44 the ship SS Vega arrived in the Islands bringing much needed food supplies. The German's oversaw the unloading of these supplies, and to give them credit, other than a cursory search for possible "hidden goods" they did not take or interfere with the Red Cross parcels although the food situation for them was no better than it was for the civilians. But having allowed the the Red Cross parcels to come in for the locals they were then able to take more of the existing supplies that were already in stock within the island.
Here are a number of boxes in which the food came in and also some of the now really hard to find tins and packets that once contained the much needed food. These parcels are also the similar to those given out in POW Camps.
These boxes are now quite scarce even here on the Island, the tins and packets are much much harder to find. Having said that many Islanders did keep the boxes as they were a lifeline at the time. Some people would certainly have died if the Red Cross ship Vega with the boxes had never come to the Islands.
Thought you might like to see them as they are pretty unusual these days.
All the best from Jersey,
D.
.
"In all my years as a soldier, I have never seen men fight so hard." - SS Obergruppenfuhrer Wilhelm Bittrich - Arnhem
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