Living in London has given me a great advantage in writing this book. I’ve had free and easy access to three great research institutions: the British Library, The National Archives and the Imperial War Museum. The first of these has been like a second home to me over many months and I am very grateful for the services offered by all three.
In Sark, I’d like to thank Dr Richard Axton and La Société Sercquaise for all their help, including access to their archives and the archives of the Seigneur. It was a great privilege to be able to address members of the Société and other local residents of Sark in February 2015. I was also able to interview three veterans of that period, Werner and Phyllis Rang and Esther Perree. I appreciate the assistance of Richard Dewe and Kevin Adams in helping to find photos and, in Richard’s case, for first pointing me to the mysterious case of Major Skelton. Jeremy La Trobe-Bateman was very helpful as my guide, when we retraced the route taken by commandos.
In Guernsey, I was helped by Richard Heaume of the German Occupation Museum, and was also able to spend a most interesting afternoon using the Island Archives, which contain a great deal of material about Sark during the war.
I’d like to thank Doris Theuerkauf, the daughter of Oberleutnant Herdt, for her memories and photos. I want to thank the Deutsche Dienststelle für die Benachrichtigung der nächsten Angehörigen von Gefallenen der ehemaligen deutschen Wehrmacht (WASt) for providing me with Obergefreiter Hermann Weinreich’s PWIB Form No. 2, which tells what happened to him after his capture by British commandos.
Peter Stokes and Graham Robinson, the sons of Sergeant Horace ‘Stokey’ Stokes and Sergeant Joseph Henry ‘Tim’ Robinson, generously shared their memories.
Thanks also to authors Peter Jacobs, for sharing material from Colin Ogden-Smith’s diary, and Brian Lett for answering several questions. Thanks also to Jak P. Mallmann Showell and Lawrence Paterson for sharing their expertise regarding MTB 344 and answering my questions.
In Dorset, Jeremy and Rosemary Isaac kindly showed me around the gardens and the chapel at Anderson Manor, telling me what they had learned over the years about the commandos who stayed there. Phillip Ventham, a local historian in the area and the organiser of the 1988 meeting of the surviving commandos there, also gave some helpful pointers in my research.
I’m deeply in debt to all those who agreed to read this manuscript and for their helpful comments: Dr Richard Axton, Roger Darlington, Gary Kent, Martin Lee, Doerte Letzmann, John McCarthy and Dr Hilary Sapire.
I would like to thank the Authors’ Foundation (Society of Authors) for their generous grant that made research on Sark possible.
Thanks also to Michael Leventhal at The History Press for taking this project on and for his enthusiastic support throughout.
Traditionally authors at this point thank their families for support, for tolerating them during their many months’ long obsession with the subject of the book, and so on. I can now understand why. It was in conversation with my partner Cindy Berman that I first came up with the idea for this book while wandering along Sark’s beautiful clifftop paths. Little did she know that it would mean walls in our home covered with Post-it notes about Operation Basalt, a huge wall map of Sark, and photos of the various commandos (including a particularly mean-looking Anders Lassen). Appleyard and his men, the Dame of Sark, Mrs Pittard, even ‘Little Steve’ all became part of our family for the last few months, ever present in our discussions and our lives. I hope it was worth it.