Major Frank Sargent was part of 135 Field Ordnance Depot which was sent to Jersey as part of the Liberation force in May 1945. While he was in the island he took a large number of photographs which he later put into an album together with his written account of the Liberation and subsequent disposal and destruction of the German ammunition and artillery.
Archive
The album, which is now in the possession of Jersey Archive, starts in Guernsey with the liberation of the island, but consists mainly of photographs taken in Jersey of transport, collected ammunition and artillery, disposal of ammunition at sea by German officers and the destruction of the ammunition, the officers mess and the Armistice parade. It includes a letter from the Lieut-Governor of Jersey thanking the soldiers for their work.
Major Sargent returned to Jersey in 1979 and was interviewed by the Jersey Evening Post and this interview was also included in his album.
Low-resolution scans of the album's pages appear on the Archive website and we have included some pages here, together with some individual photographs which we have been able to digitally enhance so that they will display at a reasonable size. Click on any image to see a larger version. Unfortunately the quality of the original scans was not good enough to allow the text on individual pages to be readable.
The German commander of Alderney
The album's cover
Arrival in Guernsey
Guernsey Liberation ceremony
Islanders' cars in store at Springfield
Major Sargent
In a German tunnel
German ammunition being disposed of at sea
Some ammunition was exploded at sea
Liberation soldiers relaxing and a visit to the Minquiers
German artillery
Loading a barge at the Harbour
German soldiers remove railway lines
The Lieut-Governor's letter
A cutting from the Evening Post in 1946
Clearing guns
A German gun about to be disposed of over a cliff
German artillery tumbling down a cliffside
Clearing German railway lines at the Harbour
German soldiers were kept in Jersey after the Liberation to undertake clearance work
