Thanks to research undertaken by the Frank Falla Archive, we now have evidence supporting the family story that Bertrand was imprisoned by the Nazi’s during the Guernsey occupation.
The family story, as told by his nephew Paul Goasdoue, is that “during the war some German tanks were manoeuvring in one of the Les Prevost farm fields. Bertrand then about twenty, was curious and opened the hatch of one tank and looked inside. He was arrested and imprisoned for 6 months“
The Frank Falla archive has included details of Bertrand’s arrest in their page devoted to Raymond (see Raymond and the Frank Falla archive ) and have included scans of his charge sheets (see below). Dated 6 and 15 September 1943, they show he was imprisoned for 2 months (rather than 6) and not for “spying” (a much more serious offence) but for “abusing the occupying forces” and was interned at the States Prison in St Peter Port. As the Frank Falla archive points out, it does appear that the story passed down to us is not exactly the full picture as the charge of “abusing occupying forces” hints at something different, perhaps some words spoken in anger? After all, he had to share his home with German soldiers, who were apparently being billeted at the farm (this needs to be confirmed but is probably true).
Context
A total of 1400 Guernsey islanders were sentanced for breaking laws during the occupation, with some being sent to the contintental prisons or camps, and at least 9 did not return (1).
For more of Bertrand’s story, see his biography page
Guernsey Goasdoue 