Did you know a German soldier stayed on British soil after the war because of love?

Relationships between occupying soldiers and women among the local population are nothing new. One particular story stands out to us:  that of a German soldier who was stationed in the Channel Islands and managed to marry the love of his life, a local girl, thanks to the support of an eccentric noblewoman.

Young German medical officer Werner Rang was lucky to be posted to Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands, the only part of the British Isles to fall under German control during World War II. (Read our earlier article) The islands were a quiet, safe place, far from theaters of North Africa or the Eastern Front, and occupying soldiers got along with the locals relatively easily, though not entirely without problems. In 1943, Rang was sent on a half-year tour of duty to Sark, one of the smaller islands, which was where he first saw 19-year-old local Phyllis Baker on the street – and later met her when she came down with tonsillitis and he visited her family's farm to take her temperature.

The two became friends, and since Werner's English was poor, Phyllis began attending German classes in a local school; talented at the subject, she became the unofficial translator between German doctors and the local populace. Werner had to move back to Guernsey later in the year, and it was from there that he and his comrades marched into British captivity at the end of the war.

Once in Britain, German captives were sometimes allowed to visit British families for Christmas. Werner ended up visiting Lady Vera Ketura Leverson-Gower, an eccentric member of a notable noble family, in 1946. Once Lady Vera learned of his fondness for the girl on Sark, she decided to help the two of them get together, possibly because he reminded her of a German prince she was in love with until World War I tore them apart. Lady Vera contacted Phyllis and arranged a two-and-a-half-week visit for her to England, where she and Werner could reconnect and have their first kiss.

Werner was due to be deported home in 1948, something he desperately wanted to avoid as his family's home was in the Soviet zone of occupation. With Lady Vera's help, Phyllis visited once more, and the couple, who had exchanged some 260 letters by that point, got married the day before Werner was to leave. The two moved back to Sark, where the former occupier was warmly accepted by the locals – except for his father-in-law, who needed some time to warm to the idea. The couple ran a jewelry shop while Werner continued to lend medical aid to locals, even taking Queen Elizabeth II on a carriage ride on one occasion. Phyllis passed away in November 2017 and was followed by Werner just a couple of months later in March 2018. They are buried together in the Channel Island of Sark.

If you want to learn more about the WWII history of the Channel Islands, join us on our Channel Islands tours!

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