13th May 1945
Traffic returns to the “right” side of the road
Throughout the occupation, the Channel Islands had been moved to German time and traffic had been switched from driving on the left-hand side of the road to the right. On 13 May 1945, less than a week after liberation, churches in Jersey held thanksgiving celebrations and traffic returned to what most would have considered the “right” side of the road: the left.
“Every church and chapel was filled by men, women and children, many of them wearing rosettes in the national colours,” The Times reported two days later. “A hymn written and composed for the occasion by two Jersey men was sung at many of the services. Thereafter crowds watched the unloading and dispersal of the military and civil stores until midnight, when all traffic on the streets once again changed to the left hand side.”
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Other events that occured in May
The 95th Regiment of Foot is disbanded
- The 95th Regiment of Foot was founded on 23 July 1779 when France entered the American War of Independence on America’s side.
- Read more…
A new type of aircraft debuts on Jersey route
- The Handley Page Dart Herald was a short-range regional airline for developing countries, but it was also used on the Jersey route.
- Read more…
Jersey prisoners’ liberation revealed by the Foreign Office
- Channel Islanders who had been sent to prisons in mainland Europe during the Occupation were liberated in April 1945.
- Read more…
Jersey’s British and French populations riot
- British and French people resident in Jersey rioted in 1900 in response to a war taking place in South Africa.
- Read more…
