 The German occupation of the Channel Islands during the Second World War essentially by @-@ passed Herm . The island was claimed on 20 July 1940 by the Third Reich , ; a few weeks after the arrival of German troops in Guernsey and Jersey , German soldiers landed on the island to shoot a propaganda film , The Invasion of the Isle of Wight . Herm 's sandy beaches were soon used for practising landings from barges , in preparation for the invasion of England , but otherwise the island saw little of the Germans beyond officers making trips to shoot rabbits . Herm had only a little German construction during the war ; a flak battery was placed on the island for a few weeks , and mines were placed in an area . Occasionally German soldiers would travel to Herm to cut wood for fuel . In April 1945 a German officer , Oberst von <unk> was exiled to Herm for not displaying sufficient loyalty to the Führer . 
