Jersey celebrates Liberation Day.

The island of Jersey celebrates the 62nd anniversary of the liberation of the Channel Islands from the German occupation on 9 May.

Liberation Day, which is a holiday, is marked each year by a parade, memorial services and wreath layings, followed by an afternoon of festivities. This year the Duke of Kent will be attending the ceremonies.

The island was occupied from 1940-1945 by a force of about 11,500 Germans. It was heavily fortified, and slave labourers, mainly from Poland, Czechoslovakia and Alsace-Lorraine - and many of them Jews - were imported into the island under grim conditions to build the extensive sea defences, most of which are still visible today.

Over 1,000 people, mainly those who were not Jersey residents and men between 16 and 70 years old not born in the island, including five Jews, were deported from Jersey to internment camps in Germany. The majority survived to return home in 1945, although 45 died in Biberach camp.