'We survived on dog biscuits under Nazi rule'

Peter Taylor was four years old at the beginning of Occupation

During the German Occupation of Guernsey during World War Two, a young boy and his family were saved from starvation by an unlikely ally.

Under German rule, food was scarce and islanders and soldiers alike were forced to take extreme measures.

In desperation, Peter Taylor, 90, recalled trying to get into a German cookhouse to make friends with a cook but ended up finding "a real Nazi" who "threw me out".

On his way out, he said a German dog handler stopped him and instructed him to come to his room that evening.

Mr Taylor, who was four at the start of Occupation, said the dog handler "told me that I reminded him of his grandson back in Germany".

"He could see that I was hungry and I was very thin and pale," he said.

He said the handler told him: "I've got seven dogs you're going to be my eighth, I'm going to give you the name Pedro and I'm going to put you on my chart."

From then on, Peter visited the German every other night to collect his dog food.

"That went on for a long time, he kept me alive on dog biscuits," he said.

'Our prayers were answered'

He said his father "stored them up until 1944" but eventually the family "got right to the end of the dog biscuits" - and starvation threatened once again.

Mr Taylor remembered his mother giving them a grim warning one evening around Christmas.

He said she told them: "If our prayers aren't answered next week, I'm sorry to say we're going to starve, all of us.

"And our prayers were answered, three days later, a Red Cross ship came from Portugal.

"If it hadn't been for the Red Cross, I wouldn't be here today... and if it hadn't been for my dog man giving me the dog biscuits I don't think I would be here today."

Mr Taylor shared his memories of Occupation as part of the Island Memories Project, an oral archive compiled by BBC Radio Guernsey and Guernsey Museums.