Guernsey parish linked to WW1 battle site of Masnieres

Memorials to the RGLI were unveiled in 2017 in Masnieres and in 2018 in Guernsey

St Peter Port is being twinned with Masnieres, the site of a World War One battle in which 500 islanders were killed, wounded or went missing.

The Royal Guernsey Light Infantry took part in the Cambrai offensive, which began on 20 November 1917.

The unit suffered heavy loses in stopping a counter offensive, allowing other British units to retreat safely.

The formal ceremony will take place on 30 November in Hauteville House, the former home of Victor Hugo.

His St Peter Port residence is officially part of the City of Paris.

Annual memorial services now take place Masnieres and St Peter Port, on 30 November

The bodies of many of the Guernsey servicemen remain undiscovered

The twinning follows a wreath-laying ceremony at the Guernsey memorial unveiled in 2018 - a twin to the memorial unveiled in Masnieres in 2017.

A rededication of a memorial in the Town Church marking the return and disbandment of the regiment in May 1919, has also taken place.

"We are very much working on a number of lasting initiatives to see the links between the two towns continue well into the future," said Chris Oliver, from the Royal Guernsey Light Infantry Charitable Trust.

"These include the annual memorial services at the two monuments each 30 November, summer student exchange programmes that will encourage the cultural and language links between the two towns."

St Peter Port Senior Constable Dennis Le Moignion, said: "It's the sort of positive impact we should be making, not just around our cultural heritage but to remember the men and families all over our island who suffered great lost and the connection with 'Guernsey's Finest Hour'."

Guernsey is twinned with the German town of Biberach, which during World War Two housed an internment camp that many Channel Islanders were deported to by the occupying German authorities.

The Vale and St Saviour parishes are twinned with the Normandy towns of Barneville-Carteret and Montebourg respectively.