EXCLUSIVEEnglish men murdered by the Nazis on occupied Alderney during WWII could have been secret agents sent by Britain, historian suggests

Two English men who documents suggest were murdered by the Nazis on Alderney during the Second World War could have been spies, a leading historian has said. 

According to an interrogation report that was dismissed at the time, the killings took place on the northernmost of the occupied Channel Islands during the Second World War.

German soldier Obergefreiter (Corporal) Kraus claimed to have witnessed a comrade - named as Sonderführer (Special Commander) Richter - beat two Englishmen before ordering that they be fired upon.

The report, compiled in 1945, adds that Kraus recounted how Richter then ordered for their burial sites to be levelled and the crosses removed and burned. 

Two English men who documents suggest were murdered by the Nazis on Alderney during the Second World War could have been spies, a leading historian has said. Pictured: German officers pose outside Lloyds Bank in St Annes, Alderney

The document, which has been in the National Archives for decades, is revealed in upcoming two-part Sky History documentary Hitlers British Island.   

Post-war authorities were doubtful about the testimony because Krauss statement was first given to Alderney resident George Pope, who British authorities suspected of having collaborated with the Nazis. 

However, if the testimony was true, the killings would represent the first known incidents of Nazis murdering British people during their wartime occupation of the Channel Islands. 

By the time the Nazis invaded Alderney in July 1940, nearly all of the islands 1,500 residents had been evacuated to mainland Britain. 

It therefore raises questions about the identities of the two English men allegedly killed.  

Dr Helen Fry, the author of The London Cage: The Secret History of Britains World War II Interrogation Centre, told MailOnline that it is possible that they could have been British spies.

The historian, who also features in Skys programme, said: Alderney remains controversial, more than 80 years later. 

More research needs to be done, but if the account of this soldier is true, these two men would be the first known English people to be killed directly by the Nazis on British soil. 

Without looking at further evidence, it is hard to corroborate his testimony.

I suspect there was a secret mission in 1944, and potentially these men were two agents. 

They could have been doing reconnaissance or working to try to get the Nazis to surrender the Channel Islands. But more research needs to be done.

Fellow historian Clare Mulley adds in the programme: Were it true that two Englishmen had been murdered on Alderney, that would really change the story of the war. 

A report commissioned by Lord Eric Pickles, UK Special Envoy on Post Holocaust Issues, concluded earlier this year that more than 1,000 people died during the Nazi occupation of Alderney.

Leading Second World War historian Dr Helen Fry, the author of The London Cage: The Secret History of Britains World War II Interrogation Centre, told MailOnline

The broken remains of Sylt concentration camp on Alderney. It was destroyed by the fleeing Nazis in 1945

Sylt was run by Hitlers elite death squad, the SS. Above: An aerial depiction of Sylt revealed in Sky Historys upcoming documentary

A plaque commemorating the victims of German forced labour on Alderney. Four labour camps were built on the island and two were turned by the SS into concentration camps

German soldiers in the deserted streets of Alderney during the Second World War

A team of international experts found that between 641 and 1,027 people, including Jews, prisoners of war and some Romanis who were shipped to the island, perished as a result of ill-treatment.

For decades, official accounts had said only 389 of the 4,000 slave labourers shipped by Nazi Germany to the island during the war died.

Labourers were transported there from countries across Europe to build fortifications as part of the German war effort.

They were housed in camps that shared many similarities with those in mainland Europe - and the labourers were subject to atrocious living and working conditions and executions.

The investigation was launched to dispel conspiracy theories and provide the most accurate figure of those who lost their lives on the island.

The report also aimed to bring justice for those who died, and ensure that this period of history, and the Holocaust, is remembered fully and accurately.

Slave labourers were forced to work in horrific conditions.

They were housed in four camps on the island: Helgoland, Nordeney, Borkum and Sylt.

The latter was run by Hitlers elite death squad, the SS.

The upcoming documentary, which airs from next Tuesday, also reveals testimony from prisoners who were held in the camp.

Around 1,000 people were kept prisoner in poorly-built buildings with very little heating.

Professor Caroline Sturdy Colls, a forensic archaeologist, says: The SS guards were stealing the food. So malnutrition was a major problem.

There were people who were strung up on the camp gates. 

We also have testimony about prisoners being shot trying to escape, which was a euphemism for the SS encouraging them to run away, and then they would kill them when they did.

Polish prisoner Cyprian Lipinski said in his testimony: I was sent to Sylt camp to do hard labour. the men were beaten for so long that they fell down from sheer weakness.

Pictured: Houses overlooking the remains of a German trench system in Alderney, September 2023

The remains of Battery Annes on Alderney, which  was formerly an open naval gun battery position that formed part of Hitlers Atlantic Wall defence against Allied invasion

We were beaten every day. 

Another prisoner, Ivan Kalganov, said: Sylt was terrible, I saw one man crucified for stealing. 

We were marching from camp to work once, and I saw this man who couldnt walk any longer. He was shot down right there by the Germans.

After the Germans surrendered Alderney on May 16, 1945, it was another six months before any of the islanders could return due to the heavy fortifications placed around it.

Allied forces found in excess of 30,000 landmines that had to be painstakingly defused and removed in order for residents to return to their homes.

Hitlers British Island starts on Sky History on Tuesday, October 15, at 9pm.