In my town, there lived a German soldier who put his entire military service in the Channel Islands. He was only 16 when he started and left when the occupation ended. He ended up as POW for about a year, then went back to Germany. A few years later, he found his way to Canada with his new bride.

His take on the occupation was that there was an understanding between the German soldiers and the people of the Islands. If no one made waves, both sides were to just wait out the war in some kind of peace, like "as long as the soldiers are fed, they won't use their guns."

I have since read a few other articles that the occupation was not that peaceful.