In late December 1944 the SS Vega docked in St Peter Port and afterwards St Helier to deliver food supplies to hungry islanders.

The Bailiff of Guernsey made a broadcast on German radio in November 1944 outlining the dire food shortage in the islands.

This was picked up by both the British and the International Red Cross. 

By this stage of the war, ports in Brittany and Normandy were in Allied hands and German supply ships headed for the islands were being targeted.  

Paul le Pelley from the Channel Islands Occupation Society says food was scarce:

"The people who were not in the country, or not living on farms, were in dire straits. The calorific input was at one time was under 1,000 calories a day." 

The supply ship Vega was loaded with both Red Cross and St John food parcels and it made its way from Lisbon through the Bay of Biscay to a rendezvous point off Guernsey's Hanois lighthouse. From there it was escorted into St Peter Port.

The parcels were offloaded under German guard and taken to stores at St George's Hall prior to distribution. The same happened in Jersey. The cargo was split according to the population size, one third for Guernsey and two thirds for Jersey.

Mr le Pelley says the food was basic but calorific:

"A Canadian food parcel would have had 6oz (170gms) chocolate, 20oz biscuits, 5oz sardines, 20oz powdered dry milk called Klim, which is milk spelt backwards, 6oz prunes, 10oz salmon, 14oz corned beef, 8oz raisins, 8oz sugar, 4oz tea, 4oz cheese, 16oz marmalade, 20oz butter, 20oz butter, 13oz of ham and 1oz of pepper and salt."

He says the tinned and preserved food had come a long way:

"The parcels were produced in Canada or New Zealand and made their way to England by ship or by air, and of course, there was the risk of being attacked."

The Vega made six voyages to the islands in the final five months of the war, the last being towards the end of May 1945, after Liberation.

In Guernsey, a plaque will be put up at the White Rock and unveiled on 7 May 2025 to remember the vital Red Cross food supplies.