Complex sentence: Islanders found they could argue with Germans about where they did or did not put barbed wire and machine gun positions, and win, fearing that Sibyl Hathaway might appeal to her "friend" German commandant Colonel von Schmettow.
Split into simpler sentences: Islanders found they could argue with Germans about where they did or did not put barbed wire and machine gun positions, and win. Fearing that Sibyl Hathaway might appeal to her "friend" German commandant Colonel von Schmettow.