00 Undated T312 Roll 1571 Reference 29

Undated T312 Roll 1571 Reference 29 Island vehicles stranded at Granville

Date note: June 1944; action dated 12 June.

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… ten to fifteen kilometres outside, except for the Navy, which continues to operate in its large bunker in the destroyed harbour. [Sentence begins on the preceding page.]

Since the island vehicles could not be moved away despite railway wagons having been provided, owing to destruction of the railway network, and since in the park commander’s view Granville is now at the focal point of the deployment on Normandy’s west coast, two outstanding specialists from Motor-Vehicle Repair Park 528 were sent to Granville with equipment on 12 June 1944. They are to make the island vehicles standing there, insofar as suitable, serviceable on the spot as quickly as possible and place them at the disposal of the responsible sector commanders for the combat troops. Accessories and batteries are being forwarded by Repair Park 528. These specialists will work with the outstation personnel until the programme is completed.

If the last workshop is also lost and the planned programme has been completed, the Granville outstation personnel will return to Repair Park 528 at Rennes or Janzé, taking the invoices, records and vouchers with them. The emergency power engine from the Simca garage will be brought back to Repair Park 528.

2 Fougères

To assist troops passing through, the surviving Hall IV of the Opel K workshop at Fougères is being organised as a joint emergency workshop. For this purpose, the usable equipment from all the destroyed garages is being transferred there. The emergency workshop will open within the next few days. The emergency power engine belonging to the firm Vérot appears undamaged and is being returned to Repair Park 528 at Janzé. The new emergency workshop will be equipped with a smaller machine set. Recovery of the wood-gas fuel and charcoal stocks at the filling station will be attempted once the roads have been cleared.

On 11 June, the park commander sent a detachment of one leader and six men to Fougères to recover the body of Opel K workshop foreman Josef Brasser, born 3 March 1908, who is still buried in the rubble. After recovering the foreman, the detachment will retrieve the outstation’s vouchers and records from the debris and then return to Repair Park 528.

3 Mayenne

The importance of the place urgently requires assistance for troops passing through. For this reason, usable remnants from the destroyed establishments are being brought together in the surviving neighbouring Renault workshop, and this establishment is being maintained for rapid repairs. This joint emergency workshop is already operating. Once the roads have been cleared, an attempt will be made to recover the remaining wood-gas fuel and charcoal from the filling station.

4 Laval

Working at 100%. Repairs, conversion to gas generators and conversion into improvised open staff cars. Work performance excellent.

5 St Malo

Working with 60% of the workforce. Productive work is impossible because of constant air-raid warnings.

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German Seventh Army Headquarters (AOK 7), NARA T-312 Roll 1571. Roll 1571 Jersey and Channel Islands English translations.docx, reference 29. Scan extracts: img061_06_9748_11699.jpg. Extract filenames identify the original image strip, section number and horizontal pixel boundaries; these are not archival frame numbers.