00 Undated T312 Roll 1571 Reference 35

Undated T312 Roll 1571 Reference 35 90 days of medical reserves

Date note: June 1944 report; exact date not established here.

[Printed page 6; continuation of medical report.]

IV

The Army anti-gas school was closed at the beginning of the invasion. Short decontamination courses are being conducted by corps not in action.

The enemy has so far not used gas in combat. None of the occasional reports of phosphorus burns has withstood objective examination. In every case these proved to be severe explosive effects from large-calibre shells.

V

Heavy losses among medical officers — 42 casualties, excluding losses in Cherbourg fortress — make rapid reinforcement with doctors urgent, particularly since preparations on both sides suggest major fighting along the whole front in the near future.

There are no medical-officer vacancies in the Army medical establishments.

An exact overview of losses and casualties among medical subordinate personnel is not yet possible because reports are incomplete. So far 558 casualties have been reported.

There are no nursing vacancies. There are five vacancies among female technical assistants.

VI

At the beginning of the invasion, certain difficulties arose in supplying the Army with medicines, dressings and equipment. They were never such as to cause serious harm to the troops or wounded. They were chiefly transport difficulties: the railways ceased functioning immediately, and low-flying aircraft severely impeded road traffic.

Supply from the Paris depot to the medical depot at Alençon and its Rennes branch is assured. Empty ambulance columns bring the material from Paris to the required location. Reserves had been established everywhere as ordered. Two additional lorryloads of material were sent by sea to Cherbourg fortress. Even the fortress doctor’s last radio message stated: medical material plentiful.

Stocks in the other fortresses have also been checked again during these days. According to the corps surgeons of XXV and LXXIV Army Corps, they are entirely sufficient. Stocks of certain medicines, such as tetanus serum, morphine ampoules and sulphonamides, are being increased further in accordance with experience gained. The same applies to plaster bandages. The Channel Islands are stocked for 90 days.

[Continuation on printed page 7.]

Further stockpiling is intended; material will be sent with the next shipping opportunity.

The Alençon depot and Rennes branch had dispersed their stocks in good time, so bomb hits caused no damage. The Rennes branch’s alternative depot at Fougères has meanwhile been moved to Pont Macé [place-name reading uncertain] and Pontmain. For additional security, the Alençon medical depot established an alternative depot at Ballon, twenty kilometres north of Le Mans.

Issue points are at Alençon and Rennes; in an emergency supplies are also issued at Le Mans through the hospital pharmacy. It proved necessary to establish a forward medical-material issue point at Mortain, fifteen kilometres south of Vire, under a depot pharmacist. For the divisions this considerably eases and shortens journeys. The Army’s right wing continues to be supplied through Alençon. No difficulties arose in this.

Among Army establishments only the dental station at Caen was destroyed by a bomb hit. The divisions, particularly on the Cotentin peninsula, have so far reported minor equipment losses which could be replaced immediately from the Alençon medical depot — for example, two TSA [abbreviation retained], three No. 30 chests, one medical officer’s bag, etc.

Captured material so far received:

One small hand-carried case containing anti-gas medical supplies of American origin.

One large chest, with the external dimensions of medical chest No. 30, containing anti-gas medical supplies.

These were sent to the pharmacological department of the Military Medical Academy.

Apart from the usual scarce items, which are notified from time to time through the Army Surgeon, no particular difficulties arose that would have seriously endangered the situation.

[Signature not confidently deciphered.]

German Seventh Army Headquarters (AOK 7), NARA T-312 Roll 1571. Roll 1571 Jersey and Channel Islands English translations.docx, reference 35. Scan extracts: img077_01_0_1923.jpg, img077_02_1923_4211.jpg. Extract filenames identify the original image strip, section number and horizontal pixel boundaries; these are not archival frame numbers.