1 August 1942 Part 6

1 August 1942 — 3rd Security Division: report on the V 202/203 engagement

Copy. Teletype, SSD priority, to the Commander of Security Forces West. Secret command matter.

(a) Course of the engagement. (1) At 02:20 both boats opened fire after an unanswered ES identification challenge; the enemy opened fire simultaneously. No urgent radio report could be transmitted because both boats’ radios failed. V 202 tried to escape toward land; V 203 was immediately set on fire and drifted toward Alderney. V 202, sinking, was beached. Enemy destroyers remained at the limit of the light weapons’ range.

(2) Half of V 202’s crew were rescued by the signal station, Army troops and a rescue boat; half of V 203’s crew were rescued at about 06:30 by rescue fast attack boats and fast attack boats. V 203 was towed in by yacht Georgi. V 203’s commander, Oberleutnant zur See Schneidt, was killed at the beginning of the engagement. V 202’s commander, Leutnant zur See Jakobsen [spelling in this copy], was slightly wounded. V 202 was a total loss. V 203’s prospects of restoration required investigation; its engine was serviceable. One wounded man subsequently died; the remaining wounded were in satisfactory condition. About twenty-five men were missing from each boat. Secret material was partly destroyed and partly recovered; none compromised.

(b) Transmission of reports. 03:45: Naval Signals Officer Cherbourg called the 3rd Security Division; no communication established. 04:10: the division was informed by the Commander of Security Forces West’s duty officer about an engagement involving the outpost pair off Cherbourg. 04:15: Naval Commander Channel Coast supplied details by teletype. 04:17 and 05:05: telephone conversations with Sea Commandant Normandy. The 3rd Security Division ordered three submarine chasers to assist by radio message 0518/54 L.

T-1022 Roll 2423, scan 0431. Copy attached to the 26 August review; that review identifies the report as dated 1 August 1942. The copy itself has no date line.