1 August 1943 Part 1

1 August 1943 Channel Islands Sea Defence diary

War Diary of the Commander of Sea Defence, Channel Islands, 1–15 August 1943. Secret. Enclosure to G 4495; archival marking Ch 31967 a; Naval Staff registry 1804/43. No special occurrences. Construction report, Naval Artillery Battalion 604.

Batterie Mirus: work continued on the gun wiring, sports ground, levelling and the road to the fire-control post. Work on the day room at No. 2 gun and concreting of the forecourt at the bunker entrance of No. 3 gun continued; the surround at the latter entrance was completed. Interior fitting of the bunker rooms at anti-aircraft position No. 3 began. Organisation Todt continued shuttering at anti-aircraft position No. 4 and excavation at Nos. 5 and 6; the working floor was laid at No. 8 and concreting began at No. 9. Banking and camouflage work at No. 3 gun continued. Horticultural and camouflage work by the firms Oval, Bruns and Windheim also progressed.

Batterie Steinbruch: partitions in the galley building were partly completed and the drainage ditch approached completion. Painting and electrical work continued in the communal barrack, canteen and cellar. Work began on accommodation for searchlight Anton. The fire-control post and gun living bunker No. 4 were fitted with interior lining. Infantry positions, excavations for ammunition and equipment boxes, and the petrol-tank shaft were extended. Organisation Todt continued the heating and drainage installations in the fire-control post, levelling around its bunker and banking at the ammunition replenishment bunker. Two access stairways to that bunker were completed. Excavation at anti-aircraft positions Nos. 3 and 6 continued; water tanks Nos. 1 and 2 were prepared for pouring.

Batterie Steinbruch: Siemens continued work on the Seipa and Epa installations. Engineers laid the first mines at the battery entrance. Camouflage at Nos. 3 and 4 guns was completed.

Batterie Strassburg: excavation began for an ammunition bunker at the first Oerlikon gun. A ruined house beside the fire-control post had to be demolished. Infantry positions were expanded. The shuttering for the 3.5-cm anti-tank-gun position, the overhead travelling-crane installation in the ammunition bunker of No. 3 gun and camouflage of the 22-cm guns were completed. Posts were erected in the battery's open ground. Organisation Todt laid water pipes for the fire-control post and filled the cable trenches. Electrical wiring was laid in the medical building; ceilings were fitted and painted in the petty-officers' mess and communal room.

Translator’s note: the anti-tank-gun calibre above is printed as 3.5 cm in the source.

Batterie Lothringen: excavation for the office barrack was sufficiently advanced for erection to begin. Part of the infantry defence system was completed; work on the remaining positions and camouflage continued. Organisation Todt poured the third storey of the bearing station. Material for the fire-control post was assembled so that its second storey could be poured during the following week. Work continued on the ready-use ammunition niches.

Translator’s note: this report describes the third storey of the bearing post (Peilstand) and preparations for the second storey of the fire-control post (Leitstand). The 21–24 July report already describes pouring the latter second storey; the August reports repeat preparation and pouring. These differing contemporary statements are retained without attempting to reconcile the construction sequence.

Naval Artillery Battalion 605 — Batterie Annes: preparations continued for pouring the fire-control-post living bunker. A barrack was erected for the generator of searchlight II. Several field positions and the wiring were reinforced.

T-1022 Roll 2422, scans 0678–0680.