11 April 1944 Part 3

11 April 1944 Assessment of Channel Islands defences

Editorial note: This is the German command assessment, not an independent judgement of the defences. Verschartung means enclosing guns in embrasured protective positions or casemates. The battery work is described as planned, not completed.

Army headquarters submits to Army Group B a report on the garrison strengths of the fortresses of Guernsey, Jersey and Alderney.

The island fortresses are capable of withstanding even the strongest enemy attacks from the sea. Enemy airborne landings are possible particularly in Fortress Jersey, because of the large open areas behind the north and south coasts, and in Fortress Alderney in the wider surroundings of the airfield. To counter airborne landings and parachute drops, vulnerable areas have been blocked by minefields and pole obstacles. Strong reserves have also been held back.

Placing the most important batteries in casemates is provided for in the forthcoming construction programme. Their fire will then cover a barrage line from the northwest tip of the Cotentin via Alderney, Guernsey and Jersey to the middle of the west coast of the Cotentin.

Original source image — T-312 Roll 1564, PDF page 239. Assessment of Channel Islands defences.

German Seventh Army records, NARA T-312 Roll 1564. T312_R1564_Jersey_and_Channel_Islands_English_Translation.docx, extract 21. Seventh Army war diary. Source PDF page 239. PDF page numbers count from the first page of T312-1564.pdf, not the photographed frame or handwritten folio.