11 February 1944 Part 1

11 February 1944 Part 1 Priority allocation of weapons and ammunition to the islands questioned

Date note: 11 February 1944.

Ia. Army headquarters, 11 February 1944. Points for discussion.

1. Army reserve in the Rennes area: one armoured or motorised division. [Handwritten addition concerning three divisions and training is not securely legible.]

2. Coastal defence.

(a) Coastal Defence Sectors A1 and C2: provide command staffs and at least one signals company for each sector.

(b) Army Headquarters must retain Artillery Regiment Headquarters 621 with Heavy Artillery Battalions 456 and 457.

(c) Employment of elements of LVIII Reserve Panzer Corps on the coastal front: one battalion each near Saint-Brieuc and Saint-Malo, and provision of artillery alarm units; not yet decided.

(d) Cotentin west coast. Completely inadequate garrison in the southern part, on both sides of Granville. Army Headquarters requests one grenadier battalion and the two still missing mobile battalions of Mobile Brigade 30.

(e) Decision on Army Coastal Battery 1271, Saint-Malo. Urgent because of casemate construction; the matter has been pending for a year.

3. Value of second-line divisions. 352nd and 353rd Infantry Divisions: still forming, with gaps; collective training still needs development. 77th Infantry Division: the existing reinforced regimental group is being dissolved through formation measures. 275th Infantry Division: one battle group available, immobile. 243rd Infantry Division: reinforcement of divisional headquarters and signals battalion requested.

4. Intended measures south of the Loire.

5. Reorganisation of the Eastern units must now cease.

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6. Transport capacity. The Army must now surrender 130 tons for Organisation Todt and 300 tons for obstacle work. Replacement requested. Additional fuel allocation for mine deliveries, 600,000 mines.

7. Fortress ammunition stockpiling in accordance with the Führer’s order is impossible without additional allocations of ammunition in short supply: machine-gun, pistol and rifle-grenade ammunition. The new Führer order providing double training allocations for 352nd and 353rd Infantry Divisions worsens the ammunition situation.

8. Preferential treatment of the islands in weapons and ammunition is no longer justified. The islands are now receiving fifteen heavy anti-tank guns under an OKW order.

[Handwritten additions numbered 8–10 are partly illegible. The first appears to concern an invasion date, 15 February; the others concern reorganisation and ammunition supply. Their exact wording cannot be securely recovered.]

German Seventh Army Headquarters (AOK 7), NARA T-312 Roll 1565. Roll 1565 Jersey and Channel Islands English translations.docx, reference 6. Scan extracts: img009_06_10317_12425.jpg, img009_07_12425_14535.jpg. Extract filenames identify the original image strip, section number and horizontal pixel boundaries; these are not archival frame numbers.