13 June 1943 Part 1

13 June 1943 Channel Islands Sea Defence diary

Weather: wind 45°, 3 m/sec. At about 06:00, two harbour-protection boats of the Guernsey group sailed to recover a Ju 88 reported by Sea Rescue District II to have ditched in grid square BF 2656 centre. At 08:15, Sea Rescue District II reported through the Naval Liaison Officer, Cherbourg, that German fighters had searched the scene without finding anything. The boats were recalled.

At 09:16, the Sorel observation post on Jersey saw a drifting object, probably a dinghy, in BF 3576 lower left. Following consultation with Sea Rescue Cherbourg, this was considered a possible rescue case. Two Jersey harbour-protection boats sailed at 10:00. A rescue aircraft alighted beside the dinghy and recovered it and the English pilot inside. The aircraft sprang a leak on alighting and could not take off again; the harbour-protection boats, which had meanwhile arrived, towed it into St Helier.

Fighters sent to search by Sea Rescue Cherbourg reported that at 10:19 they had seen a dinghy with one man drifting five kilometres east of Point de la Coupe, at Jersey’s north-east corner. Two further Jersey harbour-protection boats sailed to search, without success.

The gun of Army Coastal Battery 356 on Jersey which had been unavailable since 31 May was operational again. At 21:00, the 319th Infantry Division ordered Alert Level I.

T-1022 Roll 2422, scans 0654–0655.