13 March 1943 Part 1

13 March 1943 Channel Islands Sea Defence diary

Weather: wind 90°, 9 m/sec. A wooden barrack belonging to Batterie Lothringen on Jersey, containing the wireless equipment, was destroyed by fire. The cause had not yet been established and no report was available.

Mirus battery: some Organisation Todt workers had returned. The heating system at No. 3 gun was expected to be complete in two to three weeks. Battery personnel poured the working slab for the second 7.5-cm gun position, completed the embankment around the mess barrack and poured half of the concrete roof over its cellar. A Tobruk at No. 4 gun was completed. Infantry positions and wire obstacles were extended, and shuttering of the shelters at the bearing stations continued. Organisation Todt worked on embankments at the fire-control post and Nos. 2 and 3 guns.

Strasbourg battery: some Organisation Todt workers resumed work at the fire-control post. The internal fitting-out was almost complete, and Siemens began installing the lighting circuits. No other noteworthy changes were recorded.

Steinbruch battery: the fire-control post had been poured. The crew bunker at No. 2 gun was ready for its working slab to be poured. Shuttering of the machinery house had progressed and pouring was expected to begin in the middle of the following week. Work on the mess barrack was temporarily suspended because the pioneers had been withdrawn for more urgent duties; it was expected to resume in approximately ten days.

Organisation Todt continued internal work at the fire-control post: smoothing the floor and the cable, pipe and heating ducts, preparing the drainage and constructing the exit shaft. Installation of the ammunition hoists in turret 3 continued. Shuttering was removed from accommodation bunker 2 and its walls and floor were smoothed. Excavation of ammunition replenishment bunker I was completed. Shuttering and reinforcement work continued at accommodation bunker 4. General work included levelling the battery ground near No. 2 gun and excavating a cable trench from the battery boundary to the fire-control post for a permanently installed telephone cable.

Battery personnel extended the machine-gun positions, levelled the future parade square and continued laying telephone cables between the fire-control post and the guns.

T-1022 Roll 2422, PG 37997, scans 0608–0609.