14 October 1941 Part 2

14 October 1941 Reinforcement and reorganization of troops on the British Channel Islands

[Scan 1108.jpg] Copy. Top secret command matter. Army High Command, Army General Staff, Organization Branch (I), no. 2961/41. Army High Command headquarters, 14 October 1941. Nineteen copies; copy of the tenth copy. Operations Branch (III) 9551/41, top secret. Subject: reinforcement of the units deployed on the British Channel Islands. [Handwritten note concerning transfer of the original on 17 October 1941 partly illegible.]

To: Commander-in-Chief West, first copy with annexes; Fifteenth Army, second copy with annexes; Higher Command LX, third copy with annexes; 319th Infantry Division, fourth copy with annexes. For information: Chief of Army Armaments and Commander of the Replacement Army, fifth copy without annexes; the same authority, General Army Office, sixth copy without annexes.

I. To strengthen the defensive power of the units deployed on the British Channel Islands, it is ordered:

1) Infantry Regiment 583 of the 319th Infantry Division is to receive a rifle company from a division of the thirteenth or fourteenth wave to replace the company transferred under Army High Command, Army General Staff, Organization Branch (I), no. 2516/41, top secret, of 25 August 1941. Commander-in-Chief West will designate the supplying division.

2) In the infantry regiments of the 319th Infantry Division, the following are to be reorganized and brought to strength: a) rifle companies according to war establishment and equipment tables 131 c; b) machine-gun companies according to war establishment and equipment tables 151 c. The companies retain horse-drawn ration and baggage trains.

3) Motor-towed infantry antitank companies are to be formed in the infantry regiments of the 319th Infantry Division according to war establishment and equipment tables 184 c. The existing horse-drawn antitank platoons of the infantry regiments and the personnel additionally carried by the 319th Infantry Division for manning Pak 38 guns are available as cadres. In addition, Commander-in-Chief West is to transfer ten NCOs as cadres to the 319th Infantry Division for each newly formed antitank company.

[Scan 1109.jpg] The infantry antitank companies are to be made mobile using motor vehicles available on the Channel Islands.

4) Each infantry regiment of the 319th Infantry Division is to receive one light infantry-gun platoon from the infantry-gun companies of the 225th Infantry Division. These platoons become part of the war organization of the regiments of the 319th Infantry Division.

5) For command of the Army coastal artillery deployed on the British Channel Islands, the following are to be made available in addition to the headquarters already present: a) headquarters of I Battalion, Artillery Regiment 327, of the 327th Infantry Division, as a coastal artillery battalion headquarters. War establishment and equipment tables 408 apply to this headquarters with immediate effect. Surplus personnel and equipment are at the disposal of Commander-in-Chief West to fill shortages. In Artillery Regiment 327, the batteries of I Battalion are to be incorporated as the sixth and ninth batteries into II and III Battalions. The transferred headquarters will not be re-formed. I Battalion, Artillery Regiment 327, is thereby deemed disbanded. b) One coastal artillery battalion headquarters to be sent to Commander-in-Chief West by Army High Command, Chief of Army Armaments and Commander of the Replacement Army.

6) Coastal Batteries 353, 354, 355 and 356, hitherto established as equipment batteries, are to receive the full personnel establishment under provisional war establishment tables 471 a (shortened) or 471 b (shortened), in accordance with Army High Command, Army General Staff, Organization Branch (II), no. 8100/41, secret, of 9 October 1941. The necessary personnel are to be released by converting the other Army coastal batteries deployed on the British Channel Islands to provisional war establishment tables 471 b (shortened) or 471 c (shortened).

[Scan 1110.jpg] Provisional war establishment tables 471 b (a–c), shortened, are enclosed. [Designation retained as typed.]

II. Personnel and equipment provisions. 1) The personnel and equipment, excluding motor vehicles, needed to bring the 319th Infantry Division to strength are to be requested from Army High Command, Chief of Army Armaments and Commander of the Replacement Army, with reference to this order. 2) That authority will issue the implementation instructions, finally determine the war establishment tables, and designate the replacement units for the newly formed units. 3) Field-post numbers for the newly formed units will be assigned by Army High Command, Army General Staff, Quartermaster-General.

By order, signed Buhle. Three annexes. After dispatch: Adjutant to the Commander-in-Chief Army, seventh copy without annexes; Adjutant to Chief of the General Staff, eighth without; Senior Quartermaster I, ninth without; Operations Branch, tenth without; Quartermaster-General, eleventh with; General of Artillery attached to Commander-in-Chief Army, twelfth without; Army Personnel Office, thirteenth–fifteenth with; war diary, sixteenth without; reserve, seventeenth–eighteenth without; draft, nineteenth with. Certified a true copy: [signature unclear], Lieutenant.

German Army High Command records, T-78 Roll 317. Supplied English translation T78_Roll_317_English_Translation.docx. Source images: 1108.jpg, 1109.jpg, 1110.jpg.