15 April 1944 Part 6

15 April 1944 Part 6 Rock-built protection for the island batteries

Date note: 15 April 1944.

Memorandum. 15 April 1944.

Telephone conversation between the Chief of Staff and the Commanding General, LXXXIV Army Corps.

Subject: enclosing the island batteries in casemates.

The Chief of Staff reports the following. The Navy points out that transporting all the required concrete already presents extraordinary difficulties on land. It is therefore advisable to examine how far concrete structures should be built on the islands and how far a restriction to rock-cut, cavern-type structures would be more advantageous. It is easier to bring a rock-drilling platoon to the islands than to ship over the concrete otherwise required.

The Chief of Staff proposes building the battery already on Alderney (Blücher) into the quarry, thereby depriving it of its wide arc of traverse and relinquishing the stretch of coast that cannot be brought under fire. He also considers it advisable to install the new 15 cm battery on the mainland, at Cap de la Hague, rather than on Alderney, likewise cutting it into the rock.

The Commanding General, LXXXIV Army Corps, agrees with these ideas in principle, but declares that placing Battery Blücher in the quarry would be quite impossible. Its fire-control post would nevertheless be fully used by other batteries.

In conclusion, the Chief of Staff states that casemate construction on the other islands, too, should be restricted to rock. He notes that, at the Army’s instigation, the return of Organisation Todt personnel is to be suspended until it is established what remains to be done on the islands and what is to be accomplished on the mainland. Corps Headquarters is to examine this and report.

German Seventh Army Headquarters (AOK 7), NARA T-312 Roll 1565. Roll 1565 Jersey and Channel Islands English translations.docx, reference 25. Scan extracts: img042_08_13498_15461.jpg. Extract filenames identify the original image strip, section number and horizontal pixel boundaries; these are not archival frame numbers.