15 October 1943 Part 6

15 October 1943 Jersey harbour batteries and coastal artillery positions

Editorial note: Extract from the report dated 17 October 1943 on the Commander-in-Chief’s tour of 13–16 October (Roll 1558 scan 1068, Operations No. 5213/43 secret). Placed here under the inspection date. Imported from the supplied English translation; its uncertain readings are retained.

L’Etacquerel resistance nest. Armament: 10.5 cm gun, 3.7 cm tank gun in an armoured rotating turret; tunnel, gun casemate and six-embrasure turret under construction. Small 90-degree embrasured emplacement for a gun on a medium pedestal mounting: firing embrasure much too large and the gun to be installed insufficiently protected from above. Standard design 670, which the fortress engineer staff has directed should be built in greater numbers. To continue building design 670, the embrasure of standard design 691 must be adopted here.

Afternoon, 15 October 1943. Inspection of the east and north coasts, second construction programme. Elizabeth Castle strongpoint: two 10.5 cm guns, two heavy and two light machine guns. Accessible only at low tide. Protects the harbour and St Aubin’s Bay.

Army Coastal Battery 355, Westmount: harbour barrage battery, four 10.5 cm guns, under construction. Upper South Hill: two 7.5 cm guns. Lieutenant Commander Bender reported. Overview of the harbour and presentation on harbour defence by Major Schwalm, commander of I Battalion, Grenadier Regiment 582. Twelve 2 cm antiaircraft guns are deployed for harbour protection; ten batteries for harbour barrage A. The Commander-in-Chief observed that enough weapons could bring fire into the harbour.

La Motte B strongpoint. Armament: one 10.5 cm gun on pivot mount with shield mounting, one 5 cm antitank gun in concrete circular emplacement. One further 10 cm gun is initially in an improvised open field position; later it will be placed on a pivot and built in.

4th Battery, Artillery Regiment 319. Four 10.5 cm Czech light field howitzers. Reinforced field fortifications; communication trenches to ammunition and accommodation bunkers; good camouflage of gun positions. Readily mobile when changing to an alternate position.

Ronez Point strongpoint, quarry works. One 10.5 cm gun. View of a large part of the north coast, with high steep drop to the sea.

Command posts of the Jersey commander, Grenadier Regiment 582 and Artillery Regiment 319 at Coin Varin. Two-storey standard design 609. The artillery regimental command post was inspected in greater detail.

T-312 Roll 1558, scans 1080–1081. Extract from T-312_Roll_1558_Master_English_Translation.docx.