16 January 1943 Part 1

16 January 1943 Channel Islands Sea Defence diary

Weather: wind from 225°, 7 m/s.

Page heading: Sea Commander, Channel Islands, 16–31 January 1943. No special events.

Construction, M.A.A. 604: Battery Mirus — interior fitting-out progresses. Heating at guns 3 and 4 is still unfinished, and gun 3’s ventilation is not yet in use. Recesses for the L.B.K. equipment’s base rails have been chiselled into the control-post floor. The equipment is erected and will be connected next week. The director’s periscope is still not installed because the specialist fitters have not arrived. Maza is trying to expedite this.

Battery Strassburg — no noteworthy changes; main-control-post construction at approximately the same stage as Steinbruch. Battery Steinbruch — reinforcement of accommodation bunker I is almost complete; pouring can probably start at the end of next week. Bunker II is still being excavated, requiring another eight to ten days. Bunkers III and IV are structurally complete. Masonry for the galley barrack has begun; it is to receive a concrete roof. Reinforcement work on the main control post progresses slowly; installing the armoured cupolas has taken considerable time.

M.A.A. 605, Battery West, report for 10–16 January: Organisation Todt — the control-post structure has been poured. Installation of iron doors and hoists in turrets 1–4 temporarily suspended; machinery-bunker work suspended. Ammunition replenishment bunker I: preparations for pouring; bunker II: further stripping of shuttering. Accommodation bunker II: reinforcement continues; bunker IV: reinforcement work. Battery’s own work: road improvements and restoration of barracks heavily damaged by the storm.

Signed Steinbach.

T-1022 Roll 2422, PG 37997, scan 0587.