17 April 1944 Part 3

17 April 1944 Part 3 Ammunition reserves

Date note: 17 April 1944.

17 April 1944

General

On 16 and 17 April the Chief Quartermaster reports to the Chief of the General Staff and the Commander-in-Chief. See the annex for briefing notes. [Annex 21.]

Ammunition

Discussion with the corps weapons and equipment officers concerning the change in ammunition stockpiling taking effect immediately. The new order generally reduces the number of rounds held at the weapon and places the quantities released farther to the rear, in Army and main ammunition depots, so that the command has ammunition reserves available for concentration at decisive points.

With immediate effect, coastal-defence divisions will no longer calculate in basic ammunition loads but in consumption figures, that is, rounds per barrel. Troops outside coastal defence and the Channel Islands continue to calculate in basic loads as before. Stockpiling on the Channel Islands remains unchanged.

The movement to the rear entails considerable transport movements, which are to be carried out rapidly under the code word “Malaria”.

Weapons and equipment

Special-Purpose Divisional Headquarters 136 has received:

One 12.2 cm gun 390/1 (Russian).

One 12.2 cm gun 390/2 (Russian).

One 8.1 cm mortar 276 (Italian).

Fuel

Each corps headquarters has been given one cubic metre of fuel from the intelligence section’s discretionary stock for combating “terrorists”. [The quoted term is the source’s terminology.]

Motor transport

The 243rd Infantry Division reports receipt of three medium cross-country lorries of the Maultier type.

Administrative affairs

Further contact with First Lieutenant Gerhold, liaison officer with the Commander Northwest France, has established that the Army’s proposals are approved and that production of the maps with … [Sentence continues beyond the cited page.]

German Seventh Army Headquarters (AOK 7), NARA T-312 Roll 1571. Roll 1571 Jersey and Channel Islands English translations.docx, reference 2. Scan extracts: img003_02_2016_4071.jpg. Extract filenames identify the original image strip, section number and horizontal pixel boundaries; these are not archival frame numbers.