17 May 1944 Part 2

17 May 1944 Part 2 Alderney depends on Cherbourg cargo handling

Date note: 17 May 1944.

Annex 12 to the activity report of the authorised transportation officer at Seventh Army headquarters

Army headquarters 17 May 1944

Memorandum

1. From 15 to 16 May an official tour was made through Brittany to St-Malo, St-Brieuc, Guingamp, Pontivy, Loudéac, St-Méen and Rennes. Discussions were held at St-Malo, St-Brieuc, Pontivy and Rennes.

2. The results of the discussions were as follows:

At St Malo with the armed forces supply staff Major Lieberich

a Early information is requested about the arrival of rough-fodder transports.

b The Granville routing point for ammunition is too far forward. It should be examined whether moving it farther back would speed up wagon turnaround.

c Information about priority lists is necessary. Copies of priority lists and restrictions are requested.

d It was mentioned that Cherbourg harbour handles 3,700 tonnes of cargo for Alderney each month. Partial destruction of Cherbourg harbour installations would impair transshipment to Alderney.

At St Brieuc

Discussions with the senior garrison officer, Lieutenant-Colonel von Natzmer; First Lieutenant Meenhofer of the St-Brieuc railway anti-aircraft platoon; and Railway Inspector Malin, head of the St-Brieuc locomotive depot.

The repair percentage at St-Brieuc is currently 43.7%. Providing 31 guards for the locomotive depot is difficult because German railway personnel must operate two goods trains to Brest and two to Pontivy. Railway Inspector Malin can provide fifteen permanent guards from his own staff; the other half are urgently needed for railway operating duties. In addition to the German guards, six French gendarmes are provided during the day and twelve at night.

Since the senior garrison officer introduced reinforced guarding at St-Brieuc, no further sabotage has occurred in the station or locomotive depot.

At Pontivy with the outstation

a When emergency operation is introduced, station command headquarters will be needed at St-Méen and Carhaix. The Pontivy outstation will then move to Loudéac. First Lieutenant Lauprecht is instructed to settle the accommodation question at Loudéac. Section III of the authorised transportation officer’s staff will submit the request to the Paris-West transport authority for employment of the station command headquarters.

[Source instruction at foot: turn over. The memorandum 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 36. Scan extracts: img087_04_5824_7787.jpg. Extract filenames identify the original image strip, section number and horizontal pixel boundaries; these are not archival frame numbers.