18 July 1942 Part 1

18 July 1942 Channel Islands Sea Defence diary

Weather: wind from 315°, 2 metres per second, hazy.

16:44–17:55: outpost boats Vp. 204 and 209 and harbour-protection boats H.S. 133 and 134 were attacked off Cap de la Hague by British aircraft with bombs and aircraft guns. Two bombs hit Vp. 204, causing considerable damage. Numerous aircraft-gun hits on the outpost boats. Total dead: the numeral is overprinted and appears to read 9 [uncertain], including the commander of “Vp.-Boot 109” [as typed; the opening identifies 209]. Eleven seriously and lightly wounded in total. The outpost boats could proceed under their own power but were unfit for operations.

On H.S. 133 the boat commander and one Organisation Todt man were killed; one man of Batterie Mirus was missing, three men seriously wounded and one lightly wounded. H.S. 133 was badly shot up and its engine was out of action. One man on H.S. 134 was lightly wounded. H.S. 134 sank in Alderney harbour after being towed in; it was subsequently raised. [This diary’s figures are retained separately from the contemporary St Malo and Alderney reports.]

Construction, Naval Artillery Battalion 604 — Batterie Mirus. No. 1 gun: remaining assembly work on the machinery and fuel and cooling-water tanks continued. Ammunition bunker and crew accommodation were further fitted out. Backfilling behind the bunker installations began. No. 2 gun: electrical turret installation and power-machinery assembly continued; ammunition railway tracks inside the bunkers were completed. No. 3 gun: work continued on the electrical equipment inside the turret; machinery foundations in the bunkers were poured and concreting of the crew bunkers was finished.

No. 4 gun: barrel and cradle were placed on the firing mounting. Turret cabling began. Reinforcement and formwork at the machinery bunker were completed. Fire-control post: cables for the fire-control equipment were being laid in the completed concrete post. The 10-metre rangefinder had arrived at the site. Current firing interval: two minutes at No. 1 gun; four to five minutes at Nos. 2 and 3 in the principal firing direction. There were 380 shells with their associated cartridge charges at the guns.

Batterie Strassburg: no changes. Batterie Steinbruch: two guns had been installed; construction suffered from a change of erection contractors.

Naval Artillery Battalion 605 — Batterie West. No. 2 gun was installed on 14 July. The base for No. 3 gun was poured; removal of formwork was expected on 18 July. Work on the circular platforms at Nos. 1 and 2 continued. Excavation for the command post continued. Excavation for the accommodation barracks at Nos. 1 and 2 was finished, with base slabs to be poured in the coming week. Excavation for the communal room and service barracks began. No. 3 gun was brought from the harbour to the battery site.

T-1022 Roll 2422, PG 37996, scan 0471–0472.