2 December 1943 Part 2

2 December 1943 Exercise situation for the Cherbourg conference on 8 December

Editorial note: Exercise scenario describing hypothetical enemy operations; these are not reported historical landings or attacks.

Top secret. To the Cherbourg defence area commander. Use maps at 1:200,000 and 1:50,000. This is the hypothetical situation for the command conference.

From 2 to 4 December, bombing attacks strike Guernsey, Alderney, battery positions and strongpoints on both Cotentin coasts, and roads and railways from Cherbourg to Caen–Granville. On 4 December, enemy landings take place on the east coast between Saint-Martin-de-Varreville and Barfleur, on the west coast from Vauville to Carteret, and by strong parachute forces around Valognes, Bricquebec and Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte. With heavy armoured commitment from the west and continuous air support, the enemy links the two landing groups around Valognes.

Cherbourg situation at 18:00 on 7 December: no attack yet on the north coast. Heavy naval gunfire has struck fortifications and batteries since the fourth. Hamburg, Railway Battery 722, Yorck and 4/706 have been neutralized. Bombing concentrates on batteries, villages around Cherbourg and Théville airfield. The reconnaissance squadron has moved inland.

The Jobourg peninsula remains ours. III/739 occupies the Beaumont barrier in contact with strong enemy forces on the Vauville–L’Épinette line, close to the land front west of Sainte-Croix-Hague since the fifth. Machine Gun Battalion 17 and Georgian Battalion 795 occupy the adjoining land front. Stronger enemy thrusts, including tanks, against Sainte-Croix-Hague–Hardinvast on the sixth and seventh were repulsed.

Opposite the southern land front, the enemy stands back on the Couville and Brix heights. On the afternoon of the seventh, strong forces moved from Saussemesnil towards Le Theil. Bois de Barnavast is still held by Eastern Battalion 649, with 8/729 attached. From the wood, a thin German line runs west of the Saire through Le Vast to the road junction north of Valcanville, then Mont Roty–Denneville to the stream mouth one kilometre southeast of Gatteville. III/729 holds the part from Le Vast to the sea. Besides the defence area’s troops and those named, the extended area contains Headquarters Regiment 739, Heavy Artillery Battalion 457 and Antitank Company 709.

The enemy has not attacked this front since the sixth. Stronger pressure on the afternoon of the seventh between Bois de Barnavast and Le Vast caused 8/729 to withdraw to Volognes, 1,500 metres east of Brillevast.

At 18:00, a radio message arrives from 709th Division: “About two enemy divisions face Cherbourg and three face 709th Division. Enemy tanks are assembling around Bricquebec. Landings on the east coast continue. An attack on Cherbourg is expected very soon. The division defends south of Sainte-Mère-Église, the southern edge of the marshes, and Portbail. Counterattack via Valognes about 13 December.”

By 6 December submit a 1:50,000 map showing the assumed detailed German deployment in the extended defence area at 18:00 on 7 December. Present the assessment, decision and orders orally at the conference on 8 December.

T-314 Roll 1604, T314_R1604_English_Translation.docx. 2 December 1943 | Source PDF pages 1266–1267. Selected island-related text; document or report date governs placement.