21 December 1943 Part 4

21 December 1943 Channel Islands construction progress during November 1943

Date note: Cover apparently 21 December 1943; receipt 23 December. Report status 1 December 1943.

[Scan 0977.jpg] Army High Command/Army General Staff/General of Engineers and Fortifications attached to Chief of Army General Staff[earlier heading: Commander-in-Chief Army], BranchL (IIW), Channel IslandsA. No. 2226/43 secret command matter. 21 December 1943 [day partly obscured]. Four copies; copy 3. To Armed Forces High Command/Operations Staff/Operations, with one additional copy (copies 1 and 2).

References: 1. Armed Forces High Command/Operations Staff/BranchL (IOp) no. 441760/41 secret chiefs’ matter, 20 October 1941; 2. Army High Command/Army General Staff/General of Engineers and Fortifications (LIIW) no. 6075/42 secret, 15 October 1942.

Subject: Fortification of the English Channel Islands. Five enclosures. Enclosed, in accordance with reference 1, item 5, is a report on the state of permanent fortification of the Channel Islands as at 1 December 1943.

By order: [signature unclear]. After dispatch: Adjutant to Chief of Army General Staff (copy 3), with request to forward to Operations Branch (II). By order: [signature unclear]. Receipt: 23 December 1943, no. 4723/43; Operations Branch 23 December, no. 13009/43.

[Scan 0978.jpg] Report on permanent construction progress on the Channel Islands (position 1 December 1943). 1. Details of construction status and progress during November appear in the attached maps and table.

2. Following the transfer of further firms to the mainland, the number of workers employed on the Channel Islands again fell during the reporting month. Accordingly, 6,700 workers were available for construction on 1 December 1943. Concrete output in November fell very considerably compared with preceding months, amounting to only 10,356 m³. Seventeen permanent installations became operational and six were completed in structural shell. Concrete output: Guernsey 3,241 m³; Jersey 3,063 m³; Alderney 1,796 m³; subtotal 8,100 m³. Additional anti-tank walls, ring stands, captured tank turrets, etc. on all three islands: 2,256 m³. Total 10,356 m³.

3. A still satisfactory output of 6,736 m³ of usable rock excavation was achieved in tunnel construction. 4. Total construction-material throughput fell to 1,938.5 tonnes in November, although an increase can be expected in coming months because of the enlarged winter construction programme.

5. A total of 9,880 new mines were laid during the reporting month. Total mines laid on 1 December 1943: Guernsey 38,066; Jersey 28,786; Sark 2,582; Alderney 9,329.

German Army High Command records, T-78 Roll 317. Supplied English translation T78_Roll_317_English_Translation.docx. Source images: 0977.jpg, 0978.jpg.