22 June 1943 Part 2

22 June 1943 Answers to Commander in Chief West s questionnaire Annex 177

Top secret. To Seventh Army. Question 1: combat missions and fire plans exist down to resistance-nest level. Support for neighbouring sectors is arranged and, where possible, checked by live firing, including at the boundary with the neighbouring army. Artillery and heavy-infantry-weapon barrages are fixed for night and fog.

Question 2: special Luftwaffe and navy installations are incorporated into army strongpoints and resistance nests wherever technically possible; otherwise they protect themselves as separate resistance nests. Questions 3 and 4: affirmative. Question 5: spot checks, familiarisation and practice alarms have been conducted.

Question 6: wire communications are backed by radio down to battalion level. A separate artillery radio net includes battalion headquarters and naval artillery. Motorcycle messengers and runners are prepared; runners know their routes. At the boundaries with Fifteenth Army and LXXXII Army Corps, regimental and battalion headquarters have telephone and radio links; companies and resistance nests have telephone links.

Question 7: minefields are still inadequate and almost absent on the west front in the Georgian infantry battalion’s sector. Limited progress reflects shortage of personnel and the need to inspect and partly relay existing minefields because of weather damage. Engineer battalions from operational reserves would be welcome. Questions 8 and 9: affirmative.

Question 10: field fortification is not as advanced as required by the wide divisional sectors and limited troops. Defence in depth is only beginning. Recent orders to employ reserve battalions and batteries at priority sites are having an effect. The Labour Service will develop depth positions after finishing the land-front works. Troops are fully occupied. Permanent construction has progressed well relative to allocated labour and materials, but lags badly behind other corps sectors. More workers and materials are required. Full reconnaissance for all allocated works is complete, unless permanent construction is also authorised for parts of the west coast, as requested on 19 June. Existing permanent and field installations form a tactically coherent system.

Question 11: camouflage of large works remains unsatisfactory. There are insufficient dummy installations, and available personnel cannot build, maintain and guard the required number. Question 12: affirmative, although several artillery strongpoints still require clearance of fields of fire. Question 13: much of the wire obstacle system remains inadequate. With more wire, obstacles must be widened and those around the resistance nests on Cherbourg’s land front connected.

Question 14: food and ammunition stocks are adequate. Drinking-water supply is established and continuously improved by sinking wells. Question 15: affirmative; frequent checks by corps and the army’s gas-defence staff officer confirm this. Question 16: strongpoint and resistance-nest commanders and deputies have formally undertaken their duties. Divisions keep nominal lists and submit them monthly. Question 17: no reserve weapons exist.

Question 18: west-front weaknesses are described in the report of 19 June. The 716th Division has insufficient artillery support on the open coast between the Orne and Vire. In the 709th Division, shortage of light artillery is felt in the Barfleur and Cherbourg coastal subsectors and along the entire land front. The 319th Division has no weaknesses.

Question 19: coastal troops have limited training opportunities because of strenuous guard and construction duties. Question 20: judged by the troops, their organisation and the fortifications, the Channel Islands’ defensive capability is already assured in every respect. For the 716th and 709th Divisions, this is true at the principal points—the Orne, Vire, east coast and Cherbourg’s sea front. For the other stretches, see Question 18.

Question 21: cooperation with the Luftwaffe is currently very good; with the navy, good at lower levels. Question 22: frequent alarm exercises, including reserves, show that combat readiness is usually reached faster than stipulated. Loading exercises for combat transport must be more frequent to ensure the prescribed times can also be met under unfavourable loading conditions.

T-314 Roll 1604, T314_R1604_English_Translation.docx. 22 June 1943 | Source PDF pages 589–592. Selected island-related text; document or report date governs placement.