22 March 1944 Part 2

22 March 1944 Channel Islands construction progress during February 1944

Date note: Cover 22 March 1944; report status 1 March 1944.

[Scan 0988.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. 575/44 secret command matter. 22 March 1944. 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. Three 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 March 1944. A new construction map of Guernsey, position 1 March 1944, is enclosed.

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 March 1944, no. 1133/44; Operations Branch 24 March, no. 3115/44.

[Scan 0989.jpg] Report on permanent construction progress on the Channel Islands (position 1 March 1944). 1. Details of construction status and progress during February appear in the attached table.

2. Withdrawal of firms to the mainland reduced the workforce employed on the Channel Islands by approximately 700, leaving approximately 3,900 workers available for further construction on 1 March 1944. Concrete output during February on all three islands totalled 7,573 m³, compared with 4,687 m³ in December [as printed; the preceding report assigns this figure to January]. Seventeen permanent installations became operational and twelve were completed in structural shell in February. Concrete output: Guernsey 2,421 m³; Jersey 1,625 m³; Alderney 1,967 m³; subtotal 6,013 m³. Additional anti-tank walls, ring stands, captured tank turrets, etc. on all three islands: 1,560 m³. Total 7,573 m³.

3. In tunnel construction, great emphasis again remained on completing the installations already begun. Monthly output was 1,043 m³ of usable rock excavation. 4. Total construction-material throughput rose considerably in February compared with the previous month, to 4,252 tonnes against 1,539 tonnes in January.

5. During the reporting month 3,793 new mines were laid. [Scan 0990.jpg] The total number laid on 1 March 1944 was accordingly: Guernsey 40,293; Sark 2,959; Jersey 30,363; Alderney 12,527.

German Army High Command records, T-78 Roll 317. Supplied English translation T78_Roll_317_English_Translation.docx. Source images: 0988.jpg, 0989.jpg, 0990.jpg.