26 July 1941 Part 2

26 July 1941 Garrison, defences and supplies of the Channel Islands as at 23 July 1941

[Scan 1017.jpg] Secret command matter. Army High Command/Army General Staff/Operations Branch (IIa), no. 1389/41. Army High Command headquarters, 26 July 1941. Two copies, copy 2. Reference: Chief of Armed Forces High Command no. 44938/41 secret, 10 June 1941. Subject: Reinforcement of the Channel Islands. To Armed Forces High Command/Operations Staff/Branch I. In response to the above directive, Army High Command reports: Draft. Chiefs only; officer delivery only. Additional reference: Armed Forces High Command/Operations Staff/Branch I (IOp), no. 01364/41 secret, 13 July 1941. Following Army High Command/Army General Staff/Operations Branch (IIa) report no. 37656/41 of 20 July 1941, an overview of Channel Islands construction as at 23 July 1941, with maps, is enclosed. Five enclosures. By order: [signature unclear]. Distribution: Armed Forces High Command/Operations Staff/Branch I, copy 1; Army High Command/Army General Staff/Operations Branch (IIa), copy 2.

[Scan 1018.jpg] Secret command matter. Chiefs only; officer delivery only. Enclosure 1 to no. 1389/41 of 26 July 1941. Garrison and position construction on the British Channel Islands. I. Command. 1. Jersey and Guernsey are subordinate to 319th Division; Alderney to 83rd Division. 2. Divisional command post of 319th Division: Guernsey. (a) Commander of 319th Division is simultaneously island commander Guernsey. (b) Former commander of the British Channel Islands is island commander Jersey. 3. A captain of 83rd Division is island commander Alderney, with an improvised battalion staff.

II. Troop organisation (elements arrived so far). A. Guernsey. Infantry: Infantry Regiment 584 with engineer, anti-tank, cyclist and signals platoons; Machine-Gun Battalion 16 (1st–3rd machine-gun companies, 4th engineer and 5th anti-tank companies). Artillery: Artillery Regimental Headquarters for Special Employment 720; headquarters Army Coastal Artillery Battalion 727; III Battalion/Artillery Regiment 319 with two batteries of Czech 10.5 cm light field howitzers; one captured French 7.5 cm battery; one captured French 15.5 cm gun battery; Army Coastal Battery 462 (15 cm gun 18); headquarters Naval Artillery Battalion 604 and 1st Battery (22 cm), with eight Oerlikon 2 cm anti-aircraft guns. Armour: eight captured tanks.

[Scan 1019.jpg] Engineers and construction troops: Engineer Battalion 319 with 1st and 3rd Companies; Fortress Engineer Staff 19 with two subsectors; Fortress Construction Battalion 152. Supply services: supply staff from Infantry Regiment 584. Others: elements Medical Company 319; one section Ambulance Platoon 318; one-third Signals Company 319; two detachments Corps Signals Battalion 460. Anti-aircraft: headquarters and two batteries Anti-Aircraft Battalion 243 (8.8 cm); headquarters and two batteries Anti-Aircraft Battalion 998 (2 cm), one battery dispersed on coastal protection.

B. Jersey. Island commander: Colonel Count Schmettow. Infantry: Infantry Regiment 582 with engineer, anti-tank, cyclist and signals platoons. Artillery: headquarters Artillery Regiment 319; headquarters Army Coastal Artillery Battalion 728; II Battalion/Artillery Regiment 319 with two batteries Czech 10.5 cm light field howitzers; one captured French 7.5 cm battery; one captured French 15.5 cm gun battery; 2nd Battery/Naval Artillery Battalion 604 (15 cm), with six Oerlikon 2 cm anti-aircraft guns. Armour: eight captured tanks. Engineers and construction troops: 2nd Company/Engineer Battalion 319; Fortress Engineer Staff 14 with Sector Group I/14; Construction Battalion 158 less 2nd Company; 5th Company/Construction Battalion 19. Others: supply staff from Infantry Regiment 582; elements Medical Company 319; one section Ambulance Platoon 318.

[Scan 1020.jpg] Anti-aircraft: one battery Anti-Aircraft Battalion 998 (2 cm); one battery Anti-Aircraft Battalion 243 (8.8 cm). C. Alderney. Infantry: 5th Company/Infantry Regiment 277; one heavy machine-gun platoon; one heavy mortar section; one anti-tank platoon; one cyclist platoon. Artillery: Army Coastal Battery 461 (15 cm gun 18); one naval 17 cm battery with six Oerlikon 2 cm anti-aircraft guns. Engineers and construction troops: one platoon Engineer Battalion 183; 2nd Company/Construction Battalion 158. Others: one radio detachment Signals Battalion 183.

III. Further reinforcing artillery intended for the islands. 1. Loaded and ready for transport at Saint-Malo: Army Coastal Battery 463 (15 cm gun 18), for Guernsey, with personnel and equipment, without ammunition. 2. Ready for transport at Saint-Malo but not yet loaded: (a) Army Coastal Batteries 464,465, 466,467, 468,469 (21 cm heavy mortar 18), with equipment and ammunition for all batteries and personnel for three; personnel for the remaining batteries are en route from Germany. (b) Batteries 470,471, 472 (French 22 cm K532), with personnel and ammunition, without equipment. Cadres for all batteries have been requested.

[Scan 1021.jpg] 3. Completion of transport to the islands cannot yet be forecast. Loading is into barges, hence there is absolute dependence on weather. Naval Commander Channel Coast has informed Higher Command IX that sufficient barge capacity and the necessary tugs and escort boats are assured.

IV. Heavy infantry weapons. The infantry regiments of 319th Division have received, per battalion: six light mortars; six heavy mortars; two light infantry guns; three anti-tank guns. Training is in progress. A course for light infantry-gun crews is being run at 216th Infantry Division.

V. Position construction. Field fortification of the islands follows the principles of strongpoint defence, with all-round obstacles around strongpoints and battery positions. Continuous obstacles are not planned for the time being, because they could not be covered by fire. Obstacle construction is incomplete because of difficulties in bringing in materials. Strongpoints consist of mutually flanking nests reached by cover trenches. At many places rocky ground necessitates sandbag constructions. Procurement of the necessary sandbags has begun. Construction of splinterproof shelters is [Scan 1022.jpg] not yet complete. Troops are making do with cover trenches for the time being. Reconnaissance for the planned blocking positions is not yet complete. Earthworks for artillery firing positions, ammunition pits and crew shelters are, where not already finished, well advanced. Necessary concreting is in progress.

VI. Signals. 1. Constant work is in progress to improve existing island networks. 2. Higher Command IX reports the following expected shortly: (a) improvement of the second mainland–Jersey submarine cable by fitting German carrier-frequency equipment b, creating four new connections; (b) decimetric radio equipment for voice traffic.

VII. Stockpiling. 1. Ammunition. (a) Infantry: four allowances, apart from minor shortages which have been allocated and are mostly en route. (b) Divisional artillery (Czech 10 cm light field howitzer 14/19): two allowances available and two more en route. (c) Existing captured-gun batteries (7.5 cm field gun 97 and 15.5 cm French heavy field gun): four allowances. [Scan 1023.jpg] (d) Captured French tanks: two allowances, less 1,000 rounds arriving shortly. (e) Newly allocated heavy artillery: 15 cm gun 18, four allowances en route; 21 cm heavy mortar 18 and French 22 cm K532, four allowances ready for sea transport at Saint-Malo.

2. Food: (a) current provisioning until 31 July; (b) reserve for forty-five days. 3. Fuel: existing prescribed emergency reserve per island—40,000 litres petrol; 10,000 litres diesel; 1,500 litres engine oil—is available at approximately two and a half times that level. 4. Medical services: medical reserve “set b”. VIII. Further field construction planned. Beyond that reported under V, field works for defence and accommodation are still planned. These will largely have to accord with the permanent construction still under reconnaissance, and therefore cannot yet be reported. Further explanations of provisional construction are in enclosure 2.

[Scan 1024.jpg] Secret command matter. Chiefs only; officer delivery only. Enclosure 2 to no. 1389/41 of 26 July 1941. Explanations of the provisional state of construction on the British Channel Islands. 1. Battery construction. (a) The three naval batteries, one each on Guernsey, Jersey and Alderney, are ready to fire and permanently emplaced; control posts and ammunition and personnel shelters are largely complete. On Jersey the platforms must still be rebuilt and a fourth gun installed. The naval construction workers employed there will finish the work. (b) Installation of gun platforms for the two French 15.5 cm GPF batteries on Guernsey and Jersey is in full swing. (c) It is beginning for the other batteries with pivoting platforms. Fortress-engineer staffs and construction troops are assigned, in order of priority, to construction of platforms; control, observation and range-finding posts; command posts and ammunition and personnel shelters; and assistance with close-defence construction (wire obstacles etc.).

2. Construction of infantry positions, including heavy infantry weapons. Strongpoints and heavy-infantry-weapon firing positions were initially prepared by their garrisons in the lightest form of field construction; [Scan 1025.jpg] existing light construction was supplemented. The 2nd Company/Engineer Battalion 319 is employed in further construction at the most important strongpoints, as are construction troops where materials and equipment for other work are still lacking. The employment of all weapons and forces against landing attempts is assured.

Fortress-engineer staffs and construction troops are assigned, after further materials and equipment arrive, to building wire obstacles (chiefly in rock); shelters of rammed concrete with corrugated iron (small shelters and dugouts), and reinforced-concrete dugouts at particularly important points; deepening firing positions and trenches in rock; constructing mined-out dugouts or deeply excavated shelters for telephone exchanges and stocks of all kinds; improving supplementary roads on Alderney; and building command and observation posts. An engineer depot is also intended on each island, with the machinery necessary to prepare and process timber and iron as required, and the necessary reserves of material, equipment, tools etc.

3. Construction has been and is hampered by transport to the islands (transshipment, sea-transport delays caused by bad weather, escort protection), which has also delayed some construction troops’ arrival by several days; [Scan 1026.jpg] by the frequently very hard rock, which usually must be blasted; and partly by difficulties obtaining civilian labour for building firms, loading parties and other auxiliary work on Guernsey, where little labour is available, and Alderney, where none can be obtained.

4. Reconnaissance for permanent construction is now beginning. The Navy is conducting reconnaissance for coastal batteries. The Navy is currently clarifying the number and type of coastal batteries envisaged. Weapons and armour components from Maginot Line works no longer usable are intended for the fortifications.

German Army High Command records, T-78 Roll 317. Supplied English translation T78_Roll_317_English_Translation.docx. Source images: 1017.jpg, 1018.jpg, 1019.jpg, 1020.jpg, 1021.jpg, 1022.jpg, 1023.jpg, 1024.jpg, 1025.jpg, 1026.jpg.