28 September 1943 Part 1

28 September 1943 Channel Islands Sea Defence diary

Weather: wind 328°, 7 m/sec. After an uneventful passage with an unchanged wind, the convoy from St Malo was abeam of Noirmont Point at 02:00. At about 02:30, sudden strong squalls drove barge H 229 and tug H 5 M.O., which was coming alongside to take the barge into St Helier, onto rocks near Dogs Nest. Both vessels sank. Their crews reached land on rafts.

The same daily entry records the following casualty of uncertain date: tank lighter René anchored in St Aubin’s Bay, Jersey, during the night of “27 to 28.8.” [27–28 August, as printed]. At about 10:00, the strengthening current caused her to drag. An M-boat attempted to tow her, but the hawser broke. Tug H-6 S then took her in tow; its steel wire fouled the tug’s propeller, leaving it unable to manoeuvre. Tug Gueppe 76 attempted to tow both vessels, but its steel wire also broke. René and H-6 S were driven onto rocks at Elizabeth Castle. René was towed off that evening with slight damage.

Translator’s note: the René paragraph explicitly gives August, although it is entered in the diary under 28 September. Its event date remains unresolved; it is retained here with its daily-entry context.

No. 4 gun of Army Coast Battery 356 was operational again.

T-1022 Roll 2422, scans 0702.