29 November 1942 Part 3

29 November 1942 Naval Group West weather assessment and forwarding

Assessment of 3 September: At 0500 a 995-millibar depression lay off the western entrance to the Channel and had to move rapidly eastward. Winds of force 7 and 8 already occurred within it at 0500. The wind field was narrow, so the strengthening came unexpectedly without access to the weather chart. An enquiry to Cherbourg or Brest weather station would have revealed this situation.

The 0952 radio forecast read: south-east force 5–6, veering westerly; western part force 6–7; deterioration in the eastern part; western part overcast to cloudy; visibility decreasing to 2–3 nautical miles in rain, otherwise 10–15.

3rd Security Division's assessment is correct. In this particular case, close, direct cooperation between convoy and weather services could have prevented damage. For Naval Group Command West, Chief of Staff. Signature and further handwritten routing partly illegible.

T-1022 Roll 2423, scan 0512. Naval Group Command West, Operations Staff, headquarters, 29 November 1942. Secret command reference 4986/42 KTB. To Naval High Command/Naval War Staff. The St Malo diary for 1–15 September, with comments from 3rd Security Division and Security Forces West, is forwarded after consideration.