3 October 1944 Part 1

3 October 1944 Channel Islands Sea Defence diary

06:55: Guernsey Group ordered to have Strassburg ready to fire from 07:00. 07:05: Strassburg ready. 07:15: FK 04 and FK 14 sailed for Sark. At first light one destroyer sighted on each of the northern and southern waiting stations. 08:00 weather: west force 3–4, sea 2–3, visibility ten nautical miles, wholly overcast, cloud base 1,000 metres.

08:10: FK 04/14 entered Sark. 09:05: departed Sark for Guernsey. 09:08: Guernsey Group ordered immediate firing readiness for Strassburg; ready at 09:14. 09:35: Guernsey observation stations sighted four vessels, probably freighters, southbound in BF 2683. 11:25: FK 04/14 entered Guernsey from Sark.

12:00 weather: north-north-west force 4–5, sea 2–3, visibility eighteen nautical miles, lightly clouded, cloud base 2,000 metres. At 12:00 Alderney sighted four LSTs northbound in BF 3552. 12:40: eight LSTs southbound in BF 3528. 13:05: one auxiliary aircraft carrier and one LST southbound in BF 3552.

14:24–14:54: Batterie Blücher, Alderney, fired on a small coastguard vessel from BF 3543 upper right to BF 3527 lower left. Of seventeen salvos, seven straddled. One hit observed with the ninth salvo, followed by heavy smoke and two explosion clouds above the target. The boat withdrew at increased speed and passed out of sight. Three escort destroyers approached it beyond gun range. Ammunition expenditure: fifty 15-cm Kan.Gr. 18 shells with impact fuze. [Damage is the diary's report.]

16:00: Alderney sighted four Liberty ships, five LSTs and one J–N-class destroyer southbound in BF 3528. 17:09: eight vessels, probably freighters, northbound in BF 2689. 18:00 weather: north-north-west force 5–6, sea 3, visibility twelve nautical miles, partly overcast, cloud base 1,000 metres. 21:00: leaflets dropped over Jersey.

Enemy convoy traffic observed: towards Cherbourg, one auxiliary aircraft carrier, fourteen LSTs, four Liberty ships, one destroyer and three small unidentified vessels; from Cherbourg, three freighters with two masts and one funnel, four LSTs and one destroyer. Towards St Malo, eight ships probably freighters; from St Malo, nine unidentified vessels.

Roll 2422, scans 0850–0851, original pages 184–185.