30 June 1942 Part 1

30 June 1942 St Malo convoy diary

Night convoys proceed as planned. 03:20 Jersey: M 4430/V 713/729 arrive with convoy. 06:00 St Malo: V 204/206 anchor with convoy in the roads. Weak wind, calm sea, visibility eight to ten nautical miles. V 713/729/M 4430 receive orders for the requested Jersey–St Malo night troop convoy.

10:00 St Malo: thirty staff officers of the Wehrmacht replacement inspectorates inspect V 202, followed by a lecture from the chief of the 2nd Patrol Flotilla on “Tasks of Security West’s security forces in the Channel Islands area”. Hospital ship Huxter is again to collect sick personnel from Guernsey and Jersey [handwritten correction]. I order the task for 1 July with V 202/208 shadowing the hospital ship. For the Granville–Jersey–Guernsey convoy requested for 1 July, M 4601/4605/4604 are ordered to proceed alone to Granville and take over the convoy there at 10:30. 10:15 Granville: M 4601/4604/4605 depart with convoy for Jersey. 13:00 Jersey: they arrive.

Situation: V 204/206 finish Minotaure and Robert Müller 8 night troop convoy Guernsey–St Malo, then ready; V 713/729/M 4430 finish Holland and Karel night troop convoy St Malo–Jersey, then ready for Holland troop convoy Jersey–St Malo on night 30 June/1 July; V 202/208 ready, anti-aircraft training; M 4605/4601/4604 alone St Malo–Granville, then Rheinland, Comptoir 66, Comptoir 55 and Pointe à Pitre Granville–Jersey, then ready [Comptoir 51 in the previous day’s intentions]; V 203/213 ready Cherbourg for convoy service. Tonnage 4,300 GRT.

Intentions for 1 July: V 204/206 ready St Malo; V 713/729/M 4430 finish Holland night troop convoy Jersey–St Malo, then ready; V 202/208 St Malo–Guernsey–Jersey–St Malo, shadowing Huxter; M 4605/4601/4604 alone Jersey–Granville, then Bordsee, Nestor, H 13, Guynemer and Hubbastone Granville–Jersey–Guernsey, then ready; V 203/213 at Bremse on night 30 June/1 July, then ready Cherbourg for convoy service. 23:00 Jersey: V 713/729/M 4430 sail with night troop convoy for St Malo. 23:30 Cherbourg: V 203/213 sail for night patrol station.

Closing remark: troop convoys have sailed night after night during the month. In the short nights, practically only six fast boats of the 2nd Patrol Flotilla were available for them; other convoys had one pair of the 7th Patrol Flotilla and three very slow, hence only partly usable, boats of the 46th Minesweeping Flotilla. Nevertheless June achieved the highest monthly performance since the convoy office was established: 368 vessels totalling 211,495 GRT. The strain on commanders and crews was correspondingly high. Except for the slow boats, none had a continuous harbour stay longer than one and a half days.

T-1022 Roll 2423, PG 38000, scans 0391–0392.