30 June 1942 Part 8

June 1942 Island artillery flak tanks construction and supplies

Editorial note: Monthly report or annex; placed at the end of the reporting month because no single document date is supplied. Dates within the text retain their original meaning.

Weather Plotting Platoon 517 was deployed on Guernsey, with detachments on Jersey and Alderney. Four additional 10.5 cm guns were allocated to Army Coastal Battery 353 on Guernsey; the infantry took over the existing guns, and the new weapons at Cambridge Park, Saint Peter Port, were operational on 12 June. Fifth platoons were added to the 2 cm anti-aircraft batteries on Guernsey and Jersey, giving each battery fifteen operational guns from 16 June. 3rd Company Light Flak Battalion 997, also with fifteen 2 cm guns, reached Alderney on 26 June.

Panzer Battalion 213 received six more tanks, so from 16 June each company held seventeen tanks and the battalion staff two. 2nd Company Engineer Battalion 319 moved from Jersey to Guernsey on 27 June. Fifteen-centimetre guns for one naval battery on Guernsey and another on Alderney arrived on 28 June. Batterie Mirus had all guns ready for manual operation on 29 June. Panzerjäger and Reconnaissance Battalion 225 was renamed Panzerjäger and Reconnaissance Battalion 450.

A report submitted to Seventh Army on 16 June compared construction progress with the tactical and technical plan through May. It emphasised delays caused by shortages and difficulty delivering building materials. The remaining pages record coastal-defence work, inspections and associated annexes.

Supply remained satisfactory, though ammunition for captured weapons was insufficient. The hospital ship Hüxter carried forty-eight patients from the islands to Saint-Malo. Geological, water, medical and engineer surveys were ordered to secure drinking-water supply at strongpoints. The corps also formed a reconnaissance squadron and motor transport company from attached personnel and requisitioned French vehicles.

Security instructions for the coastal battle zone required control of civilian movement and prepared evacuation measures. The civilian population remained watchful and continued to discuss a possible British landing. On the Channel Islands, confiscation of wireless sets and propaganda attributed to an English official were noted. Supply improved with the vegetable season. Recorded June sabotage included railway damage and cable cutting near Barfleur and elsewhere. Personnel changes and staff postings were listed in a separate annex.

Situation map accompanying the June 1942 intelligence annexes. Source PDF page 0283.

Corps situation map accompanying the June 1942 activity report. Source PDF page 0300.

T-314 Roll 1603, T314_Roll_1603_English_Translation.docx. Source PDF pages 0215–0220 | Higher Command XXXXIII Army Corps activity report for June 1942; Source PDF pages 0275–0300 | Annexes to the June activity report