30 June 1944 Part 3

30 June 1944 Part 3 Enemy naval reconnaissance south of Guernsey

Date note: 30 June 1944.

Secret. Teletype. Seventh Army Headquarters, Ia, to Army Group B Headquarters; information to Panzer Group West. Ia morning report, 30 June 1944.

1. Panzer Group West. Enemy thrusts against 346th Infantry Division and 21st Panzer Division repulsed. Enemy continues unloading at La Brèche. In I SS Panzer Corps’ sector, heavy enemy artillery fire and concentrations, chiefly in the penetration area.

After resuming the attack, II SS Panzer Corps gained, in heavy fighting, the crossroads 3 km northeast of Esquay at 01:30, and Le Bas Vilains, 1 km northeast of Gavrus, by 03:50. Gavrus firmly in our hands. On the left, our troops are fighting tenaciously forward against defensive fire from far superior enemy artillery. XXXXVII Panzer Corps: quiet night. Enemy concentrations opposite 2nd Panzer Division’s right flank engaged by fire concentrations.

2. II Parachute Corps. The force of enemy attacks on 29 June only diminished at nightfall. Quiet night with slight enemy harassing fire.

3. LXXXIV Army Corps. Enemy artillery harassing fire throughout the sector. Only slight enemy patrol activity at 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division and at Prétot.

4. Group Keil. The enemy continued attacking until late evening. Individual enemy assembly areas were broken up by our artillery. Strongpoints 482–485 in the centre of the defensive front were overcome by enemy tanks and flamethrowers. The penetration was contained using the last reserves. The situation is serious: the young, combat-inexperienced Reich Labour Service men also deployed in the front are unequal to the psychological strain of an enemy attack with vastly superior material resources.

5. LXXIV Army Corps. Frequent flights by numerous aircraft and smaller formations into and across the sector.

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A reconnaissance thrust by weak enemy naval forces south of Guernsey was forced to turn away by our artillery fire. Enemy naval reconnaissance in the Saint-Brieuc–Lannion area.

6. XXV Army Corps: nothing special to report.

Seventh Army Headquarters, Ia No. 1969/44 Secret. After dispatch: Senior Quartermaster; Ic; Air Force Liaison Officer, two copies; O1; Ia/war diary.

German Seventh Army Headquarters (AOK 7), NARA T-312 Roll 1565. Roll 1565 Jersey and Channel Islands English translations.docx, reference 67. Scan extracts: img118_11_20122_22142.jpg, img118_12_22142_24181.jpg. Extract filenames identify the original image strip, section number and horizontal pixel boundaries; these are not archival frame numbers.