30 September 1941 Part 3

September 1941 Signals battery readiness and island 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.

Fortress Signals Staff 15 was placed under 319th Infantry Division and assumed the duties of the signals troops on the Channel Islands. Signals Company 319 was withdrawn from the islands to Saint-Pair.

During the month Army Coastal Battery 472 was developed on Jersey and was ready to fire by the end of the month. This island attribution is retained as written, although earlier reports placed Battery 472 on Guernsey.

The strengthened field-type fortification of the Channel Islands continued according to plan under the Inspector of Western Land Fortifications under Commander-in-Chief West. Four captured tanks from 83rd Infantry Division were transferred to Alderney to strengthen the island’s defence. On 9 September the ordered tactical reconnaissance report on development of the Channel Islands was submitted to Fifteenth Army; see Annex 1.

Supply proceeded generally without difficulty. Changes in the island garrisons required additional ammunition. Training ammunition for the army coastal batteries was requested and expedited so crews could be trained and barrage areas registered; an establishment scale for these batteries was urgently requested.

Potato and hay deliveries temporarily stalled, causing considerable difficulty, but energetic action by all relevant offices restored the flow of potatoes after about eight days. Winter-potato stocks for the islands were given priority. Black-plate tins on the islands were exchanged for white-plate tins. Accommodation work continued and the military construction organisation was used extensively; some requested barracks arrived, but 83rd Infantry Division still needed further huts and stoves. An accommodation administration for Guernsey was requested on the same basis as Jersey.

The seal-oil depot at Coutances was dissolved. Engineer troops on the islands were promised repaired cloth working clothing. Horse holdings rose to 234 and 237 respectively on the two main islands. Administrative troops were supplied for the army clothing stores. Reserve strips and old rubber were searched for, vehicle inspections continued, and approximately 15,000 kilogrammes of washed-up raw rubber had been delivered. Signed Herrmann-Tross.

T-314 Roll 1603, T314_Roll_1603_English_Translation.docx. Source PDF page 0031 | Original document page 2; Source PDF page 0140 | Annex 3 to the activity report of Higher Command XXXXIII Army Corps for September 1941