30 September 1942 Part 11

30 September 1942 Permanent fortress division on the Channel Islands

File note for the war diary on the occasion of the senior quartermaster conference on 30 September 1942.
Present: Colonel, General Staff, Gittner; Captain Steiger, O 2; Captain (W) Krug, ammunition; First Lieutenant (W) Scholz, weapons and equipment; Captain Nosol [surname uncertain], Qu 2; Major General Gutknecht, Army Motor Transport Officer; Army Field Postmaster Schaper; Colonel Jnckwerth [surname unclear], Army Supply Commander; Lieutenant Colonel Fromm, IV Wi; Generalintendant Scheer, IVa; Generalstabsarzt Günther, IVb; Generalveterinär Maus, IVc; Major Handorf, Army patrol service.
Subjects discussed:
1. All divisions of the thirteenth and fourteenth formation waves, as well as 106th Infantry Division, are expected to be transferred to the East by March 1943 in exchange for divisions from the East.
2. 10th Panzer Division is earmarked for transfer to the East from 1 January 1943.
3. 26th Panzer Division will follow later; the date has not yet been fixed.
Principle for the reliefs: first the east-to-west movement, then the west-to-east movement.
[The following line is partly corrected and overwritten:] Commander-in-Chief: behind each division to be transferred, an eastern division [unclear words], then personnel and equipment; after four to six weeks [remainder unclear].
4. “219th Infantry Division” [as typed; apparently 319th Infantry Division is intended] will definitively become a fortress division on the British Channel Islands.
5. Fortress division, also called a static division or blocking division: in our area, 348th Infantry Division.
a) Organisation: now known.
b) Cadres from the Army’s infantry divisions.
c) Personnel for filling out the establishment: untrained armaments workers.
d) They are to remain for only a quarter of a year; thereafter the intention is to exchange 1,200–1,500 men each month.
Comment: three months is too short a period.
6. Divisions of the fifteenth formation wave, 711th and 712th, are to be reorganised to the same strength as fortress divisions.
7. Reinforced Infantry Regiment 68 is not to go to Denmark until after mid-October. The horse-drawn transport columns and veterinary company of 26th Panzer Division are also to go to Denmark. The Army has expressed its opposition to this.
8. Establishing Scheldt Corps Headquarters on an authorised establishment is, at present, completely hopeless because of the personnel situation. Nevertheless, the Army is continuing to submit its request.
9. Agreement with the handling of formation work by Formation Staff West, provided it is ordered unequivocally that this staff then also bears responsibility down to the last screw. That will not work.
10. A revealing indication of the replacement situation: the shortfall in the Eastern Army in 1943 is expected to be 1.2 million. The 1924 year group provides only 350,000 men, plus 150,000 men so far assembled from those reserved from military service, etc.
All those present were bound to the strictest silence [handwritten insertion: about the contents] of this conference.
Signed: Gittner. Certified correct copy: [signature unclear], Captain.

Editorial note: Complete two-page conference note. The source appears to type “219.” in item 4; this is retained, with the likely correction clearly marked. Illegible handwritten amendments and uncertain names are identified rather than reconstructed.

German Fifteenth Army Headquarters (AOK 15), NARA T-312 Roll 504. Supplied translation: Roll 504 Jersey and Channel Islands English translations.docx. Source microfilm strip references: 150.jpg, horizontal pixels 3941–4891 and 4891–5843; cover at 2986–3941 identifies war diary Annex 52. Original strip pixel ranges retained because individual frame digits are uncertain.