30 September 1942 Part 7

September 1942 Casquets reinforcement deportation reports and defence map

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. The source calls the removal of British nationals an evacuation. This is retained as the wording of the German report. The map is filed with the August annexes in the supplied translation, but its original title dates it 30 September 1942; it is placed here by that date.

After the Casquets raid, a replacement detachment was sent to the lighthouse with additional weapons, including a heavy machine gun and heavy mortar. Reinforcements and replacements were also moved to the Channel Islands and the Cotentin sector. The report records the arrival and departure of several army, anti-aircraft, signals, labour and reserve formations.

The cause of a fire in a fodder store at Caen remained uncertain. Lessons from the Dieppe raid led to tighter instructions for intelligence reporting and prisoner interrogation. Between 16 and 30 September, 2,011 British nationals were evacuated from the Channel Islands. Troop welfare continued through films and books; the prohibition on entertainment in the coastal area remained in force during September and no performances were held on the islands. It was lifted on 4 October.

The civilian population remained calm and reserved. The failed British raid produced no observable local support. Fortification work, evacuation measures, minefields and demolition preparations in the Cotentin caused temporary anxiety. The effect of removing more than 2,000 British nationals from the Channel Islands was still uncertain; German welfare measures were said to have softened concern, and the evacuees generally behaved correctly and self-confidently. Two elderly couples reportedly took their own lives rather than leave their homes. The report also recorded the conviction of twenty-three communists in the Manche department, thirteen of whom were sentenced to death. Collaboration with local authorities was assessed as good, and sabotage remained limited.

Defence-sector map dated 30 September 1942, filed with the August activity-report annexes in the supplied translation. Source PDF page 0325.

T-314 Roll 1603, T314_Roll_1603_English_Translation.docx. Source PDF pages 0234–0240 | LXXXIV Army Corps activity report for September 1942; Source PDF pages 0328–0330 | Intelligence and troop-welfare annexes; Source PDF pages 0337–0342 | Morale, conference, sabotage and judicial annexes; Source PDF page 0325 | Map dated 30 September 1942