31 March 1942 Part 1

31 March 1942 St Malo convoy diary

Weather: SW moderate to fresh breeze, visibility 4–5 nautical miles, slight sea, fog at the Channel Islands. The troop convoy assigned to V 210/V 207/V 208/V 204 on 30 March does not leave Guernsey owing to fog. At 07:30 V 207/V 204 are ordered immediately to St Malo to make boats available for General Eberth’s inspection voyage; V 210/V 208 remain Guernsey to carry out the troop convoy overnight 31 March–1 April. At 08:15 heightened vigilance ends.

During the morning the sea-transport officer presses for the St Malo–Jersey–Guernsey troop convoy, cancelled for days owing to shortage of boats or fog: about 1,200 leave passengers for the islands have accumulated. The only solution is to delay V 209/V 207 and General Eberth until about 20:00 and send the convoy with them. Higher Command initially withholds agreement because the reduced speed would delay Jersey arrival until 02:00. Several convoys for today and 1 April have already been refused because of poor visibility and uncompleted previous tasks. The division is asked to extend the loan of the additional patrol pair from 2 April to the morning of 5 April. [The request types 210/04 here; the surrounding entries identify the additional Cherbourg pair as 710/04.] At 13:45 General Eberth agrees to take the troop convoy, allowing the urgently needed clearance of about 1,200 leave passengers from St Malo’s collection centres.

Correction to 30 March: point 5, convoy postponed owing to fog; point 9, passage to Cherbourg. Corrected tonnage: 1,505 GRT. Situation: V 213 installing 8.8 cm gun Brest; V 212/V 211 with Olwe on passage to Jersey; V 210/V 208 ready Guernsey, night troop convoy via Jersey to St Malo with Karel, Derfflinger, Livadia and H 13; Guernsey–St Malo without convoy [boat numbers omitted in this list]; V 209/V 207 leave St Malo at 20:00, General aboard V 207, with troop convoy Robert Müller 8, Nordplein, Schockland and Holland for Jersey; V 206 unready St Malo; V 204 ready after arrival St Malo; V 205 dock Cherbourg; V 710/V 704 enter Cherbourg at 09:00 and rest there. Escorted tonnage: 10,176 GRT.

Intention for 1 April: V 213 installation Brest; V 212/V 211 at Jersey or according to division orders; V 210/V 208 continue convoy to St Malo, later sail in daylight without convoy to Jersey and take a night troop convoy to Alderney; V 209/V 207, after landing the General and releasing two transports, take Holland, Schockland and Henka to Guernsey, return Guernsey–Jersey without convoy, then towards evening take the General aboard V 207 from Jersey to Guernsey. V 206 unready St Malo; V 204 replenish stores St Malo; V 205 dock Cherbourg; V 710/V 704 daytime Cherbourg–Guernsey convoy, then night troop convoy Guernsey–Alderney–Cherbourg.

Remarks: teletypes of 29 and 30 March arrive this afternoon after 30, 36 and 32 hours in transit. They bear a note that delay resulted from refusal of acceptance by GILUS, reportedly owing to alterations in Paris. The originating office should have been told so that another communications method could be used; these arrival and departure reports were useless. Commanders also complain that masters of escorted vessels fail to obey orders, especially Favorit’s captain. Their written report is sent to all harbour commandants for thorough instruction of captains; Granville is asked to hold Favorit’s captain responsible and punish him or arrange punishment. Signal equipment, particularly night signalling equipment, should be checked and replenished, since defective equipment sometimes causes non-compliance.

Closing tonnage list, 16–31 March, GRT: 16th 11,240; 17th 5,267; 18th 10,001; 19th 7,094; 20th 6,854; 21st 4,134; 22nd dash; 23rd 5,037; subtotal 49,627. 24th 1,703; 25th 9,088; 26th 16,116; 27th 14,141; 28th 1,395; 29th 8,784; 30th 1,505; 31st 10,176; subtotal 62,908. Total 112,535 GRT. Closed 31 March by Dr Diederichs, Fregattenkapitän and Chief of the 2nd Patrol Flotilla and Convoy Control Office St Malo.

Annex of convoy requests for 16–31 March: 35 requested, 23 carried out, nine not carried out or carried out later, three refused. Daily requested/carried out/delayed/refused counts: 16th 2/2/0/0; 17th 2/2/0/0; 18th all dashes; 19th 4/2/2/0, weather, carried out 20th or 21st; 20th 2/1/1/0, weather; 21st 2/2/0/0; 22nd 2/0/2/0, weather, carried out 23rd; 23rd 2/2/0/0; 24th 3/2/1/0, enemy sighting, carried out 25th; 25th 3/3/0/0; 26th 3/2/0/1, shortage of boats; 27th 2/2/0/0; 28th all dashes; 29th 4/2/1/1, weather with later execution 1 April and shortage of boats; 30th 1/0/1/0, weather; 31st 3/1/1/1, weather and shortage of boats. [The annex’s category is not limited to permanently cancelled convoys.]

T-1022 Roll 2423, PG 38000, scans 0291–0293.