31 March 1942 Part 3

March 1942 Island coastal actions tanks inspections and supply

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.

Army coastal artillery on Alderney engaged detected sea targets on 4 and 9 March. Enemy air activity otherwise followed the usual pattern. Caen railway station was bombed on 9 March without damage, and a hostile aircraft was shot down north of Guernsey by a German fighter on 15 March.

Panzer Battalion 213, commanded by Major Lecht of Panzer Brigade 100, was ordered to Jersey and Guernsey to strengthen the islands. 2nd Company with part of the staff reached Guernsey on 8 March and 1st Company reached Jersey on 24 March. For mining work in the permanent fortifications, companies of an engineer demonstration battalion arrived on Guernsey on 3 and 5 March.

Senior inspections followed throughout the month. Reichsmarschall Göring visited the corps sector on 13 March, and the corps commander inspected Alderney on 14 March. Further visits addressed coastal construction, artillery employment and the organisation of 716th and 320th Infantry Divisions. General von Salmuth made an orientation tour on behalf of Armed Forces High Command on 28 March, and General of Artillery Eberth inspected army artillery employment on the coast and islands on 30 March.

The supply position was generally satisfactory. Freight to the Channel Islands reached the intended level: 1,048 wagons were handled at Granville and 1,936 at Saint-Malo. Improved port facilities, better weather and more tugs were expected to raise capacity to 1,300 and 3,000 wagons respectively. Passenger and postal services remained inadequate and overcrowded. Training hand grenades were urgently required, while shortages of wire, nails, timber, roofing felt and obstacle posts threatened defensive construction.

Greenhouse vegetable cultivation on Guernsey depended on a monthly allocation of 2,800 litres of diesel for irrigation. Organisation Todt security personnel could no longer supervise the large number of foreign workers, so the military-police troop of 319th Infantry Division was also used. Further notes concerned the relief of 323rd Division by 716th Division and disputes over static equipment.

Corps situation map accompanying the March 1942 activity report. Source PDF page 0263.

T-314 Roll 1603, T314_Roll_1603_English_Translation.docx. Source PDF pages 0196–0199 | Higher Command XXXXIII Army Corps activity report for March 1942; Source PDF pages 0261–0263 | Annexes 1, 3 and 4 to the March activity report