4 November 1944 Part 12

Continuation: 4 November 1944

18:00

Weather: wind west-south-west, force 4–6; sea state 3; visibility 7–8 nautical miles; cloud 10/10; cloud base 1,000 metres.

After proof firing that day, No. 3 gun of the 15 cm Battery Blücher on Alderney was again operational. The gun had been put out of action during the bombardment by the battleship Rodney on 12 August 1944 through destruction of the cradle, mounting, pneumatic recuperator and equilibrator. Return transport with the next convoy was intended (compare War Diary entry of 12 August 1944).

The gun had been transported from Alderney to Guernsey on 24 August 1944. The cradle, mounting, bedding supports, elevation mechanism, pneumatic recuperator and equilibrator were in such a hopeless condition that the island armourer’s workshop of the 319th Infantry Division declined the repair. The recuperator did not belong to this gun; Battery Blücher had exchanged it for the surviving recuperator of the damaged gun in order to make another gun ready to fire. After missing parts arrived from Alderney on 7 September 1944, the Naval Artillery Weapons Command, led by Oberleutnant (W) Kern, began dismantling and repairing the destroyed components on my orders despite the shortage of oxygen.

T-1022 Roll 2423, PG 37998, Commander of Sea Defences, Channel Islands. Source scan 0045 — original page 229