5 January 1944 Part 1

5 January 1944 Enemy intelligence for 16 to 31 December

Editorial note: Retrospective report retained under its issue date. Its distances and circumstances for the 31 December aircraft losses differ from the Roll 1603 summary; both source accounts are retained without reconciliation.

Secret. Coast: on 27 December, probably between midnight and 02:45, an English raiding party of unknown strength landed on Sark at Petit Château between Dixcart and Derrible Bays and entered a minefield across the promontory. Two soldiers were recovered after daylight under difficult conditions; one was alive when found but died shortly afterwards. One was French and carried the Cross of Lorraine and “France libre.” Equipment included a radio, an American submachine gun, ammunition and an elongated charge. Strong patrols with illuminating equipment were sent after the explosions, probably causing rapid withdrawal. Engine noise was heard only when the party departed. See the 28 December teletype. No approaches by enemy warships were otherwise observed.

29 December, 19:20: two aircraft dropped ten bombs from high altitude on an air force construction project ten kilometres south of Cherbourg; slight damage, no casualties. 30 December, 12:15: two Hurricanes strafed billets at Saint-Fromond, eleven kilometres north of Saint-Lô; no damage or casualties. Between 19:40 and 19:50, two aircraft again bombed the air force construction project south of Cherbourg from high altitude. 31 December, 11:36: two four-engine enemy bombers crashed into the sea twenty kilometres northwest of Guernsey without antiaircraft fire. At 13:15, antiaircraft fire forced a Fortress II on its way to England down onto the sea about 300 metres off Guernsey’s north coast. Eleven crew, four officers and seven men, were recovered by a patrol boat and handed to the air force.

Translation note: This retrospective report dates the Sark landing 27 December; the detailed contemporaneous report specifies the night of 27–28 December.

T-314 Roll 1604, T314_R1604_English_Translation.docx. 5 January 1944 | Source PDF pages 1350–1351. Selected island-related text; document or report date governs placement.