8 October 1944 Part 1

8 October 1944 Channel Islands Sea Defence diary

00:10: one He 111 landed on Guernsey with cipher materials, an 8.8-cm firing table and mail. 01:50: one He 111 took off for the return flight with forces' mail. 02:45: order to all subordinate units and H.S.K. broadcast lifting the illumination and firing prohibition immediately.

08:00 weather: east-north-east force 4–7, sea 3–4, visibility twelve nautical miles, lightly clouded, cloud base 2,000 metres. 08:40: Alderney sighted an auxiliary aircraft carrier in BF 3528 and eleven LSTs in BF 3552, northbound. 09:30: FK 04/14 departed Guernsey for Sark. 09:35: Guernsey Group ordered immediate firing readiness eastward for Strassburg to support the Sark convoy. From 10:00 one destroyer sighted on each southern and northern waiting station.

10:15: AF 65/71 and Claus Wilhelm departed Guernsey for Alderney with grain, vegetables and mail. 10:18: Guernsey Group ordered immediate readiness northward and eastward for Steinbruch, Mirus, 7., 8., 9., 10. and 16./1265 to support the Alderney convoy. Batteries ready at 10:25. 10:40: FK 04/14 entered Sark. 10:45: all Alderney Group ordered ready to fire in support of the Guernsey–Alderney convoy; ready at 11:00.

11:10–11:30: Little Sark battery proof-fired. No. 1 gun found not level; defect to be corrected by raising the gun. During the morning S 112 entered dock to fit locally manufactured new stuffing boxes.

12:00 weather: north-east force 4–6, sea 2–3, visibility twelve nautical miles, lightly clouded, cloud base 2,000 metres. 12:50: AF 65/71 and Claus Wilhelm entered Alderney from Guernsey. 14:15: FK 04/14 departed Sark for Guernsey; Guernsey Group ordered immediate firing readiness eastward for Strassburg to support the returning convoy. Strassburg ready at 14:23. 15:40: FK 04/14 entered Peter Port from Sark.

18:00 weather: north-east force 4–5, sea 2–3, visibility eight nautical miles, cloudy, cloud base 2,000 metres. 22:15–23:20: unidentified targets detected in grids 2664 and 2661, north-eastbound at ten knots, probably a St Malo–England convoy. Repeated night-time detections of the destroyer on the northern waiting station.

Enemy convoy traffic observed during the day: from Cherbourg, one auxiliary aircraft carrier and eleven LSTs; towards Cherbourg, two destroyers.

Roll 2422, scans 0854–0855, original pages 188–189.