9 March 1945

During the night of 8–9 March 1945 German forces from the Channel Islands carried out a surprise raid on Granville. Schmettow states that the operation, which he had helped plan while divisional commander, sought to disrupt the harbour and shipping and to capture loaded vessels for the supply of the islands.

The landing force comprised eight Army assault detachments (10 officers and 150 men) and two Navy assault detachments (2 officers and 35 men). The Army groups were commanded by Captain Schellenberg of Machine-Gun Battalion 16 and First Lieutenant Jagmann of Infantry Regiment 584. Naval forces included elements identified in the supplied translation as the 34th Minesweeper Flotilla, harbour-defence boats and a tug, under Lieutenants Mohr and Lamperhoff. Three artillery carriers guarded the Granville–St Malo sector under Lieutenant (junior grade) Karl, while one minesweeper and one coastal anti-aircraft boat protected the Cotentin passage.

At 0200 the force entered Granville harbour and landed in the northern part of the town. Mohr's minesweeper grounded and was blown up. Schmettow claimed heavy enemy casualties, the sinking of an American patrol vessel south-west of Chausey and the capture of 30 prisoners, including a lieutenant-colonel, two captains, two first lieutenants and one lieutenant.

His account further claimed that five ships totalling about 4,800 gross registered tons were blown up; 14 cranes, locomotives, railway freight wagons and a fuel depot were destroyed; a sluice was demolished; and the port was set on fire. Fifty-five German paratroopers were released. The steamer Eskwood was captured and brought back under her own power, although the ships encountered had already discharged their cargoes.

German casualties were given as one officer missing and presumed killed and five men wounded. On the return voyage the force bombarded the lighthouse and signal post on Chausey. Apart from the grounded minesweeper, all vessels were reported to have returned undamaged. Editorial note: these are claims in a post-war German retrospective account and should be checked against contemporary German naval, United States Army and United States Navy records; this row complements, rather than duplicates, the subsequent 10 March command reports.

US Army Historical Division Manuscript B-833, Rudolf Graf von Schmettow, The Channel Islands: Preparation of the Defence against the Invasion and during the Invasion until the Surrender, April 1948, manuscript pp. 47–49; supplied English translation, PDF pp. 49–51. Post-war retrospective account.