9 October 1944 Part 1

9 October 1944 Channel Islands Sea Defence diary

08:00 weather: north-east force 5–6, sea 3, visibility eight nautical miles, cloudy, cloud base 1,000 metres. At sunrise one destroyer sighted on each southern and northern waiting station. 09:50: Alderney sighted twelve Liberty ships northbound in BF 3528. 10:00: northern destroyer passed out of sight. 11:52: Westberg bearing station, Guernsey, reported a larger vessel, probably a cruiser, south-eastbound in BF 2683; later established to be a destroyer.

12:00 weather: north-east force 3–6, sea 2–3, visibility twelve to fifteen nautical miles, cloudy, cloud base 2,000 metres. At 12:00 Jersey Group ordered firing readiness south, west and north for the Guernsey convoy. 12:08: 4./1265, 6./1265 and Lothringen ready. 12:15: M 4613 carrying Lieutenant-General von Schmettow, Vp 229 and Fl 13 departed St Helier for Guernsey. AF 68 accompanied the convoy as far as Les Landes and remained there as distant cover until it reached Sark's southern tip.

12:50: 1., 2. and 5./1265, Jersey, ready to fire. Also at 12:50 Guernsey Group ordered immediate firing readiness for 10. and 16./1265, Generaloberst Dollmann, Strassburg, Mirus and Little Sark in support of the Jersey convoy. Batteries ready at 12:58.

13:50–14:45: the destroyer reported at 11:52 joined the southern waiting-station destroyer, lying beside it in BF 2698, apparently a relief. At 14:45 both passed out of sight in haze at the same position. The intention to engage them with Mirus once the German convoy had passed Sark was therefore abandoned. 14:25: AF 68 signalled “P.P. task completed.” 15:00: M 4613, Vp 229 and Fl 13 entered Peter Port. 15:45: AF 68 entered St Helier.

17:00: Jersey Harbour Surveillance reported fishing boat J 122 had escaped unnoticed from Rozel harbour during the night 8–9 October. Apparently an escape from the island; the owner remained on Jersey. Occupants not yet established. Boats at Rozel were guarded by an infantry post manned by two Russians. The sentry area was at most twenty metres from the boat concerned.

18:00 weather: north-east force 2–4, sea 2, visibility twelve nautical miles, cloudy, cloud base 1,000 metres. A new radar-employment order took effect at 18:00: during mains power failures, only one or two sets across the islands are to operate at any time, relieving one another hourly. In weather unsuitable for landings, all sets are to be switched off. Fuel conservation makes this necessary.

Enemy convoy traffic observed from Cherbourg during the day: twelve Liberty ships.

Roll 2422, scans 0856–0857, original pages 190–191.