17 July 1943

17 July 1943 Channel Islands Sea Defence diary

Weather: wind 45°, 3 m/sec. Four unidentified aircraft flew through grid square B.F. 2693 upper left, course north, at 50–80 metres. Several water columns were observed at short intervals. Batterie Steinbruch and Anti-Aircraft Battalion 493 simultaneously reported four Thunderbolts departing northwards. Minelaying was considered probable.

Construction report, Naval Artillery Battalion 604. Batterie Mirus, battery work: gun wiring and sports-ground work continued. A staircase was begun, the retaining wall before No. 3 gun was built, and the path from the road to the accommodation bunker was completed. Work continued on the washing barrack/day room, alteration of No. 2 gun’s carriage, levelling and paths at the fire-control post. The old roof of the red house was demolished to replace it with concrete.

Mirus, Organisation Todt: an iron door was fitted at the well shaft at No. 1 gun. Embankment work at Nos. 2 and 4 guns, earth and levelling work at No. 3, levelling at anti-aircraft position 1, concrete work at position 2 and excavation at position 6 continued. Excavation began at positions 7 and 8. Other work: camouflage at No. 1 gun and repairs at No. 4 continued.

Batterie Steinbruch: interior work continued in the service and communal barracks, including plastering, drainage, lining and painting. The parapet at searchlight A was completed and telephone lines laid to it. Interior work continued in the new fire-control post; the firing range for rifle and machine-gun practice was repaired, and infantry positions were extended. Organisation Todt completed preparations for pouring the water bunker and anti-aircraft positions Nos. 2 and 3.

Batterie Steinbruch: banking began at the ammunition replenishment bunker. Heating and ventilation work in the fire-control post progressed. Siemens began cabling and installation of the Epa and Seipa equipment.

Batterie Lothringen: excavation for an office barrack was completed and a barrack intended for reuse was dismantled. Infantry defensive works and horticultural camouflage continued. Organisation Todt made the fire-control post's second storey ready for pouring and began work on ready-use ammunition niches.

Batterie Strassburg, battery work: accommodation for recording staff was extended and the telephone exchange moved into the fire-control post. Infantry positions at searchlights A and B and No. 4 gun were extended; accommodation at searchlight C was completed. An ammunition bunker was begun. The guns and No. 4 Oerlikon were given camouflage paint. Organisation Todt and MAZA personnel continued cable trenches; cables were laid from the old to the new fire-control post. Central heating for the post was expected to be finished in a few days. Work on transport installations for the 22-cm bunkers continued. Signals personnel worked on field telephone links from the new post to the Army units.

Naval Artillery Battalion 605 — Batterie Annes: shuttering and reinforcement of the fire-control-post living bunker's walls and ceiling continued and delivery of the required aggregate began. Banking began at living bunker III and ammunition bunker II. Drainage and cable earthworks were carried out at living bunker II. The generator for searchlight I was installed in a field position; work at searchlight II continued, and field positions and wiring were strengthened. Naval Artillery Arsenal and Siemens fitters worked on the lighting, telephone and fire-control systems.

T-1022 Roll 2422, scans 0671–0673.