19 August 1942 Part 1

19 August 1942 Channel Islands Sea Defence diary

Weather: wind from 270°, 2 metres per second.

00:40: Batterie Strassburg was alerted by Army Coastal Artillery Battalion headquarters 727. A retrospective entry records another illuminating fan by Batterie Elsass at 00:27:30–00:28:30: five 17-cm illuminating rounds at seventy-five hectometres on bearings 330°, 335°, 340°, 345° and 350°. Targets were not seen. 01:22: Strassburg’s alarm cancelled.

05:02: Batterie Strassburg heard motor noise on bearing 210°, range unknown. Searchlights had operated from 04:47 to 05:13; German S-boats gave valid recognition signals. The flotilla commander reported British fast boats lying in wait, seen in the searchlights. Artillery Regiment 720 had failed to inform Strassburg of the German S-boats despite the Sea Commander’s notification. Measures were taken to ensure future transmission to the battery.

09:25: Naval Commander Channel Coast telegraphed that an enemy landing at Dieppe had begun at 05:30, with tanks and troops ashore and German infantry defending. 09:30: information relayed to all stations with orders for heightened vigilance; harbour-protection boats were to occupy their positions even by day in poor visibility. 12:24: 319th Infantry Division ordered the highest combat readiness. 14:05: foreign workers were cleared from St Peter Port harbour. 15:00: the Sea Commander temporarily halted shipping between the islands and the mainland. 17:55: Naval Commander Channel Coast reported British aircraft using a red double-star recognition signal.

The shipping suspension was subsequently revoked at the insistence of the 3rd Security Division, which retained its planned inter-island convoys. The Sea Commander considered continued German shipping during or immediately after an enemy landing mistaken: other landings could follow, the whole coast was alert and nerves strained, and identification errors could have fatal consequences. German and enemy vessels close together could hinder or paralyse coastal artillery. The diary therefore argues that all German convoys should be suspended on such days in the interests of coastal defence.

T-1022 Roll 2422, PG 37996, scan 0490–0491.