19 November 1942

19 November 1942 engagement — later undated Channel Coast assessment

Naval Commander Channel Coast’s assessment: the situation shown by the battle plot required lightning action and centrally directed allocation of fire by the group commander. Immediate concentration by all available batteries on the E-boats approaching the island at high speed might have succeeded. The group commander had not proved equal to the situation.

The following were wrong: (a) batteries were alerted consecutively instead of all simultaneously with Battery 462 at 22:58; (b) all batteries were not combined in massed surprise concentrations immediately on becoming ready, and permission to fire was given to Batterie West only at 23:24 and Army Coastal Battery 462 at 23:26, when the E-boats were already withdrawing rapidly out to sea; (c) suitable fire direction and allocation were lacking, causing very late opening of fire, poor cooperation between illumination and combat batteries, and failure to concentrate all batteries’ fire—the only effective method.

(d) Elsass’s acting battery commander failed to open fire independently with the combat battery as soon as he clearly recognised the illuminated target. Instead he sought the group commander’s permission and delayed the combat guns. He also failed to have them loaded and made safe simultaneously with the illumination guns, losing valuable time.

All Elsass’s illumination shells in the three fans were failures: they passed through without functioning. Channel Coast was arranging an investigation of this ammunition defect. Firing at the enemy targets tracked from 06:21–06:54 was pointless, because at a range exceeding 200 hm no success against the rapidly withdrawing E-boats was possible.

The Sea Commander had firmly instructed the Alderney group commander and Elsass battery commander about their errors. In mitigation, this was their first such task, both were acting in the appointments and lacked the necessary experience. Draft signed von Fischel. For Naval Commander Channel Coast, Chief of Staff [signature not securely identified].

T-1022 Roll 2422, scans 0560–0561. The assessment refers to the diary of 19 November; it has no secure issue date and is placed with that event, not represented as written that day.