30 June 1941

June 1941 Island artillery tanks supply and construction

Editorial note: Monthly report or annex; placed at the end of the reporting month because no single document date is supplied. Dates within the text retain their original meaning.

By the end of June, the following artillery reinforcements had been deployed.

On Guernsey: headquarters, Artillery Regiment for Special Employment 720; and III Battalion, Artillery Regiment 319, with two batteries of Czech 10.5 cm guns.

On Jersey: headquarters, Artillery Regiment 319; and II Battalion, Artillery Regiment 319, with two batteries of Czech 10.5 cm guns.

The arrival of the batteries intended for the islands, listed in Annex 5, was announced for the beginning of July.

Major Bechtold arrived at 319th Infantry Division as permanent liaison officer from the Inspectorate of Western Fortifications. Reconnaissance began for the field-type works and the later permanent fortification of the islands.

To protect the airfields on Guernsey and Jersey against enemy airborne landings, eight captured French tanks had been delivered to each island by the end of the month.

Supply staffs were formed under the island commanders. On the mainland the Ib Section of 319th Infantry Division acted as the supply staff, while the divisional supply commander’s organisation acted as the loading staff for supplying the islands.

The ordered stockpiling of the Channel Islands created particularly extensive work for the quartermaster department. Reorganisation on the mainland also required changes in supply arrangements. Further fuel restrictions severely limited vehicle use, and two monthly consumption allocations were assigned for June. Fixed fuel reserves were repeatedly checked: each division was to hold 250 cubic metres of petrol, 50 cubic metres of diesel and 6.5 cubic metres of engine oil; the islands were to hold 40 cubic metres of petrol, 10 cubic metres of diesel and 1.5 cubic metres of engine oil.

T-314 Roll 1603, T314_Roll_1603_English_Translation.docx. Source PDF page 0019 | Original document page 2; Source PDF page 0020 | Original document page 3; Source PDF page 0104