30 May 1943

30 May 1943 Channel Islands Sea Defence diary

Weather at 15:05: wind 225°, 4 m/sec. Two Focke-Wulf 190s and two British aircraft of the Tomahawk type flew over Alderney from the west. One Fw 190 was hit by the British fighters and crashed beneath Batterie Annes into the cliffs. A British fighter was engaged by the island's anti-aircraft weapons as it departed eastwards and crashed into the sea after being fired upon. The anti-aircraft weapons of Batteries Elsaß and Annes took part; Batterie Elsaß observed hits.

Ammunition expenditure: Batterie Elsaß, 120 rounds 2-cm Oerlikon; Batterie Annes, 28 rounds 2-cm Flak 38.

The German fighter was already burning in the air. The pilot attempted to leave it by jettisoning the glazed canopy, but was unable to get out and struck the cliffs with the burning aircraft. Harbour-protection boats tried unsuccessfully to approach the cliffs. Army engineers abseiled down from the cliff edge but found only the charred wreckage. The discarded canopy, which had fallen within Batterie Annes, was handed to the Luftwaffe command on Alderney. Nothing was recovered from the British fighter, which crashed and burned far out at sea.

No. 3 gun of Army Coast Battery 468, reported unavailable on 18 May, was operational again. The Ida Gustav measure at Les Hanois lighthouse, Channel Islands special-lighting plan, serial No. 14, was unavailable.

T-1022 Roll 2422, PG 37997, scans 0647.