At around midnight, two of the larger minesweepers split off to take positions in the waters between Jersey and the Cotentin Pensula to guard against any enemy craft that might come down from the north. Not long after that, the three artillery barges left to take positions outside the harbor between Chaussey Island and St. Malo, where they could shell the dockyards once the order came. What they didn’t know was that on the other side of the island, a coastal steamer and an armed trawler were sitting at anchor, while an American sub-hunter, the PC-564, patrolled nearby, bored and eager for a fight. At around 0100, as the rest of the force had reached Granville, the tug and the other two large minesweepers made for the harbor entrance, while three torpedo boats headed toward the beach beside the Hotel des Bains, and a third group headed for the radar installation further up the coast.
While on patrol outside the harbor, American submarine chaser PC-564, faced with a jammed 3-inch gun and overwhelmed by the large German flotilla, was seriously damaged and many crewmen were killed or injured. The captain and remaining crew were later picked up by allied forces and PC-564 was salvaged, remaining in the US Naval registry until 1963. U.S. Navy photo
As the tug and the two minesweepers approached the harbor, the harbormaster challenged their entry by flashing them a coded identification signal. Not knowing the proper response, the lead vessel’s signalman simply flashed back the same signal. To their surprise, the harbormaster accepted it and they entered without further challenge.
Inside the tiny harbor, the dockyards were all lit up, though the only visible activity seemed to be a single bucket crane unloading one of the five coal ships sitting at the docks. The three German vessels made their way past them until they found clear spaces to come alongside the quayside. Immediately, seventy commandos jumped off and within a few minutes had secured the whole area.
The shooting didn’t start until some of the teams began boarding the coal ships. The crews fought back. The second officer of the Kyle Castle tried manning one of the ships’ machine guns, but was shot and seriously wounded before he could use it. An officer on the Nephrite suffered a similar fate when he tried fighting back, but soon the Germans had all the ships secured. They told the crews that they would be immediately getting under way. When the captain of the Kyle Castle objected, he was shot and killed. There were no more objections after that.
By now, the Americans realized something was going on. A force was assembled, but when they tried approaching the dockyards, they were driven off by German fire. The Germans commanded the most advantageous positions surrounding the area. Meanwhile, the German POWs in the dockyard pens were freed, the warehouses were being systematically looted, and demolitions teams began blowing up cranes, locomotives, trucks, and fuel tanks.
Meanwhile the other team had come ashore at the beach and made their way up to the Hotel des Bains. Within minutes they had captured the hotel and taken nine officers prisoner, including a Marine. The prisoners were taken down a steep path to the beach and lined up facing a rock wall while the Germans waited with inflatable boats on the shore. By this point the fighting around the harbor had gotten fierce, and the American and French forces had begun attacking the Germans as they departed the hotel.
Meanwhile the three artillery barges outside the harbor had gotten into a fight with the American sub-chaser PC-564. It began firing star shells at the Germans that failed to explode. But then their deck gun jammed. The Germans fired at the American vessel, knocking out the wheelhouse and killing everyone inside. More rounds struck the ship, knocking out its guns and killing more of its crew. The order was given to abandon ship.
German soldiers left on the Channel Islands made a raid on Granville, damaging the harbor facilities and capturing the M/V Eskwood, a 1273 gt freighter. Docs taken from the Eskwood were requested by Command for speedy evaluation of Convoys in the Channel.
Photo courtesy of Glenn Ross
The fighting in the dockyards had also grown increasingly violent, but the Germans still had the defensive advantage. They had freed seventy nine POWs and had taken nearly as many prisoners themselves. Demolitions teams continued to plant booby traps and timer bombs. Everything seemed to be going extremely well. But then when the Germans commanding the coal ships tried taking them out, they realized they had made a serious miscalculation. The tide was too low and all but one of the coal ships’ keels was firmly on the bottom. No matter how hard the ships propellers churned, they were stuck. Only the smaller Eskwood, which had been half unloaded, could move.
Further up the coast, the boats attacking the radar station also found the low tide prevented them from getting close enough to shore to land their assault parties. In the process, one of the M-Class minesweepers had run aground and had to be abandoned and blown up.
It was enough havoc for one night. The order was given and the commandos returned to their vessels and, together with the Eskwood, left the harbor. The tug came by the beach and waited while the commandos paddled out with their prisoners.
They returned to St. Helier in supremely high spirits, reaching it just before dawn. But their triumph was short lived. A day later, Allied news leaflets were dropped on the islands, letting them know that at the same time that they were having their fun at Granville, the American Army had established a bridgehead across the Rhine at Remagen.
Two months later, the war was over and the German garrison on the Channel Islands marched undefeated into captivity. Whatever food they’d managed to bring back hadn’t made much difference. But for the final two months of the war, the German soldiers and British civilians of the Channel Islands at least stayed warm.