What did the declassified documents reveal?

23 August German Shelling. The document in question is a report from the British Admiralty, dated 23 August 1940, detailing a German shelling incident off the coast of Raglan. This report is notable for its description of the German naval activity and the British response. The document was released through The Black Vault, an online archive of declassified government records. The canonical PDF is available at archive.org. The report begins with a series of codes and abbreviations, which have been transcribed as follows: RofOXWDOO I 3/PPDTA52, indicating a communication from the Admiralty to Booth-Hut, a naval staff officer. The report is dated 23rd August 1940. On 13th August, the first shot was fired by the Germans on the south side of Raglan. On 22nd August, the Germans fired again, this time at 10:56, and continued firing until 12:15. The report notes that the firing was accompanied by an aircraft and an auxiliary ship. The range of the firing was between 32 and 37 miles. More than 100 shells were fired, with each salvo consisting of four rounds, averaging a two-minute interval between salvoes. The interval between firing and the fall of the shot was about 10 minutes. The British laid a smoke screen and stated that there were no losses. At 21:00 hours on 22nd August, the Germans fired two shells at DOTS in a salvo of three shells. The British were illuminated by the light of parachute flares. It is thought that the admiral and two generals who arrived from BABhi will work in concert with the appropriate naval staff. This is to be kept secret, bearing in mind that BABhi sent 12 military diplomats for general observation duties. No. 237 BABCh notes that the German gun positions were observed. This is what the public record looks like at its most ordinary. storyflo.com, https://archive.org/download/23auggermanshelling/23auggermanshellingdjvu.txt.

Why was this case declassified?

This material was released by the National Security Agency (NSA) through the U.S. declassification and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) process. The originating source document is linked on this page so the citation chain is auditable.

23aug German Shelling

◆ BLUF — The short version

23 August German Shelling. The document in question is a report from the British Admiralty, dated 23 August 1940, detailing a German shelling incident off the coast of Raglan. This report is notable for its description of the German naval activity and the British response.

Agency: National Security Agency (NSA)
Date: JUL 18 · 2026
Release: Declassified · U.S. public record (FOIA)
Source document: View the primary source document

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What was 23aug German Shelling about?: 23 August German Shelling. The document in question is a report from the British Admiralty, dated 23 August 1940, detailing a German shelling incident off the coast of Raglan. This report is notable for its description of the German naval activity and the British response.
Why was this case declassified?: This material was released by the National Security Agency (NSA) through the U.S. declassification and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) process. The originating source document is linked in the case notes above so the citation chain is fully auditable.

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