Showing posts with label Admiral Whitworth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Admiral Whitworth. Show all posts

Monday, May 23, 2016

April 15, 1940: British in Norway

Monday 15 April 1940

15 April 1940 worldwartwo.filminspector.com General Carton de Wiart
General Carton de Wiart arrives.

Norway: The Vidkun Quisling puppet government, which nobody recognizes and which is completely ineffective, "resigns" (it was never officially installed) on 15 April 1940 under German pressure. The Germans are not interested in fulfilling Quisling's fantasies of being a sort of Viceroy, but rather in crafting a government that can actually accomplish something. The Quisling government is replaced by an Administrative Council composed of Norwegian lawyers and bureaucrats, and its leader is Ingolf Christensen. Quisling is gone but definitely not forgotten, and he remains lurking in the shadows.

King Haakon broadcasts an appeal to the people of Norway asking for their continued support. He intends to leave the country because his presence is causing casualties among the people defending him.

Norway Army Operations: The Norwegian 3rd Infantry Division, 2100 troops, surrenders north of Kristiansand. Units of the German 138th Mountain Regiment advance via a fortified train east from Trondheim toward Sweden, the objective being to secure the "waist" of the country.

At the Battle of Dombås, Oblt. Schmidt and his men begin the day at Hågåvollen, a farm on the highway five kilometers south of Dombås. They are blocking the main road through the region. The men left behind on the road catch up, so Schmidt has about 60 men with him. The Fallschirmjäger blow up the railway line nearby in three places, which closed the line for 24 hours.

The Norwegians know there is a German force in the area, but know little else. Kaptein Eiliv Austlid of the Norwegian army is tasked with clearing the road, which King Haakon and the rest of the government would use as an escape route. He brings two heavy machine gun platoons with 41 men. The Norwegian counterattack fails in deep snow. Austlid is killed while storming the dug-in Germans, who are elite soldiers, and 28 of the Norwegians are captured. At the end of the day, the German Fallschirmjäger remain in control of the road. Their true objective, the Dombås rail station, appears out of reach, but the German troops are disrupting Norwegian plans by their mere presence.

Hegra Fortress has been reactivated by a scratch Norwegian force largely composed of locals. The mothballed fort may be old, but has huge cannon and plenty of ammunition. Some 250 Norwegian volunteers from local gun clubs man the ramparts. The commanding officer, Norwegian artillery major Hans Reidar Holtermann, already has rejected demands from the Germans that he surrender.

At 05:30, the Germans attack. Advance Norwegian units at the Hegra road bridge and railway station retreat to the fortress, destroying the bridge before they leave. The German troops, clad in dark uniforms, then have to run across the frozen Stjørdal River under the fortress' guns. The Norwegians lose five men killed and 8 taken prisoner.

With the Germans advancing, the guns of the fortress open up. Everyone is helping, including the local telephone operator who serves as a spotter. The fortress guns knock out three German artillery pieces.

The Germans pursue the Norwegians down the road to the fortress. At one point, they stop at some field fortifications and make a temporary stand. They inflict casualties, including the German platoon leader Oberleutnant Hans-Joachim Herrmann. The Germans retreat, and the Norwegians capture arms, ammunition and equipment. By day's end, though, the Germans have occupied most of the surrounding area and the Luftwaffe is flying reconnaissance over the fortress (one aircraft crash-landing).

At Narvik, British Major-General Joseph Mackesy is being encouraged by Vice-Admiral Whitworth in HMS Warspite, Admiral of the Fleet Dudley, and others to land his troops in the port itself after a naval bombardment. However, he has no idea how many German troops are defending the port, and sees little value in a preparatory naval bombardment that will wreck whatever value the port has. In addition, half of his troops have been diverted south to Namsos, and his 24th Brigade is not equipped for an opposed landing by determined German troops. Accordingly, Mackesy decides to disembark his men slightly north of Narvik and wait for better weather conditions to march over and take the town.

The Germans in Narvik are confident. Theodor Broch, Mayor of Narvik, states: "Gazing across the shell-torn port, a German officer said to me: 'Your friends the British will never come."

15 April 1940 worldwartwo.filminspector.com Dombas Station
Dombås Station, the objective of the battle nearby.
Norway Naval Operations: With the preliminary force having arrived on 14 April, the main body of the 24th British Guards Brigade arrives at Harstad.

In addition, the British 146th Territorial Brigade (a reserve formation) continues arriving at Namsos, north of Trondheim. Legendary General Carton de Wiart (VC, DSO) arrives to command. His Short Sunderland flying boat is attacked by a German fighter along the way and his aide is wounded, but de Wiart gets through as usual. Once on the ground, de Wiart orders immediate advance south toward Trondheim.

Norway Air Operations: The RAF raids Stavanger-Sola airfield again, this time with 11-15 bombers (sources vary), then another dozen during the night. More damage is done to the hangars, and some seaplanes are destroyed.

In addition, Fleet Air Arm aircraft raid shipping at Bergen, setting afire one transport, a small store ship, and a large flying boat. One of the attacking planes is lost.

The Luftwaffe continues sending Ju 52 transport planes to supply the isolated German garrison at Narvik. They land on frozen Lake Hartvigvann. HMS Furious sends airstrikes against them.

Battle of the Atlantic: U-49 (Kapitänleutnant Kurt von Gossler) is sunk near Narvik by British destroyers HMS Fearless and HMS Brazen. There is one fatality, 41 survive and are taken as prisoners.

Royal Navy submarine HMS Snapper sinks two Kriegsmarine minesweepers, M-1701, and M-1702.

Destroyer USS Wainwright (Lt. Commander Thomas L. Lewis) is commissioned.

Convoy US 3 departs from Victoria, Australia for Egypt. It carries the Australian 18th Infantry Brigade.

Western Front: The main plan for the defense against the Germans, Anglo-French Plan D, changes slightly. Now, the French 7th Army, which is mechanized and under the command of General Henri Giraud, will move into southern Holland upon a Wehrmacht attack.

German/Swedish Relations: Birger Dahlerus brings with him to Berlin the commander of the Swedish Navy, Vice-Admiral Fabian Tamm. They meet Hermann Goering at the Air Ministry. Tamm warns that Sweden would defend its borders "Against everybody who tries to force their way across Sweden's frontiers."

US/Japanese Relations: Japanese Foreign Minister Arita Hachiro announces at a press conference that Southeast Asia comes under Japanese dominion because it is "economically bound [to Japan] by an intimate relationship of mutuality in ministering to one another's needs." He apparently refers to potential German conquests in Europe when he affirms that Japan takes this responsibility seriously:
"In view of these considerations, the Japanese Government cannot but be deeply concerned over any development accompanying an aggravation of the war in Europe that may affect the status quo of the Netherlands East Indies."
US Navy: In an administrative shuffle, the Naval Reserve command responsibility for naval districts is changed. Responsibility for naval districts is transferred to the Naval Reserve Policy Division, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. This is done because the importance of the districts is about to be upgraded.

French Navy: The government presses forward with an ambitious naval construction project that will include 2 new battleships and three heavy cruisers.

Denmark: With the German occupation a fait accompli, the Danism military de-mobilizes its troops.

Bolivia: General Enrique Penaranda inaugurated as president.

Holocaust: In occupied Poland, Gauleiter Hans Frank announces his plan to make Krakow "Jew-free" by deporting any Jews left there to labor camps.

British Homefront: The government reports that there are only 972,695 people unemployed. This is 148,518 less than in March 1940 and the lowest monthly total since 1920. Hitler has lowered unemployment in both Germany and in Great Britain.

Future History: Events of World War II remain vividly alive in the memory of the Norwegian people. In 2009, Captain Eiliv Austlid, who led the brave charge up a hill toward the German line at Dombås and fell with a bullet through the chest, was awarded the War Cross with Sword, Norway's highest military decoration.

15 April 1940 worldwartwo.filminspector.com Captain Auslid
Captain Eiliv Austlid posthumously received Norway's highest military decoration on October 2, 2009, for his actions on 15 April 1940.

April 1940

April 1, 1940: Weserubung is a Go
April 2, 1940: British Subs On Alert
April 3, 1940: Churchill Consolidates Power
April 4, 1940: Missed the Bus
April 5, 1940: Mig-1 First Flight
April 6, 1940: Troops Sailing to Norway
April 7, 1940: Fleets At Sea
April 8, 1940: HMS Glowworm and Admiral Hipper
April 9, 1940: Invasion of Norway
April 10, 1940: First Battle of Narvik
April 11, 1940: Britain Takes the Faroes
April 12, 1940: Germans Consolidate in Norway
April 13, 1940: 2d Battle of Narvik
April 14, 1940: Battle of Dombås
April 15, 1940: British in Norway
April 16, 1940: Germans Cut Norway in Half
April 17, 1940: Trondheim the Target
April 18, 1940: Norway Declares War
April 19, 1940: Dombås Battle Ends
April 20, 1940: Germans Advancing in Norway
April 21, 1940: First US Military Casualty
April 22, 1940: First British Military Contact with Germans
April 23, 1940: British Retreating in Norway
April 24, 1940: British Bombard Narvik
April 25, 1940: Norwegian Air Battles
April 26, 1940: Norwegian Gold
April 27, 1940: Allies to Evacuate Norway
April 28, 1940: Prepared Piano
April 29, 1940: British at Bodo
April 30, 1940: Clacton-on-Sea Heinkel

2019

April 13, 1940: 2d Battle of Narvik

Saturday 13 April 1940

13 April 1940 worldwartwo.filminspector.com Second Battle of Narvik
Ships at Narvik at some point during the second battle of Narvik. The photo was taken by the spotter plane from HMS Warspite.
Operation Weserubung: Operation Weserubung continues smoothly on 13 April 1940, but Hitler is concerned - frantic, is more like it. He is particularly worried about the situation in Narvik, which is precarious. Hitler issues several orders based on this paranoia, but, for one of the very few times in the war, the officers around him countermand them and stay the course. They basically tell Hitler to go take a nap (in fact, Hitler is known to stress out over naval operations and says later that he "can't sleep a wink" when large ships are operating). It is one of the first instances of Hitler's unbridled paranoia which will manifest itself in various ways over the next few years to the severe detriment of the German state.
  • German troops continue expanding away from their beachheads in the major Norwegian cities:
  • German 163rd Infantry Division occupies Larvik near Oslo;
  • German 196th Infantry Division occupies Halden and pushes northward;
  • Junkers Ju 52s fly supplies to Lake Hartvigvann near Narvik, landing on the frozen lake.
In London, the British War Cabinet debates about sending troops to Norway. Invasion at Trondheim is considered as a block to prevent the Wehrmacht from advancing north from Oslo. Narvik also is on the docket, as it was the original cause of the battle in the first place. Churchill, while firmly in the camp that favors a troop commitment at Narvik, comments that they need to consider:
the grave danger that we should find ourselves committed to a number of ineffectual operations along the Norwegian coast, none of which would succeed.
Prime Minister Chamberlain, his authority reeling from the Norwegian setback and his own recent comment that Hitler has "missed the bus," vows to send troops to Norway anyway. He tells the House of Commons, "Hitler has a real fight on his hands!"

One of Hitler's orders does go through. Generaloberst Nikolaus von Falkenhorst, commanding the Weserubung operation, receives orders to seize control of the village of Dombås, some 336 km (209 mi) north of Oslo, by paratroop attack. This is due to a false report of Allied landings at Åndalsnes. It also may have something to do with the transport of Norwegian gold reserves out of the country and an attempt to seize the gold.


13 April 1940 worldwartwo.filminspector.com Second Battle of Narvik
Battle of Narvik on 13 April 1940.
Battle of the Atlantic: The British return to Narvik in force. With aircraft carrier HMS Furious as cover (which launches airstrikes), Battleship HMS Warspite (Vice-Admiral William Jock Whitworth) leads nine destroyers into the Ototfjord. Without air cover, the Kriegsmarine destroyers are defenseless, though Captain Bey in charge of the flotilla misses opportunities to at least mitigate the damage. All eight German destroyers in the area are sunk or scuttled by their crews, some in Narvik Bay, the rest in Rombaks Fjord where they try to hide:
  • Z2 Georg Thiele (sunk)
  • Z9 Wolfgang Zenker (scuttled)
  • Z11 Bernd von Arnim (scuttled)
  • Z12 Erich Giese (scuttled)
  • Z13 Erich Koellner (sunk)
  • Z17 Diether von Roeder (sunk)
  • Z18 Hans Lüdemann (scuttled)
  • Z19 Hermann Künne (scuttled)
About 100 Kriegsmarine sailors perish, most can scramble to shore in time given the certainty of destruction. Only three of the British destroyers are damaged (HMS Punjabi has 14 KIA/28 wounded, HMS Eskimo has its bow blown off by a torpedo). Wehrmacht troops ashore use field howitzers against the British force, but HMS Cossack puts them out of action.

13 April 1940 worldwartwo.filminspector.com Second Battle of Narvik
The aftermath of the Battle of Narvik on 13 April 1940.
In addition, Warspite's Fairey Swordfish spotter plane bombs U-64 (Kapitänleutnant Georg-Wilhelm Schulz) in the Herjangsfjord near Narvik and sinks it (8 perish, 38 survive after a harrowing escape from the sunk U-boat and, half-frozen, are grateful for rescue by the mountain troops in the area). It is perhaps the most dominating performance by a battleship during the entire war and basically justifies many officers' faith in the big gun platform.

However - and this is a qualification - despite the absolute devastation wreaked by the Warspite force, the Wehrmacht under General Dietl retains control of the town of Narvik itself, and 2,600 Kriegsmarine personnel from the destroyers augment the ground troops. Whitworth signals London and tells them that a single brigade could take the key port.

Elsewhere, U-34 (Kapitänleutnant Wilhelm Rollmann) destroys Norwegian Cruiser-minelayer HNoMS Frøya, which has been beached at Søtvika, Norway after encounters with other Kriegsmarine ships.

Convoy OB 128 departs from Liverpool, and Convoy HG 26 departs from Gibraltar.

European Air Operations: The RAF sends 15 Hampden bombers to drop parachute mines off the Danish coast during the night. While the Luftwaffe has dropped mines regularly, this is the first time the RAF drops mines. One aircraft is lost.

Luftwaffe bombers make unproductive attacks against Royal Navy vessels along the Norwegian coast.

Following the successful long-range reconnaissance of Narvik from northern Scotland performed by the New Zealand (75 NZ) Squadron on 12 April, another flight is taken over Trondheim. This time, the plane fails to return.

German Military: Morale within the Wehrmacht is skyrocketing given the latest successes in Norway. While difficult to quantify, it manifests itself in interactions with the British, who are not feeling quite so sanguine. For instance, the British rescue some of the German sailors at Narvik and make them prisoners but are nonplussed at their attitude. One of the Royal Navy sailors guarding them, Harry Neesdowne on battleship HMS Warspite, notes of them: "They are impossibly arrogant- certain of victory" - and this right after they have been pulled from the water and locked up.

13 April 1940 worldwartwo.filminspector.com Second Battle of Narvik
Battle of Narvik on 13 April 1940.
British Military: British troops arrive at the Faroe Islands per First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill's vow to "protect" them.

Legendary General Carton de Wiart takes command of troops in Norway.

Spies: US embassy official Tyler Kent passes copies of documents to Anna Wolkoff, who gives them to the German embassy.

US Navy: Destroyer USS J. Fred Talbot returns to the Canal Zone after its humanitarian mission to aid an ill passenger on the Japanese steamship Arimasan Maru.

Poland: The German authorities in occupied Poland permits the formation and meeting of the Ukrainian Central Committee. It is allowed to represent the concerns of Ukrainian citizens. Numerous local groups operate under its umbrella.

Holocaust: Approximately 250,000 additional Poles in the Soviet-occupied zone of former Poland are banished to Siberia.

American Homefront/Future History: The New York Rangers beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-2 in overtime to win the 1940 Stanley Cup. It is the last time the Rangers win the Cup for 54 years. As the years lengthen during that span, the derisive chant "1940! 1940!" becomes a rallying cry for fans of the team's opponents. It is one of the most enduring legacies of 1940 for hockey fans.

13 April 1940 worldwartwo.filminspector.com Second Battle of Narvik
The Warspite (left) force withdrawing during the Battle of Narvik on 13 April 1940.

April 1940

April 1, 1940: Weserubung is a Go
April 2, 1940: British Subs On Alert
April 3, 1940: Churchill Consolidates Power
April 4, 1940: Missed the Bus
April 5, 1940: Mig-1 First Flight
April 6, 1940: Troops Sailing to Norway
April 7, 1940: Fleets At Sea
April 8, 1940: HMS Glowworm and Admiral Hipper
April 9, 1940: Invasion of Norway
April 10, 1940: First Battle of Narvik
April 11, 1940: Britain Takes the Faroes
April 12, 1940: Germans Consolidate in Norway
April 13, 1940: 2d Battle of Narvik
April 14, 1940: Battle of Dombås
April 15, 1940: British in Norway
April 16, 1940: Germans Cut Norway in Half
April 17, 1940: Trondheim the Target
April 18, 1940: Norway Declares War
April 19, 1940: Dombås Battle Ends
April 20, 1940: Germans Advancing in Norway
April 21, 1940: First US Military Casualty
April 22, 1940: First British Military Contact with Germans
April 23, 1940: British Retreating in Norway
April 24, 1940: British Bombard Narvik
April 25, 1940: Norwegian Air Battles
April 26, 1940: Norwegian Gold
April 27, 1940: Allies to Evacuate Norway
April 28, 1940: Prepared Piano
April 29, 1940: British at Bodo
April 30, 1940: Clacton-on-Sea Heinkel

2019