The book is picked up again. This issue is the sixth installment in the series on the history of naval combat in World War II. The last issue told about the subversive ** aircraft carrier in the naval battle of World War II. In this issue, we will look at how the navy of the Third Reich in 1940 coordinated ground and air forces to attack the Norwegian ......
(The full text of this issue is about 4500 words, the content is longer, thank you**).
The senior members of the German Navy vividly remember how during the First World War, the British Grand Fleet appeared at bases in northern Germany, cutting them off any effective access to the high seas. They remember how, in 1918, Britain politically pressured Norway to establish a minefield in its territorial waters, thus completing the massive Anglo-American mine defences and forcing merchant ships into the high seas under their jurisdiction.
In the early 1940s, Britain again tightened its economic blockade of Germany, so the 1,000-mile Norwegian coastal waterway was a safe shipping route for Germany as long as Norway remained neutral. Especially considering that the Baltic Sea Route is closed for five months a year due to ice, during which time the Norwegian shipping route is very important for the import of iron ore from Sweden.
(Above) after the sinking of the assault ship "Admiral Count Spee". Its supply ship "Altmark" attempted to return to Germany with 300 captured British merchant sailors on board. It was intercepted by British destroyers and forcibly boarded in Norwegian waters. In this famous incident, all the British crew members who were imprisoned were successfully rescued.
At this time, Britain was still in the process of rebuilding the northern barrier, and the Admiralty, Winston Churchill, was eager to lay mines in Norwegian territorial waters again to cut off German mineral shipments. The reason is that Germany was already in conflict with Great Britain, especially in the incident with the "Altmark". The resulting "Wilfred" action plan blocked waterways in three locations. Any military response from the enemy would trigger the Confederate landings in Bergen, Narvik, Stavanger, and Trondheim.
The German High Command was well aware of this ambition of the British, who in Norway could stifle the transport of minerals in winter and bring the Baltic Sea into the range of the RAF. Therefore, beginning in February 1940, Germany planned a preemptive invasion of Norway, codenamed "Weser River Xi".
Norway's mountainous terrain makes communication sparse, and many of the populations are concentrated deep in fjords with jagged coastlines. Having maintained communication mainly by sea routes, the German plan, like that of the British, was to appear in a number of selected ports by surprise attack, occupy the port area, and control it until the pre-set support fleet arrived quickly.
Denmark and Norway, April-June 1940. This map illustrates the boldness of the German plan to invade Norway. All but the smallest force was within range of the British Home Fleet. The Germans had to rely on surprise attacks to achieve victory, and this was achieved, but the question of how the German boats would return was still left to the surface.
It was a high-risk operation for Germany, because every ** that could be obtained had to go to war, and. Divided into smaller formations away from the bases, they haunted the North Sea region controlled by the British Home Fleet. Success relied on a complete surprise attack, but the retreat of the ships after the surprise attack seemed to be very problematic.
Six attacking groups will set sail to attack Norway at appropriate intervals
The first group sailed towards Narvik. 10 destroyers, loaded with 2000 mountain infantry. Long-range protection was provided by the fast battleships "Scharnhorst" and "Gneisenau".
The second group sailed towards Trondheim. The heavy cruiser "Hipper" and 4 destroyers carried 700 soldiers. 1 oil tanker and 3 supply ships trailed.
The third group sailed towards Bergen. The light cruisers "Cologne" and "Königsberg", training ships, 2 torpedo boats, and 1 detachment of motor-torpedo boats and their ** ships were loaded with a total of 1,900 soldiers. 1 oil tanker and 3 supply ships trailed.
The fourth group sailed towards Kristiansand and Arendal. The light cruiser "Karlsruhe", 3 torpedo boats and 1 detachment of motorized torpedo boats and their ** ships, a total of 110o soldiers. 4 supply ships trailed.
The fifth group sailed to Oslo. The pocket battleship "Lützov", the heavy cruiser "Blucher", the light cruiser "Emden", 3 torpedo boats and 10 small ships, carrying a total of 2,000 soldiers. 2 oil tankers and fire support ships trailed. Twenty-three supply ships will arrive in a few days.
The sixth group headed for Egelsund. 4 minesweepers with 1 detachment of motorcycles.
The Luftwaffe Airborne Forces were to occupy Stavanger Airfield, tactical minelaying was to be carried out, and almost all of the combat submarines were to arrive in advance to intercept the British fleet that was expected to appear. At the same time, five Danish ports will be occupied, mainly by small ships as a means of transport. The time was decided at 5 a.m. on April 9, 1940.
Had Operation Wilfred been launched on 5 April as planned, Britain would likely be in complete disarray, but the Germans were unlucky and the operation was delayed until 8 April. The British code-breaking work remained only at a rudimentary grasp of the "naval Enigma", but the so-called "traffic analysis" looked for any unusual changes that might suggest the actions of the enemy by studying the usual patterns of telegraph transmission. In early April, the British noticed a significant upsurge in German telegraph traffic, and the Admiralty's Operational Intelligence Center (OIC) was immediately informed. However, this prompt was not clear, and the Admiralty was unable to develop a preventive deployment.
Due to the longest voyage, the German fleet of the first and second fleets and various supply ships departed very early, and after the German movement was discovered by the British, the home fleet departed from Scapa Bay later on the 7th, but it took the northeast course to prevent the German fleet from breaking through into the Atlantic.
British destroyer for the heroic counterattack against the German heavy cruiser "Hipper" and its escort ships"The captain of the Firefly was awarded a Victoria Cross. The picture shows the survivors of the "Firefly" soaked in oil when they were rescued by the enemy. Of course, such a scenario can occur on any side and in any region of the war.
Three British minelaying fleets set off as scheduled, with two groups heading for the Norwegian coast between Bergen and Trondheim and the other heading to Narvik, which approached Westfjord. To deal with a possible enemy, the fleet sailing to Narvik was protected by the battlecruiser "Prestige" and a destroyer flotilla. One of the "Luminous Fireflies" in the destroyer fleet fell overboard and went missing. The "Glowworm" left the group in search of the enemy, and mistakenly broke into the vicinity of the enemy's first and second fleets, which were still traveling with them at the time. It exchanged fire with two of the destroyers, as a result of which it received heavy damage from the 8-inch guns of the "Hippert". Captain G. of the "Dong Firefly".Seeing that there was no chance of escape, B. Rupp turned to ram the German cruiser, a heroic act that earned him the Victoria Cross.
By this time, the British substitute boats and reconnaissance planes had spotted several groups of enemy ships, and the general situation became elusive, and when the German First Fleet sailed towards Narvik in full force, the British found that the German Second Fleet was slowly sailing near Trondheim, but this did not help the British to see the situation clearly.
Commander-in-Chief of the British fleet, Field Marshal Sir Charles Forbes, sent the "Counterattack" to reinforce the "Prestige". The British cruisers, which had already loaded the landing force, also set sail after returning to shore with their personnel. The German 4th fleet easily resolved the resistance on the shore, but the 5th fleet, approaching Oslo through the Drobach waterway, was counterattacked by the fortress of Fort Oskar on the shore, and its old Krupp guns neutralized the "Blucher" by hitting two 280-mm shells. While drifting, the ship was hit by 2 more torpedoes, and then tilted and sank, causing heavy casualties. However, this did not affect the situation in Oslo, which became their main port of entry as soon as it was occupied by the Germans.
In Trondheim, the Hippel won a crucial moment by confusing the Norwegians with a signal in English. The German destroyers took the opportunity to allow the specially trained assault team to quickly land, occupying the coastal batteries from land. Bergen's defending forces were not easily fooled and also wounded the German "Königsberg" and the "Bull Snake", which turned back. Since the German third fleet here was fighting directly on the wide sea, four British cruisers were ordered to intercept it. Later, due to the withdrawal of the British order, a great opportunity was lost. Sixteen Big Gull dive bombers of the British Naval Air Corps took off from their base in Orkney and flew the furthest distance to Bergen, sinking the "Königsberg" at its mooring, saving the situation a little. It was the first main combat ship to be sunk by a dive bomber in the war.
When the destroyers of the 1st German fleet sailed into Narvik, their great protection remained in the sea beyond the fjord, and on the morning of April 9 they encountered the "Prestige". The German commander did not play to the superiority of his 2 ships, and in the course of intermittent fire engagements, the "Gneisenau" was hit by 3 15-inch shells, and 2 11-inch shells also hit the opposing side.
Before entering Narvik, the German destroyers had already landed the detachment to occupy the fortress and sank two Norwegian Sea defense ships with torpedoes. However, the German destroyers were still scattered and low on fuel, and the next day at dawn five British destroyers burst out of the snowy haze and launched a surprise attack, which caught the Germans by surprise. In extremely fierce battles, both sides lost two ships each. The attackers also intercepted supply ships carrying all the aggressor's arms and motor transport vehicles.
The port of Narvik was at the head of a long cul-de-sac, and it would be unwise for the Germans to stay there for a long time, but the refueling was tiresome and the damage from the previous battle needed to be repaired. On the morning of April 13, the British battleship "War Wey" and nine destroyers again broke into Narvik. Every remaining German ship was pursued until it was completely destroyed. Despite the fact that 50% of the large destroyers of the German Navy were destroyed as a result, Narvik remained in the hands of the Germans.
On June 8, 1940, the British aircraft carrier HMS Glory was intercepted by the German HMS Gneisenaut (pictured here being shelled) and its sister ship Scharnhorst on its way back from Norway. Since no reconnaissance aircraft were sent. "Glorious" received a completely unexpected blow, and, unable to resist, it was quickly sunk.
To support Operation Weser Xi, Dönitz put 20 of the 23 ocean-going submarines in service and 22 of the 26 offshore submarines. The Germans were able to easily decipher the British naval code, which was advantageous, but it was somewhat diminished by the fact that the British were fully in control of their deployment plans. And the German submarines, due to the long-standing torpedo problem, had little to gain. Like the United States, Germany was too resource-efficient in pre-war live mine launch tests, and as a result, suffered from hard-to-adjust torpedo depth and overly sensitive magnetic ignition fuses.
On the contrary, British submarines (and indeed one Polish submarine) had a good record, sinking 21 supply ships with a total registered tonnage of 112,000 tons, accounting for about 9% of the total losses of German merchant ships. The torpedoes fired on behalf of the boat also sank the German light cruiser "Karlsruhe" and the training ship "Cow Snake", and at the same time seriously damaged the "Gneisenau" and "Lützov". Britain lost 3 submarines.
By seizing the main port of Oslo, Germany was able to quickly extend its control throughout Norway. Allied troops landed in the north, but the number of ports was too few and they arrived too late, and the operation was a failure.
(Above) at 7:22 p.m. on May 23, 1941. The British heavy cruiser "Suffolk" discovered the German "Bismarck" and "Prinz Eugen" in the Danish Strait, which led to a series of major naval engagements. Note the Suffolk pictured, where the deck has been cut down to reduce the weight of the water section, and the walrus amphibious aircraft and the upper half of the chimney that has been deliberately painted white.
Germany quickly established an air base in Norway, and due to the lack of air superiority of the Allies, its sea boats soon found it extremely dangerous to fight during the day. For example, at dawn on April 17, the heavy cruiser "Suffolk" was ordered to shell the strategically important airfield in Sola, near Stavanger. The order prevented the ship from withdrawing at the scheduled time, and the pre-assigned air cover of the Royal Air Force failed to deliver, and the ship was subjected to 33 separate air strikes in seven hours. Although it survived, after being hit by a 1,000-pound bomb, half of its main guns were destroyed, and the ship's nickname was flooded with about 2,500 tons.
In support of the Norwegian operations and the retreat in June, the Royal Navy paid a high price, mainly in small ships, and of course in the light cruiser "Harrier" and the precious aircraft carrier "Glorious", the latter of which were completely unnecessary. However, the destroyers escorting the "Glorious" successfully counterattacked, and the torpedo hit the "Scharnhorst".
The trip is over. An oil painting by Charles Pearson depicts the arrival of an escort convoy in the port of Murmansk. Experienced enemy attacks and wind and rain. The survivors who arrived at their destination found the situation on shore to be frustrating all the time. So much so that everyone was looking forward to the return trip.
The numerically inferior German fleet had achieved its goal of invading Norway with great boldness, and the British side, having to act in accordance with previous instructions, acted so hesitantly that it actually contributed to the German success. As for the extent of the losses, the German Navy suffered very badly, which inevitably had a negative effect on later tasks. The strategic importance of the occupation of Norway also diminished, as the Germans soon took the coastal bases off the coast of the Bay of Biscay in France by surprise. Nevertheless, in September 1941, the Allies began escort transport to the northern part of the Soviet Union, and the German naval base in Norway once again played an important strategic role.
[To be continued......】
The next installment, the last installment of the series on the history of naval combat during World War II, will turn to the Mediterranean, and see how the Allies and the Axis attacked and defended the sea transportation lines in that small sea
Focus on not getting lost