Then came the news that the Finns had made peace with Russia. There was some hope in the German headquaters that this peace might deter the British from moving into Norway; but the British still kept taking actions against German shipping in Norwegian waters and so the decision was made to move into Norway before the British did.
On the evening of April 6th, 1940, the Germans moved. The first wave went for northern Norway. This comprised of two small battleships, the heavy cruiser Hipper, and fourteen destroyers. Hipper escorted by four destroyers was to land 1,700 men of the 138th Gebirgsjager Regiment at Trondheim. Ten destroyers were to land 2,000 men of the 139th Gebirgsjager Regiment at Narvik. The battleships, temporarily under the command of Vice Admiral Gunther Lutjens, would provide cover for the landing force and then move north to decoy the British heavy ships away from the Norwegian coast. Lutzow developed some engine trouble, so it was placed in the southern landing group. The auxiliary cruiser, the Orion, cruised into the North Atlantic to create confusion there. The southern groups sailed later.
The Oslo Group had the pocket battleship Lutzow, heavy cruiser Blucher,light cruiser Emden, and three torpedo-boats, carrying two battalions of the 163rd Division.
Bergen Group had light cruisers Koln and Konigsberg (at right: from Kriegsmarine),,
gunnery-training ship Bremse, depot ship Karl Peters, and two torpedo-boats,
carrying two battalions of the 69th Division. The Kristiansand/Arendal
Group had light cruiser Karlsruhe, depot ship Tsingtau, and three
torpedo-boats, carrying one battalion of the 310th Regiment.
On April 8th, the British destroyer Glowworm, found, reported, and engaged a German destroyer of the Hipper detachment off Trondheim. In violent weather, the Hipper, with her 8-inch guns, was soon engaged in a close-range shooting match. The Hipper tried to ram the Glowworm. Fearing annihilation, the British Lieutenant Commander Gerard B. Roope earned his Victoria Cross by ramming his little destroyer into Hipper.
The Glowworm blew up but it damaged 120 feet of Hipper's side plating letting in 528 tons of water. Meanwhile the battle cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau were moving towards the Atlantic to draw off British heavy warships from the Norwegian coast. Just a few hours later the German troopship Rio de Janeiro was sunk near the southern Norwegian coast by the Polish submarine Orzel, which was operating from Great Britain.
Early next day, on April 9th, 1940. the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau sighted the British battle cruiser Renown, and soon the three ships were engaged in a heavy duel in stormy seas. Renown fired her 15-inch guns at a 9-mile range and the Germans replied with their 11-inch main batteries. Gneisenau received three 15-inch shell hits which smashed her main fire control system and disabled her forward gun turret. Renown was hit by two shells which did not do much damage. But Lutjens was successfully fulfilling his mission by drawing off the British Capital ships from Norway.
Commodore Paul Bonte's ten destroyers surprised the Norwegian coastal defense ships Eidsvold and Norge at Narvik. When the Norwegian Commander Askim refused the German demand for surrender, the Norwegian defense ships were immediately destroyed. Just a few minutes later, Lieutenant-General Eduard Dietl, commanding the 3rd Gebirgsjager Division, led his troops into Narvik and captured the port town. At Trondheim, the damaged Hipper and her four destroyers, confused most of the Norwegian coast-defense gun crews by signaling Morse-code in English. Only one battery opened fire but Hipper immediately silenced it. The German troops captured Trondheim without any trouble. The city of Bergen was also captured quickly - but during the Bergen landings the light cruiser Konigsberg and gunnery training ship Bremse were damaged. Konigsberg was sunk by the British Fleet Air Arm on April 11th. The German Air Force retaliated and sank the British light cruiser Curlew later in the campaign.
While protecting the troop landings at Arendal and Kristiansand, German light cruiser Karlsruhe was torpedoed and sunk by the British submarine Truant. Stavanger and Sola airfields were quickly captured by German paratroops.
At Oslo Fjords, the heavy cruiser Blucher (at right: from Kriegsmarine) was sunk by two torpedoes launched from shore installations. She was the only heavy German ship sunk
that day. It is interesting to note that during World War I, her
predecessor, the armored cruiser Blucher, was the only ship sunk in the
Battle of Dogger Bank in 1915. The pocket-battleship Lutzow was badly
damaged during the Oslo assault and forced to turn. By great boldness and
daring, the commander of 163rd Division, Major-General Erwin Engelbrecht,
was able to occupy half of Oslo, take the arsenal at Horten, amd move on to
Fornebu airfield.
Once Fornebu airfield was taken, JU-52 transports started bringing in the first German airborne troops. Denmark was captured the same day by German XXXI Corps under Gerneral Kaupisch without difficulty. Things were not going so well for Commodore Bonte as five of his destroyers were trapped at Ofot Fjord near Narvik because of fuel shortage. Suddenly three British destroyers, under Captain B.A.W Warburton-Lee, came dashing towards the Germans and in the ensuing battle Commodore Bonte was killed, two of his destroyers were sunk and the other three German destroyers were damaged. Captain Warburton-Lee was also killed that day, earning a well deserved Victoria Cross for his daring attack on the German destroyers. The British lost two destroyers and one damaged.
More Naval Battle of Norway
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© Copyright 2002 by Shahram Khan.
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