Chapter 41 Volume 1, Chapter 37, Norway: The Final Stage

Abandoning the direct attack on Narvik, the landing in May, General Auchinleck was appointed military commander, the city was captured on 28 May, the war in France overwhelmed the retreat, the convoy returning to England appeared, and the German battlecruisers appeared. The story of the sinking of the Glorious and the Zealot Acasta The air raid on the German warships in Trondheim One of the major results we achieved was the collapse of the German fleet. We would do well, regardless of the sequence of events, to relate the outcome of the Norwegian episode in this chapter. After April 16, Lord Cork was forced to abandon the idea of ​​attacking Narvik directly.On April 24, the battleship Wospite and three cruisers conducted a three-hour platoon bombardment, but could not effectively repel the local garrison.I have asked the First Sea Lord to arrange for the replacement of the Wospite by the lesser Resolute, which, as far as bombardment is concerned, can also undertake the task.At the same time, the arrival of French and Polish armies, and especially because the time had come for the snow to melt, prompted Lord Cork to intensify his attack on the city.According to the new plan, our troops should land at the end of the fjord above Narvik, and then cross the Rombacs Fjord to attack Narvik.The 24th Guards Brigade had been transferred to resist the German invasion from Trondheim; but by the beginning of May, three battalions of the French Alpine Infantry, two battalions of the French Foreign Legion, four battalions of the Polish Army and about 3,000 The Norwegian army of 500 men is available for call.On the enemy's side they were reinforced by part of the 3rd Mountain Division, either airlifted from southern Norway or smuggled in by rail from Sweden.

The first landing was under the command of General Bertouard, commander of the French detachment.On the night of 12-13 May it was successfully completed at Berkevik with minimal losses.General Auchinleck, whom I had sent to command all the troops in northern Norway, was there, and took command of the operations the next day.His orders were to cut off the enemy's supply of iron ore and to preserve a foothold in the country for the King of Norway and his government. The new British commander, naturally, asked for a considerable increase in strength, bringing it to seventeen battalions, two hundred light and heavy anti-aircraft guns, and four squadrons of aircraft, but probably only half the number he requested was promised. .

But at this time, amazing events have overwhelmed everything.On May 24th, facing the crisis of total defeat, we decided to concentrate all our forces in France and at home.This decision received almost universal approval.However, in order to ensure the destruction of Narvik Harbor and cover the retreat of our troops, we must first capture the city.The main attack on Narvik across the Rombacs Fjord began on the 27th of May.The participating troops included two battalions of the Foreign Legion and one battalion of the Norwegian Army, fighting under the command of the shrewd and capable General Bertouard.The login was a complete success.When they landed, there were almost no losses, and the enemy's counterattack was repulsed.Narvik was captured on 28 May.The German army, which had resisted for a long time against our army, which was four times stronger than theirs, finally retreated into the mountains, leaving four hundred prisoners.

We now have to throw away all that we have won through hard work.The retreat itself is a large-scale combat operation.It made an even heavier task for a fleet already overstretched by fighting on both sides of Norway and the English Channel.The task of evacuating Dunkirk has fallen to us, and all available light ships have been moved south. The combat fleet itself must be ready at any time to resist the enemy's invasion of the mainland.Many cruisers and destroyers have already been transferred to the southern coast to take on the task of preventing enemy invasion.The battleships that the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy can deploy in Scapa Flow include the Rodney, the Valiant, the Prestigious and the Enemy.These ships are only prepared to deal with any accident.

The retreat at Narvik progressed quickly.By June 8 all French, British, and Polish troops of about 24,000 men, together with a great deal of supplies and equipment, were loaded on board in three convoys to England without hindrance from the enemy. In fact, the enemy army on the shore at this time was nothing more than a few thousand scattered, unorganized, but victorious officers and soldiers.During these last days we had not only naval aircraft but also a squadron of Tornados from land bases, providing vital protection against the Luftwaffe.The squadron was ordered to maintain combat activity until the last moment, and, if necessary, destroy their aircraft and retreat.

But with their courage and skill, these pilots accomplished an unprecedented feat, which is also their last feat. The Whirlwind aircraft they drove landed on the HMS Glory aircraft carrier, and returned home with the Ark Royal and the brigade ships. To cover these battles, Lord Cork had, in addition to the aircraft carriers, the cruisers HMS Southampton and HMS Coventry, and sixteen destroyers and other smaller ships.The cruiser Devonshire, was going to pick up the King of Norway and his men from Tromsø, so it was acting alone.Lord Cork informed the Commander-in-Chief of the convoy he had arranged, and asked for protection from the attack of the enemy's heavy warships.Admiral Forbes, on June 6, sent Valiant to meet the first convoy of transport forces, escort it north of the Shetland Islands, and then return to protect the second convoy.The Commander-in-Chief attempted to protect the transports with his battlecruisers, although he had many other affairs to attend to.On the 5th of June he received information that two ships of unknown origin were apparently heading for Iceland; and later he received reports that enemy troops had landed on the island.So, he felt compelled to send his battlecruisers to investigate the reports, which turned out to be inaccurate.Thus, on this unfortunate day, the strength available to us in the northern seas was widely dispersed.The navigation of the Narvik convoy, and their protection, followed the infallible method employed during the preceding six weeks.On this route, transport ships and warships, including aircraft carriers, have always been escorted only by anti-submarine ships.Up to this time, no movement of German heavy warships had ever been detected.Now, after repairing the damage suffered in earlier battles, German heavy warships suddenly appeared off the coast of Norway.

The battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, together with the cruiser Hipper and four destroyers, left Kiel on 4 June with the intention of attacking shipping and bases in the Narvik area , in order to rescue their remaining landing forces.They were not informed until June 7th of our intention to retreat.The German naval commander heard that the British convoy was at sea and decided to attack them.Early on the morning of the 8th, he encountered an oil tanker escorted by a trawler, an empty transport ship Orama, and an ambulance ship Atlantis.He respected Atlantis' immunity and sank the rest of the ships.

In the afternoon, Hipper and the destroyer returned to Trondheim, but the two battlecruisers continued to search for spoils at sea.By 4:00 p.m., they were paid.They saw smoke from the aircraft carrier Gloria and the destroyers escorting it, Acasta and Zeal.The Glorious left the convoy for home alone in the morning due to lack of fuel, and was at this time about two hundred miles ahead of the main convoy.But this explanation is not convincing.The Glory should have enough fuel to allow it to travel at the speed of the convoy.All ships should act together. The confrontation between the two sides began at about 4:30 in the afternoon, and the distance between each other was more than 27,000 yards.At this distance, the Glory's four-inch guns were completely useless.It had attempted to take its torpedo bombers into the air, but before they could take off, its forward hangar had been hit and caught fire, burning the Tornados and preventing the torpedoes from being lowered to be loaded on the bombers.During the next half hour it received such a blow that it completely lost its chance of escape.

At 5:20, it listed badly on its side.The captain then ordered the ship to be evacuated.After about twenty minutes, it sank. At the same time, her two destroyers also bravely participated in the battle.They all put out smoke screens, trying to cover the Glory.They all fired torpedoes at enemy ships before being sunk.The Zealot was sunk shortly afterwards.The Acasta, commanded by Lieutenant Commander C. E. Glassford of the Royal Navy, now faces an overwhelming enemy ship alone; its story is told by one of the ship's survivors, First Class C. Carter The description is as follows: There was a deathly silence on our ship.No one spoke.The warship is now avoiding the enemy ships at full speed.Then came a flurry of orders: all the smoke floats were ready, the belt pipes were connected, and all sorts of other work was ready.We were still avoiding enemy ships at this time and putting out smoke screens.All of our smoke floats are open.The captain then passed the following orders to the various operational posts: You may think that we are hiding from enemy ships and preparing to escape, but we are not.Our friendly ship Zest has been sunk, and Glory is sinking, we can at least show them some color, good luck to you.Then we change course and enter our own smokescreen.I was put in charge of firing the sixth and seventh torpedo tubes.Soon we were out of the smoke, turned to starboard to change course, and fired our torpedoes from port.That's when I got my first glimpse of an enemy ship, and to be honest, I seemed to see a big (warship) and a small one.We are not far apart.I fired two torpedoes from my (stern) torpedo tube, and the foremost tube was firing a torpedo as well.We are all watching the results.At this time, the cheers suddenly broke out, which I will never forget.On the port bow of an enemy ship, a yellow light flashed, thick smoke rose into the air, and a huge water column rushed straight up.We know we've hit the mark.Since we are so close, I personally think that we will never miss.The enemy ship fired no bullets at us.I think the attack was completely unexpected by it.After we fired the torpedoes, we returned to our own smoke screen and changed course again to starboard.Ready to fire the remaining torpedoes; this time, the enemy ship hit us hard as we poked the bow out of the smoke.A shell hit the engine room, killing my torpedo tube crew.I was thrown to the back of the tube.I must have been knocked out for a while because when I woke up my arm was sore.The warship had come to a standstill and was listing to port.However, a wonderful episode happened, whether you believe it or not.Anyway, I climbed back to my control seat, I saw the two warships, I fired the rest of the torpedoes, no one told me to do that, I guess I was out of my mind.God only knows why I fired a torpedo, but I did.The Acasta's cannons were roaring continuously, and even the side of the ship had tilted, but they still fired.The enemy ship hit us several times afterwards, but there was a big explosion right in the middle of the stern.I often wonder if the enemy ship used torpedoes to attack us?In any case, the explosion seemed to lift the warship out of the water.Finally, the captain gave the order to abandon ship.I will never forget that Captain Medical Officer [1].This was his first warship, his first battle.Before I jumped into the sea, I saw him still treating the wounded, a desperate job.While I was at sea, I saw the captain leaning on the bridge, smoking a cigarette from his pack.We shouted to him to come into our boat.He waved goodbye and wished you luck a brave man who ended his life like this.

[1] Temporary Medical Officer Stammers, Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve. One thousand four hundred and seventy-four officers and men of the Royal Navy, and forty-one members of the Royal Air Force, died in this way.Although after a long search, only 39 people were rescued by a Norwegian ship and transported back home.Six more were rescued by enemy ships and taken to Germany.Scharnhorst was torpedoed by Acasta, badly damaged, and headed for Trondheim. While this battle was going on, the cruiser Devonshire, carrying the King of Norway and his ministers, was about a hundred miles to the southwest.The Valiant, sailing north to join the convoy, was still far away.The only telegram received from the Glory had many errors in the code, and the meaning was unclear, which showed that its main wireless communication equipment had long been damaged.Only the Devonshire received the telegram, but because the importance of the telegram was not obvious, she did not break the silence at that time and sent a telegram to relay the message, because if it was relayed, there would be a serious danger of revealing its location. .Under the circumstances at the time, this was extremely inappropriate.It wasn't until the next morning that doubts began to arise.At that time, the Valiant encountered the Atlantis and learned the news that the Orama had been sunk and that the enemy capital ship had sailed to sea.The Valiant passed on the information and sped up to join Lord Cork's convoy.Commander-in-Chief Admiral Forbes immediately set out to sea with his only warships, Rodney, Renown, and six destroyers.

The trauma inflicted on the Scharnhorst by the heroic Acasta had important consequences.The two enemy battlecruisers, abandoning further combat activity, immediately returned to Trondheim.The German High Command expressed displeasure that their naval commander did not obey the order and arbitrarily abandon the targets indicated in the order.They sent the Hipper again, but by then it was too late. On the tenth, Admiral Forbes ordered the Ark Royal to join his fleet.At that time, intelligence was received from all parties that the enemy ship was said to be in Trondheim, and he hoped to attack it from the air.On the 11th RAF bombers launched an offensive, but to no avail. The next morning, fifteen of Ark Royal's Gullbirds launched a dive-bombing attack.They came to attack and were informed by the enemy's reconnaissance planes in advance, but as a result, as many as eight were lost.Finally, we had an even greater misfortune, because, as we now know, a bomb dropped by a Gull was hitting Scharnhorst, but it missed. While these tragedies were going on, the convoy from Narvik returned safely to their destination.The British campaign in Norway thus came to an end. From the remnants and confusion of all this emerges a fact of the utmost importance, which may affect the future of the war.In a desperate battle with the British navy, the Germans had thus ruined their own navy, unable to cope with the coming climax of the war.In the previous naval battles along the coast of Norway, the Allies lost a total of one aircraft carrier, two cruisers, one coastal gunboat and nine destroyers.In addition, six cruisers, two coastal gunboats, and eight destroyers were damaged, but they can be repaired within the limits of our naval strength.On the other hand, by the significant date of late June 1940, the operational German fleet consisted of only one eight-inch cruiser, two light cruisers, and four destroyers.Although most of their wounded ships, like ours, could be repaired, the German Navy was no longer an important factor in the overriding object of the invasion of England.