Hitler’s Pre-Emptive War: The Battle for Norway, 1940 (22 page)

The Admiralty now made another unfortunate intervention in tactical operations and the outcome was again harmful to the British and beneficial for the Germans. Worried that the cruiser squadrons off the Norwegian coast, which were about 135 nautical miles from the Home Fleet, could be caught between the German naval forces in the north and the ones reported in the Skagerrak, the Admiralty annulled Admiral Forbes’ plan for a cruiser sweep along the Norwegian coast. Instead it ordered the 1st and 2nd Cruiser Squadrons to join forces about 100 miles off the Norwegian coast and steer towards the Home Fleet. The 18th Cruiser Squadron had received a similar order earlier.

The British also failed to have reconnaissance aircraft aloft along the Norwegian coast after the fog lifted late in the afternoon on April 8. Reconnaissance aircraft might have spotted the German ships before the 2nd Cruiser Squadron started towards the Home Fleet and the attack on Bergen could have had a different outcome. As with Narvik and Trondheim, the British left the door to Bergen wide open at the last moment.

The Home Fleet continued on its southerly course during the night and when the Germans attacked Bergen, it was located only 90 miles off the Norwegian coast between Bergen and Stavanger. This enormous concentration of naval power was completed when the cruiser squadrons joined the Home Fleet early in the morning of April 9. Admiral Forbes had already learned from the Admiralty that German warships were engaged by fortresses covering the approach to Oslo and that German forces were attacking Trondheim, Bergen, Stavanger, and Kristiansand. This information must have convinced him that he was chasing a phantom enemy in the open waters of the North Sea while a full-scale German invasion of Norway was in progress. The question was what to do about it. Here again, we see the dramatic differences between the decentralized and swift German operations as opposed to the centralized and hesitant British response.

Forbes knew that German warships were in Bergen but he kept worrying about their strength. Although the picture of what was happening was still very murky, it was probably possible for Forbes and his staff to draw accurate conclusions about the strength of German force in Bergen, if they had pieced together accurately the reports about German naval movements that had been received since April 6. They estimated that the German force to their north (near Narvik) consisted of one battleship, two cruisers, and ten destroyers. It was actually two battleships and ten destroyers. The German force observed steering away from the Trondheim area was estimated to consist of one battleship, two cruisers, and two destroyers. It was actually one heavy cruiser and four destroyers. Information was now flowing in that one German light cruiser was in action at Kristiansand and that two heavy cruisers and one light cruiser were attacking Oslo.

The British knew that the German surface navy included two battleships, one armored cruiser (
Admiral Sheer
, not yet re-classified as a heavy cruiser), three heavy cruisers, six light cruisers, and 22 destroyers. They may have been aware that
Admiral Sheer
, two light cruisers, and six destroyers were undergoing repairs. However, even without possession of this fact, a review of recent intelligence reports could have let them deduce that both battleships, eight of the 10 cruisers, and 12 of the 22 destroyers were accounted for. From this, it would be logical to assume that the German naval forces in Bergen consisted at the most of two cruisers and a few destroyers. A further consideration was that it would take some time before the Germans would have the forts around Bergen operational, if they were captured, and that the Luftwaffe was not a serious threat until established at Norwegian airfields. The situation called for a quick and decisive strike against the Germans in Bergen before they were able to consolidate and the situation changed to their advantage.

Instead, Admiral Forbes entered into a discussion with the Admiralty about the situation, starting at 0620 hours. He mentioned that he contemplated making a strike against Bergen with cruisers and destroyers and asked for information about German strength in that city. About four hours passed before the Admiralty signaled approval for the attack by instructing Forbes to:

Forbes finally sent Vice Admiral Layton’s 18th Cruiser Squadron with four cruisers and seven destroyers at 1130 hours on April 9 to attack the German naval units in Bergen.

The Home Fleet was only 90 nautical miles from Bergen at 0620 hours when Admiral Forbes mentioned to the Admiralty that he contemplated an attack on Bergen. However, the Home Fleet continued on its present southward course, leading it away from Bergen. This meant that when Admiral Layton’s cruisers and destroyers were dispatched to Bergen they had to sail northward in the face of a strong northerly gale. The destroyers were only able to make 16 knots in the heavy seas. At that rate, the ships would not reach the entrance to the Bergen approaches before nightfall.

The plan called for the destroyers to attack Bergen harbor from the north and south supported at a distance by the cruisers. An aerial reconnaissance of Bergen at 1400 hours revealed that there were two German cruisers in the harbor and the British became suspicious that the Germans might already have captured the coastal fortresses. Layton began to doubt the wisdom of the plan but neither he nor Forbes had called it off when a message from the British Admiralty canceled the attack.

If Admiral Layton’s force had entered the harbor after dark as planned, it would have found only one badly damaged cruiser, one damaged naval artillery support ship, and four serviceable motor torpedo boats. There was practically no danger to the British ships from the captured Norwegian shore batteries since they did not reach partial operational readiness until April 10 and full readiness on April 13. There were some dangers from mines laid by the Norwegians but there were still Norwegian naval units in each of the approaches that, no doubt, would have been happy to lead the British safely past the minefields. Again, lack of information, and an unwillingness to take risks meant that the Home Fleet missed an opportunity to inflict significant damage on the German Navy.

If the British had continued on towards Bergen, there is also some possibility that they might have encountered the cruiser
Köln
and the two torpedo boats at the start of their return voyage to Germany. However, it is equally possible that German aerial reconnaissance would have spotted the approaching British squadron, in which case
Köln
and her escorts may have elected to remain in Bergen. These ships left Bergen after darkness and sought refuge in a fjord when they were informed that strong British naval forces were near the route they planned to take back to Germany.

The Home Fleet’s final chance to deal a blow to the German Navy in western Norway was lost the following morning when Forbes ordered naval forces away from the Norwegian coast and left the door open for the three ships to escape.

Air Power Shakes British Confidence

The Luftwaffe was not established ashore in the early hours of April 9, so this would have been the best time for the British to strike. An attack on the city late on April 9, or thereafter, may have proved costly in view of growing German air power projected from Sola Airfield and the fact that the Germans laid their own minefields in the Bergen approaches on April 10.

German aircraft began attacking British naval forces early in the evening of April 9. The Luftwaffe first attacked Admiral Layton’s force on its way back to the Home Fleet after the cancellation of its planned operation against Bergen. Two cruisers received minor damage from near misses and one of the new
Tribal
class destroyers, the
Gurkha
, was sunk. The Germans also carried out several attacks against the Home Fleet. A 1000-lb bomb struck the battleship
Rodney
, Admiral Forbes’ flagship, but the damage and loss of life was not serious. Three cruisers sustained minor damage from near misses and only one German aircraft was shot down. The damage to Forbes’ confidence, however, was considerable.

The Home Fleet steered north for several hours to get out of the range of German bombers, then Admiral Forbes turned westward during the night. He did not head back towards the Norwegian coast until after
Warspite
and
Furious
joined him. He also recommended to the Admiralty that British surface vessels only attack German naval units in northern waters and that naval operations near the south and west coast of Norway be limited to submarines. He also recommended that
Furious
, who had left her fighter squadrons behind in Scotland, should not be used without fighter escorts in areas where she would be exposed to German aircraft. The Admiralty accepted these sensible recommendations. Without adequate air cover, naval operations near the Norwegian shore would have exposed the ships to furious attacks by a Luftwaffe that was growing rapidly in strength at Norwegian airfields.

N
ARVIK
A
REA
D
EFENSES

“The defense of Narvik stands or falls on the defense of the Ofotfjord entrance.”

S
TATEMENT BY
C
OLONEL
G
EORG
S
TANG, A FORMER
N
ORWEGIAN
M
INISTER OF
D
EFENSE
.

The Norwegian military forces stationed in North Norway in 1940, particularly the land forces, were better prepared for hostilities than those in other areas of the country. In the first place, the war between Finland and the Soviet Union resulted in the movement of relatively large forces to Finnmark. It was necessary to insure that neutrality was not violated and that the war did not spill over into Norway. Another reason for a higher level of preparedness was the obvious Allied interest in the iron ore shipments through Narvik.

Naval Forces

A sizable proportion of the naval force stationed in North Norway during the Winter War was redeployed to other parts of the country after the conclusion of peace between Finland and the Soviet Union. This included three modern destroyers, two submarines, and one torpedo boat. Some of the warships that were earlier stationed in Tromsø were organized into a separate division, called the Ofot Division, and moved to Narvik. This concentration of forces was aimed at hindering or discouraging British warships from entering Ofotfjord to destroy the many German merchant ships involved in the iron ore shipments during the winter of 1939-40. The prevailing view in the Norwegian Government was that the British posed the greatest danger to Narvik and consequently very little thought was given to any possibility of confronting German naval forces.

The 3rd Naval District, with its headquarters in Tromsø, was responsible for the naval defense of the long coastline from the provincial boundary between Nord-Trøndelag and Nordland to the Finnish border. This was a relatively new organization, created in January 1937, and at the outset, it had no assigned naval units. Commodore L. Hagerup commanded the 3rd Naval District, but he departed for a leave in southern Norway on April 5. Captain Per Askim, the Ofot Division commander, acted as district commander in Hagerup’s absence. In addition to these duties, Askim was the skipper of the coastal defense ship
Norge
.

The ships available to the 3rd Naval District were organized into two divisions as of March 31: the Ofot Division and the Finnmark Division. In addition, eight patrol vessels reported directly to the naval district. Most of the ships in the Finnmark Division were reassigned after the Winter War and it had only five patrol vessels on April 8. The Ofot Division consisted of the two coastal defense ships
Norge
and
Eidsvold
. The division was also assigned the 3rd Submarine Division, which comprised the submarines
B3
and
B1
as well as the submarine tender
Lyngen
. Finally, there were three patrol boats,
Michael Sars
,
Senja
, and
Kelt
. All Ofot Division’s ships were in Narvik on April 8.

The aircraft assigned to the naval district consisted of three Heinkel-115 torpedo aircraft and two MF-11 reconnaissance aircraft. The three torpedo aircraft were stationed at the Tromsø Naval Air Station. There were no torpedoes available and the aircraft were therefore rigged to carry 500-lb and 150-lb bombs. The two reconnaissance aircraft were stationed in Vadsø, near the Soviet border.

The naval forces assigned to the 3rd Naval District were inadequate in both numbers and quality to meet an attack by a modern navy. The two coastal defense ships were 40 years old. They had a displacement of 3,645 tons, a crew of 229, and could muster a maximum speed of only 17 knots. Each was armed with two 8.3-inch guns, six 6-inch guns, and six 76mm guns. This was a large number of heavy weapons for ships of their size but the ranges of the heavier caliber guns were short. The antiaircraft defenses were inadequate. They consisted of two 76mm and two 20mm guns as well as two 12.7mm and four 7.92mm machineguns. The fire direction system was outmoded and the same was true for the watertight compartment and bottom hull construction. The ships were severely limited in their capacity to fight modern warships and aircraft. They were best suited as floating batteries.

The two submarines were built between 1922 and 1925 from old plans that did not incorporate the lessons learned from World War 1. They were especially hampered by the long time it took to dive. Each had a 76mm gun and four torpedo tubes. The larger patrol vessels were not warships in the traditional meaning of that term. The use of these vessels was limited to escort, patrol, and guard duties. Their armaments ranged from 4-inch down to 37mm guns. Of the three patrol boats in the Ofot Division,
Michael Sars
carried two 47mm guns,
Senja
had only one, and
Kelt
had one 76mm gun.