The Gathering Storm: The Second World War (88 page)

* * * * *

On the ninth, MM. Reynaud and Daladier, with Admiral Darlan, flew over to London, and in the afternoon a Supreme War Council meeting was held to deal with what they called “the German action in consequence of the laying of mines within Norwegian territorial waters.” Mr. Chamberlain at once pointed out that the enemy’s measures had certainly been planned in advance and quite independently of ours. Even at that date this was obvious. M. Reynaud informed us that the French War Committee, presided over by the President, had that morning decided in principle on moving forward into Belgium should the Germans attack. The addition, he said, of eighteen to twenty Belgian divisions, besides the shortening of the front, would to all intents and purposes wipe out the German preponderance in the West. The French would be prepared to connect such an operation with the laying of the fluvial mines in the Rhine. He added that his reports from Belgium and Holland indicated the imminence of a German attack on the Low Countries; some said days, some said hours.

On the question of the military expedition to Norway, the Secretary of State for War reminded the Council that the two British divisions originally assembled for assistance to Finland had since been sent to France. There were only eleven battalions available in the United Kingdom. Two of these were sailing that night. The rest, for various reasons, would not be ready to sail for three or four days or more.

The Council agreed that strong forces should be sent where possible to ports on the Norwegian seaboard, and joint plans were made. A French Alpine division was ordered to embark within two or three days. We were able to provide two British battalions that night, a further five battalions within three days, and four more within fourteen days – eleven in all. Any additional British forces for Scandinavia would have to be withdrawn from France. Suitable measures were to be taken to occupy the Faroe Islands, and assurances of protection would be given to Iceland. Naval arrangements were concerted in the Mediterranean in the event of Italian intervention. It was also decided that urgent representations should be made to the Belgian Government to invite the Allied armies to move forward into Belgium. Finally, it was confirmed that if Germany made an attack in the West or entered Belgium, “Royal Marine” should be carried out.

* * * * *

I was far from content with what had happened so far in Norway. I wrote to Admiral Pound:

10.IV.40.

The Germans have succeeded in occupying all the ports on the Norwegian coast, including Narvik, and large-scale operations will be required to turn them out of any of them. Norwegian neutrality and our respect for it have made it impossible to prevent this ruthless
coup.
It is now necessary to take a new view. We must put up with the disadvantage of closer air attack on our northern bases. We must seal up Bergen with a watched minefield, and concentrate on Narvik, for which long and severe fighting will be required.

It is immediately necessary to obtain one or two fuelling-bases on the Norwegian coast, and a wide choice presents itself. This is being studied by the Staff. The advantage of our having a base, even improvised, on the Norwegian coast is very great, and now that the enemy have bases there, we cannot carry on without it. The Naval Staff are selecting various alternatives which are suitable anchorages capable of defence, and without communications with the interior. Unless we have this quite soon we cannot compete with the Germans in their new position.

We must also take our advantages in the Faroes.

Narvik must be fought for. Although we have been completely outwitted, there is no reason to suppose that prolonged and serious fighting in this area will not impose a greater drain on the enemy than on ourselves.

For three days we were deluged with reports and rumours from neutral countries and triumphant claims by Germany of the losses they had inflicted on the British Navy, and of their master-stroke in seizing Norway in the teeth of our superior naval power. It was obvious that Britain had been forestalled, surprised, and as I had written to the First Sea Lord, outwitted. Anger swept the country, and the brunt fell upon the Admiralty. On Thursday the eleventh, I had to face a disturbed and indignant House of Commons. I followed the method I have always found most effective on such occasions, of giving a calm, unhurried factual narrative of events in their sequence, laying full emphasis upon ugly truths. I explained for the first time in public the disadvantage we had suffered since the beginning of the war by Germany’s abuse of the Norwegian corridor, or “covered way,” and how we had at last overcome the scruple which “caused us injury at the same time that it did us honour.”

It is not the slightest use blaming the Allies for not being able to give substantial help and protection to neutral countries if we are held at arm’s length until these neutrals are actually attacked on a scientifically prepared plan by Germany. The strict observance of neutrality by Norway has been a contributory cause to the sufferings to which she is now exposed and to the limits of the aid which we can give her. I trust this fact will be meditated upon by other countries who may tomorrow, or a week hence,
or a month hence,
find themselves the victims of an equally elaborately worked-out staff plan for their destruction and enslavement.

I described the recent reoccupation by our Fleet of Scapa Flow, and the instant movement we had made to intercept the German forces in the North, and how the enemy were in fact caught between two superior forces.

However, they got away…. You may look at the map and see flags stuck in at different points and consider that the results will be certain, but when you get out on the sea with its vast distances, its storms and mists, and with night coming on, and all the uncertainties which exist, you cannot possibly expect that the kind of conditions which would be appropriate to the movements of armies have any application to the haphazard conditions of war at sea…. When we speak of the command of the seas, it does not mean command of every part of the sea at the same moment, or at every moment. It only means that we can make our will prevail ultimately in any part of the seas which may be selected for operations, and thus indirectly make our will prevail in every part of the sea. Anything more foolish than to suppose that the life and strength of the Royal Navy should have been expended in ceaselessly patrolling up and down the Norwegian and Danish coasts, as a target for the U-boats, on the chance that Hitler would launch a blow like this, cannot be imagined.

The House listened with growing acceptance to the account, of which the news had just reached me, of Tuesday’s brush between the
Renown
and the enemy, of the air attack on the British Fleet off Bergen, and especially Warburton-Lee’s incursion and action at Narvik. At the end I said:

Everyone must recognise the extraordinary and reckless gambling which has flung the whole German Fleet out upon the savage seas of war, as if it were a mere counter to be cast away for a particular operation…. This very recklessness makes me feel that these costly operations may be only the prelude to far larger events which impend on land. We have probably arrived now at the first main clinch of the war.

After an hour and a half the House seemed to be very much less estranged. A little later there would have been more to tell.

* * * * *

By the morning of April 10, the
Warspite
had joined the Commander-in-Chief, who was proceeding towards Narvik. On learning about Captain Warburton-Lee’s attack at dawn, we resolved to try again. The cruiser
Penelope
with destroyer support was ordered to attack “if in the light of experience this morning you consider it a justifiable operation.” But while the signals were passing,
Penelope,
in searching for enemy transports reported off Bodo, ran ashore. The next day (twelfth) a dive-bombing attack on enemy ships in Narvik Harbour was made from the
Furious.
The attack was pressed home in terrible weather and low visibility, and four hits on destroyers were claimed for the loss of two aircraft. This was not enough. We wanted Narvik very much and were determined at least to clear it of the German Navy. The climax was now at hand.

The precious
Renown
was kept out of it. Admiral Whitworth shifted his flag to the
Warspite
at sea, and at noon on the thirteenth he entered the fiord escorted by nine destroyers and by dive-bombers from the
Furious.
There were no minefields; but a U-boat was driven off by the destroyers and a second sunk by the
Warspite’s
own
Swordfish
aircraft, which also detected a German destroyer lurking in an inlet to launch her torpedoes on the battleship from this ambush. The hostile destroyer was quickly overwhelmed. At 1.30
P.M
., when our ships were through the Narrows and a dozen miles from Narvik, five enemy destroyers appeared ahead in the haze. At once a fierce fight began with all ships on both sides firing and manoeuvring rapidly. The
Warspite
found no shore batteries to attack, and intervened in deadly fashion in the destroyer fight. The thunder of her fifteen-inch guns reverberated among the surrounding mountains like the voice of doom. The enemy, heavily overmatched, retreated, and the action broke up into separate combats. Some of our ships went into Narvik Harbour to complete the task of destruction there; others, led by the
Eskimo,
pursued three Germans who sought refuge in the head waters of Rombaks Fiord and annihilated them there. The bows of the
Eskimo
were blown off by a torpedo; but in this second sea-fight off Narvik, the eight enemy destroyers which had survived Warburton-Lee’s attack were all sunk or wrecked without the loss of a single British ship.

When the action was over, Admiral Whitworth thought of throwing a landing party of seamen and marines ashore to occupy the town, where there seemed for the moment to be no opposition. Unless the fire of the
Warspite
could dominate the scene, an inevitable counter-attack by a greatly superior number of German soldiers must be expected. With the risk from the air and by U-boats, he did not feel justified in exposing this fine ship so long. His decision was endorsed when a dozen German aircraft appeared at 6
P.M
. Accordingly, he withdrew early next morning after embarking the wounded from the destroyers. “My impression,” he said, “is that the enemy forces in Narvik were thoroughly frightened as a result of today’s action, I recommend that the town be occupied without delay by the main landing-force.” Two destroyers were left off the port to watch events, and one of these rescued the survivors of the
Hardy,
who had meanwhile maintained themselves on shore.

* * * * *

His Majesty, whose naval instincts were powerfully stirred by this clash of the British and German Navies in Northern waters, wrote me the following encouraging letter:

B
UCKINGHAM
P
ALACE
April
12, 1940

My dear Mr. Churchill,

I have been wanting to have a talk with you about the recent striking events in the North Sea, which, as a sailor, I have naturally followed with the keenest interest, but I have purposely refrained from taking up any of your time, as I know what a great strain has been placed upon you by your increased responsibilities as Chairman of the Co-ordination Committee. I shall, however, ask you to come and see me as soon as there is a lull. In the meantime I would like to congratulate you on the splendid way in which, under your direction, the Navy is countering the German move against Scandinavia. I also beg of you to take care of yourself and get as much rest as you possibly can in these critical days.

Believe me,

Yours very sincerely,

G
EORGE
R.I.

Hitler’s Outrage on Norway — Long-Prepared Treachery
—
Norwegian Resistance — Appeal to the Allies — The Position of Sweden — The Narvik Expedition — Instructions to General Mackesy — And to Lord Cork — Question of a Direct Assault — General Mackesy Adverse — My Desire to Concentrate on Narvik and to Attempt to Storm It — War Cabinet Conclusions of April
13 —
The Trondheim Project Mooted — Disappointing News from Narvik — My Note to the Military Co-ordination Committee of April
17 —
Our Telegram to the Naval and Military Commanders — Deadlock at Narvik.

F
OR MANY GENERATIONS
, Norway, with its homely, rugged population engaged in trade, shipping, fishing, and agriculture, had stood outside the turmoil of world politics. Far off were the days when the Vikings had sallied forth to conquer or ravage a large part of the then-known world. The Hundred Years’ War, the Thirty Years’ War, the wars of William III and Marlborough, the Napoleonic convulsion, and later conflicts, had left Norway unmoved and unscathed. A large proportion of the people had hitherto thought of neutrality and neutrality alone. A tiny army and a population with no desires except to live peaceably in their own mountainous and semi-Arctic country now fell victims to the new German aggression.