The Norway Campaign in World War Two

Page 3 of 7

• 1. Hitler's gamble
• 2. German troops land
• 3. Attack and counter-attack
• 4. Narvik
• 5. Evacuation
• 6. Britain's strategic failure
• 7. Find out more
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Attack and counter-attack

Blucher's sister ship, Hipper, was also damaged when she was rammed by the British destroyer Glowworm, but she was still able to help take the city of Trondheim. The light cruiser Karlsruhe led the assault on Kristiansand, but was sunk later that same day by the British submarine Truant. Her sister ship, Konigsberg, was damaged by Norwegian shore batteries at Bergen, and was finished off by British Skua naval dive bombers flying from the Orkneys the next day. She was the first major warship ever to be sunk by aircraft.

'... German destroyers were able to get their troops ashore, sinking two Norwegian coast defence vessels in the process.'

In the far north, at Narvik, the ten most modern German destroyers were able to get their troops ashore, sinking two Norwegian coast defence vessels in the process. The senior British officer in the area was WJ Whitworth, Vice Admiral of the Battlecruiser Squadron in HMS Renown. He had fought a fleeting engagement with the German fast battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau early on the 9th but the Germans, after being hit several times, had used superior speed to get away.

Unfortunately the Admiralty did not give Whitworth the opportunity to mount a powerful counter attack on the Germans at Narvik, and only a single destroyer flotilla was ordered in by London on 10 April. This consisted of Captain BAW Warburton-Lee's five 'H' class vessels.

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Published: 2004-06-07