Just Finished Reading: Narvik by Donald Macintyre (FP: 1959)

Spring, 1940. With the Second World War still in its earliest stages and the rush to get ready for the anticipated German onslaught in the West in full swing, a plan is devised to prevent the enemy taking control of Norway. This, it was believed, would deny her vast natural resources to the Germans and provide a launch pad into the Baltic and later Germany itself. With both time and resources in short supply it was decided to land troops along the Norwegian coast and garrison them there to prevent any similar action by the Axis. The fact that Norway was, at that point, a Neutral country bothered the British government hardly at all. As soon as Norway saw which way the wind was blowing, it was assumed, they would welcome the British as allies rather than invaders. But the British Navy’s breech of Norway’s territorial waters and her neutrality was hardly underway when the expected hammer fell with a detailed and co-ordinated invasion of Norway’s major ports and installations. Because of poor intelligence, confused chain of command and political vacillation an opportunity had been missed. Now the question was: What to do about it?

Essentially there was only two clear options: Withdrawal or Attack. Both had potentially dire consequences. The Norwegian armed forces, despite their willingness to fight the invader, had long neglected its military and was clearly unable to hold out for long. The idea that Britain could occupy and defend another country when it could barely defend itself was dangerously naïve but the Norwegians could not be simply abandoned to their fate. So, attack it was. A force of destroyers were sent to the vital port of Narvik – their mission to prevent any further troop landings and to secure the port for the Allies. Heading into the narrow confines of the Norwegian fjords with little opportunity to manoeuvre and without full knowledge of enemy numbers or disposition the operation was fraught with danger especially as detailed maps of the area were simply not available and running aground was a real possibility. But at least enemy numbers were expected to be low and resistance light. Those expectations however, as these things usually are, were wrong. Dead wrong.

For one thing the enemy knew they were coming. Radio intercepts had alerted German naval units that a substantial British presence was in the area. Knowing they were likely outnumbered the four German destroyers, one already severally damaged by Norwegian forces, lay in ambush waiting for the British attack. They did not have to wait long and the Royal navy attacked at dawn out of the mist and into one of the most famous engagements in its history. Outnumbered and outgunned the Germans attacked with vigour and daring. But to no avail. In short order the four destroyers of the German fleet were either sunk or sinking with heavy loss of life whilst the six British ships sustained comparatively light damage. Within hours the port of Narvik was clear of enemy ships and the troops already landed isolated and low on supplies. If a counter landing was arranged immediately there was a real possibility that Narvik could be taken with few losses. If. But returning to the fleet in triumph the victorious destroyers ran into the German relief force. Heavily outgunned themselves this time and fighting for their lives between narrow mountains of towering rock and snow a sustained fire-fight broke out. Two ships, HMS Hunter and HMS Hardy took heavy damage and reeled away sinking. The other four ships, unable to stop to offer assistance, fought tenaciously to break free finally reaching the comparative safety of open water, the waiting fleet, and the long struggle home for repairs. The first battle of Narvik was over and the Germans were back in control. But the German commander was aware how precarious his position was. Hundreds of miles from home base and with the world’s mightiest navy seemingly at his heels he had few choices and none of them good.

With two ships lost and more severally damaged decisions had to be made: Withdrawal or Reinforce. With the situation in the West deteriorating and the possibility of invasion a real one any more losses could have grave consequences but the opportunity to stop the German advance still presented itself. Their hold on Norway seemed light and their supply problems significant. It was decided to reinforce and land troops at various locations along the winding Norwegian coast. In conjunction with surviving Norwegian units, getting stronger by the day as their national call-up swung into effect, British troopships began arriving and unloading men and equipment – men untrained for winter fighting and equipment designed in the 1920’s unfit for the new style of modern warfare. But the ships and men needed defending as they disembarked most especially from air attack, something that neither the British army nor the navy had any great experience with. This was definitely about to change – in spades. As expected by the theorists between the wars, high-level bombing of manoeuvring ships had little effect and was, generally, easily avoided. Dive bombing whilst stationary in a narrow fjord with minimal warning – that was a wholly different experience. Those ships capably of elevating their guns high enough were rushed into service and came under concerted attack again and again through the hours of daylight. With captured airfields only minutes away and no allied air presence they began using the British ships as target practice and live-fire training exercises. Despite the best efforts of the gunners the inadequately armed ships survived more by luck and poor training on the German side than through force of arms. Ships dedicated to the anti-air role ran out of ammunition in a matter of days and had to return home to be rearmed and refitted. It was a sobering experience for everyone. 

Despite initial high hopes the tide was turning. After initial setbacks the Germans began to push forward and squeeze the British/Norwegian and French Alpine troops away from their objectives and back towards the ports they had landed at. With things going badly in France it was decided to finally withdrawer under the cover of the Navy and a handful of aged Gloucester Gladiator biplane fighters and hurricanes launched from a precious aircraft carrier off shore. The battle for Norway was over but the fighting was far from done. Blind luck prevented the returning troop convoy from running into German naval units but the aircraft carrier HMS Glorious and her pair of escorting destroyers were not so lucky. Chanced upon by German heavy naval units Scharnhorst and Gneisenau they calmly began targeting the carrier at their leisure. With the carrier sinking, its sister ship sunk and calls for help jammed the captain of destroyer HMS Acasta had only one option. Calling for full speed and making heavy smoke he reassured his crew that they were not running from the enemy no matter how the odds looked. Emerging from its own smoke Acasta launched her torpedoes at point black range against the enemy. Back in smoke she turned again for a second attack and, as her torpedoes emerged from their tubes, she was repeatedly hit by devastating fire from the German capital ship and exploded with the loss of all but one man. But the desperate and heroic attack had not been in vain. One of the torpedoes had struck the Scharnhorst a crippling blow putting her out of action for many months to come making her unavailable for any possible invasion of Britain. Together with other losses sustained in the Norwegian campaign the German navy was sorely under resourced to undertake such a thing and this must have weighed heavily on any decision to advance Operation Sealion.

Told with great verve and passion this was a fascinating look at an early Royal navy operation in WW2 and one of which is, these days, hardly remembered next to the events in France and, of course, Dunkirk. But despite its fumbling start and ultimate failure this ‘side show’ taught the navy in particular important lessons that would stand it in good stead in the dark years to come and it most likely guaranteed that the planned invasion of Britain had simply become too difficult to contemplate in 1940. For which, I think, the whole world can be thankful. Definitely recommended.