Hitler’s Pre-Emptive War: The Battle for Norway, 1940 by Henrik Lunde (the reader ebook .TXT) 📕

passed the latitude of the Shetland Islands in the early morning hours of April 8 without encountering British forces. The weather had deteriorated during daylight hours on April 7. Low cloud cover and fog prevented British aircraft from locating the German ships after their unsuccessful bombing attempt at midday. The wind increased to gale force during the night.

The British were meanwhile canceling their planned operations against the Norwegian coast. Admiral Pound was away from the Admiralty on April 7 and returned late in the evening. With Churchill’s apparent knowledge and concurrence he made decisions that were to have far ranging implications for events in Norway. The third mine-laying expedition at Stadt, on the Norwegian coast, was abandoned and the minelayer and four destroyers that had been tasked with this mission were recalled. The battleship Warspite and the aircraft carrier Furious, both located in the Clyde, were ordered to join the fleet at sea. The departure of Furious was so hurried that its fighter squadron of Skuas was left behind, on orders from the Admiralty.14 The cruiser Aurora and six destroyers, also located in the Clyde, were preparing to escort the troop transport to Narvik. This mission was now canceled and the cruiser and destroyers were ordered to proceed to Scapa Flow and thereafter join the fleet. The Admiralty also ordered that the 1st Cruiser Squadron in Rosyth, consisting of four heavy cruisers and escorts, should disembark the troops destined for Norway and quickly join the fleet. The order reached the cruiser squadron early in the morning of April 8 and the troops were disembarked hurriedly. In the process, they became separated from much of their equipment.

The Admiralty had decided that every ship was needed for naval purposes. In the process, it abandoned R4 at the exact moment when the conditions for which it was planned were at hand, namely when German forces set foot on Norwegian soil or there was clear evidence this was about to happen. Chamberlain and Admiral Forbes, who already had greatly superior forces at his disposal, were not consulted but it is doubtful that their views would have altered the instructions given.

The abandonment of R4 did not help secure an encounter with the German ships and the best chance the Allies had for influencing events ashore in Norway was lost. The decision to cancel R4 is an excellent example of how the insistence on overwhelming force to defeat an enemy can led to serious consequences.15 It is likely that if the 1st Cruiser Squadron had departed with the embarked troops in the morning of April 8 as planned, it would have been able to land the troops in Bergen and Stavanger that same evening, several hours before the German arrival. The squadron would then have been in position to intercept and destroy the German task force bound for Bergen. The abandonment of R4 served no valid purpose and, along with the late departure of the Home Fleet, was the most monumental British mistake in the early part of the Norwegian Campaign.

It is true that the British might have encountered Norwegian resistance in Bergen and Stavanger if they landed in the evening of April 8, particularly coming on top of their massive violations of Norwegian sovereignty that morning. The Norwegian directive that British and French warships should not be fired on was not issued until the early morning hours on April 9 when the identity of the attackers was established. However, in view of their instructions not to land if faced with Norwegian resistance, the troops would probably have remained on the warships pending a resolution of that issue. The British would have been in a perfect position to engage TF 3 on its way to Bergen. This would have involved a naval engagement with troops aboard but this was also true for the Germans. There can be no doubt that the four heavy cruisers of the 1st Cruiser Squadron, Devonshire, Berwick, York, and Glasgow and their escorts, clearly outmatched the Germans.

The British Navy appeared to have their eyes fixed on the possibility that the Germans were attempting a breakout into the Atlantic. The appearance of the German warships in the North Sea, if correlated with earlier intelligence of troopship concentrations in north German ports and reports that a division had embarked for a landing at Narvik, should have led the Admiralty to the conclusion that they were not dealing with a breakout. Furthermore, it was not logical for the Germans to take along almost half their destroyer force, which had a limited cruising range without refueling, on a dash into the Atlantic. Finally, the Home Fleet had an enormous superiority over their opponents without using the ships designated to support R4.

Both Admiral Forbes and leaders at the Admiralty must have realized that Home Fleet would not be able to intercept the German forces that were sighted if these were heading for Narvik. The difference in the location of the German fleet from the time it was sighted until it was bombed indicated that it was traveling north in excess of 20 knots. There would have been an excellent chance of intercepting the Germans if the Home Fleet had departed as quickly as possible after the sighting but the delay of over 12 hours removed that possibility. Admiral Lütjens’ force had already passed the latitude of Scapa Flow by the time Forbes’ ships finally lifted anchor. The Home Fleet headed on a northeasterly course for 24 hours until it passed the latitude of Trondheim, without any contact with the German ships.

Glowworm’s Valorous Fight

One British warship made an accidental contact with German naval units in the early hours of April 8. The destroyer Glowworm was part of Admiral Whitworth’s force heading north to cover the mining operations in the approaches to Narvik. The ship had lost a man overboard and dropped behind to try to pick up the missing sailor. Glowworm was not able to rejoin Whitworth’s force due to heavy seas and poor visibility.

Glowworm was northeast