BRITISH LAND IN NORWAY, CAPTURE NARVIK; GERMANS EXTEND OCCUPATION IN THE SOUTH (4/16/40)

Microfiche-New York Times archives, McHenry Library, U.C. Santa Cruz | 4/16/40 | James B. Reston, Augur, C. Brooks Peters, G.H. Archambault

[Homer_J_Simpson]

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[Homer_J_Simpson]

Free Republic University, Department of History presents World War II Plus 70 Years: Seminar and Discussion Forum
First session: September 1, 2009. Last date to add: September 2, 2015.
Reading assignment: New York Times articles delivered daily to students on the 70th anniversary of original publication date. (Previously posted articles can be found by searching on keyword “realtime” Or view Homer’s posting history .)
To add this class to or drop it from your schedule notify Admissions and Records (Attn: Homer_J_Simpson) by freepmail. Those on the Realtime +/- 70 Years ping list are automatically enrolled. Course description, prerequisites and tuition information is available at the bottom of Homer’s profile.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Selections from West Point Atlas for the Second World War
Norway, 1940 – Operations in Southern and Central Norway, April-May 1940
Evolution of Plan Yellow, October 1939-January 1940
The Far East and the Pacific, 1941 – The Imperial Powers, 1 September 1939

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Winston S. Churchill, The Gathering Storm

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Troops Go Ashore – 2-3
London Hears Nazi Plot To Kidnap Dutch Queen – 3
Nazis Speed Drive – 4-5
Rockefeller Estate Gift Authorized in Jersey – 5
Nazis See Way Open to Attack Britain – 6-7
The International Situation – 7
Norway’s Losses Laid to Treachery – 8
Norway Reveals German Demands – 9-10
Belgium Scanning Status of Aliens – 10-11
Nazi Lines Pierced by French Scouts – 11
Cromwell Scores ‘Autarchic’ Rule - 11

[Berlin_Freeper]

Mad about Max Manus
Norwegian film Max Manus generated talk around its Toronto International Film Festival release in 2009. Directed by Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg, it tells the story of Manus (played by Aksel Hennie), a budding resistance fighter during the oft-overlooked German occupation of Norway during WWII. The film moves slowly through Max’s personal history, flashing back to his experiences on the field during the Winter War and showing his development as a saboteur and undercover agent during the occupation period.

Hennie’s performance is the centrepiece of the film, as his portrayal of Max as a young, idealistic man evolves along with the story. As his friends are slowly picked off by the Gestapo, Max must face the consequences of his sabotage missions until he becomes a haunted, nerve-wracked alcoholic. The transition is fluid, played contrapuntally to the Gestapo officer (Siegfried Wolfgang Fehmer, played by Ken Duken) who is looking to capture Max once and for all.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1940/apr40/f16apr40.htm

British force lands at Namsos

Tuesday, April 16, 1940 www.onwar.com

In Norway... The British 146th Brigade lands at Namsos during the night and is immediately moved inland to Steinkjer. British troops also occupy the Faeroe Islands.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/16.htm

April 16th, 1940

UNITED KINGDOM:

RAF Bomber Command: 4 Group (Whitley). Bombing - Stavanger, Fornebu, Kjeller and Trondheim Airfields.

10 Sqn. Six aircraft to Stavanger. Only one bombed due to weather. Hits claimed causing fires. One aircraft to Fornebu and one aircraft to Kjeller. Both unable to locate targets due to weather.

77 Sqn. Four aircraft from Kinloss to Trondheim. All attacked. One crash landed on return after four crew abandoned aircraft.

2 Group: 107 Sqn ( Blenheim). 6 aircraft to Stavanger to bomb. Only one reaches target due to bad weather.

Westminster: The government issues a mobilization order for all men who turn 27 years old during April and May. (Jack McKillop)

NORWAY: The submarine HMS Porpoise makes a torpedo attack on U-3 southwest of Stavanger in position 58.18N, 05.47E, U-3 is unharmed.

The British force which landed north of Narvik at Harstad is now in place to begin an attack on Dietl’s 4,600 strong occupation force which it has surrounded and cut off from the sea. But their commander, Major General Pierse J. Macksey, wants the weather just right before he attacks, and a series of blizzards has begun, filling the valleys with 8 foot deep snowdrifts. To pass the time, the Guards officers give ski lessons to their men. When there are not enough skis to go around, some of the men switch to tobogganing. To the guards who have never been on toboggans and might need them now for transport in a strange terrain, tobogganing was serious business, to the local Norwegians, it seems that they’re just playing in the snow.

(Mark Horan adds): At RNAS Hatston, Acting Captain C. L. Howe, RN decides that the Squadrons would fly small armed reconnaissance missions to Bergen. 803 Squadrons was selected, and dispatched two Skuas armed with a single 250 pound SAP bomb and 8 x 20 pound Cooper bombs with orders to proceed to Bergen and then separate and approach the fjords from the North and South.

The aircraft took off at 0500, separated at 0650, and crossed the coastline at 0705 at 4,000 feet. Each aircraft made a high-speed run, descending to below 1,000 feet as they recconnoitered the surrounding fjords. On the way in, one aircraft sighted, attacked, and badly damaged a small auxiliary vessel flying the German flag, the patrol vessel Tarantel N. B. 18. On the way out, the other sighted and attacked a U-58 that was proceeding up the fjord on the surface. It was believed that the submarine was damaged by the bombing as it did not attempt to dive thereafter. Both aircraft returned safely at 0925.

Off NORWAY: HMS Furious, now seriously short of fuel, was ordered to Tromsø to refuel, anchoring there at 0630. She was thereafter to report to Flag Officer Narvik. (Mark Horan)

GIBRALTAR/ATLANTIC OCEAN: As HMS Ark Royal departs Gibraltar at 1700 in company with the destroyers HMS Vortigern (local escort), HMS Westcott, and HMS Bulldog bound for the Clyde. HMS Glorious, in company with the destroyers HMS Velox and HMS Watchman continue towards the Clyde.

ICELAND: The government appeals to the US for aid and recognition. Iceland also declares its independence today. (Jack McKillop)

[CougarGA7]

It would appear that the reports on the capture of Narvik are a bit premature.

The commander of the land forces to attack Narvik was a mere major-general by the name of P.J. Mackesy, who only met the peppery and three times more exalted Lord Cork for the first time in the Lofoten Islands off Narvik on April 15, when troop convoy NP1 arrived. They immediately fell out. Cork wanted to attack at once; Mackesy pointed out that the transports had been incorrectly loaded, so that immediately needed equipment was underneath less urgently needed supplies in the holds. Cord was appointed supreme commander on the 20th, but it still took until 28 May 1940 to capture Narvik with the assistance of General Sir Claude Auchinleck - four days after the British and French decided to abandon Norway altogether. Once again, in the opening days of June, very nearly all the 30,000 men of the abysmal Narvik enterprise were brought back safely - British, French, and Poles. Norway was written off because rather more serious disasters threatened further south. - The Atlantic Campaign, Dan Van der Vat, p. 159.

I wonder what Lord Haw Haw has to say about it?

RSH - Lord Haw Haw - Scandinavian Update

[Homer_J_Simpson]

http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/

Day 229 April 16, 1940

General Mackesy lands 24th Brigade at Harstat, 37 miles North of Narvik. These regular Army troops are equipped for peaceful landings, not for offensive actions against German troops, & they will remain here while reserve troops see action around Trondheim. Lack of preparation characterizes all Allied landings in Norway.

British 148th Territorial (reserve) Brigade under the command of Brigadier Harold Morgan has been waiting for 2 days at Rosyth, on cruisers HMS Galatea & Arethusa and a transport ship destined for Namsos. They are ordered to Åndalsnes instead, to form a southern pincer for the advance on Trondheim. They disembark & board cruisers HMS Carlisle & Curacoa, losing anti-aircraft guns, ammunition & half a battalion (due to lack of space on the cruisers). They do manage to keep their now-useless maps of Namsos.

British 15th Brigade is en route to Norway, having been withdrawn from British Expeditionary Force (they left France on April 15).

Torpedo duel between U-3 and British submarine HMS Porpoise 10 miles southwest of Egersund, Norway. Neither sub is damaged.