News of the Week in Review
The Blockade of Germany and Six Leaks the Allies Seek to Halt (map) – 9
Bolder Blockade – 10-11
Twenty News Questions – 11
Allies Forge Blockade as Chief War Weapon – 12-13
Germany’s Oil Supply a Vital Factor in War – 14-16
Answers to Twenty News Questions – 17
The New York Times Book Review
“The French Yellow Book,” Diplomatic Documents – 18-19
The New York Times Magazine
The Watch on the Fjords – 20-23
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1940/apr40/f07apr40.htm
German fleet sails for Norway
Sunday, April 7, 1940 www.onwar.com
In the North Sea... The German warships begin to leave their home ports for the invasion of Norway. The British have detected the concentration of shipping in Kiel but because they have no previous information to compare this with they fail to appreciate the significance. Some of the German units are sighted and attacked by British aircraft, however. The whole of the German surface fleet is committed to this operation, sailing at different times in six groups. They plan to land at Narvik, Trondheim, Bergen, Kristiansand, Oslo and a small detachment at Egersund. The battle cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau sail with the Narvik group but are to go on to operate against shipping in the Arctic. A large part of the U-boat fleet is also involved in the campaign but they achieve very little, partly because they use torpedoes with magnetic exploders which do not function properly in high latitudes. (This error is discovered during the campaign and is later rectified.) The ships carry units of three divisions for the assault. Three more are earmarked for a second wave. Only one, 3rd Mountain Division, is regarded by the Germans as being of best quality. They have air support from 500 transport planes, over 300 bombers and 100 fighters. For this air support to be effective it will be necessary quickly to take airfields in northern Denmark and Norway itself. This difficult task will be achieved. Meanwhile, British units are preparing to sail for their own mining operations. In the evening the main forces of the Home Fleet sail.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/07.htm
April 7th, 1940
NORWEGIAN CAMPAIGN.
GERMANY: German warships begin to leave their home ports for the invasion of Norway. The British have detected the concentration of shipping in Kiel but because they have no previous information to compare this with they fail to appreciate the significance. Some of the German units are sighted and attacked by RAF aircraft, however. The whole of the German surface fleet is committed to this operation, sailing at different times in six groups. They plan to land at Narvik, Trondheim, Bergen, Kristiansand, Oslo and a small detachment at Egersund.
Heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper and 14 destroyers leave Bremen at 0510 hours bound for Trondheim and Narvik, escorted by battle cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. Scharnhorst and Gneisenau sail with the Narvik group but are to go on to operate against shipping in the Arctic. In the evening, heavy cruisers Blucher and Lutzow and light cruiser Emden with eight minesweepers, two armed whaling ships and three torpedo boats sail with their troops for Oslo. Around midnight, light cruisers Koln and Konigsberg, a gunnery training ship, a storeship and eight torpedo boats leave Wilhelmshaven bound for Bergen. A large part of the U-boat fleet is also involved in the campaign but they achieve very little, partly because they use torpedoes with magnetic exploders which do not function properly in high latitudes. (This error is discovered during the campaign and is later rectified.) The ships carry units of three divisions for the assault. Three more are earmarked for a second wave. Only one, 3rd Mountain Division, is regarded by the Germans as being of best quality. They have air support from 500 transport planes, over 300 bombers and 100 fighters. For this air support to be effective it will be necessary quickly to take airfields in northern Denmark and Norway itself. This difficult task will be achieved.
Meanwhile, British units are preparing to sail for their own mining operations. In the evening the main forces of the Home Fleet sail. (Andy Etherington and Jack McKillop)
NORWAY: During the night of the 7th/8th, the British lay three minefields in Norwegian waters and Norway protests British minelaying operations off the Norwegian coast. (Jack McKillop)
GERMANY: Two Army officers - Brigadier General Kurt Himer, chief of staff of the 31st Corps, and Lieut. Colonel Hartwig Pohlman, operations officer of Falkenhorst’s Gruppe XXI are sent to Copenhagen and Oslo respectively, as secret Plenipotentiaries of the Wehrmacht to advise and assist the German ambassadors. They travel in civilian clothes, their uniforms being forwarded separately as diplomatic baggage.
UNITED KINGDOM: The prototype Blackburn B-20 crashes into the sea off Gourock Head on the Clyde in Scotland during high speed trials due to aileron flutter. Three crew escape by parachute but Flt. Lt. Bailey (Blackburn’s chief test pilot) is killed.
The British Norwegian invasion fleet sails from Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands. Escort is provided by units of the Home Fleet including the battleships HMS Rodney and Valiant, the battle cruiser HMS Repulse, four cruisers and 14 destroyers which sail from Scapa Flow and Rosyth.
Accompanying them is a French cruiser and two destroyers. Two more British cruisers and nine destroyers leave other duties and sail for Norwegian waters. (Andy Etherington and Jack McKillop)
PANAMA CANAL ZONE:USNDestroyer J. Fred Talbott (DD-247) departs the Canal Zone to rendezvous at sea with Japanese steamship SS Arimasan Maru to provide medical assistance to a passenger on board the Japanese steamship.
http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Day 220 April 7, 1940
At 1.25 PM, RAF Hudson reconnaissance plane of 220 Squadron reports a German cruiser and 6 destroyers (part of Marine Gruppe 1) heading North. 12 Blenheims and 24 Wellingtons bombers are called in and bomb the ships unsuccessfully. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Hudson
The British response is a disaster. The Admiralty assumes German surface raiders are breaking out into the Atlantic (ignoring the possibility of coastal landings in Norway) and prepares to engage the German fleet in the open sea. Royal Navy’s Home Fleet (battleships Rodney & Valiant, battlecruiser Repulse, 2 cruisers & 10 destroyers) delays leaving Scapa Flow until 9.15 PM and misses the chance to intercept the troop-laden German warships. In addition, 1st Cruiser Squadron at Rosyth disembarks troops to engage in the ‘sea battle’, losing the opportunity for rapid landings in response to the German invasion.
British submarines HMS Shark & HMS Seawolf leave Harwich naval base to patrol off Dutch coast and HMS Clyde & HMS Thistle depart Scapa Flow to patrol the coast of Norway. http://www.uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/3426.html
This line from Ferdinand Kuhn's review of the French Yellow Book (#18-19) caught my eye. I recall your posting of excerpts from that document in the past. What do you think of Kuhn's assertion?