Posted on 04/20/2010 4:31:05 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
‘Death’ Unit Loses – 2-4
The International Situation - 4
The Dutch affirmation of their neutrality really paid dividends. /s
Corrected this morning. Thanks, AM
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1940/apr40/f20apr40.htm
Luftwaffe raids Namsos
Saturday, April 20, 1940 www.onwar.com
In Norway... Namsos is heavily bombed by the Germans and the harbor installations, such as they are, are severely damaged. The port is ruined as a landing place. There is no natural cover from air attacks and, of course, the Germans have complete air superiority. The German forces advancing from Oslo reach the Norwegian positions at Lillehammer and Rena.
In Denmark... The Danish army is demobilized.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/20.htm
April 20th, 1940
UNITED KINGDOM:
RAF Bomber Command: 4 Group. Bombing - Kjeller, Fornebu, Stavanger and Trondheim airfields. 10 Sqn/. Five aircraft. One returned U/S, two bombed Stavanger.
51 Sqn. Three aircraft. One returned U/S. Two bombed Stavanger claiming hits on installations. Heavy opposition.
58 Sqn. Three aircraft bombed Stavanger.
102 Sqn. Three aircraft to Trondheim. No bombing due to weather.
35 Wellington’s attack Stavanger Aerodrome reporting heavy damage to runways and parked aircraft.
Everywhere in London there are signs of preparation against air attack but ten million Londoners - the biggest bombing target in Europe - are still waiting for the action to begin. It is a city of sandbags, piled high round the windows and doorways of public buildings, shopfronts and underground shelters. They are beginning to turn green as they weather and to leak at the corners.
Estate agents’ boards blossom in Belgravia and Mayfair, where the rich and titled have flown to safer nests in the shires. In Eaton Square only six houses out of 120 are occupied. There are no takers.
But in the City, which was so quiet six months ago when 3,500 firms fled to the provinces, daily life has returned to near-normal. At leat 700 firms are back again, and thousands of office workers pour along almost traffic-free streets. Hardly one carries a gas mask.
There are no paintings on view at the National Gallery - they are stored in a slate quarry in Wales - but it is filled every day with music lovers who come to Myra Hess’s lunch-time concerts. The middle of Hyde Park is wired off as a military area, and sandbagged shelters disfigure all the parks. But the barrage balloons shining in the evening sun look almost romantic - like pearls strung from clouds.
Greenock: HMS Ark Royal, having parted company with the destroyers HMS Westcott and HMS Bulldog off Plymouth, is joined by the destroyers HMS Saladin, HMS Juno, and HMS Hasty, all arriving in the Clyde at 0145. She then docks at Greenock. HMS Glorious remains in Greenock loading stores and equipment.
NORWEGIAN CAMPAIGN:Large scale German air attacks against Namsos begin. The wooden houses are set alight and the jetty damaged. Aandalsnes is bombed three times. Steinkjaer is reduced to ruins.
Using 150 bombers (He-111 and Ju88) and 60 Ju87s, Fliegerkorps X mounts an attack on the Allied landings that is so intense that it prevents strong formations of supplies from being landed to reinforce the troops already on Norwegian soil.
Fleet Air Arm (Mark Horan): Again, Fleet Air Arm activity was limited, primary to terrible flying weather.
At RNAS Hatston, Acting Captain C. L. Howe, RN, again decided to attack shipping in the vicinity of Bergen. An unspecified number of Skuas from both 800 and 801 Squadrons were dispatched. 800 Squadron, FAA dispatched a single Skua on an armed reconnaissance mission to Larvik. Capt. Partridge, RM and his Observer, Lt. Bostock, RN made the crossing at 12,000 feet. Opting to fly a detour around the known Luftwaffe fighter base at Stavanger, and reached Larvik safely, where nothing of importance was sighted. En-route home, they spotted a lone MTB, schnellboote S-22, at speed. Electing to attack her, he release his single 500 pound SAP bomb, but missed by some 50 yards. Shortly thereafter, the pair spotted a U-Boat on the surface. Having no remaining bombs, they had to settle for a strafing run.
While approaching the Orkney’s on the return flight, Skua L2999 of 800 Squadron disappears, Midshipman(A) John Richard Crossley, RN (P) and Petty Officer Airman Maurice Hall, DSM, twice Mentioned in Dispatches, RN being missing and presumed killed. This was to be the last Skua operation from RNAS Hatston for some time.
Meanwhile, the carriers were on the move. HMS Glorious, now carrying only 825 Squadron (12 x Swordfish) and 802 Squadron (9 x Sea Gladiator) departed the Clyde for Scapa Flow.
GERMANY: On the his 51st birthday, Hitler orders a new SS regiment to be set up containing Norwegians and Danes as well as Germans.
http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/
Day 233 April 20, 1940
At 2.50 AM, Morgan’s 148th Brigade arrives in Lillehammer by train from Åndalsnes and moves South towards rapidly-crumbling Norwegian defensive positions either side of Lake Mjøsa.
The Allies lack of anti-aircraft guns and absence of air cover is exposed when Luftwaffe bombing obliterates Namsos, destroying supplies & equipment piled up on the single stone wharf. http://www.flickr.com/photos/30353421@N06/3218093191 http://www.flickr.com/photos/bangsundeveloped/3218094771/in/set-72157607833868488/
To provide some air support, RAF 263 Squadron flies 18 Gloster Gladiator biplanes (under Squadron Leader John Donaldson) to Scapa Flow, where Fleet Air Arm pilots land them on the aircraft carrier HMS Glorious. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._263_Squadron_RAF
British War Cabinet cancels direct landings at Trondheim (Operation Hammer) fearing naval losses to German air attack and coastal batteries. However, they do not inform the Norwegians or French (or the British commanders on the flanks of Trondheim). General de Wiart’s 146th Brigade maintains dangerously exposed positions on Trondheimfjord to support the landings.
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