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Day 236 April 23, 1940
General de Wiart’s 146th Brigade retreats back to Namsos. Since arriving, they have lost 19 dead, 42 wounded & 96 missing.
Greater catastrophe befalls Morgan’s 148th Brigade at Tretten Gorge. Germans artillery pounds their line all morning & 3 light tanks break through defenses along the river road at 1 PM. Simultaneously, German mountain troops climb through the highlands and at 6 PM circle behind the Allied lines. At 7 PM, 148th Brigade retreats North but is bombed and strafed from the air. Only 309 men manage to escape to safety up the Gudbrandsdal. Since arriving, they have lost 705 men killed, missing or captured. http://ibiblio.org/hyperwar/UN/UK/UK-NWE-Norway/maps/UK-NWE-Norway-s2.jpg
Supreme War Council meeting in Paris agrees on the importance of capturing Trondheim, unaware of the British reverses at Namsos and Tretten Gorge. British have not yet inform the French that Operation Hammer has been cancelled.
The more astute observer of military military affairs should be taking notes and drawing conclusions about the role of air power and the effect of air superiority on land and naval operations.
