THE NAVY IN ACTION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26773, 17 May 1948, Page 6

THE NAVY IN ACTION

CHURCHILL MEMOIRS

By WINSTON S. CHURCHILL.

Between 4.30 and 5 a.m. on April 8 four British destroyers laid our minefield off the entrance to West Fiord, the channel to the port of Narvik. At 5 a.m. the news was broadcast from London, and at 5.30 a note from his Majesty’s Government was handed to the Norwegian Foreign Minister. The morning in Oslo was speijt in drafting protests to London. But later that afternoon the Admiralty informed the Norwegian Legation in London that German warships had been sighted off the Norwegian coast proceeding northwards, and presumably bound for Narvik. About the same time reports reached the Norwegian capital that a German troopship, the Rio de Janeiro, had been sunk off the south coast of Norway by the Polish submarine Orzel, that large numbers of German soldiers had been rescued by the local fishermen, and that they said they were bound for Bergen to help the Norwegians defend their country against the British and French. More was to come. Presently the news was received that Germany had broken into Denmark. Denmark was easily overrun after a formal resistance in which a few soldiers of the King of Denmark’s Guard were killed.

Attack on Norway That night German warships approached Oslo. The outer batteries opened fire. The Norwegian defending force consisted of a minelayer, the Olav Tryggvason, and two minesweepers. After dawn two German minesweepers entered the mouth of the fiord to disembark troops in the neighbourhood of the shore batteries One was sunk by the Olav Tryggvason, but the German- troops were landed and the batteries taken. The gallant minelayer however held off two German destroyers a.t the mouth of the fiord and damaged the cruiser Emden.

* An armed Norwegian whaler mounting. a single gun also went into action at once and without special orders against the invaders. Her gun was smashed and the commander had both legs shot off. To avoid unnerving his men, he rolled himself overboard and died nobly. The main German force, led by the heavy cruiser Blucher, now entered the fiord, making for the narrows defended by the fortress of Oscarborg. The Norwegian batteries opened, and two torpedoes fired from the shore at 500 yards scored a decisive strike. The Blucher sank rapidly, taking with her the senior officers of the German Administrative Staff and detachments of the Gestapo. The other German ships, including the Luetzow, retired. The damaged Emden took.no further part in the fighting at sea. Oslo was ulti- • mately taken,. not from the sea, but by troop-carrying airplanes and by landings in the fiord. < Hitler’s plan immediately flashed into full scope. German forces descended at Kristiansund, at Stavanger, and to the north of Bergen • and Trondheim. At Bergen two German merchant ships had for some days lain alongside the quay, out of whose holds ’ there now marched several hundred German troops with light artillery, who, preceded by high officers, walked through the streets of th§ town, and aided by numerous agents ashore effected a bloodless domination. At numerous points in Southern and Central Norway variants of this manoeuvre were successful. Two Norwegian warships, Norge and Eidsvold, lay in the fiord. They were prepared to fight to the last. At dawn destroyers were sighted approaching the harbour at high speed, but .in the prevailing snow squalls their identity was not at first established. Soon a German officer appeared in a motor launch/ and demanded the surrender of the Eidsvold. On receiving from the commanding officer the curt reply, “I attack,” he withdrew, but almost at once the ship was destroyed with nearly all hands' by a volley of torpedoes. Meanwhile the Norge opened fire but in a few minutes she too was torpedoed and sank instantly. In this gallant but hopeless resistance 287 Norwegian seamen perished, less than 100 being saved from the two shins. Thereafter the capture of Narvik was easy. It was a strategic key—fbrever to be denied us. Surprise, ruthlessness and precision were the characteristics of the onslaught upbn innocent and naked Norway. Nowhere did the initial landing forces exceed 2000 men. Within 48 hours all the main ports of Norway were in the German grip. Home Fleet Moves Up On the night of Sunday, the seventh, our air reconnaissance reported that a German fleet, consisting of a battlecruiser, two light cruisers, 14 destroyers and another ship, probably a transport, had been seen the day before moving towards the Naze across the mouth of the Skaggerak. We' found it hard at the Admiralty to believe that this force was going to Narvik. Nevertheless, the following movement was at once ordered: —The Home Fleet, comprising Rodney, Repulse, Valiant, 2 cruisers and 10 destroyers, was already under steam and left Scapa at 8.30 p.m. on April 7; the Second Cruiser Squadron of 2 cruisers and 15 destroyers started from Rosyth at 10 p.m. the same night. The. First Cruiser Squadron, which had been embarking troops at Rosyth for the possible occupation of Norwegian ports, was ordered to march her soldiers ashore, even without their equipment, and join the fleet at sea at the earliest moment. The cruiser Aurora and six destroyers, similarly engaged in the 'Clyde, were ordered to Scapa. In short, everything available was ordered out on the assumption—which we had by no means accepted—that a major emergency had come. At the same time the mine-laying operations off Narvik, by four destroyers, was in progress, covered by the battle-cruiser Renown, the cruiser Birmingham and eight destroyers. ‘ Fate of the Glowworm On the way to lay the minefield, ' Wilfred, one of our destroyers, the Glowworm, having lost a man overboard during the night, stopped behind to search for him and became separated from the rest of the force. At 8.30 a.m. on the Bth the Glowworm had’ reported herself engaged with an enemy destroyer about 150 miles'southwest of West Fiord. Shortly afterwards she had reported seeing another destroyer ahead of her, and at about 9.45 she had become silent, since when nothing had ben heard from her. On , this it was calculated that the German forces, unless intercepted, could reach Narvik about 10 o’clock that night. They would, we hoped, be engaged by the Renown, Birmingham, and their destroyers. Since the war *he have learned what happend to the Glowworm. Early on the morning of Monday the Bth she encountered first one and then a second enemy destroyer. A running fight ensued in a heavy sea until the cruiser Hipper appeared on the scene. The last message received from the Glowworm said she was engaging a superior force; the rest we have learnt from the enemy’s records. When the Hipper opened fire, the Glowworm retired behind a smoke screen. The Hipper, pressing on through the smoke, presently emerged to find the British destroyer very close and coming straight for her at full speed. There was no time for the Hipper to avoid the impact, and the Glowworm rammed her 10,000-ton adversary, tearing a hole 40 metres in her side. She then fell away crippled and blazing. A few minutes later she blew up.

Fierce Duels in the Fiords

Thus the Glowworm’s light was quenched, but Lieutenant Commander Gerard Roope, who commanded, was awarded the. Victoria Cross posthumously, and the story will long be remembered. We did not then know that the Hipper was escorting German forces to Trondheim. She entered Trondheim that night, but the Glowworm had put this powerful vessel out of action for a month. Clash in Heavy Seas

Tuesday, the 9th, was a tempestuous day with the seas running high under furious gales and snowstorms. At early dawn the Renown sighted two darkened ships some 50 miles to seaward of West Fiord. These were the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, which had just completed the task of escorting their expedition to Narvik, but at the time it was believed that only one of the two was a battle cruiser. The Renown opened fire first at 18,000 yards and soon hit the Gneisenau, destroying her main gun-control equipment, and for a time causing her to stop firing. Her consort screened her with smoke, both ships then turned away to the north, and the action became a chase. Meanwhile, the Renown had received two hits, but these caused little 'damage, and presently she scored a second and later a third hit on the Gneisenau. In the heavy seas the Renown drove forward at full speed, but soon had to reduce to 20 knots. Amid intermittent snow squalls and German smoke screens the fire on both sides became ineffective. Although the Renown strained herself to the utmost in trying to overhaul the German ships, they at last drew away out of sight to' the northward. Meanwhile, on the morning of April 9 Admiral Forbes, with the main fleet, was abreast at Bergen. At 6.20 a.m he asked the Admiralty for news of the German strength there, as he intended to send in a force .of cruisers and destroyers under Vice-admiral Layton to attack any German ships they might find. The Admiralty sanctioned Admiral Forbes’ plan for attacking Bergen, but later warned him that he must no longer count on the defences being friendly. At about 11.30 four cruisers and seven destroyers, under the viceadmiral, started for Bergen, 80 miles away, making only 16 knots against a head wind and a rough sea. Presently aircraft reported two cruisers m Bergen instead of one. With only seven destroyers the prospects of success were distinctly reduced, unless our cruisers went in too. The First Sea Lord thought the risk to these vessels, both from mines and the air, excessive. He consulted me on my return from the Cabinet meeting, and after reading the signals which had passed during the' morning, and a brief discussion in the War Room, I concurred in his view. We therefore cancelled the attack. Looking back on this affair, I consider that the Admiralty kept too close a control upon the com-mander-in-chief, and after learning his original intention to force the passage into Bergen should have confined themselves to sending him information. That afternoon, strong air attacks were made on the Fleet, chiefly against Vice-admiral Layton’s ships. The destroyer Gurkha was sunk, and the cruisers Southampton and Glasgow damaged by near misses. In addition, the flagship Rodney was hit, but her strong deck-armour prevented serious damage. When the cruiser attack on Bergen was cancelled 1 Admiral Forbes proposed to use torpedo-carrying naval air craft from the carrier Furious at dusk on April 10. The air attacks were successful, and the cruiser Koenigsberg was sunk by three bombs from naval aircraft. The Furious was now diverted to Trondheim, where our air patrols reported two enemy cruisers and two destroyers. Eighteen aircraft attacked at dawn on the 11th, but found only two destroyers and a submarine, besides merchant ships. Unluckily, the wounded Hipper had left during the night, no cruisers were found, and the attack on the two German destroyers failed because our torpedoes grounded in shallow water before reaching their targets. Meanwhile, 'our submarines were active in the Skagerrak and Kattegat. On the night of the Bth they had sighted and attacked enemy ships northward bound from the Baltic, but without success. However, on the 9th the Truant sank the cruiser Karlsruhe off Kristiansund, and the following night the Spearfish torpedoed the pocket-battleship Luetzow returning from Oslo. \ Destroyers at Grips

On the morning of the 9th the situation at Narvik was obscure. Hoping to forestall a German seizure of the port, the Commander-in-Chief directed Captain Warburton-Lee, commanding our destroyers, to enter the fiord and prevent any landing. - Meanwhile the Admiralty transmitted a press report to him indicating that one ship had already entered the port and landed a small force. The message went on: “ Proceed to Narvik and sink or capture enemy ship. It is at your discretion to land forces if you think you can capture Narvik from number of enemy present.”Accordingly, Captain WarburtonLee, with the five destroyers of his own flotilla, Hardy, Hunter, Havock, HotspUr and Hostile, entered West Fiord. He was told by Norwegian pilots at Tranoy that six ships larger than his own and a U-boat had passed in and that the entrance to the harbour was mined. He signalled this information, and added: “Intend attacking at dawn.” The last Admiralty message passed to Captain Warburton-Lee was as follows: “Norwegian coast defence ships may be in German hands; you alone can judge whether in these circumstances attack should be made. Shall support whatever decision you take." His reply was: “ Going into action.”

In the mist and snowstorms of April 10 the five British destroyers steamed up the fiord, and at dawn stood off Narvik inside the harbour were five enemy destroyers. In the first attack the Hardy torpedoed the ship bearing the pennant of .the German Commodore, who was killed; another destroyer was sunk by two torpedoes, and the remaining three were so smothered by gunfire that they could offer no effective resistance. There were also in the harbour 23 merchant ships of various nations, including five British. Six German were desstroyed, ’ Only three of our five destroyers had hitherto attacked. The Hotspur and Hostile had been left in reserve to guard against any shore batteries or against fresh German ships coming in from seaward. They now joined in a second attack, and the Hotspur sank two more merchantmen with torpedoes.

But now fortune turned. As he was coming back from a third attack, Captain Warburton-Lee sighted three fresh ships approaching from Herjangs Fiord. They showed no signs of wishing to close the. range and action began at 7000 yards. Suddenly out of the mist ahead appeared two more warships. They were not, as was at first hoped, British reinforcements, but German which had been anchored in Ballangen Fiord Soon the heavier guns of the German ships began to tell; the bridge of the Hardy was shattered, Warburton-Lee mortally stricken, and all his officers and companions killed or wounded except Lieutenant Stanning, his secre-

tary, who took the wheel. A shell then exploded in the engine-room and under heavy fire the destroyer was beached. The last signal from the Hardy’s captain to his flotilla was: “ Con- - tinue to engage the enemy.” Meanwhile, the Hunter had been sunk, and the Hotspur and the Hostile, which were both damaged, with the Havock made for the open sea. The enemy who had barred their passage was by now in no condition to stop them. Half an hour later they encountered a large ship coming in from the sea, which proved to be the Rauenfels, carrying the German reserve ammunition. She was fired upon by the Havock, and soon blew up. On the 9th MM. Reynaud and Daladier, with Admiral Darlan, flew over to London, and in the afternoon a Supreme War Council meeting was held.

The council agreed that strong forces should be sent where possible to ports on the Norwegian seaboard, and joint plans were made. A French Alpine division was ordered to embark within two or three days. We were able to provide two British battalions that night, a further five battalions within three days, and four more within 14 days—ll in all. Suitable measures were to be taken to occupy the Faroe Islands, and assurances of protection would be given to Iceland The Battle of Narvik By the morning of April 10 the Warspite had joined the Commander-in-Chief who was proceeding toward Narvik. On learning about Captain Warburton-Lee’s attack at dawn we resolved to try again. The next day (12th) a dive-bombing attack on enemy ships in Narvik Harbour was made from the Furious. The attack was pressed home in terrible weather and low visibility, and four hits on destroyers were claimed for th--> loss of two aircraft. This was not enough. We wanted Narvik very much and were determined at least to clear it of the German Navy. The climax was now at hand.

The precious Renown was kept out of it. Vice-admiral Whitworth shifted his flag to the Warspite at sea, and at noon on the 13th he entered the fiord escorted by nine destroyers and by dive-bombers from the Furious. There were no minefields; but a U-boat was driven off by the destroyers and a second sunk by the Warspite’s own Swordfish aircraft, which also detected a German destroyer lurking in an inlet to launch her torpedoes on the battleship from ambush. The hostile destroyer was quickly overwhelmed. At 1.30 p.m., when our ships were through the Narrows and a dozen miles from Narvik, five enemy destroyers appeared ahead in the haze. At once a fierce fight began with all ships on both sides firing and manoeuvring rapidly. The Warspite found no shore batteries to attack, and intervened in deadly fashion in the destroyer fight. The* thunder of her 15-inch guns reverberated among the surrounding mountains like the voice of doom. The enemy, heavily overmatched, retreated, and the action broke up into separate combats. Some of our ships went into Narvik Harbour to complete the task of destruction there; others, led by the Eskimo, pursued three Germans who sought refuge in the head waters of Rombak’s fiord and annihilated them there The bows of the Eskimo were blown off by a torpedo; but in this second sea fight off Narvik the eight enemy destroyers which had survived War-burton-Lee’s attack were all sunk or wrecked without the loss of a single British ship. (World Copyright Reserved)