[EN] Armchair Admirals. Invasion of Norway.
Deutsche Invasion Norwegens 1940: Schwedens Rolle und strategische Bedeutung
![[EN] Armchair Admirals. Invasion of N...](/static/thumb/video/worpblcd-480p.avif)
Die deutsche Invasion Norwegens im Jahr 1940 (Operation Weserübung) wird beleuchtet. Norwegens strategische Bedeutung, die Rolle Schwedens als Eisenerzlieferant und der Altmark-Zwischenfall werden analysiert. Die britische Reaktion und die Seeschlachten vor Narvik werden detailliert beschrieben. Die strategischen Folgen und moralischen Auswirkungen werden ebenfalls erörtert.
World of Warships
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00:03:43 Untertitelung des ZDF für funk, 2017
00:04:12 ...wenn von diesem fremden Ort, die Wort nicht kommt. Warte, wenn alle die du vorst, wissen, dass ich nicht vivo bin.
00:04:52 Wait for me. And I'll come back. Wait for me. Don't fret. When they tell you there's no doubt that it's time to forget.
00:05:11 Das war's für heute.
00:05:46 A nice stroke of luck, they'll say. Those that could not wait. Only they will never know how amid the strife. By waiting for me, dear. And you saved my life.
00:06:30 Aber die zwei von uns wissen, wie du mich nach Hause hast. Nur du, wie du warten kannst. Es war du, alleine.
00:07:44 That is the wrong scene. There we go. Just giant tucky face. Yes. Listen. Yes. Yes. Yes.
Einführung in die deutsche Invasion Norwegens und Schwedens Rolle im Zweiten Weltkrieg
00:08:05
00:08:05 Yes. Welcome, everyone, to this one-man band Armchair Admirals. I've currently got three PCs on and staring at several screens. But welcome to everyone today for this month's Armchair Admirals stream on Operation Vessebrung. And we don't hear your guess. Oh, good God, now what? Yes.
00:08:34 Oh, dear. Now, what's causing all the problems? I think... Hang on. Hang on. How about this now? Can they be heard? Can you hear them now?
00:08:54 If they can't hear me, that's probably a benefit for them, let's be honest, I'm loud enough as it is. Yes, audio is coming through, okay. Okay, we're good, we're here. Audio is delivered by UPS. That's a dangerous, okay. So, again, apologies again for the delayed starts. We had some technical issues on several ends, but here we are.
00:09:20 Ja, der Track ist wieder hier. Es wird wieder aufhören. Es wird wieder aufhören. Es wird wieder aufhören.
00:09:32 Okay, so, through the wonders of Google Maps, tonight's topic is the German invasion of Norway in 1940, why it happened, why Norway was important to both sides during World War II, and how both sides actually had plans to invade or at least occupy parts of Norway.
00:10:00 So, in World War I, Norway is neutral. There are convoys running between the UK and Norway, and on a couple of occasions the Germans intercept these convoys, but Norway is important because of Sweden in an industrial war, because using this map, which we can show off, just double checking, chat, you can see this.
00:10:28 Correctly, wenn ich es um? Ja. So, hier in northern Sweden... ...are vast iron ore mines. Even today, a lot of mining goes on in northern Sweden. Not really slowed down. No, but they have found new stuff. But one of the things that was very important in this sort of age of steam and steel... ...that World War II is, is there's iron ore.
00:10:57 Very good iron ore. Which is very good for making more advanced forms of steel. This isn't simple plain steel. This is the kind of stuff that you want to make armour out of. Let me put it this way. The thing is when you've got purer quality ore, when you've got better quality ore, it takes a lot less effort to refine it to the higher standards. So if you've got...
00:11:25 Ja. Ja. Ja.
00:11:50 One of the interesting things is the British actually are the economy which need this laced in the war because of the access they have to their own oil facilities. But the thing is they want to deny it to the others. So during World War I they basically spend their time merely using their bank balance to buy as much from the Swedes as they possibly can so that they are carrying out a blockade of Germany not by warfare but by purchase fare.
00:12:15 Ja, genau. Und das ist eine der Vorteile, die Briten hat in den meisten der Krieg in den USA seitdem der UK war. Die finanzielle Kraft der Länder bedeutet, dass wenn wir nicht Sie direkt können, wir können Sie einfach auspenden Sie. Das ist der Napoleon. Ja, das ist der Napoleon. Der andere große Vorteile von Iron Ore ist in Nordafrika. Ich glaube, es ist Moroccan Ore.
00:12:42 um which again is is similar in quality and such to um the swedish stuff and so these are the so north africa and sweden are where a large part of europe gets its high quality ore which is very important for germany obviously iron ore makes steel steel is one of the pillars of a mechanized modern war yeah so when war breaks out
00:13:10 Britain's plan is simple, we'll just pay more for the ore, because we can. Britain is more economic, even after the Great Depression, Britain has more money to throw around than Germany. And the pound at this point is still the global currency, so it's worth a lot more than the Nazi Germany-era Reichsmark.
00:13:36 Especially on the international scene. And so Sweden, the iron ore mines, it's like, if they're going to sell to either, they'd rather sell to the British. But they are selling... Yeah, but they are selling to the Germans. But then you look at this map and you go, well, why is Norway important? Because you've got this body of water. Surely the ore goes on a boat and sails south. Me, please.
00:14:05 Go ahead. So.
00:14:10 When it comes to exporting iron ore in this particular case, it's important to look at the geography here. So yes, there's that body of water there, but it is fairly far up. And as far as I'm aware, none of those northern Swedish ports are A, big, and B, ice-free most of the year round. So they decided that what they were going to do instead was find a ice-free port that was nearby. And they looked across the border and I'm like, oh.
00:14:39 Navig, which bear in mind at the time they constructed this railway line originally in the late 1890s, sorry, 1880s, sorry, is when it's originally put in place properly. This is still the Kingdom of Sweden, Norway, so it's still one country under a personal union. Yeah. And so they construct this railway line to fairly high standards, given the terrain it runs through. It handles volumes of traffic that you don't really see.
00:15:08 in Europe in terms of train length and train weight. It gets electrified quite early because of that. And it all goes to Narvik. And Narvik develops into a fairly bustling seaport to export this traffic. And take it as someone who's actually slept not that long ago in Narvik. It was a beautiful place. Didn't sleep that much. It was 24 hours sunlight when I was there. So I was going around getting the B-roll for the Scandi ship trip.
00:15:37 Those trains, they keep coming. They keep running even today. They are literally, I cannot say this, literally as soon as one train is empty and is starting to head back, another one is pulling in. And it's a constant flow. In the period we're discussing, you're talking 19,000, 1,900 tonnes per train. That's what you're talking about in the period of discussion. And you're talking...
00:16:04 15, 20 trains a day are arriving into the port, taking on this oar and going elsewhere. Yeah. And so it develops into quite a bustling train. I mean, you're talking about that could, especially in the World War II period, that could fill a bulk hauler. Yeah, so this Swedish oar that has to go via Norway most of the time because of...
00:16:32 the the limited infrastructure from the mines south into the more densely populated part of sweden because as you said like the mines are all in this area and narvix are a lot closer than trying to get a build a train line all the way down here and the and the baltic is an is a body of water that ice is over fairly consistently fairly regularly and so it does hinder shipping
00:17:01 Just to very quickly hammer home the point. It was three factors. Ease of access to Narvik, Narvik being ice-free, well, four, sorry, technically. Narvik being ice-free, the Baltic being ice-constrained, and then not being the capacity or funding to upgrade the trackage running south towards the larger ports like Stockholm and the other southern Baltic Swedish ports. And there's a fifth factor which the Narvik Torelli Museum will emphasise for you.
00:17:29 The fact that if you look at the train line for the mining company, the train line across to Narvik, they pretty much own. So they come first. They don't have to share priority with anyone. And this is one of the reasons why we didn't get the train up and down there in the end, was because there was an issue. So the passenger trains were cut. The freight trains were still running. So that's why we ended up flying up to Narvik and back. And we had been planning on doing the train. Yeah.
00:17:59 Und das ist die andere große Vorteile für sie mit Narvik. Die Trains zu fahren, die MIND-trains sind weg. Sie haben die Priorität für alles und sie werden weitergehen. Ja, und eine große Faktor ist, dass man einfach einfach nur die Distanz ist, weil die Train-trains und die Railways ist sehr günstig.
00:18:24 Even if you have to dig through big tunnels, through mountains and all the embankments and stuff in the mountains, it's still much shorter and much easier route than going with the same capacity down to southern Sweden, through Sweden. Because, okay, you don't have as many mountains to cope with, but you have even worse things. You have bobs, you have swamps, you have lakes, you have rivers. You would have to build bridges. They would have to double track. There's a reason.
00:18:54 95% of Swedes live Stockholm and south. It's the livable bit. Yeah, you're talking about to try and fit that capacity on the trackage running south from the mines, you'd have to invest in double or even triple tracking it to fit with the already existing traffic that Sweden handles on that section. It just wasn't viable. And so Narvik became this vitally important port in what was then Sweden-Norway and then became the independent kingdom of Norway.
00:19:22 So, come World War II. Someone in the chat asked whether Therpeats was in Norway. Yes, it was based there eventually. And for the same reason, no eyes. Yeah, so yeah, because even though...
Norwegens strategische Bedeutung und die Kriegsmarine
00:19:43
00:19:43 Like, Norway is mostly seen as a very snowy, very cold country. A lot of these fjords stay ice-free throughout, so ships can constantly leave because you're always making steel, so you always need this iron ore. So World War II breaks out, and you've got the Kriegsmarine under Admiral Rader, who is really nervous about Norway.
00:20:07 Ja, so...
00:20:36 So war breaks out, and initially the Kriegsmarine has the same problem that they had in World War I, is that their operating bases are here.
00:20:48 Maybe you can get some ships up through the Danish shallows, but they're easily monitored. Anyone who's semi-favorable to the Allies can stand here and just count German ships as they leave. You can't secretly leave the Baltic. Unless you're in a U-boat.
00:21:14 Well, no, I would agree with you, were it not for the tiny elephant in the room that is the Kiel Canal. Yes, that's the advantage. The Kiel Canal allows them to get around that to an extent. Yes, but there's one small trouble about the Kiel Canal. The RAF spent a lot of time dropping mines into it. Yes. Because it's... And the Italians tried it in the series. It's a canal. Yeah. It's a...
00:21:42 Broadly speaking, a roughly straight line, which is kind of easy to find, even in a Hanley Page Hampton, let alone a Wellington or a Lancaster. Exactly. But when the war breaks out, the Royal Navy is like, okay, same plan as before.
00:21:58 We will set up a distant blockade between the UK and Norway. We will be able to buy all the Swedish iron ore that comes out of Nalvik. We can fund our war economy. The Germans will struggle with the French army on our side. Give us a couple years to build up and we'll win this war in a few years. Done.
00:22:21 Das ist ein kleines Problem. Die Norwegerin government von 1939-1940 ist nicht die Norwegerin government von 1914-1915. Die Norwegerin government von 1939-1940 ist scared von ihren eigenen Schatten.
00:22:36 Und, you know, there's many points in which you should probably be looking at activating reserves. They've already activated reserves to deal with the Soviet threat up in the north. That's where they have the bulk of their army activated and all these things. And they have their regular army up north and sort of dealing with that. But the trouble is they are worried about if they call up the reserves, they're going to cause there to be an invasion.
00:23:01 And this is why both the British start looking at the Norwegians are going, can they actually secure their ports? Because if they can't, that's a problem for Britain. That's a big problem. Because that means that if Norway's not going to secure its ports, then that becomes a weak spot for Britain. And Britain's worried about the Germans. And when there's the invasion of Denmark, you would expect the first thing the Norwegians to do would be massively alert our reserves, get everyone to mobilise the coastal forts, you know.
00:23:29 Arm Oskarborg completely, get the reserves active, because that's what you do. If your neighbor's invaded, even if you don't think you're going to be invaded, you activate your reserves, you call everything up just in case. No one's going to declare war on you for just protecting your own borders. Yeah. And besides, at that point, the Germans, if you're talking about doing this when the Germans are crossing the border in Denmark, yes, they overrun Denmark exceptionally quickly.
00:23:56 But even if they go, oh, you've mobilized your reserves, we declare war, the Norwegians are going to go, well, that's fine. We've mobilized our reserves in the time it's taking you to kill Denmark. And it's going to take you another two days to get a force ready to hit us. Oh, and now we're in the Allies and the British are here. Good luck. Yeah. And so Norwegian pacifism, or not necessarily pacifism, because when push comes to shove, the Norwegians fight as hard as anyone else.
00:24:24 But it's the government's... You have to draw a distinction between the Norwegians and their government. Yeah. You have to be very careful. The Norwegians fight very hard. Norwegian people fight very, very hard. Their government...
00:24:43 Sie sagen, es ist Angst, dass es ein eigenes Schaden ist. Sie sind Angst, dass es eine mögliche Escalation ist, dass Deutschland benutzt wird, um etwas zu verändern.
00:24:56 And this leads to the most interesting decision known to mankind. When they finally decide to send out alert to their reserves, they decide to make it as non-threatening as possible. They're going to send out by telegram rather than radio announcement. So they decide to activate the reserves. And it's been shown, if you do the timeline, you work out, well, if they send that same message out by radio, quickly got around the country and told everyone by radio.
00:25:18 Ja. Ja. Ja.
00:25:47 Das ist der Grund, warum du mobilisierst, weil du mobilisierst, weil du mobilisierst, weil du mobilisierst, setztert in Ordnung von Radio, du hast den Maximum Troops in da. Und jetzt sagen, dein Colonel ist ein bisschen interessiert. Dann ist er ein Senior NCO und ein Senior Officer look at ihn und sagen, Sir, shouldn't wir be doing something? Sir, shouldn't wir be doing something? Sir, you're obviously nicht able to command at the moment. Obviously, es ist ein Problem. Let's send him to medical checkup. Majors now in command. Fire guns!
00:26:16 Ja, aber es ist interessant, dass von all den zweiten Teilen von Nazi-Puppet-Liedern, Norweig ist der one everyone remembers. Ja. Ja, und er ist der Weakste, denn er ist der Weakste, weil er ist der Weakste, der versucht, um die Polizei zu stellen, um die Polizei zu stellen, um die Polizei zu stellen, um die Polizei zu stellen, um die Polizei zu stellen, um die Polizei zu stellen, um die Polizei zu stellen, um die Polizei zu stellen, um die Polizei zu stellen, um die Polizei zu stellen, um die Polizei zu stellen, um die Polizei zu stellen, um die Polizei zu stellen.
00:26:45 Ja. Ja. Ja. Ja.
00:27:13 Ja, he didn't. Even though, yeah, he was literally, he believed he was in charge. In reality, Norway was not really governed by a rights commissary. It was directly occupied by the Germany. Yeah, I mean, it was the same as everyone. In ISIS way, most of the Germans in Norway did bloomin' all the most of the time they were there. By 1945, there were 300,000 German troops in Norway.
00:27:38 Ja. Ja. Ja.
00:27:55 Ja, und es ist ziemlich schwierig zu bekommen, als ein Resistancefighter.
00:28:17 Shout out to one of our community contributors, Tigersten, who is Norwegian, who lives way up here, like north of the Arctic Circle, north. And it's like, there's nothing there. Like, there's like eight people in all of northern Norway. Again, Narvik is a thriving community.
00:28:42 Ja. Ja. Ja. Ja.
00:29:09 We're going to Murmansk, boys. That's your lot. Like, welcome to the end of Europe, basically. Yep, pretty much. In terms of infrastructure.
00:29:19 I would say the railway journey is what I really look forward to doing up to there, but I would say the flight in is something spectacular because it's always nice when you're in an airliner coming down, a civilian airliner coming down, landing on a base, which is obviously designed for military aircraft and primarily supports them. And their literal system of check-in and check-out is to get you away from the tarmac as quickly as physically possible. I have never been for an airport faster in my life than that airport. They literally, shoom, in. And then when you arrive...
Der Altmark-Zwischenfall und die Verletzung der norwegischen Neutralität
00:29:49
00:29:49 So when war breaks out, obviously Norway is scared of its own shadow. But something important happens all the way down here, around the river plate. The pocket battleship Graf Spee is...
00:30:13 Defeated. I won't say the word sunk because she was scuttled. About the only major German capital ship that was scuttled by its crew. But her tanker, her support ship, because to support the pocket battleships and all the raiders in the Atlantic, the Germans had specialised support ships. Hybrids of tankers and cargo vessels. And...
00:30:37 Graf Spee had been relatively successful, she'd captured several ships, they'd taken their cruise prisoner, and 300 or so of these mainly British sailors are put on the Altmark, which manages to get all the way back to Europe.
00:30:58 But obviously they can't sail near the UK coast, they'll be intercepted. So they choose to try and sail down Norway's coast in what is considered, and I forget the correct term, it's an area of water from your coastline that is considered part of the nation. Territorial water. Territorial water, yeah. So they're trying to sail through Norway's territorial waters and using Norway's declared neutrality to protect themselves.
00:31:27 Ja, genau.
00:31:51 Und so, sie ist auf die Norweggen coast. Die British-intelligence ist erinnert von ihrer Existenz. Und sie hat sie in diesem Bereich geflogen. Und sie hat die Norweggen. Denn, bei internationalem Art, man kann eine Neutral-Nationen-Territorial-Water nicht benutzen, um die Prisoner von einer belligeren Nation zu transportieren.
00:32:16 There is a little bit of suspect around that, eh? For starters, the Coal Patrol, which was sent out, which was normally another destroyer fotilla, was given to the fourth destroyer fotilla, which was the tribal class fotilla, under Philip Vian. And it was sent out with not just extra and more ships than normal, it normally went on the Coal Patrol.
00:32:41 But they actually took from another light cruiser, which had sickness, but doesn't seem to have had that much as Secret Sports, took a whole load of prize crews with them. So they had reinforcements on every ship in terms of reservists, mostly from HMS President, which are made up that cruiser's crew. So HMS President is the London Royal Navy Reserve Base.
00:33:02 Und sie waren literally durch die Coal Patrol und die Coal und Iron Patrol, das war, auf und nach dem Coast der Norge. Und da ist eine ganze Diskussion über whether es British Intelligenz, die Tippen auf die British, oder ob es eigentlich Norwegian Intelligenz, die Tippen auf die British, weil die Norwegian Intelligenz sind sehr frustriert mit ihrem eigenen Regierung. Und da ist ein interessant...
00:33:30 Und so, obviously, with who says who, but obviously the British government formally requests that the Norwegian government and its armed forces stop this ship and search it. The Norwegians, they do stop the ship and they search it. Hmm.
00:33:56 But not very well. They don't go down into any of the deck spaces and the crew run all the machinery so they can't hear anyone banging noises. Yes. And any of the banging going on. And the Norwegians admit that and they admit that that's sus. But that's unofficially admitted. Officially they claim they searched it but of course it's not British. The Norwegian officers involved in the search report back to their government. They think something's up.
00:34:22 But the Norwegian government at this time is very skittish. They don't want to be seen to cause an incident that is favourable to Britain.
00:34:34 Because if they do, they're worried that Germany will react with a declaration of war and bomb Oslo. Or something like that. Yes, but they also then get reminded that if they cause an incident which is favourable to Germany, they might find the reaction from Britain is a big invasion. Less than favourable. But we're not going to bomb Oslo because Bomber Command at this point couldn't find Oslo.
00:34:58 Well, that's true, but the fleet air arm could. But also more to the point, we weren't in the habit of bombing civilian targets yet at this point in the war. No, it hadn't happened yet. It hadn't happened yet. Not yet.
00:35:10 We've done that already in Iraq in the 1920s and 30s. I mean, during the World War II. I'm aware of the whole, you know. Yeah, I'm aware. I'm talking about during the World War. I'm talking about during the World War. It was still part of our doctrine. I know. And so Altmark carries on further south. And the Brits request again. Because the Brits are like, hmm.
00:35:39 By this point, they're more convinced. And the ship is stopped again and searched again. And I can never recall if it's the first or second search where a Norwegian officer flat out asks the captain of Altmark and goes, do you have British prisoners on board? And they just go, no. But on the second search, the prisoners actually managed to force a bulkhead door open and make their presence known.
00:36:09 And so it's this weird sort of comical case of the Norwegian searchers can hear yelling in British coming from below decks. While the German crew is like, no, nein, everything is fine. Nothing weird is going on. You did not hear anything. Everything is fine. And again, the Norwegian crews are like,
00:36:38 Okay, they report back to the government again, going, we're more certain there are British prisoners on board, but the government again refuses to act on it. But as the ship is going further south, there's an area of water which is, it's still within territorial waters, but it's like Norwegian Navy firing ranges that no civilian ships are allowed in. And that...
00:37:05 uh area extends in extends to the limit of the territorial waters so altmark in theory has to leave norway's waters to go around it but that's what but and that and obviously that's where the british destroyers are waiting because they're expecting norway to enforce its own laws here and say
00:37:32 You can't go through it, but the German government, through Altmark's crew, requests that Altmark be allowed to transit through this restricted area of water. And the Norwegian government accepts this request. And at that point the British go, right, that's it. You are giving favours to one of our opponents. But she sails under a Norwegian escort at this point.
00:37:57 Which is even worse. Can you do me a favour? Could you type in Jossingford into the map and bring up Jossingford? Which one's Jossingford? I'm not sure if I can search on this map. Is it north or south of Bergen? Or is it around Christiansand?
00:38:21 Let me just... I'll Google it myself to make sure I'm giving you the right thing. Yeah. And so Altmark sails with a Norwegian patrol vessel escorting it. At this point, the British are diplomatically yelling at Norway to do something. Because they are quite reasonably quite angry about this.
00:38:47 Aber Sie sehen auch hier, auf der Norwegian-Koast, dass es so viele Fjords gibt, so viele Plätze, die ein Schiff kann sich inhalten. Es ist eigentlich halbwegs zwischen Stavanger und Kristiansand. Ja. Es wird hier irgendwo sein.
00:39:04 Got it. Is it this one? Yep. Excellent. And so, and at this point, Churchill is First Lord of the Admiralty. Churchill, as First Lord of the Admiralty, is incredibly aggressive with his orders to the fleet to be more aggressive, to be more proactive, and so he...
00:39:31 I think at the point when the Norwegians allow Altmark to transit through the waters, Churchill is entirely happy with ordering the ships in and seizing it then and there. Actually, no. What he does is he orders Vien to fire on the Norwegians and Vien refuses. Sorry, before I go, this is all in my book, so this is why I know it, because I literally was writing a book about it.
00:40:00 What happens at this point is Vien starts doing a relationship with the Norwegians and tries to go, can I go see it? They go, no. Will you escort me going and see it? No. And then, because he's on HMS Cossack at the time, he's taken over to give a guy called Sherbrooke a break, because Sherbrooke has been running himself into the ground. So he's transferred his flag to Cossack. And he basically goes, right then, I'm going in to check it. I'm not going to fire at you.
00:40:28 Aber ich gehe in. Und die Sache ist, dass er nicht nur in Territorial waters geht, sondern er geht in, was die Norwegian-declare, internal waters ist.
00:40:42 Ja. Which is actually technically invading Norway. Slight invasion of Norway. And as they're going in, the Altmark decides to have a bright idea. They decide that they are going to turn on all their searchlights and try and smash the Cossack against the wall of the fjord.
00:41:01 This doesn't work. The Cossack is a pretty tough tribal-class destroyer and he managed to move it. But also, bringing them closer allows for the last ever in history record example of Johnny Depp-style pirate assault where they literally throw the ropes over and swing across. Just checking if I can find a photo of Cossack.
00:41:25 Here's where we get into some interesting things with this, okay? Because there's actually a famous painting about this. Yes. The interesting thing you can get into is there's a whole debate as to whether or not any of those people going across were using swords. We know the destroyer crew weren't and they, you know, that would make sense for them. But the HMS President Origin cruiser crew, there is quite a possibility that a couple of them were using swords.
00:41:53 in terms of their older officers who had been sold with. So some of them might literally have been going across swinging swords. But they board the Altmark. They basically drive off the Germans. The Germans, most of the crew, most of the draw. They find the prisoners. They shout, the Navy's here. That's where all that great poster comes out and they get the prisoners off. They're leaving the Altmark there. And that's when the Altmark crew decide to try and counterattack. And that's when some of the Altmark crew actually get killed.
00:42:20 They hadn't been killed in the first fighting, but when they try and counterattack and board, they find themselves dealing with machine guns. And those are fairly effective at holding them on. They get a crew out, it all takes place, but after the German occupation, there's actually a stone left there saying, this commemorates where the British pirates seized the Altmark and all these things. And after World War II, the Norwegian government actually asked the British if they wanted it removed. The Royal Navy replied, no, we quite like it.
00:42:48 So it's still there. There is still apparently a stone there to this day, which talks about British pirates seizing the Altmark. So, yeah. So Altmark is... But if you zoom in on Josting 4, people can see it happens really quite far in. We're talking... I think it's... It's a bit further in than Cobotten. Yeah. So if you find that on the map, you can go further in from there. It's up there. Yeah, but like... But as you say, like, by the letter of the law...
Britische Intervention in Norwegen und die deutsche Perspektive
00:43:16
00:43:16 Britain invades Norway with a destroyer and about 200 guys. Yeah! And so, and this kicks off this incident, which from the British side is simply a case of a prisoner rescue.
00:43:36 as one would do. From the German perspective, they're apoplectic and it highlights that while the 1940s Britain is perhaps a bit more reserved in its foreign policy, when push comes to shove, Britain's going to...
00:43:57 Interpret the law as it sees fit.
00:44:26 It's also worth pointing out, as we've discussed, the Norwegian government was given numerous chances to resolve the situation without it getting to this point. And they didn't. And so... They were given a chance to, in fact, get a really clean sweep of it by saying... They could have said quite reasonably it would have actually been fairly easy to sweep it with a clean, no damage to anyone's reputation, at least for the Norwegians, of...
00:44:53 No, you can't cross our naval firing range. Out into open waters you go. That could have resolved it fairly easily. But they were so timid in regards to starting a war with Germany, they chose not to. But what I will also point out is, I just want people to put this into perspective. They are afraid of starting a war with a naval power that has never conducted an amphibious naval operation.
00:45:19 that has never invaded another country by sea, that has a relatively small navy compared to the other person they could annoy, and they would have a reasonable time to make preparations even in the event of a surprise declaration of war, because at this point Denmark still exists, and they would have to get through Denmark first to do anything surprising like an airborne invasion. Whereas they have chosen instead to annoy the power that is...
00:45:49 Ja, like...
00:46:15 Of the options they had on the table, they picked the worst one. Yeah, and so A, to the Germans, this shows that Britain will, well, from the German perspective, it shows that Britain will not respect Norwegian territorial integrity. And it also shows that in push comes to shove, Britain will take direct action within a neutral power to impact the war.
00:46:42 So, from the German industry's perspective, they are terrified at this point that Britain will move against NAVIC and just blockade the port, or seize the port, or try and interdict the Swedish iron ore traffic in some way, which is very convenient. Okay, fine, whatever. Yeah, because the Germans are correct.
00:47:06 das Britannien hat das. Britannien ist planen, um etwas zu tun, um das zu tun zu tun. Ich glaube, es geht mit der Idee, aber es gibt so viele get-out clauses in der Operation, es ist eigentlich sehr half-hearted. Und wenn man die Leute in der Lage ist, es ist ein Fall, dass sie nicht wirklich die Royal Navy's first choice of Personnel und die Army's first choice of Personnel sind.
00:47:34 I hesitate to use the phrase B-team, because that might be being generous to them. They are, who is available, who the Royal Navy and Army really don't want for anything else, other than a guy called Adrian Carlton the Weirds, who somehow gets onto all sorts of random adventures. Just the man who just won't die. Yeah. Despite his best efforts. Yeah. I mean, while Dr Clark is aware, I'd like to very quickly, if I may, discuss the state of the Norwegian Navy. I know we can talk about the land batteries in a minute.
00:48:03 But the Norwegian Navy at this point consists of two coast defense ships, the Eidsvold class, which are fairly stereotypical late 19th, early 20th century examples of the type. Three reactivated older destroyers of the Draug class, which are very much second line units at this point. You wouldn't really rate them in a gunfight with a Flower class Corvette, never mind a modern destroyer. And the, at this point, four actually useful Sleipnir class...
00:48:31 Ja, weil die Norwegen den Destroyers callen, wir würden wahrscheinlich calleden Ocean-Going Torpedo-Boats in der German-Style. Das sind in realität die nur wirklich wichtigsten und modernsten parts der Norwegian-Fleece. Ja, weil die meisten von Norwegen seabourn-defensten sind coastal fortflichten, weil... Ja, aber ich würde sagen, dass es hier nicht vergessen ist, dass es die wichtigste Teil des...
00:49:00 Ja. Ja. Ja, und so...
00:49:28 I will rebutter that in a second, but carry on. So the Coast Defense Ship as a whole is supposed to be a vessel that can defeat or at least deter first-class opponents when mixed with other assets, be that submarines, torpedo boats or coastal fortifications. But the problem is the Eitzwald-class really lost that capability post 1915.
00:49:54 The Norwegians really needed the follow-ons they didn't get, which were the... Gorgonklaas? Yeah, the Bogdjauvin, which became the Gorgons. But even they would have really slid into inability to fulfil the letter of their role by the mid to late 20s. When you've got things running around like Washington Treaty-era 8-inch cruisers...
00:50:24 Ich glaube, es ist nicht so, dass es nicht so, dass es nicht so, dass es nicht so, dass es nicht so, dass es nicht so, dass es nicht so, dass es nicht so, dass es nicht so, dass es nicht so, dass es nicht so, dass es nicht so, dass es nicht so, dass es nicht so, dass es nicht so, dass es nicht so, dass es nicht so, dass es nicht so, dass es nicht so, dass es nicht so, dass es nicht so, dass es nicht so, dass es nicht so, dass es nicht so, dass es nicht so, dass es nicht so, dass es nicht so, dass es nicht so, dass es nicht so, dass es nicht so, dass es nicht so, dass es nicht so, dass es nicht so, dass es nicht so, dass es nicht so, dass es nicht so, dass es nicht so, dass es nicht so, dass es nicht so, dass es nicht so, dass es nicht so, dass es nicht so, dass es nicht so, dass es nicht so, dass
00:50:53 So the only people who really did the investment required to stay with the concept were the Swedes. Of those nations, Sweden was the only one with the economic wherewithal to be able to invest relative to its neighbours and to its own size quite heavily in its military. Plus they had Bofors. They have Bofors. There is a big advantage in having Bofors. Norway was working. Norway's had a Bofors factory.
00:51:20 The unforgettable thing is that the Norwegians didn't adapt. They either didn't order more coast defense ships, or the more reasonable option, they didn't order until the 30s more modern torpedo boats, or quite frankly, the most unforgivable thing I can think of is they didn't order what would have been the best way to do it, would have been a class of two to four coastal submarines, which is a very good way, especially with the fjords.
00:51:49 ...defeating incoming capital grade assets for very little cost. I think the problem you're dealing with is, rather than the scenario that Australia has been dealing with more recently, in that once you're dealing with the sheer distances in terms of Norway and the sheer hoarsity of where you're talking about, you actually need more than 2-4. You're probably talking about 8-12 at least.
00:52:12 Das ist auch, weil es auch nicht so ist, weil es auch nicht so ist, dass wir uns in den Fortschritten haben, aber sie dependen a lot auf Reservists und Local Reserves, die in den Crew-Den. Ja. Und das ist die ganze Sache, dass du nicht ein Telegram hast.
00:52:38 Es gibt einen besseren Radio-Message. Und man muss die Person, weil es nicht nur die Leute, die die Fortschritte, sondern die Leute, die die Stores, die Ammunition, die General Store, die Stores. Es ist die Leute, die die Infanterie, die die Fortschritte, die die Fortschritte und die Fortschritte. Wir sprechen über Oskarburg, und die Invasion, und die Faktion, die die Germans lose den Blücher.
00:53:02 Ja. Ja. Ja.
00:53:27 Ja, wir kommen zu den Asterkorten in einem Moment, aber... Ja, wir kommen zu den Asterkorten, wahrscheinlich. Ja, wir kommen zu den Asterkorten, aber... Ja, wir kommen zu den Asterkorten, wahrscheinlich. Ja, wir kommen zu den Asterkorten, aber... Ja, wir kommen zu den Asterkorten, wahrscheinlich mit den Asterkorten. Ja, ich komme zu den Asterkorten, wahrscheinlich mit den Asterkorten, ist, dass... Ja, sie waren absolut, aber sie waren nicht...
00:53:54 Ich denke, sie würden auch gut arbeiten, obwohl es die Zeit ist, weil ich meine, wenn es alles überläuft, dann sind sie große Barsche.
00:54:05 Aber sie mussten arbeiten als Teil des integriertes System. Ja. Und was passiert ist, dass sie nicht wirklich viel Aufmerksamkeit haben, sie nicht mehr Unterstützung haben, und sie wurden in der Zeit, wenn sie ein paar hundert Meter entfernt von ihnen waren, und sie wurden vorbereitet. Sie wurden nicht in diese Situation in all.
00:54:30 ...either they both go or neither of them should go.
00:54:57 Ja. Ja, und so... So, eventually we get to the point where the war in Europe breaks out. The Germans invade Denmark and take it very quickly. Although that was basically the Danes decided to not resist, to avoid damage to their country.
00:55:26 Ja, und so...
00:55:43 So with Denmark occupied, particularly Danish airfields, now there's a feeling that Germany can act more aggressively against Norway because they can, in theory, deploy the Luftwaffe over a decent amount of southern Norway, where like Oslo is. They can, in theory, use the Luftwaffe to help interdict against any Royal Navy intervention, but the Germans decide that they're going to invade Norway.
00:56:12 Aber, als ich gesagt habe, Deutschland hat niemals eine Major Amphibische Assault. Sie haben nicht die Spezialist-Equipment, die meisten Menschen denken, wenn man eine Oppose-Landung denkt. Diese sind nicht Landen-Kraft. Sie haben nicht Tanks, die können Floats-Sieger sein. Die German Plan ist sail in die Harbour, tie-up at Harbour, Disgorge-Infantry und hope das funktioniert.
00:56:39 Und in certain cases, mit dem Procedet von Falschimjäger zu versuchen, die Infrastruktur zu versuchen. Ja, genau. Und so, so, so they attempt. Das ist, wenn du die Reservisten armst und in ihren Positionen hast, especially mit der Maschine-Gunsten, imagine wenn die Wurfseite, wenn die Wurfseite, wenn die Wurfseite, wenn die Wurfseite, wenn die Wurfseite, wenn die Wurfseite, wenn die Wurfseite, wenn die Wurfseite, wenn die Wurfseite, wenn die Wurfseite, wenn die Wurfseite, wenn die Wurfseite, wenn die Wurfseite, wenn die Wurfseite, wenn die Wurfseite, wenn die Wurfseite, wenn die Wurfseite, wenn die Wurfseite, wenn die Wurfseite, wenn die Wurfseite, wenn die Wurfseite, wenn die Wurfseite, wenn die
00:57:03 Ja, und wenn das mal wieder funktioniert, aber nicht wieder einmal, dann haben wir eine Chance.
00:57:19 Do they try and blast the Pierside to make way for the landing, at which point you wreck a lot of the infrastructure you need to offload your troops, but you can still offload infantry, or do you try and use ship's boats to go ashore not at Pierside and try and preserve the infrastructure? Either way, bad options that take more time. Yeah, and so... And allow for those troops to deploy where they want to deploy, and again, you're dealing with an embedded force. There were eight groups of German ships intended for the invasion.
Deutsche Invasion Norwegens: Kriegsschiffe und Truppenbewegungen
00:57:46
00:57:46 Um, and we're talking literally, basically anything the Kriegsmarine has that floats is being used in this invasion. All the way from, like, the Weimar-era Emden, the torpedo boats, the new destroyers, the pocket battleships, the so-brand-new, she's-still-shiny Bluka.
00:58:10 And for some reason, someone decided that let's take the Unstable Cruisers out for a spin. What could possibly go wrong? Yeah. And the only German Kriegsmarine assets that are used for the invasion that aren't there specifically to land troops are the twins. Scharnhorst and Gneiser now are operating as the heavy covering force. But when you think that the Germans are planning to land from Oslo...
00:58:39 To Narvik, with forces, Scharnholz and Gneisenau can only be in one place with any chance of defeating a Royal Navy scouting cruiser or destroyer force. It gets worse if you think about if the Royal Navy had encountered them, most of those ships are loaded with not just the troops on deck, but also their supplies on deck, so they can't use their guns. So, in a nice way, if the Royal Navy had found them, it's a massacre.
00:59:08 Not because the Royal Navy is massively superior, but because the Germans are going to be hesitating for at least a few minutes to work out how do we get off the ammunition off decks and all the stuff to free out our guns. And that's all the time you need in this period to actually cause massive damage. I think, if I'm remembering correctly, George Teela, one of the German destroyers that lands at Narvik, is carrying something like 400 troops just on her. Like, she's got more...
00:59:34 Sie hat mehr German Infanterie an Board als ihre eigene Crew. Es ist über eine 2-1-Ratio. Ja, das ist ziemlich common. Ja, da sind zwei Spiele. Da sind zwei Spiele, die in ihrer Absenzung sind, hier. Sie würden denken, als Assets, die können viele Menschen, die sie aufzuhören, und wenn sie sie nicht, es ist eine große Sache. Slesien und Sleswig-Holstein sind Absatz. Sie sind nicht Absatz, sie sind in Denmark. Ja.
01:00:04 Ich weiß nicht, warum, denn sie sind sehr lang. Wenn ich um den Oskarborg-Fortress stehe, würde ich eher ein Dreadnought benutzen, als Blücher benutzen. Ja, aber gleichzeitig wollen sie auch den Drennen. Das ist das Problem.
01:00:32 Ich denke, die vorherigen Diskussion hat mir den impression, dass es die Invasion des Denmark war und dann die Invasion des Norweges war, aber es war alles gleichzeitig.
01:00:59 The Germans know full well that if they go after Denmark, they have to go for Norway. You either take neither or you take both. Yeah, because if they take Denmark and not Norway, Britain will come to protect Norway.
01:01:23 So, when these Kriegsmarine ships start moving, the British do detect a mass sailing of the Kriegsmarine. But they think it's an attempted breakout.
01:01:47 They don't think they're going for Norway. So the bulk of the home fleet, which is around Scotland up in Scarpa Flow, deploys to prevent a breakout into the Atlantic Ocean to protect the convoy routes. It's not until a day or so later that it really dawns on the British that the Germans have gone for Norway.
01:02:12 Ja.
01:02:26 Es ist nicht die Royal Navy, die es sehr bürokratisch ist, sondern es ist die British Government, die es auszilliert, nach und nach und nach und nach und nach und nach und nach und nach und nach und nach und nach und nach und nach und nach.
01:02:45 So, ja, es ist nicht die Royal Navy, die auf die Burekratik zu slowen. Es ist, um... Ja, so... Ja, so... Ja, so... Ja, so... Die Royal Navy ist in der Juste in der Juste in der Juste in der Juste in der Juste in der Juste in der Juste in der Juste in der Juste in der Juste in der Juste in der Juste in der Juste in der Juste in der Juste in der Juste in der Juste in der Juste in der Juste in der Juste in der Juste in der Juste in der Juste in der Juste in der Juste in der Juste in der Juste in der Juste in der
01:03:15 weil es war, weil es in der Lage war, die nicht wissen, wie die Navier arbeiten. Und das ist auch warum die Kriegsmarine hatten, weil das so. Weil kein professionell Navier-Officer versucht zu senden, die bulk ihrer Destroyer-Fleet in den Norden, wo sie keine Re-Supply haben. Ja, genau.
01:03:43 Ja. Die Funktion ist, hier in Norwegen, ist es wargamed über die Jahre, mit den Fortschrittenen auf den beiden Seiten, die Briten, als Historiker, oder nicht, etc. Es ist wargamed über die ganze Zeit, und die meisten der Zeit, die es passiert.
01:04:04 The Germans fail. Catastrophically. The Norwegian campaign was the Germans being, arguably, forget France, the Norwegian campaign was the most wildly successful the Germans ever were.
01:04:23 Imprim Folli, kann ich einfach eine Frage, weil Sie immer sagen, dass die Royal Navy Intelligenz ist. Die Royal Navy haben Intelligenz Analysts. Die Intelligenz Service ist MI6, die nicht Teil der Royal Navy. GCHQ und die andere Dinge sind nicht Teil der Royal Navy. Sie sind nicht Teil der Royal Navy. Ich bin nicht sicher, was Sie haben, aber ich würde sagen, das ist ein guter Buch zu gehen. Andy Boyd's, British Naval Intelligence.
01:04:50 durch die 20th century. Und es ist ein ziemlich guter Typ. Ich würde sagen, ich glaube, alles in dem, aber da wieder, ich bin ein Historian, Fleet to Historian, wir sind gut Freunde, wir sind nicht gut Freunde, also ein guter Freund. Und ich glaube, es ist ein guter Typ, aber ich glaube, es ist ein guter Typ. Und so, und so, du hast die Force, es Blücher, Lutzau,
Der Angriff auf Oslo und die Rolle der Oskarborg-Festung
01:05:17
01:05:17 Emden, I think, is present and a couple smaller craft are the Oslo Force. And a movie recently came out called The King's Choice, I believe. The King's Choice, yes. Yes, which is a movie about the German invasion of Norway. I highly recommend it. And it has the Oskarborg scene.
01:05:42 um in it it's a bit condensed for time because in the film it's like five minutes of the film but in reality it was more drawn out but you have um but at the same time this is going on there actually are royal navy warships north of narvik uh taking part in what was called operation wilfred which was mining waters near narvik
01:06:09 Und so, which is where this photo comes from. This is HMS Renown, which was in the area, sort of playing heavy escort for the destroyers doing it. But this gives you an idea of just how bad the seas are in this part of the North Sea. It's very unpleasant, which will become important later when we talk about Glowworm.
01:06:37 Ja, und sie sind so schlecht, dass sie die Renown ausrunten Herd-Destroyer sind. Ja, in schlechtes Wetter, größere Spiele werden schneller. Tens oder Tausend von Tonnen unter dir, du wirst nicht so viel über Wagen. Du wirst noch nicht so viel über Wagen, aber nicht so viel, als wenn du auf einem Schiff mit 2,000 Tonnen hast. Ja, und so Blücher's Task Force sails auf.
01:07:05 They're challenged at several points by Norwegian forces on the banks. There's a bit of shooting before they get to Oskarborg, but it doesn't really stick. And the German ships are sailing blacked out, slowly to keep them to be as quiet as a 10,000 ton heavy cruiser can be. And they are essentially...
01:07:32 In an ideal world they are expecting to just sail up, disembark in Oslo and seize the government, seize the royal family, seize the treasury. Because Norway has a lot of gold. A lot of gold. And they can decapitate the government and the nation will fall very quickly.
01:07:57 Das ist die Plan. Ja, das ist die Plan. Als ich gerade gesagt habe, du kannst wahrscheinlich denken, dass viele Punkte in dieser Plan, wo, wenn etwas falsch ist, die ganze Plan ist falsch. Und sie kommen zu Dobrak Sound, die, wie Sie sehen, auf dieser Map ist eine der narroweren Punkte der Waterway, von der coast zu Oslo. Oslo ist eine der kleinen Pläne, das ist incredibly...
01:08:25 Easy to defend. It's why people lived there. Because if someone wants to come up the water, like in the age of Vikings and all of that, they've got a long way to go and you can see them coming. And you can put lots and lots and lots of funny things in their way. Yes. And so you have Oskarborg Fortress.
01:08:49 which is here, and you can actually even see three of the 11-inch guns. These are Austro-Hungarian weapons from before the Austro-Hungarian Empire fell. They're 11-inch in calibre, but they're not the only thing. There's also an underwater torpedo battery, which I think is on this island.
01:09:13 Ja, ich weiß nicht. Ich dachte, es war etwas weiterer. Nein, es sind German. Ich dachte, sie waren Austro-Hungarian. Nein, sie waren Krupp. Die Krupp waren Krupp. Die Krupp waren Krupp. Die Krupp waren Krupp. Ja, das war Krupp. Ja, das war Krupp. Wir hatten ein Segment von der Rieka Torpedo Museum, von der Old Torpedo Factory, ein paar Jahre später.
01:09:43 Vielen Dank.
01:09:44 Also, da waren extra smaller calibre, 75mm guns, auf der anderen Seite der Fjord. So, wenn du aufstehen würden, du würdest du von beiden Seiten schießen. Ich glaube, da waren auch ein paar 5-inch guns. Ich forget die exacte calibre der anderen Batterie. 15cm und 6cm. Ja. So, Blücher, die Force ist auf, Blücher ist in der lead.
01:10:14 And you get, well, the movie sets it up kind of interestingly with the searchlight beam sweeping the water and then stopping on Blücher and then the other beam locks on it. Yeah. Hang on, you're not meant to be here. And so, and I annoyingly realise I don't have a photo of the kernel to hand.
01:10:41 Ansel 74, I believe the torpedo battery was on the mainland. No, the torpedo battery was on the second island in China. Yeah, it all came under the fortress because it was supposed to be one united under the command of one officer. Just want to bear in mind, the film actually got his famous command wrong. Yes, it does say his name wrong, that is correct. No, no, his command. His quote is in, yes.
01:11:05 Ja, genau. Ja, genau. Ja, genau.
01:11:33 Reservers were basically not chained enough to reload quickly and reload at night and reload potentially under fire. That also informed his decision and his quote, because he decided to not go by the standing orders and not fire warning shots. No. Yes. Because if a warship from a combative nation is sailing...
01:11:57 up your waters, to your capital, completely blacked out, they're not there to throw you a birthday party. And he gave his famous line, who wants to say it? We also point out that the colonel himself was a reservist himself, he had actually retired, and was brought back basically because he was one of the guys who knew the fort best, and he also lived in the local area.
01:12:26 Das ist eigentlich ein Punkt, das ist ein bisschen wichtig, weil wir die Forte kennen, weil die Forte haben eine große Vorteile über die Warships. Sie bleiben in der gleichen Zeit. So wie bei der Feuerkontrolle geht, die Forte hat alle Firing-Solutions für alle Kombinationen der möglichen Targets-Speed, Wind-Speed, Wind-Direktion.
01:12:55 Und auch der Fakt ist, dass der Fortress weiß, wo die Searchlights sind. So wenn der Schiff ist ein Beam des Searchlights, dann wissen sie wie weit entfernt der Schiff ist.
01:13:11 Sie wussten, dass die Fjord fjord fjord fjord fjord fjord.
01:13:41 The good Colonel knew the area very well and knew where the ship is and knew how far it is. He knew that the rangefinder data are wrong, so he was able to correct on the spot. And so, like I said, standing orders were to file warning shots.
01:14:01 Der Kernel decides nicht zu tun. Er still aims high. Mit den 11-Inch-Gunsten, er war nicht zu sinken Blücher.
01:14:12 But as the ship gets to within about 1200 or so metres of the fort, he issues his famous order, either I will be court-martialed or decorated, open fire. Gun 1 fires, strikes Blücher around her bridge area, and an 11-inch shell, it doesn't matter if it was built in 1897, it's an 11-inch shell.
Das Chaos bricht aus: Die Zerstörung der Blücher und die Flucht der Norwegischen Regierung
01:14:38
01:14:38 Blücher is carrying a bunch of infantry on board. They've got their supplies. She's got her spotter plane with all its fuel on board. This shell strikes her amidship and just half and the center part of Blücher bursts into flames. At that point...
01:14:58 All hell breaks loose. Blücher's crew start firing back in all directions. The battery on the other side of the fjord opens fire, striking Blücher on her other side. The second gun fires, hits her further aft in the hangar area. The aircraft catches fire, the fuel detonates. Blücher is a charnel house at this point because she's got...
01:15:23 All her crew are at their action stations, but most of the Wehrmacht troops are on deck, because there's not space for them below deck.
01:15:33 Und so Blücher tries to return fire with what weapons she has. Her main guns aren't capable because the director is engulfed in flames, so they can't even see where to shoot. A couple of her secondary batteries return fire. As we said, the colonel knew that his crews weren't able to rearm under fire, so as soon as both guns fire, everyone just takes cover. As all hell is breaking loose in the fjords.
01:16:02 Ja. Lutsau, das zweite ship in der Gruppe, tries to stop as quickly as she can. Mhm. Because Bluka's just exploded in front. Like, okay, that's not good. That wasn't part of the plan. Yeah. And then Bluka kind of, well, she's still sailing under power because nothing below the waterline's been hit. So the ship's still going on.
01:16:28 so they can't really say stop and then she comes across the underwater torpedo battery they fire two whitehead torpedoes into bluka's side even though they're older torpedoes they had been up that they had been sort of modernized they are not older torpedoes they are basically the oldest torpedo but they also did get lucky and they struck outside her torpedo defense protection scheme so they hit her and with two torpedoes and bluka
01:16:56 Begins to sink. And this act, the colonel and the crew of the fort, by the government enough time to A, realise there's a war on, we're in it now, despite all our efforts and everything to avoid it, we're now at war with Germany. At this point the police commissioner starts going, where's that weirdo gone who was in my office earlier? Yes, we should probably go and arrest the Nazi.
01:17:24 Ja. Ja, er ist er. Er war in der Germanen Embassy, wenn ich glaube, richtig? Ja. Ja, er war. Das ist ein Ort, wo die Norwegen die Polizei nicht ging. Die größte Use der Zeit, dass die Norwegen die Regierung begonnen hat, war die Regierung, der König und der Goat. Ja. Die drei Haupttargets in Oslo waren weg.
01:17:53 Ich denke, es war ein bisschen heilig, weil in der Morgen waren die deutschen Paratroopers in Oslo, und sie mussten zusammen eine Pursuit-Party mit dem Paratroopers und der Embassy-Staff, die von ein paar Norwegian-Reservisten und der Norwegian-Rifle-Club waren.
01:18:21 Yes, the Norwe- Yes, the Norwe- I mean, like- This is one of the points I tried to make, though, about the Norwegians. If they'd actually sent out their alert by radio and actually tried to get people- The Norwegians have enough enthusiasts who are good in rifle clubs and who are in terms of their reservists. Seriously, it would have been a massacre for the Germans. Shooting as a pastime is quite a Scandinavian thing. Yes.
01:18:46 Ja, und die resten der Germanen Fortschreitze, um sie zurückzuziehen, um ihre Fjord zu verlassen, und sie dann in der Fjord zurückzuziehen. So Oslo falls, aber als wir gesagt haben, alles die Germans in Oslo haben geblieben. Sie haben auch einen Rauch gegen Oskarburg geblieben, weil sie von den Fortschreitern bekommen sind, dass die Fortschreitze ist, dass die Fortschreitze ist und aktiv ist, weil es Sunk Blücher hat.
01:19:11 And there's a famous quote from one of the, from, I believe, the colonel again, when a bomb hit the fort's woodworking hut. And the bomb exploded and sent axes flying everywhere. So a junior rank runs up to the colonel and goes, Sir, the Germans are out of bombs. They're dropping axes on us.
01:19:37 Ja. Ich bin nicht sicher. Ich würde mehr über Axes fallen von der sky, persönlich. Es wird sehr einfacher.
01:19:49 Having been to Oslo, I would say, though, occupying it and missing out on the gold, the king and the government means you're in for a very expensive time, because having bought burgers and drinks there, it was very expensive. It wasn't making me think I was going to need to remortgage my house. So, yeah, I loved Oslo. The people were lovely, but it did make London look cheap. It made London look cheap. Yeah.
Britische Reaktion und das Gefecht zwischen Renown und Deutschen Kriegsschiffen
01:20:19
01:20:19 That was the scary thing. Yeah, and so, but when this is all going on in Oslo, on the British side, now everyone's on the same page. Germany is actively invading Norway. We need to do something. And so you end up up here, where Renown meets up with the other destroyers that were mining as part of Operation Wilfrid, and...
01:20:45 Und Admiral Whitworth, ich glaube, ist Flag Officer von Renown. Und er bekommt eine ordnung von Admiralty, dass, in der höchstwemmiede, dass keine Germanen Forderungen von Navik erreichen. Der Problem für Whitworth ist, als er diese Message bekommt... Go an. Sorry, Sie können nur auf den anderen... Aha. ...auf der andere Seite in der Map. Ja.
01:21:17 So this is all the invading, a lot of invading. An awful lot of invading. A lot of invading was going on. Almost too much invading. So Whitworth gets the order, most immediate, ensure no German forces reach Narvik, because from the British perspective, the most important part of Norway is Narvik.
01:21:45 Everything south of that is nice, but Narvik is the important part. But by the time Witwith gets this signal and starts sailing to act on his orders, the ten German destroyers are already unloading their troops. And have already savaged. I've already fought the first battle of Narvik. It's going to be three.
01:22:13 Ich werde Alex sagen über das. Wer ist das? Go on Alex, take it away, excuse me. Das erste Mal ist, dass es interessant ist. Ja. Während der Gnarbeck ist, diese Tandisters sind auch doomed. Sie waren supposed to have zwei Eulers für Re-Fueling. Eine war eigentlich ein Wailing-Ship, das war aus dem...
01:22:41 Murmansk and got there without incident. The other was an Euler, that would be probably better for refueling them. That was sailing from Germany, from the other side. And the second ship got stopped. Once the war alert went finally up, it got stopped by a teeny tiny patrol boat in one of the fjords south of Narvik.
01:23:04 Und nachdem der Kapitän des Petrolbauts herausgefunden hat, dass seine initiale Planung, das zu nehmen, als ein Preis zu nehmen, und es nach Bodo zurückgebracht hat, dass es nicht funktionieren würde, weil es nur zu viel German crew aufbaut war, für seine zehn Leute zu handeln. Also, er hat entschieden, dass er den Euler mit seiner kleinen 47-mm-Gun, was er geschafft hat. Das würde es dauern. Ja, es hat etwas gemacht.
01:23:34 So you have... While all this is going on, as this photo implies, you think how big Renown is in game, and you think how tall these waves are, you end up in a situation where one of the British destroyers as part of this force, HMS Glowworm, detaches herself from...
01:24:02 Renown's Force, because a man's been swept overboard and they're trying to find him. Given this is April in the North Sea, yes, efforts have to be made to try and save the lives of their crews, but chances are the moment someone goes in the water in those conditions, they're probably dead.
01:24:29 So Glowworm has been detached. She is on her way. She's later ordered to link up with HMS Birmingham, I believe. Yes. But on her way to meet up with Birmingham, she runs into two German destroyers. I forget which ones, though.
01:24:53 So the two German destroyers have infantry on board, so they can't fight. So they just bolt in the direction of HIPAA. And Glowworm doesn't have radar, so she doesn't know that HIPAA's there. She just sees two German destroyers.
01:25:18 Also, the Royal Navy had a theory that the German guns, because of the size of the ships they were, would not be the most stable or accurate things in close quarters.
01:25:48 Und das ist warum...
01:26:15 Glow Worm was trying to find a sailor, because that's the kind of seas they were sailing in. I mean, I'm sure many people here have seen, there's a photo of a US Ali Burke that has come, just is coming down off a wave. And it's like, it's like, crew chief, dive. So we're a destroyer. I said dive. I did not stutter.
01:26:38 Das ist eigentlich was das Destroyer ist hier. Sie ist zu imitieren, eine Submarine. Und so, wenn du jemanden mit der A-Turret bist, und du bist in der wronge Zeit, das Sieg wird einfach nicht mehr tun. Und da ist nichts du kannst.
01:27:05 So, Frankfurt, being at eight turret, you at least have the advantage that you are facing forward, so you see the waves, but if you are on one of the stern turrets, the water still gets to you in this state, and you are looking away from the waves. Orders aside, if I'm on a ship that's about 1,400 tons, and it's doing this, even if I'm on, like...
01:27:30 D-Turret. Ich bin immer noch auf den BOW. Ich glaube, dass es eine Royal Navy-Policy ist, dass es einen Mann aus der Rear-Turret-Cruise ist, der Job in diesen Weathers ist einfach zu sagen, WAVE! WAVE! Und so... Ja, um den Staten des Seas zu demonstrieren, in der Run-In mit der Renowned Terrible Twins hat, ich habe die Translation von der Action Report.
01:27:59 Und das ist nachdem die Twins waren mit ihren höheren Bows.
01:28:28 So as Bill, it would have been even worse. It's amazing that Duke of York ever managed to fire anything from her four web turrets in this kind of weather. I had a question in the chat. Let me go back to it. Oh yeah, which way could the government and King's state go to the UK? So just to quickly answer to this.
01:28:57 Der König und der Regierung kamen auf Royal Navy. Der Gold war zu viel, also Belkowit war in Tundra, um die Landmine zu verletzten, was dann ein Problem haben, nach der Krieg, wenn es Zeit kam, um die Mines zu deaktivieren. Does anyone remember, wo wir die Mines buried? Both das und die Mines. Die Mines spent fünf Jahre in Permafrost.
01:29:26 Es ist nicht eine gute Idee.
01:29:37 Ich glaube, es geht um, es geht um, es geht um, es geht um, es geht um, es geht um, es geht um, es geht um, es geht um, es geht um, es geht um, es geht um, es geht um, es geht um, es geht um, es geht um, es geht um,
01:29:59 Ja, ja, da waren, in der Ende, glaube ich, ein Team von Norwegen und Sovjet-Bomb-Experten. Das macht Sinn, weil die Sovjet-Bomb-Experten haben, mit Explosiven in Tundra. Ja, so, ja, so, das ist ja. Und ja, da war nicht wirklich Plan B, um sie zu folgen, um sie zu folgen, um die Bosniaks zu folgen.
01:30:25 Basically, die ganze Sache liegt auf Plan A, also Plan B war die Abhazardung des Embassy und die Paratoutes, die ich vorhin schon erwähnt habe, und da gab es keinen Plan C. Also, deutsche Operationen nicht wirklich... Es ist sehr schwer, dass man sie mit einem Plan B finden. Sie sind meistens auf dem Plan A, wir haben absoluten Vertrauen in unsere Planung, und wir sehen, dass alles funktioniert.
01:30:51 So Glowworm pursues the German destroyers, they run into HIPAA, HIPAA gets a radar lock on her, so even here, like, this isn't Glowworm on fire, this is her trying to lay a smokescreen while also on fire. Yes. Yeah, and so she fires all her torpedoes.
01:31:19 at HIPAA. Glowworm is interesting because she was the testbed destroyer for the Quintuple torpedo launches, if I remember correctly.
01:31:29 So she fires 10 torpedoes at Hipper. Hipper knows she's only fighting one destroyer. Hipper's captain is very competent. He keeps her bowed to Glowworm and the torpedoes all miss while just taking chunks out of Glowworm. And with two guns knocked out, she's on fire. She's got numerous casualties. Glowworm's captain decides the best thing he can do in the situation is ram Hipper.
01:31:57 Basically, parry this, you awkward casual, shall we say. And so Glowworm impacts the Destroyer, and I will admit right now I've forgotten the name of Glowworm's Captain's name. Alex, do the thing! He gets a VC posthumously for this. On the recommendation of Hipper's Captain.
01:32:20 Which is a rarity. It's amazing. I had it in my head until actually... Yeah. Keirnus said he couldn't remember it. And then it went from my head as well. Don't look at me, lads. Rup, that's it. Yeah. And so Rup actually survives the collision. Despite being on the bridge and being a place that often gets hit in destroyers, Rup survives. And even though...
01:32:49 Glowworm strikes Hipper on the bow, opens up part of her side, and that's about 500 tons of water in. Like, because Hipper is prepped for action and prepped to expect torpedo attack, she's fully locked up. The crew knows what they're doing. So 500 tons of water sounds like a lot, but it's pretty only concentrated very forward. Hipper isn't in any danger of sinking from the impact. No. I would like to emphasize, though, that...
01:33:17 Ja, so... So, once the fighting has stopped...
01:33:39 Rules of the Sea kick in. Hipper's crew set about trying to rescue as many of the British sailors as they can. Because the ships collided, Glowworm stays afloat for maybe longer than you would expect before the ships come apart. And the fact that, yes, Hipper might be a 14,000 ton heavy cruiser, Glowworm is almost literally a tenth of the displacement.
01:34:07 When Glowworm hits Hipper, Glowworm's bow just crumples because of the force. So as soon as they come apart, Glowworm starts going down and she rolls over. Roop, the captain, isn't rescued. I believe he's last seen sitting on a deck chair as Glowworm has rolled over, talking to a fellow officer about the cricket. He then enters the water but isn't rescued.
01:34:37 Hipper then returns to Tromso to make repairs, and through the Red Cross and efforts, the Captain tries to say, like, what this ship did was very brave, and the Captain should get the Victoria Cross, but he doesn't get that until after the war when the story fully comes out.
01:35:02 Ja, aber es ist auch ein paar Gründe, weil sie nicht umbieten zu Loss immediately sind. Aber es ist ein paar Ausgaben von der Victoria Cross, die es von einem foreign nationalen ist. Und es ist auch interessant, Sari, weil er das es, und er macht es, dass er es, dass er wahrscheinlich in Trouble mit seiner eigenen Regierung für es wird. Und er wird censured für es. Er wird geholfen. Er wird geholfen.
01:35:29 Es ist nicht die Sache, die man sollte machen. Aber es sind die Regeln von der See. Es ist eine Gruppe, ich kenne sie, die Langsdorf-Flykes, die, wenn sie die Nazi-Politik wählen, sie wählen sie jeden Tag. Es war tatsächlich das gleiche Fall später in der Samarzt.
01:35:57 Ja, ja. Von der Deutschen Seite. Leute, ich werde jetzt aufbauen. Bis zum nächsten Mal. Bis zum nächsten Mal. Bis zum nächsten Mal.
01:36:18 Now in a perfect world, Tookie will drop out and then Draco will slide in. Were it so easy. Yes, in a perfect world. Were it so perfect. Okay, this is the scene we will go with. Apparently I'm now big. You're big. Again, just sort of pushing all the buttons. I've disappeared completely. Yes. I am in control. Oh good. I've now disappeared completely. I can do all sorts of naughty things. But again, here is a photo of Hipper's crew.
01:36:46 Ja. Ja. Bring Dr. Clarke back. Ich kann mich wieder zurück. Ich kann mich wieder zurückziehen. Ich kann mich wieder zurückziehen. Ich kann mich wieder zurückziehen. Das ist gut. Das ist gut. Das ist gut. Das ist gut. Das ist gut. Das ist gut. Das ist gut. Das ist gut. Das ist gut. Das ist gut. Das ist gut. Das ist gut.
01:37:15 Und für jemanden zu fragen, ja, ich habe sie. Gut, Mann. Es ist nicht nur auf beiden Enden, aber ich habe eine Grabe. Also, wir haben die Glowworm und HEPA, und die Heroics auf beiden Seiten. So, jetzt kommen wir auf Lofossen.
01:37:33 Ah, yes. The Terrible Joostom versus the Angriest Battlecruiser. You sank one of my escorts! I will get Revenge! I am going to Merk you. Stand still. Basically, there is Renown in Normal mode and there is Renown in Angry Mother Bear mode.
01:37:53 Ja. Und das ist was ihr Facing. Renown in Angry Mother Bear Mode. Ja. Das ist warum, Honestly, Nice and Out, und Scharnhorst, die die gleiche Sache. Mitdrawer. Mitdrawer. Mitdrawer. Ja. Es ist also worth pointing out, dass das ein Engagement ist, dass das Wetter ist. Ja. Ja. Du hast ein paar Faktors hier. First of all, Renown's Gunnery Crew ist einfach besser zu Beginn mit. As a ship, sie hat eine Crack Gunnery Crew.
01:38:19 Aber was ich wollte sagen, ist...
01:38:47 Not only is, well, as Dr. Clark said, I'm not saying that the German ships are bad, but Renown's gunnery crew is just better, but also she's riding the swell better. Her gunnery control team is getting the better of timing her salvos to that swell because she's riding it better. She's making, I don't think she's running faster than the German ships, but she's definitely handling the seaway better. And it's also at this point, Sarnost and Neisenau.
01:39:15 It's not like if they get damaged, there's Bismarck and Turb, it's the fallback on. They aren't ready and they won't be ready for another year. And also you can't rely on any of the other quasi-capital ships to fill the void because they're also all committed.
01:39:31 But I mean, the Panzerschiffs, you can't rely on them either, because they're also all committed to this operation. So if Sharnos and Nice now get tangled up with Renown, and that engagement goes badly, that is an unacceptable outcome. The reasonable choice, and the correct one that is actually taken, is Withdrawal. Yeah, so Renown and Eight Destroyers at this point are trying to shield the approaches to Narvik. Glowworm has sent out...
01:40:00 Teil der Sighting Report ist, dass sie sie engagieren German Warschips zu der South. Aber sie sind nicht 100% sicher, was sie sind. So Renown, unter Admiral Whitworth, sie sind South, versuchen, zu finden die Germanen Ships, und, wenn es möglich, zu rescueen Glowworm. Weil, wenn die Radio geht, das könnte sein, dass die Radio hat, und sie ist noch Sailing.
01:40:29 Or it could mean that they need to go and try and pick up survivors. At this point, Hipper is already on her way back inland for repairs, and Renown and her destroyers run into Sharnels and Gneisernau under the command of Admiral Lutyens. And despite the bad weather, which is awful...
01:40:52 Renown and the Destroyers open fire, leading to this amusing situation where Renown's firing kind of normally, but all the Destroyers behind her have got their guns cranked to the absolute maximum range setting. They don't hit anything, the Destroyers, but it looks impressive on the back from the German perspective, and I've read the German...
01:41:20 After Action Reports, and the British After Action Reports as well. And as we say, Renown here is shooting fast, she's shooting accurately, and she starts scoring hits. She disables Gneisenau's, one of Gneisenau's turrets and fire control.
01:41:41 Sie ist einfach aus modernisieren, so sie hat die latest in fire control, latest gunnery, als gut crew. So, sie hat eine wirklich gute Vorteile. Plus, für die Germans, da ist das Scenario, wenn sie stand und kämpft properly, um ihre Waffe zu geben, dann werden sie überswettet werden. Sie werden renäuern engagiert werden. Und was ist das Scenario? Wenn Sie die Briten stoppen, in einem Spot haben, haben sie mehr. Es gibt schon viele Gespräche über die Briten, wie viele die Briten sind.
01:42:10 The British do not believe in fighting fair. They are quite happy to, they will bring their full force to sink you. They might not need on paper their full force to come sink, you know, on paper only need one ship. But if they can bring four, they'll bring four because they're less likely to take a casualty that way. And this is one of the arguments we get into when we're talking, if we ever talk about Denmark Straits, is that Denmark Straits...
01:42:32 The Admiral Holland actually sort of goes against Royal Navy Doctrine in that he isn't bringing in all the resources. He's trying to almost fight it fair. And the Royal Navy Doctrine is we do unfair battles. We have this mass. Let's use it. Yeah. It's the best way for us. But it's not all in the Royal Navy's favour. Renown does take two 11-inch hits in return.
01:42:56 One through the four mast and one through the lower side, but they don't do a lot of damage. Lutschens, obviously this is, as Fleet said, Sharnos and Gneisen are the only German capital ships operational at the moment. His orders are to prevent the Royal Navy getting to Narvik, but those orders come with the caveat of if contested by superior forces, do not accept battle.
01:43:22 And at this point, given the way their engagement's going, he quite rightly judges that Renown and her escorts are a superior force at that moment. And he also believes that Repulse might be in the area as well. She's not as modernised, but she's still a competent and dangerous opponent. So the German ships break off, they lay smoke. Yes, battleships did lay smoke.
01:43:45 Scharnholz cuts across Gneisenau's stern, firing at Renown and the destroyers to give Gneisenau time to break off under the cover of a smokescreen. In the after-action reports, the Germans report that Renown is shooting accurately and rapidly.
01:44:04 But then when you read Renown's records, they're saying that they couldn't really see anything through the spray in the sea. So we're just firing anyway. And so the Germans are commending it. And the Brits are like, we couldn't really see what we were shooting at. But Renown has the most advanced fire control that the Navy has access to at the time, which does help a bit. But at this point, the 10 German destroyers in Narvik have no protection now.
01:44:33 Also, one of the troubles you have with that particular gunnery crew of the Renown is they have a bit of reputation in the Royal Navy at this point, because in a previous gunnery competition, those officers had actually, how do I put this? Because the way the Royal Navy did these gunnery exercises, they asked the personnel to mark their own gunnery, and then they showed them the stewards marking there, and consistently that gunnery crew undermarked themselves. They consistently presumed they hadn't hit targets. They were...
01:45:01 Ja, und so we end up at the point where...
Die Schlacht um Narvik und britische Geheimdienstfehler
01:45:29
01:45:29 Was should be called the Second Battle of Narvik, but is most often referred to as the First Battle of Narvik, is when British Intelligence, which is an oxymoron in and of itself, reports that one German merchant ship entered Narvik and disembarked troops. That one German merchant ship was ten German destroyers.
01:45:56 Where that got mixed up, we're not 100% sure. So... It could be the fact that most intelligence coming out of there was Chinese whispers. Yeah. Basically, it's going from one person to one person to one person to one person, and eventually it reaches an embassy or something and gets reported back to the British government, and then it gets turned innocent to the Admiralty to work out what to do. And that's the trouble. You have to remember...
01:46:21 The Royal Navy has quite good intelligence on Japan, where they pretty much have been able to handpick who they're supporting and who's sustaining and carrying out the intelligence of Japan. They have fairly good intelligence on Italy. But when it comes to Norway, they've kind of left that to the Foreign Office and the secret service, the SIS to do the lead. The SIS lead in Norway...
01:46:47 Es ist praktisch nicht existent. Es ist alles um die Foreign Office, Foreign Office Intelligent Service. Und sie sind meistens die Diplomaten, die manchmal hören, zu den News. At dieser Zeit. At dieser Zeit. Please, Leute, Leute, Leute, Leute, Leute, Leute, Leute, Leute, Leute, Leute, Leute, Leute, Leute, Leute, Leute, Leute, Leute, Leute, Leute, Leute, Leute, Leute, Leute, Leute, Leute, Leute, Leute, Leute, Leute, Leute, Leute, Leute, Leute, Leute, Leute, Leute, Leute, Leute, Leute, Leute, Leute, Leute, Leute, Leute, Leute, Leute, Leute.
01:47:14 1920s and 30s versions of them are... The word I would normally use is interesting. I mean, let's be honest, in the era of the 20s, 30s and 40s, getting a posting to being like the British plenipotentiary to the Narvik iron ore shipments is a job you give someone to get rid of them.
01:47:39 They're not really likely to be from the top of the list of competence in the Foreign Office. And so you end up in a situation where initially it's believed that one German ship there, so the plan is send some destroyers in, clear the fjord, and take it back, which leads to the second destroyer for Tiller under Bernard Warburton Lee. Yes, like the bread.
01:48:09 Yes. ...which composes of five H-Class Destroyers, so for those of you who play the game, think like Gallant Icarus-style ships, which are... Actually, not that different to Glowworm, not that different to Glowworm, really, because it's G and the H, but the only difference between the G and the H is the H have the modern-style Destroyer superstructure, whereas the G have the last generation of the 1920s-style Destroyer superstructure. So you have Hardy, Hotspur, Havoc, Hunter, and Hostile.
01:48:37 Great names for destroyers. And their plan is to basically sail up the fjord and clear it out. By the time Lee is ready to attack, intelligence has been updated to include there are German warships in the fjord. But he doesn't know how many. And they're fairly certain they're just destroyers. But Lee, being a Royal Navy destroyer commander, he's got five destroyers at his...
01:49:07 Unter his command, he signals back to the fleet, I'm going to attack at dawn. Which at this time of year in Norway is like 4.30ish in the morning. So as we said before, Tucky had to leave. These German destroyers, they've basically sailed their operational range. They don't have a lot of fuel left.
01:49:31 They've got ammunition. They're still pretty much fully loaded for bear because they didn't really have to fight in the fjord. Not really. They have expanded torpedoes and they have got damage. They have sustained damage. There's a reason why they've sustained some damage going in there and they're now going to sustain more damage. And that's one of the reasons what leads to... This is the second battle that leads to the scenario of the third battle where it's literally...
01:49:56 oh god there's a horde of raw navy very angry raw navy destroyers coming in yeah and so harwood and the destroyers enter the fjord they manage to slip by the german destroyer who's on pit on like patrol duty because the german destroyers are um positioned uh i think there's there's some in here there's one in this part and i think there's a couple in here
01:50:22 The main force, though, are at Narvik proper, and they are refuelling from the whaler that's arrived, and I think they also captured another tanker that was already in the harbour. Has anyone written a brook on this content? Well, it's funny you should mention that. I'm just responding to that one. Here's all the iron ore loading facilities.
01:50:49 All the rail lines and everything, because this is what Narvik's for, and there's the airbase. I call that an airbase, not an airport. And there's a couple of the destroyers in here that are taking on fuel and such. And the Royal Navy destroyers manage to slip past the picket and catch the German destroyers that are actually in this part of the harbour.
Die Schlacht von Narvik: Zerstörergefechte und Verluste
01:51:13
01:51:13 They fire torpedoes, and then they open fire with guns. The Germans are so taken aback by this that they think it's an air attack at first, because things just start exploding and they can't see enemy warships. Slightly worse than that, because if you can zoom out of the picture a bit.
01:51:33 How far? A bit further. Okay, so the Royal Navy Destroyers actually went up the fjord past Narvik and it's when they're coming back they spot them in harbour and they engage them. So the Royal Navy Destroyers have actually gone up and turned around and come back.
01:51:52 They didn't see the Germans on the way up either. The Royal Navy got through the picket, not realizing the picket was there. Yeah. So both sides, neither is covered with glory in terms of actually seeing each other when they should be seeing each other at this point. But the Royal Navy do have a slight edge at seeing them on the way back first. Yeah, so the Dieter von Rohde, which was the picket ship, wasn't in position because she was returning to the harbor to refuel. Yeah. So she's not there when the British enter.
01:52:21 So again, the British don't know that there's German destroyers present because they don't see one. They then sink... If they known there was a destroyer present, they probably would have either brought in an Arrafuser class or a tribal class with them because they're the vessels which are supposed to be killing destroyers. Penelope was the closest cruiser, I believe. Yes, she's an Arrafuser class and she literally would have gone in with them, probably. Yeah, and so they get past the Dieter von Rohde. They then engage and sink the Wilhelm Heidkampf where the...
01:52:51 Commanding Officer of the German Force, Commodore Bonte, was on board. He's killed in the attack, so the Germans lose their formation, Commanding Officer. The Anton Schmidt is sunk, and the Dieter von Rohde is heavily damaged. I think she runs herself aground, actually, because she takes such a pounding. And then two other German destroyers are more likely damaged.
01:53:17 But both sides, they're firing torpedoes, they're shooting ammunition and such, which becomes important later on. As the Royal Navy, also the Brits, well, both sides between them sink six, sorry, sink 11 German, sorry, 11 merchant ships, six of which are German.
01:53:39 We're not sure who sunk what. These merchant ships were unfortunately just kind of caught in the crossfire. Additionally, one British, two Swedish and two Norwegian merchant ships are sunk as well.
01:53:52 Which does do wonders when the British turn up later to try and land troops, because it's kind of causing blockages. But it also leads to a very interesting event in the Third Battle of Narvik. Yeah, and also the German troops that took the harbour also engaged the destroyers with their weaponry. Yeah. As the British are withdrawing and are leaving, there are three more German destroyers...
01:54:20 um come out of one of the the her yangs ford which if i if i can find it on here i think it is this one yes um three german destroyers uh wolf ganzenka eric colner and eric gise um uh appear they're commanded by eric bay who later on is sean horse's commanding officer when she is sunk at the battle of north cape and they start chasing the british
01:54:49 Then two more German destroyers appear and cut the British off from the exit of the fjord. So the British destroyers have got two German destroyers in front of them that have crossed their T, and they've got three German destroyers behind them chasing them. So the Brits are caught in a very bad position.
01:55:08 Hardy is badly damaged and ends up beaching. Warburton Lee is killed at the wheel. So the British lose their flagship and commanding officer. HMS Hunter takes a torpedo and sinks. Hotspur is also damaged by a torpedo. At this point, Havok and Hotspur turn around...
01:55:37 ...and charge the chasing German destroyers... ...to try and get them to break off... ...so that they can fight their way clear.
01:55:47 And at the end of the battle, the Brits lose two destroyers, one heavily damaged, for two German destroyers sunk, four destroyers damaged, an ammunition supply ship that is sunk as they're leaving, which proves very useful for the second battle, as well as the cargo ships. So the Brits have gone into the harbour with a force that's on paper outnumbered two to one.
01:56:15 But because of where all the positioning is and where all the ships are, they never fight more than five of the German destroyers. And in terms of ships lost, they exchange equally. But several of the other German destroyers are damaged to varying degrees and have expended ammunition and torpedoes. And the supply ship that was meant to resupply them is sunk additionally. Well, that's a kettle of fish.
Analyse der britischen Zerstörer-Taktiken und psychologische Auswirkungen auf die deutsche Kriegsmarine
01:56:43
01:56:43 Ich würde sagen, es hat sort of angefangen zu verhindern, die Britische Entscheidung in Bezug auf die Geräte für ihre Destroyer. Denn es gab eine Debatte in Britann über was, was die German-Modell war, was mit den Heavier-Gunsten. Aber die Briten haben versucht, die Leiter-Gunsten zu halten, weil sie es eher leichter zu manöver für die Crew-Aim-Aim-Aim-Aim-Aim-Aim-Aim-Aim-Aim-Aim-Aim-Aim-Aim-Aim-Aim-Aim-Aim-Aim-Aim-Aim-Aim-Aim-Aim-Aim-Aim-Aim-Aim-Aim-Aim-Aim-Aim-Aim-Aim-Aim-Aim-Aim-Aim-Aim-Aim-Aim-Aim-Aim-Aim-Aim
01:57:07 But these things were considered marginal versus their likelihood of actually hitting the target in terms of accuracy for the crew turning. A lot of these guns are manually aimed and manually turned to save weight because of the Washington Naval Treaty and the London Naval Treaty. So those limitations have led to limitations in destroyers and the weaponry they have.
01:57:32 Ja, das war ein Traumatik für die Briten, insofern, weil sie nicht liefst, und der Rest der Destroyer-Fleet, besonders die Tribal-Kröse, das sehr persönlich ist, weil die Tribal-Klasse-Destroyer sind, die A-K-K-Line, die Reconnoissance-Line der Deraar-Navy-Destroyer sind. Sie sind diejenigen, die zu tun, die zu tun, dass sie eine Reconnoissance-Destroyer sind. Wir müssen eine Reconnoissance-Destroyer sein. Wir müssen eine Reconnoissance-Destroyer sein. Wir müssen eine Reconnoissance-Destroyer sein.
01:57:56 Das ist das was die Tribal-Class expecten sich selbst zu tun, denn das ist ihre Rolle. Und jetzt eine H-Class hat sich in die H-Class zu tun, und sie haben, of course, been hurt. Badlich. Für die Germans, die größte Psychological-Casualität ist nicht in dieser Krieg. Aber es ist eine große Psychological-Casualität in dieser Krieg. Es ist ein Mann, Lutschens.
01:58:18 Und er hat sich trainiert und handpickt und gegründet und gegründet diese force. Er war der Destroyer-Man, der der modernen German Destroyer-Fleet war in der Welt, um zu World War II, und er hat wirklich gegründet für ihn und gegründet für ihn. Und er hat sie, um sie zu verabschieden, und er hat ihn, in seiner Sicht, gegründet. Und er hat ihn gegründet, weil er hat ihn in charge von Schein-Ostern und Eisenhower, der erste trip aus, weil er die Person in Charge, die normalerweise in Charge gewesen wäre, um... Und...
01:58:47 Ja, er ist verabschiedet von der Verlust von seinem Freund, von den Menschen, von den Menschen, von den Menschen, von den Menschen, von den Menschen, von den Menschen, von den Menschen, von den Menschen, von den Menschen, von den Menschen, von den Menschen, von den Menschen, von den Menschen, von den Menschen, von den Menschen, von den Menschen, von den Menschen, von den Menschen, von den Menschen, von den Menschen, von den Menschen, von den Menschen, von den Menschen, von den Menschen, von den Menschen, von den Menschen, von den Menschen, von den Menschen, von den Menschen, von den Menschen, von den Menschen, von den Menschen, von den Menschen, von den Menschen, von den Menschen, von den Menschen, von den Menschen, von den Menschen, von den Menschen, von den Menschen, von den Menschen, von den Menschen, von den Menschen, von den Menschen, von den Menschen, von den Menschen, von den Menschen, von den Menschen, von den Menschen, von den Menschen, von den Menschen, von den
01:59:16 So this, I just realised, we have the... So this is the sort of routing that they all take for the Second Battle of Narvik when we get to that in a moment. So the survivors of the British force report back that, yes, there are German destroyers present. Yes, there's more than a couple. We think there's 8 to 12, I think, is the report, which on the British side, when they look at...
01:59:43 Their intelligence estimates of how many destroyers the Kriegsmarine has full stop. The realization is this is the bulk of the German destroyer force. I mean, it's almost...
01:59:55 Es ist nicht ganz, dass die guten Zeiten hier sind, aber es ist ein Fall, dass wir etwas, was wir können. Das ist eine Möglichkeit, die wir nicht missen können. Es ist nicht einfach, dass es nicht nur die Schicksale ist, weil die Schicksale, die Germans gehen für eine massive Expansion, 1940-41, von ihrer Forces.
02:00:17 Ja, und so...
02:00:45 So after the battle is over on the 10th of April, the Erik Kolner and Wolfgang Zenker run aground. Not great. Wolfgang damages her propeller, so she's limited to a speed of 20 knots. So she can't escape, even if they want to. They don't have the fuel to escape, even if they did want to. And Erik Kolner is so badly damaged that the Germans moor her.
02:01:14 und die Dieter von Röder, als Immobile Defense Batteries, basically trying to turn them into shore batteries. Basically. Because they can't move under their own power effectively, so the best they can hope for is basically hiding them around the corners of fjords and hoping that they can surprise ships coming along with torpedoes and gunfire. There is also what the Germans consider to be a trump card.
02:01:43 Well, at least as far as defense against larger assets. That being the sole U-boat they set up. Yes, there are U-boats operating in this area at the time. Two of them attempt to attack the destroyers, but at this point everyone's discovering that magnetic influence detonators are rather a bit more complicated than they thought, and they don't work. And of course, it turns out that when a battleship shows up with a seaplane...
02:02:11 Die Wasser ist wirklich schön und clean. Oh, das ist eine Submarine! Periscope Dept! Das ist... Entschuldigung, ich werde das schnellstige. Und so... Ja, das ist das Wichtigste. Es ist der Klassik. Ich glaube, es war Drack, der hat uns nicht gehört, aber er hat uns... Er hat uns die Grafik, ich weiß, was ich noch was. Er hat die Swordfish slowly... Weil sie Dive-bombeden eine Submarine, die Walspite Swordfish.
02:02:39 Und wenn die Tordfisch dive-bombing sind, sie sind so schnell gegangen, sie könnten sie da sein wie ein Helikopter sein.
Zweite Schlacht von Narvik: Britische Verstärkung und Taktiken
02:02:47
02:02:47 So you can do very precise aiming for divebombing. You can also do very precise aiming if you're doing anti-air fire on that swordfish, because it's coming down so slowly. But, you know. But of course, if you're submerged, then you can't really use... No, you're just sitting there going, oh, we're fine, we're fine, we're a periscope there if no one can see us, and you don't realise that there is literally swordfish above going, I can see you! So in the first battle, or second battle of Narvik, you have five British destroyers versus ten German destroyers.
02:03:16 Of which, after the battle, there are eight German destroyers still on Narvik, still on the fjord rather than in it. Not all of them are fully operational, but they can still shoot things. And by the 13th of April, which is showing the British and the Royal Navy is more fully realising what's going on, more forces are arriving in the theatre, you're presented with...
02:03:45 You have Warspite, 9 Destroyers, 4 Tribals, Bedouin, Cossack, Punjabi, and Eskimo, as well as Kimberley, Hero, Icarus, Forrester, and Foxhound. And they've also got aircraft from the carrier Furious in support. So, like, already three days later, the Brits are bringing in about the same number of Destroyers as the Germans arrived with. They've got air support, and they've got a battleship.
02:04:14 And those destroyers include four tribals, which are the Royal Navy's. The Royal Navy had done a design study, which had been looking at building basically what was best for them to build to be the tip of the spear of their forces. And they'd worked out whether it was going to be a light cruiser, which could wipe out enemy destroyers, or was it going to be a heavy destroyer, a gun destroyer? They'd gone with a gun destroyer.
02:04:40 in terms of numbers, but they built the Arafusa class and then they built the Didos, but the Tribals followed by the Battles and followed by the Daring, so you can, and to the extent the Weapon class, so you can see where sort of the British end up going. And the thing is, the Tribals are basically designed to kill other destroyers, which is why they have the guns they have, why they have the shape they have, they also look like cruisers from a distance to try and help the intimidation factor. But the thing is, they are very...
02:05:09 Well-rounded, very well armed, and designed for rapid fire. And that's the thing, it's designed for rapid fire, because destroyers don't tend to be armoured, but they do tend to be manoeuvring fast. And the closer you get, the more rapidly you're manoeuvring, the more you need to be able to rapidly getting shots off and maneuvering the gun to fire as easy as possible. And that's the problem. The Germans, in many ways, their ships are designed for...
02:05:31 Longer range engagements for classic skirmishing in terms of protecting large ships, providing the escort for bigger ships, and holding off enemy destroyers while you're doing that escort mission. They're going to find themselves in a very tight dueling fight. It's almost more of a melee battle than is what we consider a traditional naval battle.
02:05:53 Das wird das Problem sein. Die Bericht sind um das in die Regards, besonders für die Tribalen. Und so, die Krieg you're going to get in ist eine brawlinge Affäre. Es ist, quite literally, ein get-close, punch-em, knee-em, eye-gouge-them, bite-them, anything you can, fight.
02:06:10 Which is exactly what this battle turns into. Yeah. So the Brits bring up this force. The decision is made that not only are the destroyers going to go in again, that they are going to commit warspite into the fjord, which is a risk. Like the fjord here, it's relatively big for a fjord, but torpedoes are absolutely a threat in these waters.
02:06:39 Und so die Plan ist für die Destroyer zu gehen erst, Fogs Among the Hens, sozusagen. Und dann Walspike will move up in Support, wenn sie es required ist.
02:06:54 Theoretically the idea that was told back to the Admiralty, but actually what happens is basically Warspike goes up with the destroyers around her, the tribals leading the two columns and the other destroyers around her and basically goes in in a sort of...
02:07:09 Inverse Box Formation. The British have this sort of Box Formation they like to use for when they are, when their theory is basically what they use on Bismarck. When you're positioning destroyers to keep track of an enemy capital ship, you put them in a Box Formation around it. Will the British sort of invert that as in we're using a Box Formation as a defense of Warspike? Because it's a maneuver they're well practiced in. That's the thing is the Box Formation is a maneuver they are practiced in. They are very well, they've experienced a lot of exercises, they've done a lot of training in it.
02:07:39 They know how it's quite easy for them to do. So they're doing a sort of box as an escort rather than an offensive methodology. And they push in and they push up and it very quickly turns into a very bitter fight. But one of the things the British have the advantage of it is, of course, we mentioned the swordfish flying ahead. So there's some great pictures in the National Archives that they're actually taking of, there's a German destroyer there. And when they come around the corner and the German destroyer is ready to go, I'm going to pounce.
02:08:07 And unfortunately, already all the destroyer guns and even Warspikes guns are all dialed in. And it's literally deluged in so much high explosive and so much fire that it's gone before it even gets a chance. Hang on. We have one of the swordfish photos. That is what's left of a German destroyer.
02:08:28 I believe the correct term, gentlemen, is that's a paddling. It's not. When the people are dying, it's kind of a brutal scenario. But it literally is. They're ready to ambush. It's ambushing the ambush. If the enemy are in a position to ambush you and you know exactly where they are, you can do a really nasty thing to them. You can literally obliterate them. And that is what the Royal Navy is doing. But as I said, it's war. It's not about playing fair. It's about winning.
02:08:57 Und wie gesagt, so die Force ist in, Furious' aircraft attack. They don't really hit anything, but they do rattle the Germans. Warspite's Swordfish, which is a floatplane Swordfish, if you're curious. So it's even slower than a regular Swordfish. It spots U-64, which is tied up in a little pier.
02:09:23 Divebombs it, scores a direct hit, and sinks her, which is the first U-boat sunk by airpower during the war, and makes Warspite the only battleship in history, the only battleship in World War II to sink a submarine. You just remembered Dreadnought, didn't you? Yes, I did just remember Dreadnought. She was the first battleship to do something. She was the first battleship to sink a submarine using her onboard aircraft.
Urbaner Seekrieg und Eskimos Heldentaten
02:09:51
02:09:51 Und wie gesagt, eine der German Destroyer, die Z-13 ist, sie ist nicht funktionierend, aber sie hat sie, sie hat sie, sie hat sie, sie hat sie, sie hat sie, sie hat sie, sie hat sie, sie hat sie. So, sie ist hier, sie ist hier, um den cliffsideen der Fjord zu coveren. Und ihr Job ist, wenn ihr das kommt, schießt sie, sie hat sie und sie hat sie. Unfortunately... Die Swordfish spotst sie.
02:10:19 Informs the Force. So, as we said, Warspite and the Destroyer come around the head, and all their guns are shooting at her, and in the words of one of Warspite's six-inch gunners, the ship and the mountain behind it exploded. They disappeared. Because every shell that didn't hit the Destroyer hit the mountain behind her. So Z13 essentially ceases to exist. I would...
02:10:47 Ich möchte etwas sagen, für die Leute interessiert sind. Das ist die einzige Nerval-Battle, die man kann walken. Und nachdem ich um Narvik war, und nachdem ich auf die Spiele, wo es in den Portsen passiert ist, wissen Sie, wie stark die Houses sind?
02:11:03 And you realise these are weapons, the ships are using weapons which are supposed to engage over thousands of yards. And you have literally tens of yards between the houses and the port. This is naval urban warfare at points. We'll get into some of that as we go through, especially following the part of HMS Cossack. But there's also Eskimo, which has...
02:11:32 But yeah, the Tribals have fun in this battle. Oh yeah. And so the fight descends into a melee and eventually all the German destroyers are either sunk or run themselves aground and scuttled themselves and so the British are left in control of the harbour. But...
02:11:54 The German infantry are still holding the town. So you end up in this weird kind of situation where the Royal Navy basically rounds up all the merchant ships that are in the harbour and takes them away while exchanging fire with the German troops holding the town while British, French, Norwegian and eventually Polish forces are being gathered to try and retake the town.
02:12:24 I think we have to break it down to two things. One, the Germans were, in the case of Brawl, because of Warspite, every time the British destroyers were damaged and needed to repair, they could withdraw behind Warspite, get themselves fixed up and then go back. And they do this quite a lot in the fight. And then on top of that, you have the scenario whereby for the, in terms of, and Cossack is back under the command of Sherbrooke for this.
02:12:51 Und Sherbrooke will later win a V.C. in the war, because of his actions in defense of a convoy and another destroyer force. But at this point, he's commander, and he literally rams Cossack through some sunken ships and the harbor entrance to dive into the harbor and starts engaging the German positions, whilst also sinking the merchant ships in harbor with his guns. And at one point, there's a sniper trying to engage them.
02:13:17 Well, the pom-pom crew decide to take on the sniper. And they basically wipe out the position where the sniper was. And the stern 4.7-inch mounts decide to engage the mortar crew. And if you look at the fjord point, if you carry the red line, the solid red line the whole way down, curling into there around that corner...
02:13:43 Eskimo ist auf der Fronten ein paar andere Destroyer. Und als sie durch die Germanen Torpedohufft kommt, sie wird, sie wird, sie wird, sie wird, sie wird, sie wird, sie wird, sie wird, sie wird, sie wird, sie wird, sie wird, sie wird, sie wird, sie wird, sie wird, sie wird, sie wird, sie wird, sie wird, sie wird, sie wird, sie wird, sie wird, sie wird, sie wird, sie wird, sie wird, sie wird, sie wird, sie wird, sie wird.
02:14:13 She carries on her turn. You can see she's like this. She's actually worse than just after they've done some fixing to her to get her back to the UK. She turns around and she continues her turn, launches her torpedoes at the Germans. The Germans are busily ramming themselves ashore to get away from the nutters that were the British destroyer crews at this point, quite understandably. And she starts advancing sternwards towards them with X and Y mount carrying on their engagement because she, of course, being a tribal, has...
02:14:40 Und sie haben eigentlich einen Crew aus dem B-Mount. Sie sehen, dass sie einen B-Mount gesehen haben. Sie sehen, dass sie einen B-Mount gesehen haben. Die B-Mount ist in der Position, wo die Leute sind, wo die zwei Crew stehen. Und sie senden eine Runde auf die Brücke und fragen, ob sie sich die Kaptein angeln, um sie können, so sie können.
02:15:07 They've just seen their friends blown up. They've lost their friends completely gone because a mount completely disintegrates and goes into the water. And they're lost. And they basically request to carry on fighting. And so they do. They angle and carry on fighting and the other two destroyers come around behind them and are coming to support them. But this is the sort of thing which the British destroyers are doing. They are doing very much a brawling fight and they are prepared to take a lot of damage to inflict it. Because for the British, one of the things going through them is that
02:15:36 They have hundreds of destroyers. They have a lot more destroyers than the Germans have to lose. So if they lose some destroyers, whilst they don't want to lose any ships, no one wants to lose ships. Anything they lose, they can repair. They've got new destroyers being built. They've got more destroyers coming along. They've got all the hunt class order. They've got all the other orders of war emergency destroyers on order. They've got all these things coming up. The Germans haven't.
Strategische Folgen und moralische Auswirkungen
02:16:00
02:16:00 They can repair their losses. The Germans can't. And anything they take out is going to cripple the Germans in terms of their ability to project power, to properly send ships out into the Atlantic, etc.
02:16:14 Und Zubian war World War I der General. Zubian war World War I, und das ist wenn HMS Zulu und HMS Nubian sind beide verabschieden. In dieser battle, ich glaube, Zulu oder Nubian sind beide beteiligt. Ich weiß nicht, dass sie sie hat, um, bow, blown off, komplett.
02:16:41 They manage to shore up her front, and then she sails backwards, back to the UK. Yes. Now I must stress, the front does not normally fall off. Yes. It's not supposed to fall off. She does make a habit of it through the war, though. She loses it again. Yes. Basically, Eskimo considers her bow to be an experimental weapon. The four tribals there are Bedouin, Cossack, Punjabi, and Eskimo. Yeah. So...
02:17:08 The problem is Bosniak. There's no real relation between the Norwegian campaign and Operation Sea Lion being unfeasible. It's two different types of unfeasible. Norway was risky, incredibly risky, but if they rolled some natural 20s, as they did, they can do it. Sea Lion is...
02:17:34 Impossible. The impact that the Norwegian campaign has on the war is that it gives the U-Boat arm a significant boost to its capabilities. Because instead of having to sail from a limited area of Germany, or after France falls, like being able to operate off the Atlantic coast of France,
02:18:02 And Norway, excuse me, completely bypasses the natural blockading position that the British Isles presents to Europe. You can just go around it. It changes the scenario from World War I massively. Yeah. It turns the whole plans of World War, the war plans, because of course the British war plans against Germany had never considered the idea of France falling, let alone Norway falling. They never thought that would have happened.
02:18:30 So it leads them in having to adapt completely to the strategic situation, the changing situation.
02:18:38 So the British now have to fight the convoy against the U-boats, not in the North Sea, in the Channel. They've got to catch them in the wide expanses of the Atlantic. And U-boats go everywhere. And also the thing is, the other thing that's problematic is the British can't keep them in so easily. And one of the things going after the destroyers, it does make sense.
02:19:07 But to an extent, the Germans don't need the destroyers because they win Norway. So they can get their ships out by going up the coast of Norway with the protection of air cover and smaller boats, schnell boats, etc. to get them into the North Atlantic without needing the heavy escort they need to get through. Yeah, I mean also to be fair, it also helped in the fact that their vast fleet of very good, well, what the rest of the world would term small destroyers, but what they termed ocean-going torpedo boats.
02:19:35 They work really well for escort operations around Denmark, Norway, because they can dip into port if the seas get rough. They've got plenty of fuel. They can take tankerage from the fjords, Trondheim, Bergen, Narvik, etc. That's basically a perfect environment for them, and the Germans have a lot more of them than people realize.
02:19:57 And it also means that... They are good little ships. And it means the Royal Navy then, particularly as the war progresses into 1941 and the Soviet Union gets involved, the Royal Navy is stretched having to operate in the Atlantic, in the Mediterranean, in the Indian Ocean, and they also now have to divert significant forces to the Arctic Ocean. Yeah.
02:20:22 1941, von June to December, was basically the blackest point for the RN. Yeah. You've got an Italy that's just about recovering from Toronto. You've got a Germany that, even though it's lost Bismarck, well, sorry, yeah, even though it's lost Bismarck, still has turbots commissioning, the Sharnors are still knocking around, most of the Hibbers are still around. They've made good some of the destroyer losses from Narvik. You've got the need now to escort supplies to the Soviet Union.
02:20:52 That period from June to December, that is the RN stretched pretty much to breaking point. Had pressure been applied in numerous places, something would have snapped. And Norway becomes, like I said, the major base for the German surface fleet, which is why you have the eight different attempts to sink Tirpitz.
02:21:13 One of the reasons you keep making those attempts, sorry, I can see Fleet's face when he's talking, I can't see your face until after. Yes, we'll see about fixing that. Yeah, I can see Fleet beginning to talk.
02:21:35 If I hear silence and I think I can get a point in that I try to talk and then I go, oh, no, I'm talking over Kiliman. That's rude. But no, with the scenario of, you know, the ships, you know, Tirpitz, they're keeping attacking her. One of the reasons why the British, even when they are stretched, keep attacking these things is to try and bluff, and they do successfully bluff, otherwise they would have been called, the Germans, the Italians and everyone else.
02:22:03 dass sie noch nicht die Dinge tun, und dass sie nicht so schnell sind, dass sie eigentlich sind. Ja, absolut. Und so, wie wir gesagt haben, die Invasion in Norwegen, ich denke, wir sind wahrscheinlich zu Zeit, die Invasion in Norwegen war unglaublich audazious. Es sollte nicht sein, es funktioniert, aber es funktioniert fast, aber die Kriegsmarine...
02:22:27 pays for it it's often why the norwegian campaign is called the death of the kriegsmarine because it cripples the surface forces enough for long enough in the war that by the time as fleet said they've got newer destroyers in a decent number in the fleet the royal navy has expanded the u.s navy is now present
02:22:49 And the biggest trouble also for that is whilst the Germans do get more destroyers than the fleet, Hitler, after Narvik, after the loss of all these battles and seeing all the names in the paper of these ships, decrees that the destroyers should no longer have names. Yes. He takes away their names, he makes them numbers. And that is one of the most demoralizing acts you can do.
02:23:11 It's okay if you start out, if you have numbers and if you're always a numbered force, if you're always like the torpedo boat, you're always numbered. Okay, that's fine. But if you had names, if you were important enough to rate names and they take your names away from you.
02:23:28 You've already suffered the defeat of losing all those key personnel to expand your force and all the morale from losing all those good people in those battles. And then you've lost the names of your ships. I couldn't think of a better way to destroy the morale of your surface force, of your small surface ships, your escorts, than that. Than taking away the names from what were their elite units.
02:23:56 He couldn't have done something better to help the Royal Navy in their fight versus the destroyer crews than he could have done that. Because from that point onwards, the German destroyer crews are always sort of feeling, well, they expect us to lose. That's why they've taken their names away from us. And as hard as they fight, that's always in the back of their heads from that point of view, that their own government expects them to lose.
02:24:19 The French didn't even do that to their Navy during the Napoleonic Wars. At no point did they take their names away from them and go, because we expect you to lose.
02:24:31 Ja, und so, als wir gesagt haben und wieder einmal gesagt haben, die Kriegsmarine in World War II fighten, wie es als eine force der Größe der Größe könnte sein können. Die U-boats sind sehr effektiv als eine force, aber sie payet sehr für ihre successes. Ja.
02:24:56 which is why it's one of those things where being a member of the U-Boat Arm or the Kriegsmarine statistically was probably the most likely place to get you killed in the Western theatres of operations. Yeah, if you were on a surface ship, your chances were a fair bit higher. And if you were one of the boats assigned, if you were lucky enough to be on a Type 9 operating in the South Atlantic Indian Ocean, as long as you were careful with your transit out and your transit back, you were...
02:25:25 Wenn ein Submarine gets lost...
02:25:52 Often it's lost under water and there's no chance to recover the crew. Or if they are recovered, they are picked up by your enemy and prisoners of war, in which case you're not getting them back. And that is for me to the Germans that it's a sort of one-way battle in that as good as they can be and as capable as they can.
02:26:13 Sie sind immer an der Schleifte, sie werden zu verlieren, sie werden zu verlieren, sie werden zu verlieren, sie werden zu verlieren, sie werden zu regenerieren und zu verlieren. Und das ist eine der Gründe, weil, insbesondere wegen der Unterschiede in der Training und der Emphasis von Escort Construction, Escort Numbers, in World War II vs. World War I, die Germans never getrennt, dass sie in World War I getrennt, dass sie in World War I getrennt. Das ist der Dirty Little Secret von World War II.
02:26:40 We talk a lot more about the U-Boat war in World War II, but the Germans actually got closer to beating Britain with the U-Boat arm in World War I than they did in World War II. A lot closer.
Norwegischer Widerstand, Gedenken und kommende Streams
02:26:55
02:26:55 Absolutely. Yeah, and so I think we're about done overall. But yeah, so like the invasion of Norway and the efforts of the Norwegian Resistance and the commando raids and the heavy water plant, there's a lot of fascinating stuff that happened in Norway during the war, which all comes about mostly because Raider wanted his iron ore.
02:27:22 Ja, es ist auch... Ich habe mich auch noch ein Buch für ein Buch, called Dogboats, das ist über die Royal Navy und die Royal Norwegian Navy Motor-Gunboats und die Sachen, die sie geteilt sind. Denn da ist ein whole chapter über die Sachen, die sie geteilt sind, in Norwegen. Und wenn Sie wirklich, wenn Sie eine wirkliche Haare-Raisung erzählen, können Sie was die Dogboats geteilt sind.
02:27:48 They're the British sort of equivalent of the PT boats. And their stuff, because it is both British and Norwegian, and it's small boats, and it doesn't really get, Norway doesn't really get the same attention in British media as it does in Norway, has never really had any decent programs done about it for us to point to. Whereas the PT, and it's one of the things that I look at some of the PT boat videos and stuff about the Americans getting on the Pacific, and I go, they are really cool.
02:28:15 Aber sie sind einfach so cool, aber sie werden nicht mehr attentioniert. Ich liebe die PT-Votes. Ich liebe sie, dass sie mehr attentioniert sind, weil sie wirklich mehr attentioniert sind. Ich wünsche sie, dass sie ein bisschen mehr attentioniert sind. Absolut. Es ist die joy, dass ich ein Naval Historier und ein Historier in generell bin, ist, dass man manchmal an den Storz und die Storz und die Storz sind...
02:28:38 I want this to get more attention, but I don't want this to lose the attention it has. And people often think if you're saying you want this to get more attention, you're saying this doesn't deserve... No, no, no. This deserves the attention it's getting. This also deserves a lot of attention. It just gets nothing. The great debate over what gets the attention when. I know. It's important to note that even after Norway falls, the Norwegian Navy continues to fight alongside the Royal Navy.
02:29:06 Yes. Stored, which we have in game in two forms. She's present at the sinking of Sjarnhorst. The two Norwegian destroyers are present during D-Day. Norwegian troops fight alongside the Allies in commando units in the Royal Air Force. I don't think they have a regular infantry unit per se.
02:29:29 The Norwegian government is very worried about what they actually do in case there are reprisals in Norway against them. They are the most, how do I put this, of the three governments, again, of the three governments, they are the most, again, scared of their own shadow. And that actually, that causes them to, the general who was actually a very good general who was in charge of their forces in the north and originally facing the Soviets and then came down and fought at Narvik and did all sorts of things.
02:29:58 He actually ends up committing suicide because of how badly he's treated by them. Because he's considered too aggressive. And so they don't put him in any high command positions. They send him off to Canada and he gets... He basically commits suicide because of it. Oh, that's tragic. I'm trying to remember his name. I want to make sure I get it pronounced right. And then by the war's end, obviously Norway is liberated.
02:30:24 And if you're ever in London at Christmas, I forget exactly where it goes, but if you ever see a giant Christmas tree in London, that tree is provided by Norway every year as thanks to Britain's support during World War II. And the general, by the way, is Carl Gustav Fleischer.
02:30:50 Ja. Und er ist, wenn du ein sehr guter General hast, und jemanden, der wieder zu studieren, sollte man viel mehr studieren, besonders wenn Leute denken über Wolle und die High-North und wie zu kämpfen, sollte man sich auf Felicja und die Beziehungen erledigen, denn er ist ein sehr guter General. Und ein sehr guter General. Aber er war einfach nur sehr aggressiv von dem Norwegen, also sie entschieden, einen Embassy-Officer als der Chief of Staff und Commander von Norwegen-Officer und ihn zu beendet haben.
02:31:18 Trafalgar Square, thank you Rune. So if you ever happen to be in Trafalgar Square around Christmas, the tree there is actually Norwegian. It's not just a Norwegian spruce that's grown here. Nope. It is picked out specifically by the Norwegian government to deliver to the United Kingdom as thanks. In the same way the relationship between the Netherlands and Canada with the tulips and such.
02:31:43 Und Norweger, da sind auch andere Dinge, die Statues und andere Dinge, Norweger haben sich für in Briden geholfen, zu verschiedenen Teilen der UK geholfen. Basically, die TREE in der Zentren kommt, ich glaube, von der Story, dass die British Government, während der Ende des World War II, nicht able zu finden, in London, und die Norwegerin Regierung...
02:32:09 Ich habe es gesagt, ich habe es zu senden. Und es war literally, es war die British government einfach ein bisschen lazy. Und wenn Norweig's got plenty of one thing, ist es Trees. Ja. Ah, yes. Ich wünsche mir die Trees. Gib mir die Trees. Ja. So, ich denke, seit wir starten late, wir haben ein bisschen über Zeit. Es ist zwei und ein halb Stunden. Wir haben vielleicht noch ein bisschen länger, aber ich würde gerne dinner haben. Es ist halb past... Es ist 9 Uhr hier, jetzt.
02:32:38 in Prague. So, gentlemen, thank you very much for joining us. Always a pleasure. Next month, I forget exactly when the stream is, but it will be a bit of a special stream, obviously, because next month is the month of May. Victory in Europe and all of that. So there will be a bit, perhaps a bit more of a special stream next month for the 8th of May and all of that.
02:33:06 Ich sollte sagen, Drakeneffel hat jetzt schon nach Hause. Oh, das ist fantastisch. Der Mann kann jetzt essen. Ja. Ja, und so... Thank you. ...kos conveniently hier in der Czech Republic, 8th May ist ein Bank Holiday. Technically, heute ist 2, aber ich kam in die Office zu machen, weil das ist wie viel ich über all of you care. Es ist in die UK, auch. Ja. Du bist schon in die Office. Ja. Es ist sehr convenient, ich live so close.
02:33:34 It allowed me to avoid a family trip to a garden centre. Oh no. Garden centre's in. The only good thing about a garden centre is the cafe.
02:33:47 Yeah, I'm not allowed to sit in there anymore, though. Apparently I was being antisocial. So the next official stream, Kiddo, will be next week. You should be able to see the schedule down below. There'll be the regular English-language EU gameplay stream next week, along with, I believe, French stream? I can't remember right now. But anyway, for the Armchair Admirals gang, we'll be back next month.
02:34:15 for talking about stuff regarding the end of World War II in Europe and World War II navally more generally. So again, thank you all for joining me. Thank you, Fleet of Oceans. Thank you, Dr. Clark. And we will see you all later. So take care, everyone. Good night.