In April and early May, 1940 Namsos was the scene of heavy fighting in World War Two between Anglo-French naval and military forces and German military and air forces. Namsos is a municipality and town in the county of Nord-Trøndelag, Norway. ... Anglo-French is a term that may be used in several contexts: Nationality, eg. ... The word German can mean: From or related to Germany or its predecessor states - see also the German language Germanic tribes Holy Roman Empire (843-1806) German Confederation (1815-1866) North German Confederation (1867 - 1871) Germany, the modern nation-state founded in 1871 When used to denote a person, Germans...

Background

Norway was at peace in April 1940 when it was suddenly attacked by naval, air and military forces from Nazi Germany. There were several reasons for the attack. Among those was a desire to secure the flow of iron ore from mines at Kiruna in the north of Sweden to Germany's war industries. Germany did not have a sufficient domestic supply of iron ore, so these shipments were essential for the production of tanks, guns, ships, rail cars, trucks and other implements of war. The Baltic Sea was frozen in winter, so for several months each year the Swedes shipped iron ore by rail to the ice-free port of Narvik, in the far north of Norway. The Germans rightly suspected that that the British were planning to mine the Norwegian coastal waters used by German ore ships. British plans were well underway, spearheaded by the First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill. The Germans got to Norway first. Norway - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins/monobook/IE50Fixes. ... April is the fourth month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of four with the length of 30 days. ... The Nazi party used a right-facing swastika as their symbol and the red and black colors were said to represent Blut und Boden (blood and soil). ... Kiruna (from (Sami) Giron, (white) grouse) is a town and Municipality in Norrbotten County, in northern Sweden. ... The Kingdom of Sweden (Swedish: Konungariket Sverige  listen) is a Nordic country in Scandinavia, in Northern Europe. ... General Name, Symbol, Number iron, Fe, 26 Chemical series transition metal Group, Period, Block 8 (VIIIB), 4 , d Density, Hardness 7874 kg/m3, 4. ... The Baltic Sea is located in Northern Europe, bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of east and central Europe, and the Danish islands. ... Narvik is a town in the county of Nordland, Norway. ... The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a country in western Europe, and member of the Commonwealth of Nations, the G8, the European Union, and NATO. Usually known simply as the United Kingdom, the UK, or (inaccurately) as Great Britain or Britain, the UK has four constituent... The First Lord of the Admiralty was a British government position in charge of the Admiralty. ...

Narvik, Trondheim, Oslo, Bergen and other major Norwegian towns were seized on the first day of the campaign in a surprise attack. Elements of the Norwegian army were fighting the Germans north of Oslo. The Allies decided to attempt to retake Trondheim, link up with the Norwegians and block a German advance north. This would enable the Allies to interdict Germany's iron ore supplies several months each year. A bonus would be air and naval bases in northern Norway. Trondheim (Icelandic name: Þrándheimur; Lithuanian name: Trondheimas; former German name: Drontheim) is a city and municipality in the county of Sør-Trøndelag, Norway. ... County Oslo NO-03 Landscape Viken Municipality NO-0301 Administrative centre Oslo Mayor (2004) Per Ditlev-Simonsen (H) Official language form Neutral Area  - Total  - Land  - Percentage Ranked 224 454 km² 426 km² 0. ... You may be looking for: Bergen, Norway Bergen, Belgium, see Mons Bergen, Hessen (Germany) Bergen, Lower Saxony (Germany) Bergen, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (Germany) Bergen, Limburg (Netherlands) Bergen, North Holland (Netherlands) (comprising Bergen aan Zee) Bergen (town), New York (United States) Bergen (village), New York (United States) Bergen, Wisconsin (United States...

A direct approach to Trondheim was deemed too dangerous because of the German capture of the Norweigan coastal artillery guns at the entrance to the Trondheimsfjord. So it was decided to land forces north and south of the fjord for a pincer attack on the city. The navy would then force the entrance with warships. The Trondheimsfjord, Trondheimsfjorden, is Norways third longest fjord, 130 km long, in the west central part of Norway. ...

Namsos, then a town of 3,615 people, was felt to be the logical spot to land the troops assigned to the northern pincer, because of its location and facilities. The harbour and approaches to Namsos are ice free all year. Because of the trade in lumber, by 1940 Namsos port was furnished with three good wharves (one of stone) with a depth alongside of 18 to 30 feet and lengths from 320 to 770 feet. This made it suitable for smaller warships and transports to dock and to land troops and supplies for the recapture of Trondheim. In addition, Namsos was on a branch line connecting to the Nordland Railway. A dirt road led some 40 miles south to Trondheim. Namsos is a municipality and town in the county of Nord-Trøndelag, Norway. ... Trondheim (Icelandic name: Þrándheimur; Lithuanian name: Trondheimas; former German name: Drontheim) is a city and municipality in the county of Sør-Trøndelag, Norway. ...

Allies land

Captain F. H. Pegram of the Cruiser HMS Glasgow accompanied by the Cruiser HMS Sheffield and ten destroyers landed a small party of Royal Marines in Namsos on April 14, 1940. The landing party was under the command of Captain Edds and took up blocking positions in the hills outside town. They soon attracted German aircraft. Lieutenant General Sir Adrian Carton De Wiart, V.C., designated force commander, flew in the next day ( April 15) and had a foretaste of what was to come when his Short Sunderland Flying Boat was machine gunned by German aircraft as it landed. His aide was wounded and had to return to Britain. De Wiart was a competent commander who inspired his troops by his bravery during air attacks. But no Allied aircraft were available over Namsos to provide protection against the Luftwaffe. Eight ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Glasgow after the city in Scotland. ... HMS Sheffield (D80) was the second Royal Navy ship to bear the name Sheffield, after the city of Sheffield in Yorkshire. ... The Corps of Royal Marines, usually just known as the Royal Marines (RM), are the United Kingdoms amphibious forces and a core component of the countrys Rapid Reaction Force. ... April 14 is the 104th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (105th in leap years). ... Lieutenant General Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart (1880-1963) (VC, KBE, CB, CMG, DSO) was a British officer of Belgian and Irish descent. ... The Sunderland, S.25, was a flying boat patrol bomber, developed for the Royal Air Force by Short Brothers, based on their successful S.23 Empire flying boats, the flagship of Imperial Airways. ... In general, allies are people or groups that have joined an alliance and are working together to achieve some common purpose. ... The Luftwaffe (literally, air weapon, pronounced looft-vaaf-feh) is the air force of Germany. ...

British forces landed on April 16, coming in quickly under cover of darkness in the Polish transport M.V.Chrobry, escorted by the destroyer, HMS Afridi, Captain Philip Vian, commanding. Two ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Afridi. ... Admiral of the Fleet Sir Philip Vian GCB KBE DSO was a British naval officer best known for the incident early in 1940 when a force under his command released captured British merchant sailors from the German supply ship Altmark in Norway. ...

Two battalions of French Alpine troops landed on April 19 under heavy air attack. One of the transports conveying the French was too long to enter the harbour and returned to Britain without landing many of the French supplies, leaving the troops without straps for their skiis or the mules they used for transport. The French stayed put in Namsos, enduring air bombardment against which they had little protection. The French Cruiser Emile Bertin was damaged by bombing during the disembarkation (no casualitites) and was replaced by the Montcalm. In total some 6,000 Allied troops were put ashore. In military terminology, a battalion consists of two to six companies typically commanded by a lieutenant colonel. ... April 19 is the 109th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (110th in leap years). ... The USS Port Royal (CG-73), a Ticonderoga class cruiser. ... In general, allies are people or groups that have joined an alliance and are working together to achieve some common purpose. ...

Since transports unloading troops and supplies were vulnerable to air attack, every effort was made to complete this work at night and get away in the early hours of the morning, so as to be well out to sea by daybreak. As a result several ships got their troops ashore, but were unable to finish unloading equipment, and sailed with vital cargo aboard.

The move south

British forces quickly moved south along the snow covered roads. They were able to make some use of the narrow gauge railway. They lacked artillery, trucks, skis and air cover, and when they reached Trondheim Fjord were shelled by a German destroyer. They had no guns to answer it, were being ambushed by German ski troops, attacked from the air, and cut off by German forces landed behind them by sea. Carton De Wiart asked for permission to withdraw, and was told to hold his ground. He did so for several more days. When it became apparent that the attack on Trondheim was off, it was decided to evacuate the Allied force. In general, allies are people or groups that have joined an alliance and are working together to achieve some common purpose. ...

Air attacks

German bombers destroyed much of the wood-constructed town on April 20. Attacks lasted throughout the day and most of the wood houses, as well as the railway terminal, a church, the French headquarters and the two wooden wharves were burned. The stone wharf was damaged. The Norwegians paid dearly for the help the Allies brought. Fortunately, only one Allied ship was present in the harbour when the attack occurred. Fourteen German bombers went after the tiny anti-submarine trawler, HMS Rutlandshire, and badly damaged it just down the bay from Namsos. The ship was beached and the survivors were machine gunned in the water. None were killed and only two injured. They were later rescued by the destroyer HMS Afridi. April 20 is the 110th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (111th in leap years). ... Categories: Water-transport stubs | Ship types ... Two ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Afridi. ...

Air attacks on Namsos continued throughout the campaign.

The British felt the need to provide protection from submarine attack for their ships entering and leaving Namsos. Lacking air cover, the small, slow anti-submarine sloops and trawlers used were very vulnerable to air attack. On April 30th, the sloop HMS Bittern was sunk by Junkers Ju 87 dive bombers off Namsos. On May 1st, three British anti-submarine trawlers at the entrance to Namsfjord, HMS Gaul, HMS St. Goran and HMS Aston Villa were destroyed by aircraft, the latter managing to make it back to Namsos where she burned. Important notice: This article is about the modern civilian boat type. ... Junkers Ju 87 Dive-Bombers The Junkers Ju 87 or Stuka was the most famous Sturzkampfflugzeug (German dive bomber) in World War II, instantly recognisable by its inverted gull-wings and fixed undercarriage. ... May 1 is the 121st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (122nd in leap years). ...

The Norwegian air force had no units in the vicinity. The only Allied air presence to counter the Luftwaffe was during the first British landings. A brief patrol was mounted well offshore by several obsolete biplane fighters, Gloster Gladiators, operating from the aircraft carrier, HMS Glorious. They claimed three German planes shot down. Some eighteen Gladiators were flown off the Glorious and operated from the frozen Lake Lesjaskog, but these were too far south to help Namsos. The Luftwaffe (literally, air weapon, pronounced looft-vaaf-feh) is the air force of Germany. ... HMS Glorious was a warship of the Royal Navy. ...

Evacuation

General De Wiart received orders on April 28 to evacuate Namsos, and on April 29, an evacuation convoy of destroyers, three British and one French, left Scapa Flow in Scotland under the command of Lord Louis Mountbatten. A larger naval force followed at a distance to protect them against attack by German battlecruisers. They were bombed on May 1st as they crossed the North Sea. That evening they encountered thick fog 40 miles short of their rendevous point at Kya Lighthouse, which was forty miles by sea from Namsos. Plans to evacuate that night had to be cancelled. Meanwhile German troops were closing in on the rearguard in the hills outside Namsos, and the convoy ships were vulnerable to air attack if the fog lifted in daylight. Scapa Flow is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, United Kingdom. ... Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (June 25, 1900 – August 27, 1979) was a British admiral and statesman and an uncle of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. ... The North Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, located between the coasts of Norway and Denmark in the east, the coast of the British Isles in the west, and the German, Dutch, Belgian and French coasts in the south. ...

Rather than wait for the evening, Mountbatten took his ships in on May 2, moving from fogbank to fogbank. This was a very dangerous enterprise on a rocky coast. Despite the fog, the ships were bombed. The ships' masts were sticking out above the fog, giving the German bombers an approximate target. When they reached Namsos, the fog lifted, revealing a burning town and swarms of German bombers. Since it would have been suicidal to enter in these conditions, the British ships ducked back into the fog and returned down the bay.

The next day, May 3rd, the last possible for evacuation, dawned as foggy as before. Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham, in overall command of naval forces in the area, screened the evacuation convoy with two cruisers and four destroyers at Kya Light and sent the cruiser, HMS York, five destroyers and three transports in. Mountbatten led in HMS Kelly at 26 knots as the sun was going down. When they rounded the last bend of the fjord they saw Namsos on fire. Mountbatten at this point did not know if the Germans were in possession of the town. A burning anti-submarine trawler, HMS Aston Villa, lay just ahead. As he closed the wharves, Mountbatten could see that everything was ablase. But, Carton De Wiart was there with 5,500 troops lined up in good order, waiting to get off. Bronze bust of Lord Cunningham, looking at Nelsons column and Whitehall Andrew Browne Cunningham, 1st Viscount Cunningham of Hyndhope (7 January 1883 - 12 June 1963), familiarly known as ABC, was the most famous British admiral of World War II, winning distinction in Mediterranean battles in 1940 and 1941, then... Several ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS York for the county seat of Yorkshire, on the River Ouse. ... HMS Kelly (F01) was a K-class destroyer in Britains Royal Navy, launched on 25 October 1938 and commissioned on 23 August 1939. ...

Evacuation began at 10:30 pm. Two of the transports were able to get alongside the damaged quay and filled up with troops. The destroyers took off the other men and ferried them to the York and the third transport, before taking a last load themselves. Meanwhile the rearguard was engaging the Germans to cover the evacuation. A tricky disengagement followed and a rush for the last ship, HMS Afridi. There was no time to destroy supplies left on the wharves, so the Afridi shelled the equipment as she pulled away from Namsos. It was 2:20 am, May 4th. Two ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Afridi. ...

They knew to expect trouble when day broke and the German bombers sought them out. At 4:30 am the rear of the British convoy was sighted by German reconnisance aircraft and bombers soon followed. The force was attacked continuously until late afternoon.

During the third attack of the day the French destroyer, Bison, was hit in the foreward magazine and exploded with 136 killed. The other destroyers turned back to pick up survivors who were being machine gunned in the water. After the Afridi had picked up some of the French sailors and Allied soldiers, she was hit by two heavy bombs and capsized with the loss of a hundred men, including some of the rearguard, the wounded from the Bison and survivors of the HMS Rutlandshire.

British anti-aircraft fire destroyed a number of German aircraft. The convoy reached Scapa Flow on May 5th, Carton De Wiart's 60th birthday. Scapa Flow is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, United Kingdom. ...

Comment

The Namsos campaign was not a success for the Allies, though the troops and naval forces and their commanders aquitted themselves well. Failure can be attributed to several factors. The first is that the British and French were responding to a German initiative and didn't have the same lead time to plan. Troops were not properly equipped, the British arriving with heavy fur coats and boots which made them practically immobile. And the Germans had seized the Norwegian air fields before the British arrived.

Lack of air cover was a great disadvantage. Norway's few obsolete aircraft were all stationed further south. Since the Germans had seized the Norwegian airfields, naval aircraft were all that the Allies could use. Two factors here deserve mention. Low defence expenditure during the 1920s and 30s meant that Britain did not have enough aircraft carriers to provide air cover for a seaborne invasion force. And putting the Fleet Air Arm under the RAF meant that getting the most modern aircraft for naval use was not a priority. Britain fell well behind Japan in this respect. The Gloster Gladiator and the Blackburn Skua dive bomber were simply not a match for German land based aircraft such as the Messerschmitt Bf 109, Messerschmitt Me 110 and the Heinkel He 111. The French had only one aircraft carrier, the Bearn and it was not deployed in Norway. Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century Decades: 1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s - 1920s - 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s Years: 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 Referred to as the Roaring 20s. ... Events and trends Technology Jet engine invented Science Nuclear fission discovered by Otto Hahn, Lise Meitner and Fritz Strassmann Pluto, the ninth planet from the Sun, is discovered by Clyde Tombaugh British biologist Arthur Tansley coins term ecosystem War, peace and politics Socialists proclaim The death of Capitalism Rise to... The Fleet Air Arm is the operational group of the Royal Navy responsible for the operation of the aircraft on board their ships. ... RAF is an abbreviation for: Royal Air Force -- the Air Force of the United Kingdom (see also Air Ministry) Red Army Fraction (Rote Armee Fraktion) -- a German terror organisation Rigas Autobusu Fabrika -- a factory making buses in Riga, Latvia Rapid Action Force in India Rachunarski Fakultet RAF is also an... Official language Japanese Capital Tokyo Largest City Tokyo Emperor Akihito Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi Area  - Total  - % water Ranked 60th 377,835 km² 0. ... The Gloster Gladiator was a biplane fighter, used by the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy, during World War II. The aircraft had a top speed of around 414 km/h. ... The Blackburn Skua was a combat aircraft operated by the Fleet Air Arm. ... (Bf 109 was the official Reichsluftfahrtministerium designation, though some late-war aircraft actually carried the Me 109 designation stamped onto their aircraft type plates. ... The Messerschmitt Bf110 (later Me110) was a twin-engine heavy fighter in the service of the Luftwaffe during World War II. History Based around the concept of the long-range Zerstörer or Destroyer Fighter the Bf110 enjoyed some success in the Polish and French campaigns. ... The Heinkel He 111 was the primary Luftwaffe medium bomber during the early stages of World War II, and is perhaps the most obvious symbol of the German side of the Battle of Britain. ... B arn is a former province of France, located at the base of the Pyr es. ...

The lack of air cover interfered with the landing of supplies. Carton De Wiart was to bitterly regret the lack of artillery, antiaircraft guns and motor transport. The high quality French Alpine troops were rendered useless through lack of vital equipment.

Finally, the failure of the navy to force the entrance to Trondheimsfjord meant that the campaign had little prospect of success. The southern arm of the attack which landed at Åndalsnes, was soon drawn into a fight alongside the Norwegians to block the northward advance of the Germans from Oslo and was no longer available to attack Trondheim. The Trondheimsfjord, Trondheimsfjorden, is Norways third longest fjord, 130 km long, in the west central part of Norway. ... County Oslo NO-03 Landscape Viken Municipality NO-0301 Administrative centre Oslo Mayor (2004) Per Ditlev-Simonsen (H) Official language form Neutral Area  - Total  - Land  - Percentage Ranked 224 454 km² 426 km² 0. ... Trondheim (Icelandic name: Þrándheimur; Lithuanian name: Trondheimas; former German name: Drontheim) is a city and municipality in the county of Sør-Trøndelag, Norway. ...

Despite the defeat the Allied effort was remarkable enough. If France had not fallen, the Allies may well have been able to hold Narvik further north and block Swedish iron ore shipments to Germany during the winter months. So in this context, the Namsos campaign can be seen as a check to German overland movements north until the Allies could seize Narvik, which they did soon afterwards. But, with France in danger of falling, the decision was reached to withdraw from Norway. Narvik is a town in the county of Nordland, Norway. ...

The Allied commanders here did well under trying circumstances. It really came down to air cover.

References

• "Happy Odyssey", Adrian Carton De Wiart, Jonathan Cape, London, 1950
• "The Right of the Line", John Terraine, Septre, Seven Oaks, Kent, 1988
• "HMS Kelly", Kenneth Poolman, New English Library, London, 1980
• "Norway, Vol. 2" Naval Intelligence Division,London,1943
• "Before the Storm, The Story of Bomber Command, 1939 to 1942", Robert Jackson, Cassell and Co., London, 2001