April 18 was an ominous day for Danglaar.

In the early hours of the morning, as soon as the sky lit up, Dangral was woken up by a burst of heavy shelling.

The adjutant came to report that the Germans were shelling the positions of the 21st Infantry Regiment, and Dangral immediately thought that this was a general attack by the Germans.

If their troops could not withstand this round of attack, they would definitely collapse on all fronts, and perhaps even be beaten to Stavanger by the Germans. In that case, he would have to live a gloomy prisoner of war life in a prisoner of war camp, and the descendants of those Viking pirates might use some vicious means against him, mining? Lumbering? Or quarrying? In short, I will not allow myself to enjoy the same treatment as the rank of major general.

At the thought of this, Dangral shuddered, and shouted to his lieutenant as he dressed: "Tell them that our reinforcements will arrive soon, and that the warships of the navy will soon support us with naval guns and let them hold on." ”

Arriving at the command post of the division headquarters, Dangral looked south with a telescope in a semi-underground bunker and found that the Germans were only shelling and did not charge.

Danglaar's hanging heart relaxed a little, and he said that he wished the Germans had shelled it longer. The Germans' general attack was one minute a night, and the French navy's fleet was closer to Stavanger. As soon as the French Navy arrived, he could let the Germans also taste the taste of being attacked by naval guns.

Soon, Dangral learned that the Germans had not used naval guns in this shelling, but only shelled the positions of the 21st Infantry Regiment, and that the 7th Infantry Regiment by the sea was unharmed.

Dangral's heart hung again, the Germans must have a conspiracy. Their warships must have been lying in ambush on the sea, waiting for the critical moment of the battle to deliver a fatal blow to their own troops.

While Dangral and his staff were pondering and analyzing what conspiracy the Germans were going to carry out, the 25 Infantry Regiment of the northeastern defense line sent a telegram that the Germans had launched an attack on the 25 Infantry Regiment.

Danglaar's reply to the 25 Infantry Regiment was simple - to push them back.

The Germans had already launched a harassing assault on the 25 Infantry Regiment yesterday, and it was boring to repeat the same trick today.

About an hour later, a phone call came to the command headquarters in Danglaar, and the commander of the 25 Infantry Regiment, Colonel Morsev, shouted in tears: "The line of defense has been breached, German tanks, and German infantry are pouring in, we need reinforcements." ”

With a "click", the phone fell on the table, and then it was picked up by Dangral in a panic.

"Hold out for another hour, and reinforcements will arrive soon." Dangral yelled into the phone.

Hanging up the phone, Dangral immediately gave an order for two battalions of the 13th Infantry Brigade of the Foreign Legion to reinforce the 25th Infantry Regiment.

In addition to the Foreign Legion, Dangral also sent a reconnaissance battalion, which had a cavalry company, a motorized reconnaissance company, and a heavy weapons company, which were far more mobile than the infantry, and could reach the defense area of the 25th Infantry Regiment one step ahead of the Foreign Legion.

They must withstand the German attack, otherwise the backs of the French army on the southern front will be completely exposed to the Germans. Under the front and rear attacks of the Germans, the French army, without the support of heavy weapons, could not support for two hours.

As soon as Dangral put down the phone, he received a telegram.

Putting down the telegram, Dangral was filled with grief, as if he had received the news of his grandmother's death.

"There is an armed riot in the city of Stavanger, and a group of militants of unknown origin are attacking the sentinels and attacking the docks." Dangral said weakly to the staff officers around him.

"We must send reinforcements to defend Stavanger immediately, or we will have no way out." A staff officer shouted.

"Where do I go for reinforcements? The 7th Infantry Regiment and the 21st Infantry Regiment need to garrison the defensive line, the 25th Infantry Regiment is difficult to protect itself, and the reconnaissance battalion and the Foreign Regiments have gone to reinforce the 25th Infantry Regiment, where do we still have reserves to use? Dangral said.

"We still have the navy, and the reinforcements that came with the navy, and since we were able to land on the beach in Stavanger once, we can succeed a second time, are those rioters stronger than the Norwegian army? The Norwegian Army couldn't stop our guns, and the insurgents couldn't stop them. ”

"Contact the country immediately, explain to them what we are doing, and let the reinforcements speed up the march. Remember to tell them to prepare reinforcements for the landing and if Stavanger is lost, let them retake it. Dangral said.

After making the deployment, Dangral silently prayed, hoping that the reinforcements would arrive sooner, and all expectations were on them.

・・・・・・

On the sea 120 nautical miles southwest of Stavanger, white columns of water rose into the sky amid the roar of shell explosions.

The French convoy consisting of the battlecruisers Dunkirk and Strasbourg, a heavy cruiser, a light cruiser and four destroyers was engaged in a battle with the German Navy's naval assault fleet.

The French convoy to reinforce Stavanger was bound to pass through the English Channel.

Stavanger was a battleground for the Germans in southern Norway because of the Sulla airfield, and the German Navy used submarines, frigates and aircraft to set up three cordons at the eastern exit of the English Channel.

As soon as the French fleet left the English Channel, the German Navy sent submarines and planes to follow them along the way, because of its proximity to the British mainland.

The French fleet was cunning, and when they entered the North Sea, they chose a route as close to the British mainland as possible, so that they could be supported by the British Royal Navy at any time, and the German Navy would not be given an opportunity.

The German Navy worked out a-for-tat plan of warfare, sending eleven submarines to monitor the movements of the French fleet along the way, while the high seas fleet waited for an opportunity to attack.

After crossing the North Sea into the Norwegian Sea, the French fleet broke away from the protective circle of the British Royal Navy and headed for Stavanger. Unexpectedly, it collided head-on with the German attack fleet led by the brother ships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, and a great war broke out.

The missed shells set off waves of various sizes in the seawater, and the shells that hit them took countless lives.

The Scharnhorst brothers and the armored ships Lützov faced the sister ships Dunkirk and Strasbourg, while the heavy cruisers Blucher and Admiral Hippel led two light cruisers and eight destroyers to slaughter the French transports.

They used their numerical superiority to entangle the two cruisers and four destroyers of the escort fleet, and then sent four destroyers to pursue the French troop carriers.

In less than an hour, the French merchant ships Marseille and Hugo, which had lost their protection, were torpedoed and sunk by German destroyers.

The tanker Christopher was hit by the destroyer's guns on the fuel tank, which ignited a raging fire, and was immediately hit by two German torpedoes on the starboard side, capsizing five minutes later.

Throwing down the French soldiers struggling for help in the icy waters, the four destroyers immediately joined the encirclement of the French convoy.

After nearly three hours of naval battles, the French heavy cruiser Colbert and the light cruiser Truon were sunk, and three of the four destroyers were sunk, only one of the Jaguars was spared, and the two battle cruisers were also damaged to varying degrees.

The Germans sank the light cruiser Königsberg and a destroyer.

After receiving an explicit call from the commander of the German fleet, Lütjens, the two sides decided to cease fire and rescue the people who had fallen into the water.

Lütjans had received a telegram from the naval headquarters that the main force of the British Royal Navy's home fleet had departed from Scapa Bay to reinforce the French fleet. Under his orders, the German High Seas Fleet did not dare to stay long after rescuing its own crew that had fallen overboard, and then turned the bow of the ship and returned home.

・・・・・・

At 12:20 p.m. on April 18, at the division headquarters of the French 7th Infantry Division, Dangral completely lost the faith in fighting after receiving a telegram from the reinforcements canceling the trip.

Thinking of the telegram he had received not long ago, the Germans clearly told him that Stavanger had been liberated and that he had no way out, and advised him to surrender as soon as possible.

With the last hope for reinforcements, Dangral hesitated and refused the Germans' persuasion to surrender, saying that he would fight to the end.

Now, the headquarters of the French Army actually called to say that the first batch of reinforcements could not arrive because of the interception by the German Navy, and asked him to hold out for two more days and wait for the second batch of reinforcements to arrive.

Seeing this telegram, Dangral was even more convinced that he and his subordinates had made a mistake in Norway, and at the same time resented the British idiot who had drawn up the plan to seize Norway.

Dangral smiled gloating at the thought of the predicament that the British in the port of Bergen to the north would find themselves in after the fall of Stavanger.

Since you Britons dare to make such idiotic plans, I can't make it easy for you. With the idea of dying with the British, Dangral immediately made the decision to surrender to the Germans.

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ps: I posted a pinned post in the book review section with a map of the Stavanger battle, you can check it out.

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