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In the early hours of June 8, the coalition (in fact, just the Anglo-French forces and the Danish-Norwegian government-in-exile army) began a military campaign to reclaim and occupy Denmark and Norway, codenamed "Pathstone". Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo╔╗

In the Norwegian direction, Britain's General Claude commanded a joint operation of the navy, army, and air force of the Sixth Battle Group to carry out a surprise attack, carrying out simultaneous landing operations from south to north in the six major Norwegian ports of Oslo, Christian, Stavanger, Bergen, Trondheim, and Narvik. With the exception of the port of Stavanger, which was occupied by paratroopers, the remaining five ports were carried by the Navy for amphibious landing attacks. 30,000 British and French troops attacked five ports in five groups. The goal of the first phase was to seize the port and airfield, and in the second phase it was to attack inland, retake Norway in its entirety, and prepare for the second phase to hold back the German forces that might counterattack, as well as to carry out anti-landing and counterattack operations against the navy and marines from the German mainland.

Charged with the most difficult and dangerous task of capturing the port of Narvik was the first formation of the British Navy. Led by Rear Admiral Salcred, commander of the British Navy destroyer fleet. A World War I veteran, Admiral Salcred was promoted to commander of the British Navy's destroyer fleet in 1939 and to the rank of rear admiral in the same year. This time he led ten destroyers on an escort mission.

The 2,000 troops carried by the destroyer fleet were soldiers of the 139th Mountain Infantry Regiment of the all-modernized Mountain Infantry Division, led by Edward, commander of the 3rd Mountain Infantry Division of the British Army. ╔╗General Edward is also a veteran of World War I and was promoted to lieutenant general last year. None of that matters. It is important to note that although Edward was born in England, he studied in the Chinese Empire for more than 20 years and was one of the most staunch pro-Chinese elements in the British military system, and because of this, the Chinese Empire cancelled its intention to send military advisers to the British army under his command.

At 4 a.m. on 8 June, a formation of nine British battleships approached Narvik along the long fjord, with one destroyer remaining to guard the entrance to the fjord, and two battle cruisers continuing to cruise north.

It's already close to the Arctic Circle. In the thick fog, the British battleship "Shengwei" suddenly appeared, and the German battlecruiser "Gneisenau" immediately rushed forward, and the two sides engaged in a short fierce battle in the wind and snow, and the "Shengwei" was hit by 280 mm shells twice, causing a lot of damage, and the stern was on fire. The 381-mm guns of the "Voice" also hit the "Gneisenau" three times. But only minor damage was done, as the two main gun shells did not explode. This made the British Navy feel faceless.

The growing blizzard caused headaches for both sides. ╔╗The German battle patrol received instructions from the upper peak, carried out a strategic retreat, and then disappeared into the blizzard.

Almost at the same moment, Salcred's destroyers stormed Narvik, and 2 German destroyers, Marceau and Lunch, opened fire on the British fleet. Salcrede connived at the command of the battle, skillfully avoiding the blows of the German ship's naval guns and shore fire, and fired torpedoes at the German ship. Quickly sink the destroyer Marceau.

The Lunch was more tenacious, damaging 2 British destroyers in a row. But they were outnumbered and were soon sunk by the British fleet.

But unfortunately. A number of German submarines appeared nearby, and instead of attacking the British fleet, they directly sank three tankers of the British fleet. By the time the British reacted to help, the German submarine had already slipped away.

Since the Germans received special instructions from the German General Staff Headquarters, they did not put up stubborn resistance when the British landed and quickly withdrew. The British army then successfully captured Narvik.

According to the pre-plan, Salcred should return to the sea as soon as the British Navy sent the army units ashore, because the intelligence showed that the German Baltic Fleet was approaching at a rapid pace, and the British High Command, in order to persuade the Chinese Empire to allow this operation, changed the original combat operation of the main attack on Norway to a feint, so that the original plan of sending 100,000 troops to the campaign was reduced to 50,000 men. ╔╗

The Imperial Chinese Navy was busy annihilating the German High Seas Fleet, and most of the main forces of the British Navy were transferred to help, and it was difficult for the British Navy to resist the German Baltic Fleet on the Norwegian battlefield, so the British battleship formation hurriedly withdrew.

Three tankers were sunk, leaving Salcred's destroyer fleet without fuel supplies and having to stay in the harbor waiting for supplies.

Since the German High Command had prepared for a long time, Narvik itself was a bureau set up by the Germans for the British. During this period, the Germans were very busy.

On the evening of the 8th, four German minelayers had just laid a minefield at the entrance to Westfjord, and the German Navy's 2nd Destroyer Group covered these minelayers. After the news of the British occupation of Narvik, the German Admiralty ordered the 2nd Destroyer Group to immediately destroy the British fleet and recapture Narvik.

Although the weather was bad and the situation was unknown, the German commander, Admiral Walter, still called back: it was planned to attack Narvik on the morning of the 10th. Vice Admiral Whitworth, who commanded the war in Norway on the battleship Wilhelm II, feared that the destroyer was not strong enough, called Walter to ask him how he would act, and the latter replied succinctly: Attack now!

On the night of the 9th, with dense fog, wind and snow still outside the port of Narvik, and occasional sleet, the temperature was even colder, and the visibility was less than 400 meters, and Walter's five destroyers cautiously sailed into Westfjord. After skillfully evading the cordon laid by 4 Don-class submarines, the Germans rushed into the harbor.

The British did not expect the Germans to attack in such weather, the British ships were unprepared, and the nine destroyers were like lambs to the slaughter.

The British, who were asleep, received a surprise attack, and five of the nine destroyers were sunk by torpedo hits in an instant. Immediately afterwards, two German destroyers were responsible for suppressing the British shore guns, and the remaining three went straight to the other four unprepared British destroyers. The British destroyer "Brave" was attacked by "William? The 3 torpedo attacks of the "Heidekamp" sank on the spot. The British destroyer "Fenshen" urgently entered a combat state, and was bombarded by the 120-millimeter guns in the bow of the German destroyer Canber, and one shell directly hit the bridge of the British ship. ╔╗

At this time, the "Hunter" and "Havok" also entered combat mode, and the two ships attacked the German ship "Ledel", which was hit by a dense number of shells and sank with an explosion of fire around it. But the second ship was soon torpedoed by two other German ships and sank with a violent explosion.

The British, overwhelmed by the sudden attack, had no command and could only rush into battle with scattered fire, while the Germans retreated out of the harbor under the cover of a smoke screen. After a short rest, Walter led four more destroyers into the harbor, and this time the British troop carriers parked in the harbor became their target. Six troop carriers were sunk one after another, and the port was in chaos, full of fire and smoke, and the horror in the blizzard was as if the end of the world had come.

In less than an hour, the Germans achieved a complete victory.

However, just as Walter decided to retreat, the situation suddenly changed, and six British destroyers who had arrived from Hejansfjord for reinforcements appeared, determined to avenge their commander. The Germans, tired from the battle, fought and retreated, but when they sailed to Ballangenfjord, five more British submarines appeared, and this time Lady Luck sided with the British, and five British submarines converged here, and the Germans had nowhere to retreat under the front and rear attacks.

When the Anglo-German fleets fought until dawn and snow stopped, Walter and his four destroyers were all sunk.

The British took revenge, but the battle of fate that awaited the five British submarines also quietly began.

After learning of Walter's death, despite the opposition of the Air Ministry, he resolutely ordered a large number of bomber groups, including the secret weapon Juncker anti-submarine aircraft, to destroy the British fleet near Balangenfjord.

The Luftwaffe carried out a massive bombing of Narvik, killing and wounding hundreds of British troops on the ground. Two British destroyers in port were also sunk, while four others escaped.

Upon learning that Goering had sent an air force to help, Vice Admiral Whitworth decided to launch an immediate counterattack. On the 13th, a German fleet of three battleships, two heavy cruisers and nine destroyers sailed to Narvik.

Early that morning, Narvik was shrouded in a drizzle, and the visibility was only 6 nautical miles, Whitworth took the destroyer "Icarus" as the lead, and other ships rushed to the harbor, and the "William" drove into the harbor, and a "Henkel" plane ejected from the "William", and the British deployment was exposed.

The German Baltic Fleet had absolute superiority, and the British fleet was in a weak position and was not an opponent at all.

After more than an hour of fierce fighting, the British fleet finally retreated, and the ships retreated to Lombax Bay, but this 9-kilometer-long fjord was a dead end, and the British became a turtle in an urn. Pursued by the Germans, the British, who refused to surrender, scuttled their ships one after another. By the evening of the same day, the British destroyer fleet, which had been marching into Narvik, had been wiped out and none had survived, while the German Baltic Fleet had suffered little loss.

After the British destroyer fleet was completely annihilated, more than 2,000 surviving naval officers and sailors went ashore and were formed into five mountain battalions of sailors, using captured German weapons to join the ranks of mountain soldiers to resist the German attack.

The belated British submarine fleet, seeing the destruction of the destroyer fleet, returned home, sinking a German U-boat on the way. As a result, the location is exposed.

Soon, Luftwaffe anti-submarine aircraft arrived. The British submarine officers and men did not care at all, they did not believe that the German planes could find their submarines, although their submarines were not more advanced than the Song-class submarines of the Imperial Chinese Navy, but there had never been a case of Tang-class submarines being sunk by aircraft in World War II.

The self-confidence of the British made them suffer, and the German Junker anti-submarine aircraft quickly discovered the whereabouts of the British submarine and launched an attack. In less than half an hour, seven British submarines were sunk and four were injured to varying degrees. If it weren't for the fact that the German anti-submarine aircraft were not endured enough and were forced to return home, these four British submarines would not have survived. rq

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