Hitler’s Pre-Emptive War: The Battle for Norway, 1940 (37 page)

The British destroyers were now engaged in desperate maneuvers to avoid the many torpedo tracks coming towards them. They managed to avoid most of them, but the after-action reports indicate that three destroyers would have been hit if the German torpedoes had functioned properly by staying at the preset depth.
Hardy
,
Hunter
, and
Havock
reported that torpedoes passed under them and would have been hits if they had traveled at the correct depth.

Diether von Roeder
continued to defend itself in a fierce duel against the five British attackers. The German destroyer had dropped its anchor after returning from patrol and the anchor could not be lifted because the power supply to the electrically operated windlass was severed. The warship was a stationary target on which the British concentrated their fire. The boiler room was ablaze, the fire direction system was inoperable, and a shell struck the mess killing eight men and starting a fire that turned the forward part of the ship into an inferno.

A British shell hit and destroyed gun number 3, killing six of its crew. Another shell ignited an ammunition locker and one penetrated the ship near the aft magazine. This made it necessary to flood the magazine.
Diether von Roeder’s
guns kept firing, directed locally since the central fire control system was down. The ship’s engine still functioned and Commander Holtorf backed his ship to safety between the fiery wrecks of merchant ships, dragging the anchor. He managed to reach the Steamship Pier and there the ship remained with its bow facing the harbor entrance. The fires were extinguished with the help of shore-based fire-fighting equipment. Despite the crew being full of fight, Commander Holtorf decided that his ship had sustained so much damage and its fighting ability was so reduced that it would be folly to keep the crew aboard. He ordered all unnecessary personnel to leave the ship.

Warburton-Lee made a quick assessment of the situation. There was no fire coming from the harbor. The British had counted at least four or five German destroyers in the harbor out of the six that they believed the Norwegians at Tranøy had reported entering Ofotfjord. Warburton-Lee decided, after he was told the ships had 16 torpedoes left, that there was little risk in completing the work he had started and he ordered the destroyers to reenter the harbor and finish off the enemy.

The British destroyers entered the harbor in a line-ahead formation at 20 knots in order to be better able to avoid enemy torpedoes, and circled in a counter-clockwise direction while raking all observed targets in the harbor with their guns. The British ships exited at high speed about 0530 hours (GMT).

Warburton-Lee led his five destroyers westward at moderate speed to a point northeast of Skomsnes and held a council of war on the bridge. Everyone favored making another run into the harbor to ensure that all enemy ships were destroyed. It is an understandable emotion by men flushed with at the prospect of complete victory. Warburton-Lee accepted the views of his officers and even ordered landing parties readied. This was a strange order since the landing parties consisted of no more than one lightly armed platoon on each ship and the British had received a hail of small arms and machinegun fire from the shoreline, an indication that the shore was held in force. The fateful decision to make a third foray into the harbor spelled the end to the amazing run of British luck.

Dickens claims that the Germans finally alerted their five destroyers located outside the harbor about 0530 hours, one hour after the action began. The outlaying destroyers no doubt received word late about the British attack on Narvik, but probably not quite as late as indicated by Dickens.

Warburton-Lee took his flotilla back into the harbor at 20 knots. The mist and smoke was heavy as the destroyers weaved their way past the graveyard of sunken or sinking hulls of merchant ships in their path. They met gunfire from
Hans Lüdemann
and
Hermann Künne
. Those ships were not visible but the British fired at the point of the gun flashes.
Hans Lüdemann
also fired a salvo of four torpedoes at the attacking British destroyers but they all missed, one passing under
Hostile
.
Hostile
ventured a little too close to the enemy in launching its torpedoes and received the first large caliber hit by a British ship so far in the action. The damage from the 5-inch shell was not serious.
Hardy
, leading the line of British warships, turned west as she exited Narvik’s harbor.

Jan Wellem
had so far escaped the carnage but its captain now felt that her time had come and ordered the ship abandoned.
Jan Wellem
carried a number of British prisoners and the captain and his crew remained aboard until the prisoners were lowered safely away.

The distance from the three German destroyers in Herjangsfjord to Narvik was approximately 10 miles, and the distance to Ballangen Bay was about 15 miles. From the time these destroyers received word about the British attack, they needed to weigh anchors, get underway, and cover the distances mentioned above.

The official Norwegian naval history agrees with Dickens that the destroyers in Herjangsfjord were notified about the action in Narvik in a message from
Hans Lüdemann
. However, it states that this message was sent at 0515 hours, at the same time as Warburton-Lee’s destroyers were beginning their second run into the harbor. This seems a more realistic timeline although it is still probably too tight.

There are therefore reasons to believe that the message may have been sent even before the time indicated by the Norwegian history, possibly after the three British destroyers had completed their first run. It took the German destroyers in Herjangsfjord at least 15 minutes to weigh anchor and they set out for Narvik at the maximum speed allowable by their scant fuel supplies. The British destroyer flotilla exited Narvik harbor after its third run around 0550 hours, about 35 minutes after the German destroyers in Herjangsfjord were alerted if we accept the sequence of events reported by the Norwegians.

The German Counterattack

One can well imagine the surprise on
Hardy’s
bridge when, as the British flotilla turned westward from the harbor entrance, they observed an enemy force steering in their direction from the northeast at a distance estimated to be 7,500 meters. Warburton-Lee was the first to see the enemy force and he estimated that it consisted of one cruiser and three destroyers. He is reported to have told those present on the bridge, “This is our moment to get out,” and as he sent the following message to his superiors at 0551 hours, “One cruiser, three destroyers off Narvik. Am withdrawing to westward,”
¹³
he increased speed to 30 knots and fired the emergency withdrawal signal.

Warburton-Lee was mistaken as to both the composition and number of enemy ships but the German destroyers were large ships and it is understandable that one could be identified as a cruiser. It was also undoubtedly difficult to ascertain the exact number in the hazy morning light.

Commander Bey’s destroyers were in an oblique formation that allowed all ships to open fire with their forward guns without endangering each other. They opened fire shortly after they were sighted and the battle developed into a running engagement on a westerly course. The British ships, with the exception of
Hostile
that lingered behind still looking for targets in the harbor, were able to reply to the German fire with full broadsides as the enemy was off their starboard beam. The fire by both sides was ineffective and all shells fell far short of their targets. The reason was undoubtedly a mistake in range estimation. The British estimated that the enemy ships were 7,000 to 7,500 meters away when they opened fire. German reports state that the distance was over 10,000 meters.
¹⁴

Commander Erich Bey, the commander of the 4th Destroyer Flotilla, became the senior German naval officer when Captain Bonte was killed. He was an experienced and respected destroyer officer, but tended to err on the side of caution.
¹⁵
He was not fully aware of what had happened in Narvik or of the size of the opposing enemy force. The only message he received from Narvik after being alerted stated that
Wilhelm Heidkamp
was sunk, that Bonte was killed, and that three destroyers were prepared to serve as floating batteries.

This sounded rather ominous to the new naval commander, who placed heavy emphasis on that part of Admiral Raeder’s operational order that called for the preservation of the ships and their early and safe return to Germany. It was natural for him to conclude that a much superior enemy force caused what appeared to be a disaster and he saw it as his first duty to salvage what was left. It may be, as stated by Dickens, that Bey assumed his three destroyers were trapped, that he intended to fight it out, but that he wanted the two refueled destroyers in Ballangen Bay,
Georg Thiele
and
Bernd von Arnim
, to save themselves by breaking out to the west. Dickens goes on to say that Bey actually signaled these destroyers to break out.

The British destroyers, in the order
Hardy
,
Havock
,
Hunter
,
Hotspur,
and
Hostile
, laid smoke as they sped westward at maximum speed. The smoke helped shield the British ships from their three pursuers, but was of little help in meeting the next surprise sprung on Warburton-Lee. When he observed two big warships approaching from the west at high speed, he assumed initially that they were British cruisers coming to his aid. It was only when Commander Wolf turned
Georg Thiele
to port in order to bring all its armaments to bear on the British, that it became obvious to the officers on
Hardy’s
bridge that the ships were German.

Georg Thiele
, commanded by Lieutenant Commander Max-Eckhart Wolf, and
Bernd von Arnim
, commanded by Lieutenant Commander Kurt Rechel, were anchored in Ballangen Bay when the British attacked Narvik. They were alerted at the same time as Commander Bey but very dense fog and heavy snowfall kept them from reaching Ofotfjord until 0540 hours. Wolf and Rechel must have ignored Commander Bey’s order to break out as related by Dickens. They turned eastward as soon as they reached the open waters of Ofotfjord, intent on giving battle. They flew large recognition signals to prevent being fired on by other German ships which they assumed were converging on the British from the northeast.

The British were now caught in a pincer between the two German destroyers from Ballangen Bay and the three destroyers from Herjangsfjord. The British were in a precarious position. The number of ships involved was equal, but the German ships were considerably larger and they now had the tactical initiative.
Georg Thiele
and
Bernd von Arnim
were closing on the British destroyer column at an effective speed of 60 knots and this left precious little time for decision-making.

The two aggressive German destroyer captains knew that a tragedy had befallen their comrades in Narvik and they were now bent on revenge. By turning to port and opening fire at a range of approximately 4,000 meters, Commander Wolf achieved the classic crossing of the “T” and brought all his guns to bear on
Hardy
, the lead British destroyer. Warburton-Lee, approaching the German ships head on, could only use his two forward guns and when he finally turned to port to bring the rest of the armament to bear on his opponents, he had lost precious time. The smoke screen prevented the destroyers behind
Hardy
, with the exception of
Havock
, from observing what was happening. The three pursuing German destroyers were delayed at this critical moment by the evasive actions they took to avoid the torpedoes and gunfire from their comrades in Narvik. Warburton-Lee’s immediate problem was therefore only the destroyers coming at him from the west and these were not only outnumbered five to two but the British had a gun advantage of 21 to 10. However, the British commander had to assume that the three German destroyers from Herjangsfjord were hot on his heels and that his ships were caught in a vise.

Bernd von Arnim
, seeing that
Georg Thiele
was engaging
Hardy
, concentrated its efforts on the second destroyer in the British line,
Havock
. Warburton-Lee signaled his ships at 0555 hours, “Keep on engaging the enemy.” This message took on a legendary quality in the British Navy since it was believed that Captain Warburton-Lee issued this order after he was mortally wounded. However, based on testimony of the only surviving officer on
Hardy’s
bridge, this message was sent before the ship was hit and was meant as a tactical instruction to the three rearmost destroyers in the British line to keep engaging the German warships coming up from behind.
¹⁶

Georg Thiele
found the range with its fourth salvo. Two shell struck
Hardy’s
bridge and wheelhouse and other shells destroyed her forward guns. Everyone on the bridge was either killed or wounded. The only officer alive and not mortally wounded on the bridge was Paymaster Lieutenant Geoffrey Stanning, and his leg was shattered.
Hardy
was out of control, and heading towards the rocky shore at 30 knots. Stanning ordered the helmsman to change course but the wheelhouse was destroyed and there was no one at the helm.

The rest of the British line, not knowing that
Hardy
was out of control, followed in her wake. Stanning, in an amazing feat of bravery and determination, climbed down the ladder to the wheelhouse despite a shattered leg. Here he found that the helm was partially destroyed, but that it still functioned when he turned what was left of the wheel. He altered course away from the shore, but initially he could not see out of the wheelhouse, overcorrected, and found himself heading towards the enemy. He was able to correct the course and found a seaman who took the wheel while he made the painful climb back to the bridge. He saw two German destroyers off his starboard bow firing rapid salvoes. His first thought was to ram one of his antagonists but then a shell hit the boiler room, sending out billowing columns of steam. The ship was losing power and would soon become a stationary target at the mercy of the enemy. He decided to beach
Hardy
in order to save the crew. The ship almost came to a stop before reaching shore but she eventually slid gently onto the rocky beach at Virek.