The Whale Has Wings Vol 1 - Rebirth (19 page)

This incident as, however, to strengthen Churchill's hand in his insistence on mining the Norwegian leads, and the operation was planned, to start in April.

The Germans bombed Scapa Flow again, as the anchorage had now resumed its function as the Home Fleets main base. About 20 Ju88's attacked during daylight.

Unfortunately for the Luftwaffe, in addition to the new AA guns placed at the base since their last raid, there was also a considerable fighter presence. Scapa was currently home to three fleet carriers, as well as having its own two dedicated squadrons of Goshawks, and the radar system had been improved, giving the defence a longer warning period. There were therefore five squadrons of fighters at the attached airbase, although only two were on alert at any time (the squadrons belonging to the carriers were tasked with sharing the defensive duties for training purposes). As it was, 36 fighters were available, 18 of these on short notice and 9 available immediately (5 minutes warning, and the rest on standby).

The attackers were detected on radar some 60 miles away. With more training, and more experience, the warning and control system was working more efficiently now. The 9 ready planes were able to get airborne and to a suitable altitude for interception (the Ju88's apparently intended to attack from about 10,000 feet, either by level bombing or dive bombing) The other 9 aircraft got airborne, but had to attack on the climb as they did not scramble fast enough to gain altitude. Fortunately this was not as dangerous against unescorted bombers than it would have been against fighters.

This was the first time the Luftwaffe had encountered the Mk II Goshawk, and it was not a pleasant surprise. Six of the attackers were shot down before the fighters broke off to regroup and let the rest of the squadron engage. The approaching fighters attacked from head on, which not only broke up any remaining semblance of a formation among the bombers, but shot down another three aircraft. As soon as they had passed through the bombers, the original fighters dove down at them again, causing four more to crash into the sea.

With 13 out of their original 20 planes already shot down (and still 5 miles away from the target), the remaining bombers jettisoned their load and ran. Two more were shot down in the process (the Ju88's were a fast bomber, but the Goshawk was faster), and two more were damaged (one of these crashed on the way home)

Of the 15 planes shot down, one managed to crash on land, the crew injured but surviving. Of those that went into the sea, one crew was rescued by a navy trawler, the others were lost - the waters off Scapa are very cold in March.

After this, it would be a long while before the Luftwaffe decided to try another attack on Scapa Flow, the only air activity would be very high altitude reconnaissance flights which the Goshawks lacked the high level performance to intercept

During the period January-March, a number of the light carriers had been tasked to escorting convoys (in particular the high value and fast convoys). Unlike the earlier abortive attempts last September, these had been close escort missions, using their TBR planes to search and if possible attack surfaced U-boats, or keep them down so their low underwater speed made it impossible for them to intercept the convoy before it was out of range.

This had been very successful. It was not certain yet exactly how well the system was working - the bulk of sinkings by U-boat were still of stragglers or ships sailing independently, but only one ship had been sunk in a convoy with air escort (it was thought this was possible a U-boat which had simply been in the right position, by accident, to make an attack), and the method was looking very promising. The main problem was the lack of carriers, and also a lack of escorts which were stopping the escort groups from being able to do much more than protect the convoys - only a handful of U-boats had been sunk.

One carrier, HMS Mars, had been damaged by a mine (thought to be a magnetic mine) close to the UK on the 14th Feb. The mine had caused serious underwater damage, but the navy was very pleased to learn that the ships protective system, designed to work against torpedoes, worked well against mines as well. The ships aft engine room had been flooded, but the two engineering spaces were separated, and the system of sealed drums had limited the flooding. Indeed, she arrives back at port under her own power (though rather lower in the water than usual), and her Captain claimed that if necessary she could have flown off aircraft!. The damage was estimated to take about 10 weeks to fix, and the ship was expected to be back in service in early May (in fact due to pressure of other damage repairs she was not actually ready until the end of June).

Chapter 15

The Norway Campaign

The fight for Norway was one of the most confusing and mismanaged campaigns ever fought by the British in recent time.

It didn't help that it was started by the collision of two completely different plans, the British plans to lay minefields to close off the sea routes that
iron ore ships were taking to Germany, and if necessary land troops, and the German plans to invade Norway to, among other things, safeguard those same ore supplies, ran head on into each other, and in bad weather at that.

In spite of abandoning plans to help Finland, Britain and France
had decided to disrupt Swedish iron ore traffic to Germany by mining Norwegian waters (Operation Wilfred). Plans were also made to land troops in Norway, from south to north, at Stavanger, Bergen, Trondheim and Narvik to forestall any German retaliation (Operation R4). The entire operation was timed for 8th April.

On the 3rd April, the first German troop transports sailed for Norway as part of Operation
Weserubung. They were followed on the 7th by naval vessels, some carrying further troops, the others to cover the entire operation. This basically consisted of all the available surface ships in the Kriegsmarine.

However on the 4th April
sixteen Allied submarines ordered to the Skagerrak and Kattegat to serve as a screen and advance warning for a German response to Operation Wilfred. On the following day, HMS Renown set out from Scapa with HMS Colossus and 12 destroyers heading for the Vestfjord. As the opposition of heavy units was not expected, Colossus had embarked 12 Dive Bombers and 9 Fighters, plus 8 TBR for reconnaissance and antisubmarine work (it was intended to use the Cormorants in the reconnaissance role to supplement the Swordfish.

German attack Gruppe for the initial Norway landings

Gruppe 1 - 9 destroyers (headed for Narvik)

Gruppe 2 - Hipper + 3 destroyers (headed for Trondheim )

Gruppe 3 - Nurnberg, Konigsberg + support ships (headed for Bergen)

Gruppe 4 - Karlsruhe + support ships (headed for Kristiansand)

Gruppe 5 - Blucher, Lutzow + support ships headed for Oslo)

Gruppe 6 - 4 minesweepers (headed for Egersund)

The Scharnhorst and Gneisenau are with Gruppes 1 and 2 before they separate

On the 7th April, the weather worsened in the North Sea, causing large areas of thick fog and heavy seas, as well as rain and snow. Renown's force was, as a result, unable to operate the usual aerial reconnaissance. During a heavy snowstorm, one of the escorting destroyers, HMS Glowworm, dropped out of the formation to search for a man who had been swept overboard in the heavy seas. For the Germans, however, the weather was a huge advantage, as it gave them a much better chance not to be spotted by the RN on the way to their targets, and Gruppe 1 and Gruppe 2 set out early on the morning. They were accompanied by the Scharnhorst and Gneisnau who would be their covering force until they separated.

At around 0800 on the 7th the two groups were spotted by RAF reconnaissance planes 100m off southern Norway. Although this was reported to Renown, this took some time (coordination between Coastal Command and the Fleet was still inefficient) and due to the poor weather and the range, no strike was attempted as the RAF had agreed to attack them (even though they were, apparently, not a city...) Unfortunately as was the norm with RAF attacks on shipping no hits were obtained, and it was not until 1730 (the aircraft were, oddly, operating under radio silence even though their location had been obvious once they attacked) that the forces was reported as being a battlecruiser, two cruisers and ten destroyers. They had also been found 80 miles north of the original position.

As a result of the sighting and movements of the force, Admiral Forbes (C in C Home Fleet) decided that the force was attempting a breakout into the North Atlantic (due to failures and miscommunications in British intelligence, although there was clear indications of an invasion of Norway, he was not informed of this possibility). Units of the Home Fleet sailed from Scapa at 2030 that evening to take up blocking positions, into weather that was still worsening.

That evening, in the middle of appalling weather and snowstorms, the Glowworm encountered two of the destroyers escorting Hipper. She attacked them, and they turned away, leading her onto the Hipper. The destroyer attacked the heavy cruiser with little effect. Although hit herself she managed to ram the cruiser, damaging her side, before being sunk. Unfortunately HMS Glowworm did not get off a complete sighting report.

On the morning of the 8th April, the Polish submarine Orzel sank the clandestine German troopship the Rio de Janeiro off the Norwegian port of Lillesand. In the wreckage of the ship were found uniformed German soldiers and other military supplies. This was reported to the Admiralty, but at the time they were busy with the Glowworm encounter, and still thinking that the Kriegsmarine was planning a breakout. As a result they did not pass the information along to Forbes.

Norwegian fishing boats and the Norwegian destroyer Odin rescued German soldiers from
the ship, and on being questioned revealed that they were being sent to Bergen to 'help protect Norway from the Allies'. This information was passed on to Oslo and the Norwegian Parliament, who ignored it.

At 1400 aerial reconnaissance by Coastal Command informed the Admiralty that they had located a group of German ships west-northwest of Trondheim, heading west. This course was due to the Gruppe 'marking time' until ready to land their troops. However the position and course suggested that the Germans were indeed trying to break out into the Atlantic, and the Home Fleet units changed direction to northwest to try and intercept them. While the weather was still very poor, the Illustrious (carrier support for the Home Fleet detachment) flew off a reconnaissance force of 8 Swordfish (although the 18-strong strike squadron was now equipped with the SeaLance
TBR, the search and antisubmarine squadron was still flying Swordfish) to try and pinpoint the location of the ships. The strike squadron and the divebombing squadron were held until a target had been found.

Until the aircraft had had a chance to locate the German fleet it was decided to hold the cruiser and light forces available in the UK until the disposition of the force could be determined, although to allow them to sail at short notice the troops they had embarked were offloaded. Forbes had HMS Illustrious available immediately, with HMS Colossus close by, and despite the poor weather felt that search planes from these two carriers would be sufficient to allow him to
pinpoint the Germans. His air advisor had pointed out that the weather would also limit the visibility from surface ships, and that more ships 'swanning around' would just lead to the possibility of confusion in identification. It was now April, with reasonable hours of daylight, and he hoped to get sighting reports before the evening. If that failed, he had in reserve the 4 SeaLance of his search squadron equipped with the early ASV II radar. The sets were new, and the operators not yet expert, but it offered the chance of finding and shadowing the Germans after nightfall, which meant he could conduct a night attack by air then close to sink them with his battleships in the morning. As soon as the enemy was located, the waiting cruiser force would join up with HMS Formidable. His main problem at the moment was actually finding the Germans with the state of the weather.

The aerial search revealed nothing - possibly because of the bad weather. The main reason was probably that the enemy force had in fact headed for Trondheim rather than keep to their original course. By the evening, Forbes had been getting numerous reports and sightings of German ships south of Norway (ironically perhaps they seemed to
be just about everywhere except where his search planes were looking for them...), and as a result started to change his mind as to the possibility that the Germans were planning a breakout into the Atlantic. The Home Fleet turned to head south to the Skaggerak, while HMS Repulse with a cruiser and some destroyers headed north to join Renown. In order to give himself more aircraft, he ordered HMS Formidable to come to two hours notice to steam, and HMS Victorious to stand by to unload the aircraft she was loading to take to the Mediterranean (she was currently loading 24 fighters for Malta, then would replace Ark Royal at Gibraltar so that she could return home for a minor refit). Once he had more information about the enemy his intention was to move Formidable up with a cruiser force, either for a joint attack with Illustrious or a pincer movement, depending on where he found the enemy. Alternatively if the Germans seemed to be staying close to Norway, he would send in one or more coastal sweeps of his light forces, supported by airstrikes as soon as conditions improved.

At 2300, just as Forbes was learning of the Orzel's action, Gruppe 5 (
the cruisers Blucher, Lutzow, plus support ships) was being confronted by the Norwegian patrol vessel Pol III off the Oslofjord. Raising the alarm, the patrol boat attacked the German force. The German forces continued into the fjord, clearing the outer defensive batteries without damage, then split off some of their small ships to capture the bypassed forts.