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The Battles of Narvik were fought from 9 April to 8 June 1940 as a naval battle in the Ofotfjord and as a land battle in the mountains surrounding the north Norwegian city of Narvik as part of the Norwegian Campaign of the Second World War. The two naval battles in the Ofotfjord on 10 April and 13 April were fought between the British Royal Navy and Nazi Germany's ''Kriegsmarine'', while the two-month land campaign was fought between Norwegian, French, British, and Polish troops against German mountain troops, shipwrecked Kriegsmarine sailors and German paratroopers (''Fallschirmjäger'') from the 7th Air Division. Although defeated at sea off Narvik, losing control of the town of Narvik and being pushed back towards the Swedish border, the Germans eventually prevailed because of the Allied evacuation from Norway in June 1940 following the Battle of France. Narvik provided an ice-free harbour in the North Atlantic for iron ore transported by the railway from Kiruna in Sweden. Both sides in the war had an interest in securing this iron supply for themselves and denying it to the enemy, setting the stage for one of the biggest battles since the Invasion of Poland.〔(Narvik Naval Battle ) - A BBC article〕 Prior to the German invasion, British forces had considered Narvik as a possible landing point for an expedition to help Finland in the Winter War. Such an expedition also had the potential of taking control of the Swedish mines and opening up the Baltic for the Allies.〔Brown 2000: 3〕 French politicians were also eager to start a second front as far away from France as possible. ==German invasion== On 1 March 1940, Adolf Hitler ordered the invasion of Norway, codenamed ''Operation Weserübung''.〔(Derry 2004: 18 )〕 This operation would involve most of the ''Kriegsmarine''. Participating units were divided into five groups, which were to occupy six of the main Norwegian ports.〔(Derry 2004: 27 )〕 Group I departed Bremerhaven on 6 April. It consisted of 10 German destroyers of the 1934A and 1936 classes ''Georg Thiele'', ''Wolfgang Zenker'', ''Bernd von Arnim'', ''Erich Giese'', ''Erich Koellner'', ''Diether von Roeder'', ''Hans Lüdemann'', ''Hermann Künne'', ''Wilhelm Heidkamp'' (flagship) and ''Anton Schmitt'', commanded by ''Kommodore'' Friedrich Bonte. Each of the warships carried around 200 soldiers (a total of 1,900 mountain troops (''Gebirgsjäger'') from the 139th Mountain Regiment (''Gebirgsjägerregiment'') of the 3rd Mountain Division commanded by General Eduard Dietl).〔Jaklin 2006: 31〕 The troop-carrying destroyers were escorted most of the way by the battleships and .〔 In the early morning of 9 April, the destroyers of Group I passed the Vestfjorden and arrived at the Ofotfjorden leading to Narvik, in fog and heavy snow. In Ofotfjord, they captured three Norwegian patrol boats (''Senja'', ''Michael Sars'' and ''Kelt''). Before capture ''Kelt'' managed to send a message to the coastal defence ship HNoMS ''Norge'', alerting the local Norwegian naval commander of the incoming vessels.〔Kristiansen 2006: 35〕 The German ships ''Wolfgang Zenker'', ''Erich Koellner'' and ''Hermann Künne'' landed their soldiers in Herjangsfjord (a northern branch of Ofotfjorden) in order to capture a Norwegian regimental supply base at Elvegårdsmoen. ''Hans Ludemann'' and ''Hermann Künne'' also landed their troops in order to engage the nearby Norwegian forts (which turned out to be non-existent). ''Diether von Roeder'' remained in Ofotfjord in order to ensure German control of the sea. ''Erich Giese'' was delayed by engine trouble and did not join the main force for some time. The main defence of Narvik were the old coastal defence ships ''Eidsvold'' and ''Norge''. Having been alerted by ''Kelt'', both Norwegian ships prepared for combat: the guns were loaded and life preservers issued to the crew. Around 04:15, the Germans spotted ''Eidsvold'', and ''Eidsvold'' immediately signalled the leading German destroyer with an aldis lamp. When the Germans failed to respond to the signal, a warning shot was fired across their bow.〔Hauge 1995: 184〕 The Germans had orders to occupy Norway peacefully if at all possible, so the German flagship ''Wilhelm Heidkamp'' stopped and signalled that it would send an officer to negotiate. A small launch ferried ''Korvettenkapitän'' Gerlach over to ''Eidsvold''. Gerlach was taken to the bridge to speak to Captain Odd Isaachsen Willoch.〔(Brennecke 2003: 48 )〕 Gerlach tried to convince Willoch that the Germans had arrived as friends, but that the Norwegians had to hand over their warships to the German armed forces. Captain Willoch asked for time to consult his commander, Captain Per Askim, the commander of ''Norge''. This request was refused by the Germans, but while Willoch had been talking to the German officer the radio officer on board ''Eidsvold'' had communicated the events to Askim. Askim's response to the German demands and order to Willoch came immediately; Willoch and ''Eidsvold'' was to open fire.〔Bjørnsen 1977: 95〕 Willoch responded to Askim; "I am attacking."〔 While this was going on, the German destroyer ''Wilhelm Heidkamp'' had positioned herself off the port side of ''Eidsvold'' and trained her torpedo launchers on the Norwegian ship.〔 Gerlach tried once again to convince Willoch to surrender, but Willoch refused. As Gerlach left ''Eidsvold'', he fired a red flare, indicating that the Norwegians intended to fight. At this point, Captain Willoch shouted: ("Man the guns. We're going to fight, boys!"). ''Eidsvold'' turned towards the closest destroyer and accelerated, closing the distance to ''Wilhelm Heidkamp'' to while the battery commander ordered the port battery (three guns) to open fire.〔Hauge 1995: 184, 186〕 The Germans, afraid that ''Eidsvold'' might ram the destroyer, fired four torpedoes from ''Wilhelm Heidkamp'' at the old ship. Two of the torpedoes hit before the port guns could fire. The Norwegian ammunition magazine was ignited and ''Eidsvold'' was blown in two. The forward part of the ship sank in seconds, the stern followed in minutes, propellers still turning. At around 04:37, she was gone. 175 Norwegian sailors died in the freezing water, including Captain Willoch, with just eight surviving.〔O'Hara 2004: 30〕 Deeper inside the fjord, the explosions were heard aboard ''Norge'', but nothing could be seen until two German destroyers suddenly appeared out of the darkness and Captain Per Askim of ''Norge'' gave orders to open fire at 04:45. Four rounds were fired from the guns (one from the fore gun and three from the aft) as well as seven or eight rounds from the starboard guns, against the German destroyer ''Bernd von Arnim'', at a range of about . Due to the difficult weather conditions, the guns' optical sights were ineffective: the first salvo fell short of the target and the next ones overshot it. The German destroyers waited until they were alongside the pier before returning fire. ''Bernd von Armin'' opened fire with her guns as well as with machine guns, but the weather gave the Germans problems as well. The destroyer also fired three salvoes of two torpedoes each. The first two salvoes missed, but the last struck ''Norge'' midships and she sank in less than one minute. Ninety of the crew were rescued, but 101 perished in the battle which had lasted less than 20 minutes. The destruction of ''Norge'' signalled the end of Norwegian resistance in the port. The morning of the German attack four Norwegian steamers were anchored in Narvik; the ''Cate B'', the ''Eldrid'', the ''Haalegg'' and the ''Saphir''. In addition to the Norwegian vessels, four foreign, neutral ships were present; a Dutch steamer, the ''Bernisse'', and the three Swedish steamships ''Boden'' of , ''Oxelosund'' of and ''Strassa'' of . As well as neutral ships, the warring parties had vessels at Narvik, riding anchor in the same port. The British had five steamers in the harbour; the ''Blythmoor'', the ''Mersington Court'', the ''North Cornwall'', the ''Riverton'', and the ''Romanby''. As the German armada seized Narvik, there were 11 German merchant steamers at the port town; the ''Aachen'', the ''Altona'', the ''Bockenheim'', the ''Hein Hoyer'', the ''Martha Henrich Fisser'', the ''Neuenfels'', the ''Odin'', the ''Lippe'', the ''Frielinghaus'', and ''Planet'', and the replenishment oiler/maintenance ship .〔 ''Jan Wellem'', a converted former whale factory ship, awaited the arrival of the German warships, which she was tasked to refuel.〔(Williamson 2003: 34 )〕〔(Weinberg 2005: 114-115 )〕〔(O'Hara 2004: 32 )〕 Working in the harbour were the Swedish tugs ''Diana'' () and ''Styrbjörn'' (). As the German destroyers entered the harbour, the captain of the ''Bockenheim'', who assumed that the intruding warships were British, beached and scuttled his vessel.〔 In total, 25 ore ships had been riding at anchor in Narvik at the outset of the fighting, 10 of which were German.〔Waage 1963: 56〕 The German destroyers were now short of fuel and had only one fuel tanker in support (the ex-whale factory ship ''Jan Wellem'' that had been despatched to Narvik, accordingly to some sources from the secret German naval base Basis Nord at Zapadnaya Litsa in the Soviet Union, where she had been based since 4 February 1940.〔〔(Philbin 1994: 102, 110, 113-114 )〕 Another source indicates that she departed Murmansk in the evening of the 6 April and that Basis Nord was never even established.〔(Duffy 2005: 128 )〕 She had arrived off Narvik from the north on 8 April, and had been stopped by the Norwegian patrol boat ''Kvitøy''. ''Jan Wellem'' was allowed entry to Narvik by the regional Norwegian naval command, where she was inspected. Her captain claimed that she was carrying of fuel oil and 8,098 crates of food provisions and that she was on her way to Germany.〔Berg 1997: 35〕 A second tanker, the ''Kattegat'' which had sailed to Norway from Wilhelmshaven,〔 had been sunk in the Glomfjord in the evening of 9 April. ''Kattegat'' had been stopped by the Norwegian fishery protection ship HNoMS ''Nordkapp'', the Norwegian ship first trying to take the tanker as a prize, but due to the large German crew could not control it all the way to Bodø, in the end sinking ''Kattegat'' by firing four rounds into the tanker's water line.〔(O'Hara 2004: 32 )〕〔(Dildy 2007: 47 )〕 ''Kattegat'' had been delayed from reaching Narvik in time by the British 8 April mining operations off Norway.〔Sivertsen 2000: 23〕 A third tanker—''Skagerrak''—had also been despatched to Norway, in support of the German landings at Trondheim, but she was intercepted by the British cruiser , on 14 April,〔Brown 2000: 44〕 after she had been redirected by German naval command to a waiting position at sea. When the British warship tried to board ''Skagerrak'' her crew scuttled her at . Both ''Kattegat'' and ''Skagerrak'', which were sister ships, were inspected at Kopervik by the Norwegian torpedo boat ''Stegg'', on 5 and 7 April respectively. The captain of ''Kattegat'' told the Norwegians that he was headed to Narvik for further orders, and the captain of ''Skagerrak'' claimed Murmansk as their destination, and inspections revealed that both tankers had a full load of fuel oil. ''Skagerrak'' also carried of food provisions, which was claimed as supplies for German merchant ships. The food crates were labelled "''Wehrmacht''".〔Berg 1997: 49〕〔Sivertsen 2000: 23-24〕 According to the German plan the destroyers were supposed to have been refuelled by two tankers, ''Kattegat'' and ''Jan Wellem'', each receiving some of fuel oil.〔 The flotilla was then to be on its way back to Germany by the evening of 9 April. The plan failed because only ''Jan Wellem'' made it to Narvik. Refuelling with just one tanker was difficult, only two destroyers could be refuelled simultaneously, taking seven or eight hours. At arrival in Narvik, the destroyers were almost out of fuel.〔Hauge 1995: 189〕 Making the refuelling more challenging was the fact that ''Jan Wellem'' had only improvised refuelling arrangements and inferior pumping equipment.〔〔 While two destroyers were being refuelled at a time, a third was on guard in fjord, the remaining seven being spread around in the nearby area.〔Williamson 2003: 35〕 By 04:00 on 10 April, ''Jan Wellem'' had managed to fully refuel three of the German destroyers, and was in the process of refuelling two more.〔 In the meantime, British forces had tried to engage the ''Kriegsmarine'', but for the most part, unsuccessfully. On 8 April, the British G-class destroyer engaged the heavy cruiser and two destroyers, and was lost, ramming and damaging ''Hipper'' in the battle. On 9 April, the British battlecruiser exchanged artillery salvos with the German battleships ''Scharnhorst'' and ''Gneisenau'', which were screening the destroyers, causing light damage to ''Gneisenau''. The destroyers' main mission had been completed, however, as they had succeeded in landing the invasion force. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Battles of Narvik」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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