Hitler’s Pre-Emptive War: The Battle for Norway, 1940 by Henrik Lunde (popular e readers .TXT) 📗

was to capture Kristiansand and Arendal and Captain Rieve was the navy commander. The naval force consisted of the light cruiser Karlsruhe, three torpedo boats, seven motor torpedo boats, and the artillery training ship Tsingtau. This task force departed Wesermünde at 0400 hours on April 8. The officers and men on the ships totaled 1,767. Colonel Gihr commanded the landing force, which consisted of one battalion plus one company of the 310th Infantry Regiment, one motorcycle squadron, and some naval artillery personnel. The strength of the landing force was 1,100.

Task Force 5 had as its mission the capture of the Norwegian capital, including the government and king if that was possible. The naval contingent of Task Force 5 consisted of the heavy cruisers Blücher and Lützow, the light cruiser Emden, three torpedo boats, eight R-boats (small minesweepers), and two auxiliaries (armed whalers). Blücher was the newest of the major German surface units, launched on June 8, 1939 and commissioned on September 10, 1939. Its actual displacement was 18,200 tons although it was officially listed at 14,050 tons. Sea trials had just been completed prior to the Norwegian invasion. The Lützow was originally classified as a pocket battleship and named Deutschland. It was reclassified as a heavy cruiser on January 25, 1940 and given a new name. Hitler thought there would be undesirable psychological and propaganda consequences if a ship named Deutschland should be sunk. The ships of Task Force 5 carried a combined crew of 3,800. Rear Admiral Kummetz commanded the naval component. The landing force consisted of two battalions of the 307th Infantry Regiment, one battalion of the 138th Mountain Regiment, plus various artillery, engineer and support units. The strength of the landing force was 2,000. Major General Engelbrecht commanded the landing force.

Task Force 6 was the smallest. Its mission was to capture Egersund on the southwest coast. The Germans considered this small coastal town important enough to be included as a target for the first day because it was the eastern terminal of the underwater cable to England. Task Force 6 assembled in Cuxhaven and sailed from the Elbe estuary at 0445 hours on April 8. Captain Kurt Thomas was the task force’s naval commander, and he had at his disposal four minesweepers with a combined crew of 328 personnel. Captain Eichorn of the cavalry commanded the landing force and had one motorcycle squadron of 150 soldiers for his mission.

Nearly every ship in the German Navy participated in Weserübung. In addition to the protective group consisting of the two battleships mentioned earlier, 36 German U-boats took up positions along the Norwegian coast and in the areas around the Shetland Islands and the Orkneys. The submarines were divided into eight designated groups and four boats operating independently in the waters between Orkneys-Shetlands-Bergen.

The only major units of the German Navy not participating in the Norwegian attack were the pocket battleship Admiral Scheer, the light cruisers Leipzig and Nürnberg, six destroyers, and four torpedo boats. These were all undergoing repairs. The Luftwaffe had sunk two German destroyers by mistake in February 1940.

The army divisions assigned for operations in Norway consisted of the 3rd and 2nd Mountain Divisions, the 69th, 163rd, 181st, 196th, and 214th Infantry Divisions. The two mountain divisions were elite units, consisting of a mixture of German and Austrian troops. The 2nd was not on the original list of units for the invasion but was added and moved to Norway when it became apparent that mountain troops were necessary to establish contact between the Trondheim landing force and that in Narvik.

While the main army units constituting the invasion force did not possess nearly a uniform level of personnel, training, equipment, and experience, they were considered fully combat ready. While some of the troops could be considered old for combat duty, this was compensated for by experience. The 214th Infantry Division, for example, consisted primarily of militia or territorial solders as well as veterans from World War I. A number of the units were armed and equipped with captured materiel (Austrian, Czechoslovakian, and Polish).

Training time varied. Some German units had not trained for winter and mountain operations, and all units lacked training in amphibious operations. These were serious shortcomings that had to be overcome. All units were extensively trained in offensive operations, and all ranks were expected to show themselves capable of flexibility, initiative, and improvisation.

Air Corps X, under Lieutenant General Hans Geissler’s command, was tasked with providing air support for the Norwegian operation and was considerably augmented for this mission. Air Corps X employed more than 1,000 aircraft in the Norwegian operation, including approximately 500 transport aircraft.

Air Corps X consisted of three squadrons and one group of fighter-bombers. Each squadron normally consisted of three groups and each group had 27 aircraft. There was also one group of dive-bombers, two groups of fighters, 18 reconnaissance aircraft, one group of seaplanes, and seven groups of transport aircraft. The Luftwaffe also provided three anti-aircraft battalions, one parachute battalion, and several air landing units. The navy also had under its own command three groups of reconnaissance aircraft. The mission of Air Corps X was to transport parachute and other troops to Oslo, Kristiansand, and Stavanger, to protect the troop transports and the landing of troops in Norway against enemy aircraft, to provide close air support for the troops, and to capture and expand Norwegian airfields.

Only light equipment and limited supplies could accompany the small number of personnel in the attack groups; that is, those transported on warships. It was therefore of great importance that heavier weapons, equipment, and reinforcements for the initial landings arrive in Norwegian harbors on the day of the attack. The timely availability of fuel was particularly critical for the returning warships. Several transport groups were organized to bring the heavy weapons, supplies, equipment, reinforcements, and fuel to Norway. One was referred to as the Export Echelon (Ausführ-Staffel) and consisted of seven merchant ships that were to sail individually from Hamburg to Narvik, Trondheim, and Stavanger with weapons and supplies