In the spring of 1940, the storm clouds of war hovered over Europe. After the German conquest of Poland, in the Fall of 1939, a "Phony War" was waged as France & Britain stood by waiting for a Nazi attack.
    British First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill advocated that the Allies go on the attack first. He felt there was no better place to start than mining the waters surrounding, and occupying parts of, neutral Norway. Why attack Norway? Churchill realized that nearly 70 percent of the iron ore used by the German weapons industry came from Sweden – Norway’s neighbor to the east. While some of the ore was shipped via Sweden’s ports on the Baltic, much of it was sent by rail to Norway’s ice-free ports on the North Sea.
    Germany was very aware of the danger of losing its iron ore supply from the north. Knowing that it would have to increase its own production by a staggering 20 million tons if it lost its Scandinavian ore shipments, German dictator Adolf Hitler ordered his military to draw up plans to invade Norway.  
    On April 6, 1940, Five Naval Groups departed Germany on their way to Norway.  Group I departed from the North Sea port of Bremerhaven. Led by Commodore Frederic Bonte, this group consisted of ten destroyers each carrying nearly 200 soldiers. These troops were Austrian mountain troopers of the 3rd Mountain Division commanded by General Eduard Dietl. Escorted by the battle cruisers Gneisenau and Scharnhorst, the ten troop carrying destroyers sailed for the Norwegian port of Narvik.
    The German fleet entered the fjord leading to Narvik in the early morning on April 9th. Cutting through rough seas, fog & heavy snow, it was confronted by the two largest ships of the Norwegian navy - Eidsvoid and Norge. Though antiquated and outclassed by the modern German fleet, the Norwegian ships refused an offer to surrender. Hit by two torpedoes, Eidvoid’s ammunition magazine exploded and blew the ship in two, killing 175 sailors, including Captain Odd Isachen Willoch. Only six survived.
    Deeper inside the fjord, Norge could hear the explosion that caused the sinking of Eidvoid. Out of the darkness, two German destroyers appeared, approximately 800 meters away from the Norwegian ship. The Norge opened fire and the first two salvos missed their targets. The German destroyers then fired and missed. Finally, a single German torpedo hit the Norwegian vessel sending it quickly to the bottom at a loss of 101 sailors. After the destruction of the Norge, Norwegian resistance in the port ceased and the German troops took control of the area.
    While the capture of Narvik and its port was a German success, only one oil supply ship made it to the harbor. All of the German destroyers were short of fuel and they were wary of the British Fleet patrolling the Norwegian coast.
    The Germans did not have to wait long for the British Fleet to arrive. Less than 24 hours after the initial German attack, five British destroyers entered the fjord toward Narvik. Concealed in heavy snowfall, the British surprised the Germans by launching multiple salvos of torpedoes into the harbor. Two German destroyers were sunk, including the flagship, killing Commodore Bonte. Three other German ships were damaged and multiple cargo ships were destroyed.
    As the British withdrew from the harbor, six German destroyers attacked the British. In the ensuing battle, two British destroyers were sunk and one was damaged by a torpedo. The British Commander, Bernard Warburton-Lee, was killed in this engagement and was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for gallantry in the face of the enemy.
    Due to a lack of ammunition and fuel, the Germans did not pursue the retreating British destroyers. On their way out of the harbor, the British made contact with an enemy ammunition and oil supply ship.  Without hesitation, it was sunk depriving the Germans of much needed fuel and ammunition.
    The British pulled back, but not for very long. On April 13th, a British task force, led by the battleship, HMS Warspite, entered the fjord for Narvik. Supported by nine destroyers and air cover from the carrier HMS Furious, the British overwhelmed the German ships trapped in Narvik’s harbor. One after another, the German destroyers were either sunk or deliberately beached to avoid sinking. The last German ship, George Thiele, tried desperately to fight off five British destroyers. Badly damaged, it fired its last torpedo hitting and blowing off the stern of the destroyer HMS Eskimo. The George Thiele beached itself, ending the naval battle.
    With no ships to man, the 2,600 surviving German sailors were incorporated as regular infantry with the mountain troops around Narvik. They manned anti-aircraft guns and two 10.5 cm guns salvaged from their destroyed ships. The sailors were armed with captured Norwegian machine guns and rifles. While in control of the land in and around Narvik, the German fleet was smashed and the port was unusable for shipping, as it was littered with destroyed ships.
    To support the Norwegian military, the British landed troops in the area on April 14. French & Free Polish troops arrived soon after. With no central command, the Allies had difficulty coordinating their operations. Heavily outnumbered, the Germans evacuated Narvik on May 29 and retreated to Beisfjord. This was the first major Allied land victory of the war.
    While things were going badly for the Germans in northern Norway, it was going even worse for the Allied Armies on the continent, as Germany launched an invasion of the low countries and France. In early June, the Allies evacuated Narvik and northern Norway. On June 8th, General Dietl and his German units retook Narvik and two days later the last of the Norwegian forces surrendered.
    To disrupt the Allied shipping around Norway, and to take some pressure off their forces around Narvik, the Germans launched Operation Juno on June 8. The German flotilla included the battle cruisers Gneisenau and Scharnhorst, one cruiser & four destroyers.
    With the evacuation of Allied forces, the mission became unnecessary. Nonetheless, the German commander Admiral Wilhelm Marschall decided to pursue the retreating British ships. The German fleet sunk a transport, a tanker and a minesweeper.
    In one of the more spectacular naval battles in the European theater during World War II, the two German battleships engaged the British aircraft carrier HMS Glorious and her two destroyer escorts.  Loaded with planes evacuated from Norway, the Glorious and her destroyer escorts separated from the rest of the retreating convoy to proceed at a faster pace.
    To give its aircrews a rest, no observation planes were patrolling the area as the carrier sailed through the Norwegian Sea. Surprising the British ships, the German battleships fired their guns at 24,000 meters hitting the carrier with one of the longest hits ever recorded. The British destroyers attempted to cloud the area with smoke, but it was to no avail. To defend their stricken carrier, the destroyers launched torpedoes toward the battleships. One of them hit Scharnhorst, killing 50 sailors and putting its aft turret out of action. As the German battleships retreated for Norway, both destroyers were sunk & the carrier Glorious was sinking. Nearly 1,500 sailors lost their lives in one of the worst naval tragedies in British history.
    Seventy years later, people travel from around the world to experience first hand the remains of the naval battle in Narvik’s harbor. Since there is such a large number and variety of ships so close to shore, it has become a popular location for cold-water divers to explore.