Enig og tro til Dovre faller – A Norwegian AAR

[Oranje Verzet]

James is to occupied talking to his plane that he gets shot.

Well the battle for Skagerrak will now be decided once more by the RN. The Germans will have lost a lot fait in their navy so it will be interesting to see how the Norwegian campaign continues.

[kenneththegreat]

whoa, just got to those updates. Nice ones

[Arntf]

Well, I was actually trying to make a joke... I probably should have used a smiley. But whatever his relationship with his plane, she is gone forever.

Well, besides for James' precarious situation, it looks good for you. Will the boats save James?

Fortunately for our friend James, aircraft are like women. There's always more available...

[Draco Rexus]

Nice update.

As for James.... most pilots have a very close relationship with their aircraft, seeing how the aircraft is all that is between them and the bad guys on the ground, so it's okay he feels that way about his Swordfish. But like Arntf said, there's always another one for James.... providing he survives his little swim in the oh so warm waters of the Skagerrak.

[kenneththegreat]

Nice update.

As for James.... most pilots have a very close relationship with their aircraft, seeing how the aircraft is all that is between them and the bad guys on the ground, so it's okay he feels that way about his Swordfish. But like Arntf said, there's always another one for James.... providing he survives his little swim in the oh so warm waters of the Skagerrak.

not to mention what that German destroyer might be up to

[GhostWriter]

As James turned his attention to the other side he could see a bright flash, and then he heard a loud bang. The navy had arrived, and was now firing the big guns upon the wounded German fleet.

the arrivial of the big guns means that James won't have to worry about the DD paying any attention to him.

of course, he may have a problem with the German sailors and marines/soldiers in the water...

[Arntf]

Och, James is a grown lad. I'm quite sure he knows how to take care of himself. Besides, the Skagerak water temperatures can reach as high as +3 degrees celcius. In July, anyway... so not to worry. He'll be just fine.

Now, let's get back to sinking German tonnage, shall we?

[kenneththegreat]

the arrivial of the big guns means that James won't have to worry about the DD paying any attention to him.

of course, he may have a problem with the German sailors and marines/soldiers in the water...

possibly, they will want revenge for the person who sunk their ship...

Arntf: I believe it's April or May in the story

BTW, Lord E, that aerial reconnaisence photo of the German fleet leaving port is really a Costal Command recon photo of the Bismarck in Grimstad Fjord, near Bergen

[Arntf]

Arntf: I believe it's April or May in the story

In that case, poor James is way up Shit Creek, with no paddle, no boat and no mistake...

[kenneththegreat]

In that case, poor James is way up Shit Creek, with no paddle, no boat and no mistake...

bad, bad, bad.

Unless the Battleships and Battlecruisers can arrive and pick the (probably freezing) guy out of the water

[Draco Rexus]

I have hope that Jamie boy will survive, but mayhap only as a popsicle, eh?

[Lord E]

Well, I was actually trying to make a joke... I probably should have used a smiley. But whatever his relationship with his plane, she is gone forever.

Well, besides for James' precarious situation, it looks good for you. Will the boats save James?

Ok, no worries then, well he sure has an interesting relationship to that plane that is correct. If he survives, well you will all find out soon…

James is to occupied talking to his plane that he gets shot.

Well the battle for Skagerrak will now be decided once more by the RN. The Germans will have lost a lot fait in their navy so it will be interesting to see how the Norwegian campaign continues.

Yes, the German naval war must have gone in a totally different way than they had planned, and they have suffered a lot of naval casualties, so maybe they will soon give up on the navy.

whoa, just got to those updates. Nice ones

Thanks

Fortunately for our friend James, aircraft are like women. There's always more available...

Well of course, but he needs to get out of the freezing sea first now doesn’t he

Nice update.

As for James.... most pilots have a very close relationship with their aircraft, seeing how the aircraft is all that is between them and the bad guys on the ground, so it's okay he feels that way about his Swordfish. But like Arntf said, there's always another one for James.... providing he survives his little swim in the oh so warm waters of the Skagerrak.

Thanks, yes he had one of them close relationship, but it was maybe to close. Now we can just hope he shall survive his warm bath in the water…

not to mention what that German destroyer might be up to

the arrivial of the big guns means that James won't have to worry about the DD paying any attention to him.

of course, he may have a problem with the German sailors and marines/soldiers in the water...

Indeed GhostWriter that is correct, so Kenneth it won’t be any problem with the German destroyer they have enough to do with the Allied navy shelling them, as for all them swimming Germans I think James will be able to survive

Och, James is a grown lad. I'm quite sure he knows how to take care of himself. Besides, the Skagerak water temperatures can reach as high as +3 degrees celcius. In July, anyway... so not to worry. He'll be just fine.

Now, let's get back to sinking German tonnage, shall we?

My guess Skagerrak in the middle of April is very freezing, but James will probably survive it, only question is for how long?
More German ships sinking coming right up…

BTW, Lord E, that aerial reconnaisence photo of the German fleet leaving port is really a Costal Command recon photo of the Bismarck in Grimstad Fjord, near Bergen

Be silent you little…..

Hehe yes I know, but I thought it was a cool picture giving the right feeling. And also I almost got away with it didn’t I, it took some time before anyone noticed hehe

Now for the next update let us see if the navy arrives in time to rescue James, and how long time they will use to sink them German ships. Stay tuned, it is coming right up…Battle of Skagerrak part IV

[Lord E]

The Battle of Skagerrak, part IV. The Navy is here!


As the pilots from the Fleet Air Arm were doing their business finishing off the German vessels, the Allied Fleet had been sailing towards the battle area at full speed ever since the first sighting of the Germans had been reported, and now as most of the planes had done their duty the navy had arrived at the battle, and was opening fire with the big guns.

Positions of the fleets as the navy arrives within firing range at 3.08 PM

From the French battleships and the British cruisers artillery was pouring shells towards the unfortunate German destroyer and the wounded transports. The Allied destroyers was racing into position to fire their torpedoes, as well as picking up men from the sea. For the last mission Admiral Pound ordered the British destroyer HMS Icarus to take lead. She was to give full priority to rescue men from the sea, and was ordered not to take part in the engagement.

HMS Icarus, she was ordered to lead the rescue operation

As the HMS Icarus gained speed to get close to the men who could be seen swimming in the sea, the shells started to rain upon the Dieter von Roeder. As the Allied fleet had seen that one of the German transports had just sunk, and the second one was in the process of sinking it was decided to shift all fire upon the destroyer.

Onboard the KNM Draug Admiral Horve and Captain Jensen were leading their ship into action. Having been ordered to lead the Norwegians in close and fire torpedoes upon the Germans, Admiral Horve stood at the bridge personally controlling the Norwegian vessels within range, seeing as the passed the one remaining, but injured, German transport on the way Horve ordered the Draug to fire a torpedo upon the transports, thus making sure the German vessels would sink. As the torpedo left the Draug, Horve had already ordered full speed ahead, they needed to come in close on the German destroyer. Just turning his head around Horve could see the torpedo hit the German transport with an explosion, and opening a huge hole in her side she was no longer able to stay on the surface and as such she sank within minutes.

[
One of the German transports sinking after being torpedoed, the last torpedo was fired by the KNM Draug

On the other side of the battle James had just touched the water. Remembering from basic training the great danger to pilots who had to parachute over water was that the parachute and the pilot should be entangled, thus dragging the pilot down James acted. Now James reacted quickly. With his knife in the hand he had started cutting the lines to the parachute already before he hit the water, and now he was cutting the lines as it was a question of his life. After some work he managed to swim away from the parachute. Now he was able to try to orientate him self a little more. Over his head he could hear, feel and see the shells raining down on the Germans, he could see some squadrons of Swordfish planes still flying over the area, and turning his attention the other way he could see a lot of Allied ships racing closer to the Germans. Then turning his attention to his nearest surroundings James could see what he though to be a dead German floating with his face down in the water a couple of meters away. He seemed to have been burned and as this body drifted closer James tried to swim away from it, but seeing that in front of him there was burning oil on the water surface James decided to turn again. Now he started to feel the cold. It was obvious that Skagerrak in the middle of April wasn’t really a nice place to go for a swim.


Onboard the Allied destroyers the commanders were pushing their men and machines to the outermost to be able to have a shot upon the German ship before the big guns had finished her off. It was clear that the German ship didn’t stand a chance. Her fire control having suffered already from the torpedo hit form the plane, as well as from a direct hit from the Bretagne. The front guns had been knocked out from several hits from the British and the French and now the German destroyer seemed to be drifting helpless without any means to defend herself. It was now only a question, and perhaps a competition between the Allied commanders, as to who would fire the last shot to send the Germans to the bottom of the sea.


Onboard the HMS Icarus this wasn’t the case. Here commanding Officer Lt.Cdr. W.N. Petch was in a bad mood. While the other had been allowed to sail chasing after the German he had been stuck with some silly rescuing operation. He asked himself several times: “Who wants to rescue them damn Krauts anyway?”
Still Petch knew that he had to do his duty and obey orders, and since he knew that some British pilots were also supposed to be missing after having their planes shot down, he decided that at least he would do his very best to save the Brits floating around.


James had managed to grab hold of some piece of timber he had found floating, and now he was able to keep himself floating without using to much force. Still he could feel his body was getting colder, and he was getting tired, and James didn’t know how much longer he would be able to hold on. Perhaps should he just let go and fall back and sleep, forever sleep. Shaking his head James managed to get those kinds of thoughts out of his head, no he had to hold on. He wanted to see England again!
Lifting his head James could see a destroyer sailing slowly towards him. The ship seemed to have lowered her boats and the men seemed to be taking all the men they could find on the surface into the ship. Very weak, tried and cold James knew this was his only chance to survive. As one of them small boats got closer he raised his arm and waved while yelling out:
“Over here lads. I am over here!”

Within a minute the boat was alongside James and several strong arms were dragging James into the boat. One of the men tossed a blanket around him, and smiled: “Don’t worry lieutenant; the navy is here. We shall have you back flying in no time, sir. Still next time try to stay out of the water, it isn’t very nice to go swimming this time of the year.”
James smiled, but feeling his knees giving in on him he had to sit down to rest. Although cold and tired James knew his life had been saved, and that in time he would see his beloved England again.


Onboard the German destroyer they had to see the reality in the face, the ship was lost and it was only a question of time before she would sink. The officers seeing this reality ordered the crew to abandon ship. Lowering the boats into the water the crew quickly entered them; last one to leave was the captain, Korvettenkapitän Erich Holtorf. Just as he sat foot in the lifeboat an explosion could he heard from the Dieter von Roeder, the Allied destroyers had sailed within range and now the torpedoes started to hit the ship. Seeing the great danger, the German quickly started to row away from their sinking destroyer, who was now used as target practice by Allied ships. Now after yet an other torpedo hit the destroyer broke in two, and the two parts sank silently under the surface of the water disappearing at 3.17 PM.

Note: The German transports had already sunk by the time I managed to take this picture

The battle of Skagerrak had ended as the Allied fleet finished off these remaining German vessels, the only thing left at sea from the mighty armada that had left Germany to conquer Norway. What hadn’t been sunken by Allied bombs, or now by the Allied Navy had already retreated back to Germany, and didn’t pose any danger to Norway or any other Allied country at the moment. Although not the supreme decisive battle the Allies had hoped for, but still an important victory showing the people in the war faring nations that the Allies and especially Britain still ruled the waves!

[kenneththegreat]

"Who wants to rescue the bloody Krauts anyway"

the type of line showing the excellence in this AAR

[Oranje Verzet]

The destroyer is sunk by an well illustrated attack of the combined allied fleet. It seems the Allies indeed rule the waves for good and that any german attempt will be smashed. Norway can focus on their own attacks perhaps?

Nice update.

[J. Passepartout]

Finally the Navy shows up, just in time to save everyone.

This appears to be one of the battles that will be very famous, like the Battle of Trafalgar which prevented the French from sailing away from France and the Battle of Jutland which prevented the Germans from sailing away from Germany. Chalk another one up to superior British power. Of course, Norway now is free to attack...

[Draco Rexus]

As if there was every any doubt that Britain and the allies would rule the seas!

Great ending to the battle... although I wished it had been a bit more decisive, eh? I mean there is still some significant bite in the German navy and we can't count them out just because some transport and destroyer captains allowed themselves to be caught without any support, now can we?

So, how goes the rest of the war?

[Lord E]

"Who wants to rescue the bloody Krauts anyway"

the type of line showing the excellence in this AAR

Thank you Hehe yes I actually though that line was pretty good when I wrote it.

The destroyer is sunk by an well illustrated attack of the combined allied fleet. It seems the Allies indeed rule the waves for good and that any german attempt will be smashed. Norway can focus on their own attacks perhaps?

Nice update.

Thanks, yes the Germans have really not been doing their best at sea so far, but I guess they will try again, at least until May because I believe the German AI changes to attacking France and that lot in May, so we will have to wait and see. And yes there are some plans being made for attacks from Norway

Finally the Navy shows up, just in time to save everyone.

This appears to be one of the battles that will be very famous, like the Battle of Trafalgar which prevented the French from sailing away from France and the Battle of Jutland which prevented the Germans from sailing away from Germany. Chalk another one up to superior British power. Of course, Norway now is free to attack...

Yes, that is how the navy should work now isn’t it, arriving in time to finished off everyone
Well we can only hope it will become famous, but as I would have wanted more German ships to be sunk though… oh well several more opportunities ahead I guess

As if there was every any doubt that Britain and the allies would rule the seas!

Great ending to the battle... although I wished it had been a bit more decisive, eh? I mean there is still some significant bite in the German navy and we can't count them out just because some transport and destroyer captains allowed themselves to be caught without any support, now can we?

So, how goes the rest of the war?

Nah not really, you know how it is: Britannia rule the waves… Yes, I agree I did want to see more German ships at the bottom of the sea, but there will be several more possibilities ahead I hope. And yes the “dangerous” parts of the German navy is still very much alive although hidden in port in the Baltic where I can’t get hold of them, but they have more than enough firepower there to still be a threat, but as long as they don’t seem to want to leave their harbour it isn’t really any problem is it?

[Lord E]

The Tommies are coming, April 16th 1940


As the Allied navies were clearing the sea lanes and defeating German attempts to land in Norway, work had been done to extend the Allied co-operation to an other level. It was a wish from both the Norwegian and the British governments that Allied forces should defend Norway not just on the sea, but also on land. Therefore there had been many telephone calls between the two Prime Ministers of the two countries and also between the two Army Chiefs.

British Chief of Imperial Staff, Lord John Gort and Norwegian Chief of Staff Otto Ruge. These two men had several talks over the co-operation between the Norwegian and British Army

After several phone calls and meetings between high ranking officials from the Allied countries it was decided that Britain would send an army to Norway to strengthen the Norwegian defences, but also possibly to use Norway as a base for operations against occupied Denmark and North-Germany together with Norwegian forces.

In London Winston Churchill at the Admiralty had been ordered to find shipping that would be able to ferry the British divisions to Norway. Churchill already highly loved by the British public for the merits of his navy so far in the war, had no problems in hiring British merchant ships and using them as transports for the upcoming operation. Knowing that although most Germany naval forces was in harbour, suffering from their defeats and not able to leave harbour because of blockading Allied navies, the Royal Navy still felt that the importance of the operations was so high that it was decided to issue the transport fleet with escorts, this was made very clear to Churchill after the Battle of Skagerrak when it became clear how fatale it would be to send a fleet of transports to sea without proper escorts. Therefore some destroyers, a couple of cruisers and an old battleship were ordered to escort the transports, and the fleet was also to be given air support from the RAF and the Fleet Air Arm.

The planning had gone very quickly and on the early morning of the 14th of April the first British soldiers started embarking onto the fleet in Grimsby Port. In total 5 British divisions was to be sent to Norway, strangely enough the British Government and the British High Command had mainly just sent divisions who had only served in India before, and many of them had therefore little experience in winter warfare. Still some of them had served in the Indian mountains and they were seen as highly trained divisions and two of the divisions were British divisions fresh form winter training in Scotland so they should be up to the task, in Norway General Ruge and the rest of the Chiefs didn’t care to much if the Army was named the 12th Indian Army or the BEF or what sort of soldiers the army was made up of, as long as the promised support arrived.

The British convoy heading for Norway with British soldiers onboard

The travel across the North Sea was a quite one, no U-boats or other German ships were spotted and the weather was pleasant. The British troops enjoyed themselves by playing cards and relaxing, but some were also scared and curios for what lay ahead. Few of the men had seen Norway before and the first impression as the fleet entered Bergen harbour was perhaps not the best. It was early morning on the 16th of April and the weather in Bergen was very unpleasant. It was pitch dark outside and the big, wet snowflakes were pouring down from the skies. As the men looked out their first glances of Norway was seen through the snow, and most the British soldiers wondered what the hell are we doing here. But as the day started and the snow was blown away the British soldiers started to see the better sides of Norway as the unloading of men and material started.

General Sir Henry Robert Moore Brooke-Popham, commander in chief of all British troops in Norway

From Bergen the British troops was soon on the road again. Driving in their own vehicles or transported by the Norwegian railroad across the mountains the troops were on their way to Terningmoen army base in Elverum. From here the British divisions should take up positions together with the Norwegian Army in the defence of Oslo and the rest of Østlandet. Some of the British troops would also stay at Terningmoen for training, the plan that had been worked out by Lord Gort, Churchill and the Norwegian Generals Ruge and Fleischer was that the possibility of an invasion of occupied Denmark or Northern-Germany was to be looked into and planned. But this was still highly secret and only known by these four men and the two Prime Ministers Chamberlain and Nygaardsvold.

For the Norwegian troops the arrival of the British divisions was looked upon with great admiration and many thanks. The Norwegians now knew they weren’t fighting this war alone, and that they had allies who cared and wanted to defend Norway. Also knowing that the fleets seemed to be doing their work properly the troops in Norway started to think that they wouldn’t see any Germans on Norwegians soil. One could even hear voices in the army saying:
“It will all be over by Christmas, we will crush those Germans on the sea and then they will give up.”
The troops didn’t know how wrong they were, the Germans might have lost the first battles at sea, but the German Army still had several more cards to play, and it was soon clear that the war would not be over by Christmas.

[Oranje Verzet]

Yes there are still some interesting cards to be played indeed. I doubt the germans will give up in May, cause Norway is awfully close to German mainland.

Are those UK divisions a Exp Force for you or do u use Mil control? Nice to use them for a raid or sth.