Operation Wilfred
Encyclopedia
Operation Wilfred was a British
naval operation during World War II
that involved the mining
of the channel between Norway
and her offshore islands in order to prevent the transport of swedish iron ore through neutral Norwegian waters to be used to sustain the German war effort. The Allies
assumed that Wilfred would provoke a German response in Norway and prepared a separate operation known as Plan R 4
to occupy Narvik
and other important locations.
On 8 April 1940, the operation was partly carried out, but was overtaken by events as a result of the following day′s German invasion of Norway and Denmark (Operation Weserübung
), which began the Norwegian Campaign
.
, then First Lord of the Admiralty was intent on preventing to restrict Germany′s ability to fight. To do this, he developed a plan to mine the Norwegian Corridor, the sheltered sea lanes along Norway′s craggy western coast which the German ships used to transport the ore within neutral waters back to their home ports. By doing this, Churchill hoped to force the ore ships out into the open sea where the blockading ships of Contraband Control could sink or capture them.
Britain and France were anxious to prevent a Nazi takeover of Scandinavia that would greatly reduce the effectiveness of the blockade and secure indefinite supplies of the iron ore. Such a move would also provide the Germans with many more sea ports and bases from which they could fly bombing and reconnaissance missions over Britain. To prevent this from happening, the Allies considered their own benevolent occupation of the two neutral countries, but the plan eventually came to nothing.
By late March 1940, the plan to mine the Norwegian waters—which Churchill had been urging his colleagues to authorise but which for a variety of reasons had still not been carried out—had become linked with a separate plan to send naval mines down the Rhine to destroy German bridges and shipping further downstream. This plan—known as Operation Royal Marine—was seen by the British as a way of striking back for the heavy damage and loss of life the Germans had inflicted on them by the use of the magnetic mine, but the French vetoed the plan, fearful it would bring a wider German retaliation against them.
On 3 April, the British began to receive reports of heavy build-ups of shipping and troops in the Baltic German ports of Rostock
, Stettin
and Swinemunde
. It was assumed that this was part of a force being sent to counter an Allied move against Scandinavia, (the Germans had some awareness of Allied plans as a result of their own intelligence) and so that same day the British took the decision to proceed with the mining of the iron ore route separately from Operation Royal Marine, setting a date of 8th April for the Admiralty to implement it. Envisaging that Operation Wilfred would provoke a furious enemy response notwithstanding the preparations already underway in their Baltic ports, a parallel initiative called Plan R4 was ordered to prevent German landings by sending strong British and French forces to occupy the key Norwegian ports of Narvik, Stavanger
, Bergen
and Trondheim
before marching to the Swedish frontier and taking control of the iron ore sites.
Because it seemed relatively minor and innocent in scope the plan was named Operation Wilfred, after a naïve character in the long running Daily Mirror newspaper comic strip
Pip, Squeak and Wilfred
.
to embark units of the Royal Lincolnshire Regiment, troops that would be transported to Norway as part of the Plan R4 if deemed necessary. Additional troops embarked onto transport ships in the Clyde with further troops held in readiness until indications of German intentions justified sending them to Norway.
On 5th April a large force of warships, escorted by the battlecruiser
and the cruiser and comprising elements of both Operation Wilfred and Plan R4 set out from the main British naval base at Scapa Flow
and sailed towards the Norwegian coast.
The plan was to lay two minefields. The first, known as Operation WV was to be high in the Arctic Circle just below the Lofoten Islands in the mouth of Vestfjord
— the channel leading directly to the port of Narvik
where the iron ore was loaded from. The second, WS was to be approximately 3/4 of the way down the western Norwegian coast immediately adjacent the Atlantic port of Stadtlandet on a line of latitude roughly midway between the Faroes and Iceland. There was to be an additional diversionary operation (WB) to simulate the laying of a third minefield just off the Bud headland
south of the major settlement of Kristiansund
. On 7 April, the force split, one to carry on to Narvik, the other to carry out the operations to the south. The ships allocated to the individual operations were as follows.
Force WV (Mouth of Vestfjord) – Renown-class battlecruiser – "G"-class destroyer – "G"-class destroyer - minelaying destroyer - minelaying destroyer - minelaying destroyer - minelaying destroyer - escort destroyer - escort destroyer - escort destroyer - escort destroyer
Force WB – (Bud headland) – Town"-class light cruiser
- "H"-class minelaying destroyer. Initially part of Renown escort screen – "H"-class minelaying destroyer. Initially part of Renown escort screen
Force WS (Off Stadtlandet) - 5,087 ton auxiliary minelayer - "I"-class minelaying destroyer leader – "I"-class minelaying destroyer - "I"-class minelaying destroyer - "I"-class minelaying destroyer
In the event only one minefield was actually laid. As the WS force sailed to its destination on 7 April, German ships were sighted in the Heligoland Bight
on passage to Norway and the minelaying off Stadtlandet was cancelled. Early the next day, 8 April, the designated day for the mining to be carried out) Britain informed the Norwegian authorities of their intention to lay the mines inside their territorial waters. Soon after, Force WB carried out its simulated minelay off the Bud headland using oildrums and carried out a patrol of the area to "warn" shipping of the danger. Force WV to the north of Norway duly carried out its task and laid the minefield in the mouth of Vestfjord. At 05:15 that morning, the Allies broadcast a statement to the world justifying their action and defining the minefield areas. The Norwegian government issued a strong protest and demanded their immediate removal, but by this time the German fleet was already advancing up their coastline and from that point onward events moved so quickly that the issue of the minefields became largely irrelevant.
Later that day. an iron ore ship—the , travelling from Stettin in Northern Germany—was sunk in the Skagerrak
by the Polish submarine . The ship was carrying troops, horses and tanks up the corridor for the German invasion of Norway, part of Operation Weserübung. Around 1/2 the 300 men on board were drowned, with the survivors telling the crews of the Norwegian fishing boats who picked them up that they were on their way to Bergen to save it from the British. A few hours later, two other German ships—the Posidonia and Krete—were also sunk in the same area.
HMS Glowworm, which had become detached from the main force on April 6th to look for a man lost overboard, encountered the German heavy cruiser
, and carried out a torpedo attack. After receiving return fire and heavy damage, she rammed Admiral Hipper and sank soon afterwards with 111 men killed, for which her commander, Lieutenant-Commander Gerard Broadmead Roope
was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross
. Meanwhile, Renown—which had diverted to assist Glowworm—was in action with the German battleships and 80 mi (69.5 nmi; 128.7 km) west of the Lofotens. Although damage was inflicted by both sides, the Germans failed to take their opportunity to sink the older and slower British battlecruiser.
Despite news of these actions and indications from other sources, the Norwegians were still caught largely unprepared for the attack and early the next day the invasion proper began with German landings of troops in the main Norwegian settlements of Stavanger, Oslo, Trondeim, Narvik and Bergen. The same day (9th April), Icarus sank the Europa, another German iron ore carrier which was being used to transport men and equipment to Norway, and the 2nd Destroyer Flotilla—which had taken part in the mining of the Vestfjord—later fought with other British naval units in the 1st Battle of Narvik, sinking a number of German warships.
On 11 April, while furious naval battles were still underway off the Norwegian coast, Churchill made a long speech in the House of Commons about the current situation and to justify Operation Wilfred. He said;
British and French troops landed at Narvik on April 14th to assist the Norwegians, pushing the Germans out of the town and almost forcing them to surrender. But although further Allied landings took place between 18 and 23 April, it was all too little too late and the Norwegians surrendered on 9 June 1940.
Ironically, although Operation Wilfred was essentially a failure in that it did not prevent the Germans from having access to the iron ore, once Norway became part of the German Reich it was no longer neutral, and thereafter British ships and aircraft were free to enter her territorial waters to attack German ships at will.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
naval operation during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
that involved the mining
Naval mine
A naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to destroy surface ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of, or contact with, an enemy vessel...
of the channel between Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
and her offshore islands in order to prevent the transport of swedish iron ore through neutral Norwegian waters to be used to sustain the German war effort. The Allies
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
assumed that Wilfred would provoke a German response in Norway and prepared a separate operation known as Plan R 4
Plan R 4
Plan R 4 was the World War II British plan for an invasion of the neutral state of Norway in April 1940. Earlier the British had planned a similar intervention with France during the Winter War.-Background:...
to occupy Narvik
Narvik
is the third largest city and municipality in Nordland county, Norway by population. Narvik is located on the shores of the Narvik Fjord . The municipality is part of the Ofoten traditional region of North Norway, inside the arctic circle...
and other important locations.
On 8 April 1940, the operation was partly carried out, but was overtaken by events as a result of the following day′s German invasion of Norway and Denmark (Operation Weserübung
Operation Weserübung
Operation Weserübung was the code name for Germany's assault on Denmark and Norway during the Second World War and the opening operation of the Norwegian Campaign...
), which began the Norwegian Campaign
Norwegian Campaign
The Norwegian Campaign was a military campaign that was fought in Norway during the Second World War between the Allies and Germany, after the latter's invasion of the country. In April 1940, the United Kingdom and France came to Norway's aid with an expeditionary force...
.
Background
With the outbreak of war on 3 September 1939, Britain and France initiated a naval blockade to weaken Germany by depriving her of the vital imports she needed to sustain her war effort. One of the most crucial imports was iron ore, needed to manufacture the steel which was used to build the ships, tanks and aircraft for the German armed forces. The primary source of this commodity was via neutral Sweden, deliveries of which Winston ChurchillWinston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
, then First Lord of the Admiralty was intent on preventing to restrict Germany′s ability to fight. To do this, he developed a plan to mine the Norwegian Corridor, the sheltered sea lanes along Norway′s craggy western coast which the German ships used to transport the ore within neutral waters back to their home ports. By doing this, Churchill hoped to force the ore ships out into the open sea where the blockading ships of Contraband Control could sink or capture them.
Britain and France were anxious to prevent a Nazi takeover of Scandinavia that would greatly reduce the effectiveness of the blockade and secure indefinite supplies of the iron ore. Such a move would also provide the Germans with many more sea ports and bases from which they could fly bombing and reconnaissance missions over Britain. To prevent this from happening, the Allies considered their own benevolent occupation of the two neutral countries, but the plan eventually came to nothing.
By late March 1940, the plan to mine the Norwegian waters—which Churchill had been urging his colleagues to authorise but which for a variety of reasons had still not been carried out—had become linked with a separate plan to send naval mines down the Rhine to destroy German bridges and shipping further downstream. This plan—known as Operation Royal Marine—was seen by the British as a way of striking back for the heavy damage and loss of life the Germans had inflicted on them by the use of the magnetic mine, but the French vetoed the plan, fearful it would bring a wider German retaliation against them.
On 3 April, the British began to receive reports of heavy build-ups of shipping and troops in the Baltic German ports of Rostock
Rostock
Rostock -Early history:In the 11th century Polabian Slavs founded a settlement at the Warnow river called Roztoc ; the name Rostock is derived from that designation. The Danish king Valdemar I set the town aflame in 1161.Afterwards the place was settled by German traders...
, Stettin
Szczecin
Szczecin , is the capital city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in Poland. It is the country's seventh-largest city and the largest seaport in Poland on the Baltic Sea. As of June 2009 the population was 406,427....
and Swinemunde
Swinoujscie
Świnoujście is a city and seaport on the Baltic Sea and Szczecin Lagoon, located in the extreme north-west of Poland. It is situated mainly on the islands of Uznam and Wolin, but also occupies smaller islands, of which the largest is Karsibór island, once part of Usedom, now separated by a Piast...
. It was assumed that this was part of a force being sent to counter an Allied move against Scandinavia, (the Germans had some awareness of Allied plans as a result of their own intelligence) and so that same day the British took the decision to proceed with the mining of the iron ore route separately from Operation Royal Marine, setting a date of 8th April for the Admiralty to implement it. Envisaging that Operation Wilfred would provoke a furious enemy response notwithstanding the preparations already underway in their Baltic ports, a parallel initiative called Plan R4 was ordered to prevent German landings by sending strong British and French forces to occupy the key Norwegian ports of Narvik, Stavanger
Stavanger
Stavanger is a city and municipality in the county of Rogaland, Norway.Stavanger municipality has a population of 126,469. There are 197,852 people living in the Stavanger conurbation, making Stavanger the fourth largest city, but the third largest urban area, in Norway...
, Bergen
Bergen
Bergen is the second largest city in Norway with a population of as of , . Bergen is the administrative centre of Hordaland county. Greater Bergen or Bergen Metropolitan Area as defined by Statistics Norway, has a population of as of , ....
and Trondheim
Trondheim
Trondheim , historically, Nidaros and Trondhjem, is a city and municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. With a population of 173,486, it is the third most populous municipality and city in the country, although the fourth largest metropolitan area. It is the administrative centre of...
before marching to the Swedish frontier and taking control of the iron ore sites.
Because it seemed relatively minor and innocent in scope the plan was named Operation Wilfred, after a naïve character in the long running Daily Mirror newspaper comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
Pip, Squeak and Wilfred
Pip, Squeak and Wilfred
Pip, Squeak and Wilfred was a long-running British newspaper strip cartoon published in the Daily Mirror from 1919 to 1956, as well as the Sunday Pictorial in the early years. It was conceived by Bertram Lamb, who took the role of Uncle Dick, signing himself in an early book, and was drawn until...
.
Operation
On 3 April, four cruisers—, , , and —sailed to RosythRosyth
Rosyth is a town located on the Firth of Forth, three miles south of the centre of Dunfermline. According to an estimate taken in 2008, the town has a population of 12,790....
to embark units of the Royal Lincolnshire Regiment, troops that would be transported to Norway as part of the Plan R4 if deemed necessary. Additional troops embarked onto transport ships in the Clyde with further troops held in readiness until indications of German intentions justified sending them to Norway.
On 5th April a large force of warships, escorted by the battlecruiser
Battlecruiser
Battlecruisers were large capital ships built in the first half of the 20th century. They were developed in the first decade of the century as the successor to the armoured cruiser, but their evolution was more closely linked to that of the dreadnought battleship...
and the cruiser and comprising elements of both Operation Wilfred and Plan R4 set out from the main British naval base at Scapa Flow
Scapa Flow
right|thumb|Scapa Flow viewed from its eastern endScapa Flow is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, United Kingdom, sheltered by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray, South Ronaldsay and Hoy. It is about...
and sailed towards the Norwegian coast.
The plan was to lay two minefields. The first, known as Operation WV was to be high in the Arctic Circle just below the Lofoten Islands in the mouth of Vestfjord
Vestfjord
Vestfjord is a Norwegian fjord, which would be described as a firth or an open bight of sea between the Lofoten archipelago and mainland Norway, northwest of Bodø...
— the channel leading directly to the port of Narvik
Narvik
is the third largest city and municipality in Nordland county, Norway by population. Narvik is located on the shores of the Narvik Fjord . The municipality is part of the Ofoten traditional region of North Norway, inside the arctic circle...
where the iron ore was loaded from. The second, WS was to be approximately 3/4 of the way down the western Norwegian coast immediately adjacent the Atlantic port of Stadtlandet on a line of latitude roughly midway between the Faroes and Iceland. There was to be an additional diversionary operation (WB) to simulate the laying of a third minefield just off the Bud headland
Bud, Norway
Bud is a fishing village and former municipality in the present-day municipality of Fræna in Møre og Romsdal county in western Norway. The village is located on the Romsdal peninsula along the Atlanterhavsveien, west of the village of Hustad, north of the village of Tornes, and east of the...
south of the major settlement of Kristiansund
Kristiansund
Kristiansund is a city and municipality on the western coast of Norway, in the Nordmøre district of Møre og Romsdal county. It was officially awarded township status in 1742, and it is still the major town for the region. The administrative center of the municipality is the city of Kristiansund...
. On 7 April, the force split, one to carry on to Narvik, the other to carry out the operations to the south. The ships allocated to the individual operations were as follows.
Force WV (Mouth of Vestfjord) – Renown-class battlecruiser – "G"-class destroyer – "G"-class destroyer - minelaying destroyer - minelaying destroyer - minelaying destroyer - minelaying destroyer - escort destroyer - escort destroyer - escort destroyer - escort destroyer
Force WB – (Bud headland) – Town"-class light cruiser
Light cruiser
A light cruiser is a type of small- or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck...
- "H"-class minelaying destroyer. Initially part of Renown escort screen – "H"-class minelaying destroyer. Initially part of Renown escort screen
Force WS (Off Stadtlandet) - 5,087 ton auxiliary minelayer - "I"-class minelaying destroyer leader – "I"-class minelaying destroyer - "I"-class minelaying destroyer - "I"-class minelaying destroyer
In the event only one minefield was actually laid. As the WS force sailed to its destination on 7 April, German ships were sighted in the Heligoland Bight
Heligoland Bight
The Heligoland Bight, also known as Helgoland Bight, is a bay which forms the southern part of the German Bight, itself a bay of the North Sea, located at the mouth of the Elbe river...
on passage to Norway and the minelaying off Stadtlandet was cancelled. Early the next day, 8 April, the designated day for the mining to be carried out) Britain informed the Norwegian authorities of their intention to lay the mines inside their territorial waters. Soon after, Force WB carried out its simulated minelay off the Bud headland using oildrums and carried out a patrol of the area to "warn" shipping of the danger. Force WV to the north of Norway duly carried out its task and laid the minefield in the mouth of Vestfjord. At 05:15 that morning, the Allies broadcast a statement to the world justifying their action and defining the minefield areas. The Norwegian government issued a strong protest and demanded their immediate removal, but by this time the German fleet was already advancing up their coastline and from that point onward events moved so quickly that the issue of the minefields became largely irrelevant.
Later that day. an iron ore ship—the , travelling from Stettin in Northern Germany—was sunk in the Skagerrak
Skagerrak
The Skagerrak is a strait running between Norway and the southwest coast of Sweden and the Jutland peninsula of Denmark, connecting the North Sea and the Kattegat sea area, which leads to the Baltic Sea.-Name:...
by the Polish submarine . The ship was carrying troops, horses and tanks up the corridor for the German invasion of Norway, part of Operation Weserübung. Around 1/2 the 300 men on board were drowned, with the survivors telling the crews of the Norwegian fishing boats who picked them up that they were on their way to Bergen to save it from the British. A few hours later, two other German ships—the Posidonia and Krete—were also sunk in the same area.
Aftermath
Operation Wilfred was now essentially complete and the southern Force WS and WB ships rejoined the Home Fleet to undertake screening duties, military support and convoy defence as part of the general British response to the German move on Norway known as Operation Rupert. The northern WV force, though, immediately became embroiled in the early actions of the British attempt to thwart the German landings.HMS Glowworm, which had become detached from the main force on April 6th to look for a man lost overboard, encountered the German heavy cruiser
Heavy cruiser
The heavy cruiser was a type of cruiser, a naval warship designed for long range, high speed and an armament of naval guns roughly 203mm calibre . The heavy cruiser can be seen as a lineage of ship design from 1915 until 1945, although the term 'heavy cruiser' only came into formal use in 1930...
, and carried out a torpedo attack. After receiving return fire and heavy damage, she rammed Admiral Hipper and sank soon afterwards with 111 men killed, for which her commander, Lieutenant-Commander Gerard Broadmead Roope
Gerard Broadmead Roope
Lieutenant-Commander Gerard Broadmead Roope VC RN was a posthumous British recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces...
was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross
Victoria Cross
The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories....
. Meanwhile, Renown—which had diverted to assist Glowworm—was in action with the German battleships and 80 mi (69.5 nmi; 128.7 km) west of the Lofotens. Although damage was inflicted by both sides, the Germans failed to take their opportunity to sink the older and slower British battlecruiser.
Despite news of these actions and indications from other sources, the Norwegians were still caught largely unprepared for the attack and early the next day the invasion proper began with German landings of troops in the main Norwegian settlements of Stavanger, Oslo, Trondeim, Narvik and Bergen. The same day (9th April), Icarus sank the Europa, another German iron ore carrier which was being used to transport men and equipment to Norway, and the 2nd Destroyer Flotilla—which had taken part in the mining of the Vestfjord—later fought with other British naval units in the 1st Battle of Narvik, sinking a number of German warships.
On 11 April, while furious naval battles were still underway off the Norwegian coast, Churchill made a long speech in the House of Commons about the current situation and to justify Operation Wilfred. He said;
British and French troops landed at Narvik on April 14th to assist the Norwegians, pushing the Germans out of the town and almost forcing them to surrender. But although further Allied landings took place between 18 and 23 April, it was all too little too late and the Norwegians surrendered on 9 June 1940.
Ironically, although Operation Wilfred was essentially a failure in that it did not prevent the Germans from having access to the iron ore, once Norway became part of the German Reich it was no longer neutral, and thereafter British ships and aircraft were free to enter her territorial waters to attack German ships at will.