Naval battles of Narvik
naval battles during the German invasion of Norway
The Naval Battles of Narvik were a series of naval engagements fought between German and Allied (Norwegian and British) forces in April 1940 during the German invasion of Norway as part of World War II. The battles took place in the Narvik and the waters of the surrounding fjords. The battles were initiated by the arrival of a German landing force transported to Narvik aboard 10 destroyers commanded by Commodore Friedrich Bonte, which sank Norwegian vessels and disembarked troops on 9 April. The First Battle of Narvik took place on 10 April 1940 and involved British destroyers under the command of Captain Bernard Warburton-Lee, resulting in losses on both sides. The German vessels, subsequently blocked in the fjord, were destroyed during the Second Battle of Narvik on 13 April 1940 by a British force that included the battleship HMS Warspite. These actions granted the Allies control of the waters around Narvik, which facilitated the subsequent capture of the city by Allied land forces in the Battle of Narvik, although they exerted no decisive influence on the overall outcome of the Norwegian campaign.
Preparations
On 1 March 1940, Adolf Hitler decided to carry out the invasion of Norway, codenamed Weserübung. The majority of German warships were allocated to this operation, tasked with transporting the first wave of the seaborne landing force. German forces were divided into six groups intended to seize Norway's main ports. One of the most important was the port of Narvik, which provided the most convenient route for transporting iron ore imported from the Swedish Kiruna mining district during winter, when the Baltic port of Luleå was frozen. It was the northernmost objective of the German landing in Norway.
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