Qualla: Battles of Narvik

Battles of Narvik: Introduction

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. Captain Odd Isaachsen Willoch of the Norwegian coastal defense ship Eidsvold received the German demand to surrender at approximately 04:15 on 9 April 1940. His reply to his commanding officer was three words: "I am attacking." Minutes later, two torpedoes from the German destroyer Wilhelm Heidkamp struck Eidsvold's magazine. The ship broke in two and sank in seconds. Of her crew of 183, eight survived in the freezing water. The destruction of Eidsvold and her sister ship Norge in Narvik harbour that morning began two months of fighting that would involve warships, mountain troops, Foreign Legionnaires, and paratroopers from five nations in one of the fiercest battles of the Second World War's early months.

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Image: Unknown author | Public domain

Battles of Narvik: Iron Ore and Fjord Water

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Bermax, Public domain. Narvik mattered because of what moved through it. The small port at the head of Ofotfjord provided an ice-free harbor in the North Atlantic for iron ore shipped by rail from the mines at Kiruna in Sweden. Both Britain and Germany depended on Scandinavian iron, and both understood...

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Image: Bermax | Public domain

Battles of Narvik: Ten Destroyers in a Trap

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit MoRsE, CC BY-SA 3.0. The German destroyers delivered their troops successfully on 9 April, overwhelming the Norwegian garrison after sinking Eidsvold and Norge. But the ten warships were now stranded. Their fuel tanker, the ex-whale factory ship Jan Wellem, had only improvised refueling equipment and...

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Image: MoRsE | CC BY-SA 3.0

Battles of Narvik: Five Nations in the Mountains

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. The naval victories left the Germans ashore but isolated. About 2,600 shipwrecked sailors joined Dietl's mountain troops, forming an improvised marine unit called the Gebirgsmarine and manning guns salvaged from their sunken destroyers. Against them came a multinational Allied fo...

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Image: Unknown author | Public domain

Battles of Narvik: Victory Abandoned

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit National Museum of the U.S. Navy, Public domain. On 28 May, an amphibious assault finally seized Narvik itself. French Foreign Legionnaires landed from boats under naval bombardment, supported by five Hotchkiss H39 light tanks, while Norwegian forces advanced from the east. The German commander evacuated the town before 07:00, ...

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Image: National Museum of the U.S. Navy | Public domain

Battles of Narvik: Wrecks and Remembrance

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Creator:Max Ehlert, CC BY-SA 3.0 de. The cost was staggering. Germany lost ten destroyers, a submarine, and over 1,000 sailors -- half the Kriegsmarine's destroyer strength gone in a single campaign. On the Norwegian side, 276 sailors died aboard Eidsvold and Norge alone. The British lost the aircraft carrier Glorio...

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Image: Creator:Max Ehlert | CC BY-SA 3.0 de