Qualla: Operation Judgement (1945)

Operation Judgement (1945): Introduction

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The war in Europe had four days left, though the pilots did not know that yet. On the afternoon of 4 May 1945, forty-four Fleet Air Arm aircraft swept over the mountains west of Kilbotn, a small village in northern Norway, and dove toward the German U-boat base hidden in the natural harbor below. The raid lasted seven minutes. It sank two ships and a submarine, killed or wounded an estimated 150 German personnel, and cost the British two aircraft and four aircrew. No Norwegian civilians were harmed. Operation Judgement was the last air raid of the Second World War in Europe -- a final violent punctuation mark on a conflict that was, unknown to the attackers, already ending.

Operation Judgement (1945): The Wolves Move South

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

For most of the war, German U-boats operating from bases in northern Norway had menaced the Allied convoys carrying supplies to Russian ports through the Arctic Ocean. It was dangerous, frigid work on both sides -- the convoy sailors enduring torpedoes and ice, the submariners en...

Operation Judgement (1945): Forty-Four Aircraft, Seven Minutes

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The strike force sailed from Scapa Flow on 1 May under Vice Admiral Rhoderick McGrigor, second-in-command of the Home Fleet. Three escort carriers embarked the attacking squadrons: 846 and 853 Squadrons flew Grumman Avenger torpedo-bombers, while 882 Squadron contributed twenty G...

Operation Judgement (1945): The Crew Who Thought Their War Was Over

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

In the harbor below, one of the vessels was the submarine U-711. What makes Operation Judgement haunting rather than merely dramatic is a detail that emerged decades later. In 2008, U-711's captain, Hans-Gunther Lange, was interviewed at the age of ninety-two for a Norwegian book...

Operation Judgement (1945): The Last Raid

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Forty-two of the forty-four aircraft returned to their carriers. One Wildcat from 882 Squadron had been hit by flak and crashed into the water during the initial pass; its pilot was killed. An Avenger from 846 Squadron made a forced landing, and its crew was lost. The First Cruis...