The British and French governments announced that their navies had mined Norwegian waters in an effort to prevent German warships from passing through them.
The Norwegian government protests British minelaying.
The Norwegian government receives multiple reports of impending German invasion.
Swedish armed forces begin limited mobilization.
Another critical week in French wartime political history will begin tomorrow, when the Senate in secret session will debate and pass judgment on the composition and policy of Premier Paul Reynaud’s Cabinet.
German Field Marshal Keitel ordered the transfer of active military servicemen who were 50% Jewish and those who were married to women who were 50% Jewish to reserve or militia units.
Pork is removed from the rationing list in Great Britain.
The Vatican radio tonight stated that the German anti-Catholic campaign was continuing unabated and gave a long list of the persecutions to which the Catholic clergy was being allegedly submitted by the Nazi authorities in Austria.
Today is the first sortie by German long-range Focke Wulf FW 200 Condor four-engine reconnaissance bombers over the North Sea.
The Luftwaffe raids the British Home Fleet base at Scapa Flow and causes some slight damage on land. The British fleet is largely out to sea and suffers no damage. Two of the planes are shot down by Coastal Command, while a third is badly damaged. Scapa Flow was bombed by the 20 He.111’s of KG.26, but as the entire Home Fleet was already at sea, no damage was done.
Luftwaffe engagements with the French Air Force continue.
The British Civilian Repair Organisation (CRO) was formed. This organization was designed to utilize civilian resources for the rapid repair of damaged Royal Air Force aircraft, returning them to the front-line without the use of Royal Air Force engineering resources. Between 1940 and 1945 the CRO repaired a total of 80,666 aircraft.
Shortly after midnight on 8 April 1940, Kriegsmarine Marine Group 3 departs from Wilhelmshaven for Bergen. It includes cruisers Königsberg & Köln, transport Karl Peters, minelayer Bremse & 5 torpedo-boats carrying 1900 troops.
At dawn, Marine Group 4 and Marine Group 6 depart from Cuxhaven. They are carrying 1250 troops for the south coast of Norway.
Marine Group 5 departs Wilhelmshaven Swinemünde for Oslo. It includes cruisers Blücher, Lützow and Emden, 8 minesweepers & 3 torpedo-boats carrying 2000 troops.
Royal Navy destroyers lay minefields, simulated and real, at three points off the Norwegian coast between Stadtlandet and Bodø, just north of the Arctic Circle. Battlecruiser HMS Renown and destroyers cover them. One of the screen, HMS Glowworm (Lt-Cdr Roope), is detached to search for a man overboard, just as the 8-inch heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper heads into Trondheim.
British destroyer HMS Glowworm discovered German Navy Marine Gruppe 1 at 0800 hours and was fired upon by cruiser Admiral Hipper at close range. Outgunned, Glowworm’s captain decided to ram the German cruiser, which caused heavy damage for Admiral Hipper, tearing away 130 feet of the cruiser’s armored belt, but it also led to the sinking of Glowworm, which killed 118, including commanding officer Lieutenant Commander Gerard Broadmead Roope, who received a posthumous Victoria Cross, the first of the war. Captain Hellmuth Heye of the Admiral Hipper spoke highly of Roope’s courage.
Off Narvik, British destroyers HMS Esk, HMS Icarus, HMS Impulsive, and HMS Ivanhoe mined Vestfjord at 0500 hours in preparation for landings by British and French forces at Namsos, Narvik, and Åndalsnes; Norway was informed of this action at 0600 hours.
German light cruisers Köln and Königsberg and training ship Bremse departed Wilhelmshaven and rendezvoused off Heligoland with torpedo boats Wolf, Leopard and the 1st S-Boat Flotilla with parent ship Karl Peters and S.19, S.21, S.22 and S.24 which departed Cuxhaven. These units, which departed at 0040/8 April, were carrying two battalions of the 69th Infantry Division for the occupation of Bergen. Also attached to this group were naval auxiliary ships Schiff 9 (trawler Koblenz, 437grt) and Schiff 18 (trawler Alteland, 419grt). Shortly after rendezvous, S.19 and S.21 collided and S.19 was so severely damaged that torpedo boat Wolf had to tow her back to port. S.21 was damaged to the point that she could not continue and also returned to Cuxhaven. Later on the 14th, S.23 and S.25 arrived at Bergen from Wilhelmshaven as replacements for the damaged S-boats.
German light cruiser Karlsruhe, torpedo boats Luchs, Seeadler, Greif, the 2nd S-Boat Flotilla with parent ship Tsingtau and S.7, S.8, S.17, S.30, S.31, S.32 and S.33 departed Wesermunde at 0530/8 April with one battalion of the 310 Regiment for Kristiansand.
German heavy cruisers Lutzow (previously pocket battleship Deutschland) and Blucher, light cruiser Emden, torpedo boats Albatros, Moewe, Kondor, motor minesweepers R.17, R.18, R.19, R.20, R.21, R.22, R.23, R.24 of the 1st Motor Minesweeper Flotilla, whalers Rau VII (354grt) and Rau VIII (354grt) departed Swinemunde at 2200 with two battalions of the 163rd Infantry Regiment for Oslo. Heavy cruiser Lutzow had originally been designated to sail with the Trondheim force, but a failure of her auxiliary machinery on the 7th necessitated her reassignment to the slower Oslo Force.
German minesweepers M.1, M.2, M.9 and M.13 departed Cuxhaven at 0530/8 April to capture the cable station at Egersund.
German minelayers Roland, Konigin Luise, Cobra and Preussen departed Cuxhaven escorted by minesweepers M.6, M.10, M.11 and M.12 to lay two minefields west of the Skagerrak during 8 and 9 April.
In Britain, Vice Admiral Max Horton dispatched 6 more submarines to intercept these additional German invasion fleets; many of his peers were against this decision, believe there would not be any additional fleets being dispatched by the Germans. Among the 6 newly dispatched British submarines included HMS Ursula, HMS Triad, and HMS Sterlet, which departed to patrol the Skagerrak between Denmark and Norway.
German forces for the invasion of Denmark put to sea the evening of 8 April and early morning of 9 April.
Old battleship Schleswig Holstein with experimental ships Claus Von Bevern (ex WW I T 190), Nautilus (M.582 ex-World War 1 (WW1) M.81), Pelican (M.528 ex-WW1 M.28) and six armed fishing trawlers departed Kiel with transports Campinas (4541grt) and Cordoba (4611grt) for Korsor-Nyborg. Schleswig Holstein ran aground in the Great Belt before dawn at 0217/9th and was left behind. Minelayer Hansestadt Danzig and icebreaker Stettin departed Travemunde on the 7th and was escorted through the Belt on the night of 8/9 April by the converted patrol boats of the 13th Patrol Boat Flotilla. They arrived at Copenhagen at 0500/9th.
Steamer Rugard (1358grt) with minesweepers Arkona (M.517 ex-WW1 M.115), M.157, Otto Braun (M.529 ex-WW1 M.129), motor minesweepers R.6 and R.7, patrol vessels Vp.102 (steamer Cressida, 1046grt) and Vp.103 (steamer Silvia – 1049grt), submarine chaser UJ.172 (trawler Freiherr Von Stein, 198grt), tugs Monsun and Passat sailed for Middelfart to land three companies of the 170th Infantry Division.
Sloop F 6 (Konigin Luise), minesweepers M.4, M.20, M.84, M.102, motor minesweepers R.25, R.26, R.27, R.28, R.29, R.30, R.31, R.32 of the 2nd Motor Minesweeper Flotilla and auxiliary minesweepers M.1201 (trawler Harvestehude, 523grt), M.1202 (trawler Von Ronzelen, 468grt), M.1203 (trawler Burgermeister Smidt, 500grt), M.1204 (trawler Anna Busse, 468grt), M.1205 (trawler Ludwig Janssen, 470grt), M.1206 (trawler Schelsien, 430grt), M.1207 (trawler Frisia, 429grt), M.1208 (trawler Gauleiter Forster, 425grt) of the 12th Minesweeping Flotilla departed Cuxhaven for Esbjerg and Nordby on Fano.
The 4th Minesweeping Flotilla with minesweepers M.61, M.89, M.110, M.111, M.134 and M.136 and the 3rd Motor Minesweeping Flotilla with mother ship Von Der Groeben (ex WW1 M.107) and R.33, R.34, R.35, R.36, R.37, R.38, R.39 and R.40 departed Cuxhaven at 0630/9th for Tyboron on Limfjord. Battleship Schlesien and a small escort screen from Kiel operated in Danish waters to provide cover fire, in case the Danes resisted the invasion.
In the late evening of the 8th, the German Narvik Group reached the entrance to Vestfjord and as the destroyers entered Narvik fjord for Narvik, the battlecruisers Gneisenau and Scharnhorst turned out to sea to draw the main part of the Home Fleet away from the Norwegian coast.
Late on the 8th, the Admiralty finally awoke to the true nature of the German naval activity around the Norwegian coast and decided that Narvik was threatened. Battlecruiser HMS Repulse, light cruiser HMS Penelope, destroyers HMS Bedouin, HMS Kimberley, HMS Punjabi and HMS Eskimo, which had been detached to assist destroyer HMS Glowworm, were sent north at 1956/8th to join the HMS Renown force off Vestfjord. Destroyer HMS Hostile joined the Repulse force during the night and all arrived off Vestfjord at 1130/9th.
The troops embarking at Rosyth for the Anglo-French expedition to Narvik are sent back onshore and their cruiser transports sail. In fact these troops could easily have reached their objectives before the German landings, or at least have been on hand for an attempt on Narvik early in the campaign.
The Polish submarine Orzel, under British command, sank the German troop transport ship Rio de Janeiro in the Skagerrak off Lillesand, Norway (58°07.8’N 8°29.4’E) at 1150 hours. Survivors were rescued by HNoMS Gyller and HNoMS Odin (both Royal Norwegian Navy) and various fishing boats. German sailors rescued by Norwegian ships admitted that they were en route to attack Bergen.
The German (Kriegsmarine) naval tanker Posidonia was torpedoed and sunk on her maiden voyage off Stavern, Norway (58°54’N 10°21’E) by the Royal Navy submarine HMS Trident. She was salvaged in June 1940, repaired and re-entered service as the Stedingen.
The Greek cargo ship Okeania struck a mine and sank in the North Sea (51°18’N 2°04’E) with the loss of one crew member. The survivors were rescued by HMS Boadicea (Royal Navy) and the Dutch ship Beverland.
Convoy OA.125 departs Southend.
Convoy MT.47 departed Methil, escorted by destroyer HMS Wolsey, sloop HMS Auckland, and anti-submarine trawlers of the 19th Anti-Submarine Group, and arrived the next day.
The War at Sea, Monday, 8 April 1940 (naval-history.net)
NORWEGIAN CAMPAIGN INCLUDING INVASION OF DENMARK
GERMAN SHIP AND TROOP MOVEMENTS
German light cruisers KÖLN and KÖNIGSBERG and training ship BREMSE departed Wilhelmshaven and rendezvoused off Heligoland with torpedo boats WOLF and LEOPARD and the 1st S-Boat Flotilla with parent ship KARL PETERS and S.19, S.21, S.22 and S.24 which departed Cuxhaven. These units, which departed at 0040/8 April, were carrying two battalions of the 69th Infantry Division for the occupation of Bergen. Also attached to this group were naval auxiliary ships Schiff 9 (trawler KOBLENZ, 437grt) and Schiff 18 (trawler ALTELAND, 419grt). Shortly after rendezvous, S.19 and S.21 collided and S.19 was so severely damaged that torpedo boat WOLF had to tow her back to port. S.21 was damaged to the point that she could not continue and also returned to Cuxhaven. Later on the 14th, S.23 and S.25 arrived at Bergen from Wilhelmshaven as replacements for the damaged S-boats.
German light cruiser KARLSRUHE, torpedo boats LUCHS, SEEADLER, and GREIF, the 2nd S-Boat Flotilla with parent ship TSINGTAU and S.7, S.8, S.17, S.30, S.31, S.32, and S.33 departed Wesermunde at 0530/8 April with one battalion of the 310 Regiment for Kristiansand.
German heavy cruisers LUTZOW (previously pocket battleship DEUTSCHLAND) and BLUCHER, light cruiser EMDEN, torpedo boats ALBATROS, MOEWE, and KONDOR, motor minesweepers R.17, R.18, R.19, R.20, R.21, R.22, R.23, and R.24 of the 1st Motor Minesweeper Flotilla, whalers RAU VII (354grt) and RAU VIII (354grt) departed Swinemunde at 2200 with two battalions of the 163rd Infantry Regiment for Oslo. Heavy cruiser LUTZOW had originally been designated to sail with the Trondheim force, but a failure of her auxiliary machinery on the 7th necessitated her reassignment to the slower Oslo Force.
German minesweepers M.1, M.2, M.9 and M.13 departed Cuxhaven at 0530/8 April to capture the cable station at Egersund.
German minelayers ROLAND, KONIGIN LUISE, COBRA, and PREUSSEN departed Cuxhaven escorted by minesweepers M.6, M.10, M.11, and M.12 to lay two minefields west of the Skagerrak during 8 and 9 April.
German tanker SKAGERRAK (6044grt) departed Kopervik after spending the night at the Norwegian pilot station waiting for a pilot to guide her through the Leads northward towards Trondheim.
GERMAN INVASION OF DENMARK
German forces for the invasion of Denmark put to sea the evening of 8 April and early morning of 9 April.
Old battleship SCHLESWIG HOLSTEIN with experimental ships CLAUS VON BEVERN (ex WW I T 190), NAUTILUS (M.582 ex-World War 1 (WW1) M.81), PELICAN (M.528 ex-WW1 M.28) and six armed fishing trawlers departed Kiel with transports CAMPINAS (4541grt) and CORDOBA (4611grt) for Korsor-Nyborg. SCHLESWIG HOLSTEIN ran aground in the Great Belt before dawn at 0217/9th and was left behind. Minelayer HANSESTADT DANZIG and icebreaker STETTIN departed Travemunde on the 7th and was escorted through the Belt on the night of 8/9 April by the converted patrol boats of the 13th Patrol Boat Flotilla. They arrived at Copenhagen at 0500/9th.
Steamer RUGARD (1358grt) with minesweepers ARKONA (M.517 ex-WW1 M.115), M.157, OTTO BRAUN (M.529 ex-WW1 M.129), motor minesweepers R.6 and R.7, patrol vessels Vp.102 (steamer CRESSIDA, 1046grt) and Vp.103 (steamer SILVIA – 1049grt), submarine chaser UJ.172 (trawler FREIHERR VON STEIN, 198grt), and tugs MONSUN and PASSAT sailed for Middelfart to land three companies of the 170th Infantry Division.
Sloop F 6 (KONIGIN LUISE), minesweepers M.4, M.20, M.84, and M.102, motor minesweepers R.25, R.26, R.27, R.28, R.29, R.30, R.31, and R.32 of the 2nd Motor Minesweeper Flotilla and auxiliary minesweepers M.1201 (trawler HARVESTEHUDE, 523grt), M.1202 (trawler VON RONZELEN, 468grt), M.1203 (trawler BURGERMEISTER SMIDT, 500grt), M.1204 (trawler ANNA BUSSE, 468grt), M.1205 (trawler LUDWIG JANSSEN, 470grt), M.1206 (trawler SCHELSIEN, 430grt), M.1207 (trawler FRISIA, 429grt), and M.1208 (trawler GAULEITER FORSTER, 425grt) of the 12th Minesweeping Flotilla departed Cuxhaven for Esbjerg and Nordby on Fano.
The 4th Minesweeping Flotilla with minesweepers M.61, M.89, M.110, M.111, M.134, and M.136 and the 3rd Motor Minesweeping Flotilla with mother ship VON DER GROEBEN (ex WW1 M.107) and R.33, R.34, R.35, R.36, R.37, R.38, R.39, and R.40 departed Cuxhaven at 0630/9th for Tyboron on Limfjord. Battleship SCHLESIEN and a small escort screen from Kiel operated in Danish waters to provide cover fire, in case the Danes resisted the invasion.
Despite a considerable Danish Navy, Denmark fell early on the 9th with only a formal resistance by the King of Denmark’s Guard. The Danish Navy at this time consisted of coastal defense ships PEDER SKRAM built in 1908, NIELS IUEL built in 1918, seventeen small torpedo boats, built between 1919 and 1934, of which six were acting as minesweepers, two torpedo boats under construction, twelve coastal submarines built between 1915 and 1937. Total losses during the Danish campaign were thirteen killed and twenty-three wounded among Danish forces and the German troops sustained some twenty casualties.
On the 9th, British steamer ADELAIDE STAR (11,000grt) was seized at Copenhagen and renamed SEEBURG for German use. Also on the 9th, Icelandic steamer GULLFOSS (1414grt) was seized at Copenhagen.
The Danish Fleet was immobilized under the terms of the surrender. However, on 29 August 1943, when the German Navy attempted to take over these units for their own use, the Fleet was scuttled in various ports in Denmark. Before the end of the war, the German Navy had salved the two coastal defence ships, eight torpedo boats, six minesweepers, two minelayers, three sloops, and a depot ship for their own use.
BRITISH MINELAYING OPERATIONS
Between 0432 and 0529, minelaying destroyers ESK (D.20), IMPULSIVE, IVANHOE, and ICARUS of the 20th Destroyer Flotilla laid a minefield in Vestfjord off Hovden escorted by destroyers HARDY, HUNTER, HOTSPUR, and HAVOCK of the 2nd Destroyer Flotilla.
Destroyers HYPERION and HERO of the 2nd Destroyer Flotilla simulated a minelay by dropping marker buoys off Bud near Molde. They then remained off Hustadvika to patrol their minefield until early on the 9th when Norwegian naval forces took over. Norwegian armed auxiliary SYRIAN (trawler, 298grt) arrived at 0610 and Norwegian destroyer SLEIPNER at 0748. Both destroyers arrived at Sullom Voe at 1430/9th for refueling and departed the next day at 0300 with destroyers INGLEFIELD, ILEX, ISIS, and IMOGEN to join Adm Forbes at sea.
LOSS OF HMS GLOWWORM and DAMAGE TO ADMIRAL HIPPER
Destroyer GLOWWORM, travelling alone after leaving battlecruiser RENOWN to pick up a man washed overboard on the 6th, contacted German destroyer LUDEMANN at 0715 eighty miles west of Fro Havet, then destroyer ARNIM which were part of the Narvik/Trondheim invasion forces. In heavy weather, in which German and British destroyers, alike, were being damaged by the weather, ARNIM and GLOWWORM engaged in an indecisive action. However, the clash was soon settled when ARNIM called for assistance and brought heavy cruiser ADMIRAL HIPPER to the scene. Mortally wounded by HIPPER’s gunfire, GLOWWORM rammed her, tearing away 130 feet of the cruiser’s armour belt and wrenching HIPPER’s starboard torpedo tubes from their mountings. Before sinking in 64 13N, 06 28E, GLOWWORM was able to get off a contact and distress signal at 0749 and Forbes dispatched battlecruiser REPULSE, light cruiser PENELOPE, and destroyers BEDOUIN, ESKIMO, PUNJABI, and KIMBERLEY from his Main Force to assist.
Destroyer GLOWWORM was lost with Lt Cdr G. B. Roope, Lt O. S. Boothby, Lt M.T. Lawman, Surgeon Lt J. W. Rhys MRCS, LRCP, Lt Cdr (E) James K. Macleod, RAN (emgcy), Gunner (T) P. S. P. Hoiles, S/Lt R. V. N. Levinge RNR, S/Lt J. N. Kennedy RNVR, one hundred and ten of her enlisted men. Lt R. A. Ramsey and thirty-seven ratings were rescued from GLOWWORM. Six of the ratings died in captivity.
Off Vestfjord, battlecruiser RENOWN with destroyer GREYHOUND headed south towards GLOWWORM’s last position and ordered the minelaying destroyers and their escorts to follow. These eight destroyers joined the RENOWN at 1715 off Skomvaer Light, about seventy miles west of Bodo. Destroyer HOSTILE, which had been detached from light cruiser BIRMINGHAM to escort German trawler FRIESLAND to Scapa Flow on the 8th, was within forty miles of the GLOWWORM-ADMIRAL HIPPER action. HOSTILE heading towards that location actually sighted HIPPER in heavy weather, but was not able to identify her and was in turn, fortunately not sighted. HOSTILE later joined the RENOWN force off Vestfjord.
At noon on the 8th, the German Narvik and Trondheim groups parted company. Damage to German heavy cruiser ADMIRAL HIPPER from her encounter with Destroyer GLOWWORM was not so severe to prevent her and the four destroyers from proceeding to Trondheim as planned.
ALLIED WARSHIP OPERATIONS
Destroyer KELVIN and Polish destroyer ORP BURZA with the 2nd Cruiser Squadron force attacked a submarine contact at 1035 in 58 10N, 1 08E. This contact later assessed as probably a wreck.
Late on the 8th, the German Trondheim Group was sighted by a British flying boat while this force was steering west to adjust their arrival time at Trondheim. They were identified as a battlecruiser, two cruisers and two destroyers. The Admiralty decided that this was a German squadron breaking out into the Atlantic and heavy cruisers DEVONSHIRE, BERWICK, and YORK with light cruiser GLASGOW were ordered to disembark their Avonmouth troops and head north to intercept. The cruisers departed at 1400. French light cruiser EMILE BERTIN, large destroyers MAILLE BREZE and TARTU departed Scapa Flow at 1800 with orders to join the DEVONSHIRE force off Rattray Head. Light cruiser AURORA and the destroyers in the Clyde were ordered to Scapa Flow to await further orders. However, destroyer DELIGHT was damaged in heavy seas and returned to Greenock that day.
Light cruisers SOUTHAMPTON and MANCHESTER, of the recalled ON.25 convoy escort, were off the Shetlands. They were also placed at the disposal of Admiral Forbes. Battleship WARSPITE was ordered to discontinue her voyage to the Mediterranean and return to Scapa Flow. WARSPITE arrived at Scapa Flow at 1445/9th escorted by destroyers HESPERUS and HAVANT. Destroyer MACKAY which had been in WARSPITE’s escort was detached at 1610/8th and returned to Liverpool. In the Mediterranean, aircraft carriers GLORIOUS and ARK ROYAL were ordered to enter Alexandria and late on the 10th, escorted by destroyers WESTCOTT, BULLDOG, and HMAS STUART, joined on the 11th by destroyer WISHART, were steaming at high speed towards Gibraltar arriving on the 13th.
Late on the 8th, heavy cruisers YORK, DEVONSHIRE, BERWICK, and light cruiser GLASGOW, soon to be joined by French light cruiser EMILE BERTIN and her destroyers, were ordered to join the 2nd Cruiser Squadron at 0500/9th in 59-30N, 2-30E and sweep up the middle of the North Sea towards Adm Forbes’ Main Force. The Eighteenth Cruiser Squadron, further north, was also ordered to sweep north towards Forbes. Late on the 9th light cruisers ARETHUSA, GALATEA, and EMILE BERTIN, and French destroyers MAILLE BREZE and TARTU were ordered to pin down German ships at Bergen and Stavanger and prevent their reinforcement. This patrol was terminated at 0400/10th. By the next evening, the Admiralty ruled interference with enemy communications in the southern areas must be left mainly to submarines, aircraft, mining, and aided by intermittent sweeps when forces allow.
Admiral Forbes in battleship RODNEY with battleship VALIANT, light cruiser SHEFFIELD, destroyers SOMALI, KELVIN, KASHMIR, JUPITER, MASHONA, and MATABELE turned south on receipt of intelligence of ships in the Skagerrak and Kattegat to join light cruisers MANCHESTER and SOUTHAMPTON which were unsupported off Norway’s southern coast.
(Note: It is important to note here that the Germans had broken the British Fleet Code, which enabled the Germans to avoid nearly all British ship movements on their way to the Norwegian ports. That is why very few intercepts were made until after the German ships reached their destinations.)
NORWEGIAN NAVAL FORCES
As the German Oslo Group neared its destination late on the 8th, the Norwegian Naval Forces in the area were the old decommissioned coastal defense ships HARALD HAARFAGRE and TORDENSKJOLD, minelayer OLAV TRYGGVASON which was at Horten for repairs, fishery protection vessel FRIDTJOF NANSEN, 355-ton minelayers GLOMMEN and LAUGEN at Melsomvik, 254-ton minelayers VIDAR and NOR, 254-ton minelayer BRAGE laid up at Melsomvik, minesweepers HAUK, FALK, HVAS, and KJAEK at Tonsberg, and minesweepers OTRA and RAUMA at Horten. Old Norwegian submarines A.2, A.3, and A.4 of the 1st Submarine Division were berthed at Horten and submarine B.4 was refitting at Horten.
START OF NARVIK OPERATIONS
In the late evening of the 8th, the German Narvik Group reached the entrance to Vestfjord and as the destroyers entered Narvik fjord for Narvik, battlecruisers GNEISENAU and SCHARNHORST turned out to sea to draw the main part of the Home Fleet away from the Norwegian coast.
Late on the 8th, the Admiralty finally awoke to the true nature of the German naval activity around the Norwegian coast and decided that Narvik was threatened. Battlecruiser REPULSE, light cruiser PENELOPE, destroyers BEDOUIN, KIMBERLEY, PUNJABI, and ESKIMO, which had been detached to assist destroyer GLOWWORM, were sent north at 1956/8th to join the RENOWN force off Vestfjord. Destroyer HOSTILE joined the REPULSE force during the night and all arrived off Vestfjord at 1130/9th.
ALLIED SUBMARINE OPERATIONS
Submarine SEAL was involved in a collision with Estonian steamer OTTO (1954grt) northwest of Egersund. Only minor damage was sustained with the pressure hull leaking slightly. SEAL was able to continue patrol, reconnoitering Stavangersfjord and acting as a beacon ship for the Stavanger bombardment on the 16th before returning to Rosyth on the 19th. SEAL went on to Blyth arriving on the 20th and was transferred to the 6th Submarine Flotilla for minelaying mission FD.7.
Polish submarine ORP ORZEŁ intercepted German transport RIO DE JANIERO (5261grt) off Lillesand in 58 07. 8N, 8 29. 4E at 1110. After ordering the crew and troops aboard into lifeboats, ORZEŁ fired one torpedo at 1145 and another torpedo at 1155. The transport was sunk. Norwegian destroyers ODIN and GYLLER and fishing boats picked up the RIO DE JANIERO personnel. It was learned from the troops aboard the German ship that they were en route to protect the port of Bergen. However, no heed was paid this report, either by the British or the Norwegians.
Submarine TRIDENT on patrol in the Northern Skagerrak at 1215 stopped German tanker POSIDONIA (8036grt) on her maiden voyage off Rauer in 58 54N, 10 21E. The crew scuttled the tanker as they abandoned ship. TRIDENT finished off POSIDONIA with torpedoes at 1320 near Stavern. POSIDONIA was salvaged in June and renamed STEDINGEN.
At 1800, submarine TRITON sighted the German Oslo Group and unsuccessfully attacked it off the Skaw. She was able to fire ten torpedoes between 1758 and 1906 at heavy cruiser LUTZOW but missed. TRITON was then heavily counterattacked by German torpedo boat ALBATROS.
Submarine SUNFISH also contacted the Oslo Force, but was unable to reach a position to fire torpedoes.
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Scapa Flow was bombed by the 20 He.111’s of KG.26, but as the entire Fleet was already at sea, no damage was done.
German armed merchant cruiser ORION, breaking out during these operations, first encountered a merchant ship in the North Sea escorted by an allied destroyer and later minelayer TEVIOTBANK and her four destroyers, but was able to proceed undetected.
French destroyers TARTAR and MAILLE BREZE arrived at Scapa Flow at 0900, and escorted by destroyer ENCOUNTER to the oilers and buoys. FOUDROYANT (Capitaine de Corvette Paul Fontaine), BRESTOIS (Capitaine de Fregatte J. L. C. Kraft), and BOULONNAIS (Capitaine de Corvette J. C. F. Champion) arrived at 1300 and again led in by ENCOUNTER to the oilers and buoys.
Destroyer KEITH departed Dover at 1000 for Dunkirk carrying Vice Admiral B. H. Ramsay CB, MVO. Ramsay was en route for a conference with Amiral Nord regarding the possibility of French trawlers taking over North Goodwins Patrol and French trawlers cooperating with British trawlers in anti-submarine operations in the Straits of Dover. Admiral Ramsay and destroyer KEITH arrived back at Dover at 1800.
Convoy MT.47 departed Methil, escorted by destroyer WOLSEY, sloop AUCKLAND, and anti-submarine trawlers of the 19th Anti-Submarine Group, and arrived the next day.
Greek steamer OKEANIA (4843grt) was sunk in 51 18N, 02 04E on a mine (Seekrieg – laid by Schiff 11), with the Chief Engineer missing. Destroyer BOADICEA on North Goodwin Patrol and minesweeper HUSSAR proceeded to assist, with BOADICEA picking up twenty-nine survivors and Dutch steamer BEVERLAND the remainder.
The U.S. Senate approved today the $23,707,720 Legislative Appropriation Bill, adopted a resolution asking the Budget Bureau to furnish information about the funds of certain Federal credit corporations, heard Senator Reynolds advocate a naval base at Anchorage; Alaska, and Senator Downey criticize the Social Security Act, and recessed at 5:45 PM until noon tomorrow.
The House received the Treadway resolution for a special committee study of foreign trade and tariffs, cited three Communist officials for contempt of the Dies committee and adjourned at 1:08 PM out of respect to the late Representative Clyde H. Smith until 11 AM tomorrow.
The Temporary National Economic Committee began its investigation of technological advancement.
House leaders decided today on consideration early next week of the Barden bill to amend the Wages and Hours Act, a decision which caused surprise in labor quarters since it had been assumed this measure would follow the Smith or Norton amendments to the National Labor Relations Act. But this was not the only surprise, because the tentative calendar for next week also contained a place for the Logan-Walter bill providing court review of any decision of a governmental agency which has the force of law.
President Roosevelt today vetoed a bill requiring the mandatory deportation of aliens engaging in espionage or sabotage, alien criminals, and those convicted of violation of the narcotics laws. The measure was referred to the House Committee on Immigration and Naturalization.
Primary balloting tomorrow in Illinois and Nebraska may give the country new clues to the 1940 presidential puzzle. In Illinois, Thomas E. Dewey is unopposed In the Republican primary; backers of a third term for the president are challenged by the supporters of Vice-President Garner. In Nebraska it is the Roosevelt slate which is unopposed; Dewey forces there must see if they can repeat the victory they scored over Senator Arthur Vandenberg of Michigan in the Wisconsin primary voting last week.
Paul V. McNutt, federal security administrator and a candidate for the Democratic nomination if Mr. Roosevelt doesn’t want it, told reporters he saw no danger of a party split if the president tried for a third-term election.
Without debate or a formal vote the House today approved contempt citations against three more Communists for refusal or failure to answer questions before the Dies committee investigating un-American activities.
Chairman Dies, Texas Democrat, said today that 90 per cent of the country and the house was with his House Un-American Activities Committee in wanting “really effective legislation” to make “subversive organizations” reveal their purposes and membership. The committee chairman made this statement to newsmen a short time after the house approved three more contempt citations against Communists who had refused to answer committee questions.
The Senate approved a resolution today requesting the Director of the Budget to submit to the upper house a list of government credit corporations whose capital, President Roosevelt’s budget message said, is to be reduced $700,000,000.
The National Labor Relations Board won one of the biggest victories of its history today when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to review a board order directing the Republic Steel corporation to reinstate and pay back wages to thousands of participants in the bloody “little steel” strike of 1937. The order was upheld last Nov. 8 by the third circuit court of appeals at Philadelphia and thus the Supreme Court, in turning down the company’s petition for review today, permitted the order to stand.
Denis A. Healy, star prosecution witness in the trial of seventeen men indicted for conspiring to overthrow the United States Government, testified yesterday in the Brooklyn Federal Court that some of the defendants had used a likeness of President Roosevelt’s head as a target during rifle practice.
Bubbling, red-hot lava that looked like a giant waterfall on fire poured from a mile-long crack in the top crater of the volcano Mauna Loa today and rolled spectacularly down the mountain’s southern slope at the rate of two miles an hour. The eruption was accompanied by volcanic flames that lighted the sky, huge spouts of steam and smoke and rumbling gaseous explosions.
The U.S. Navy contracts with Grumman for two prototypes of the XTBF-1, later named “Avenger,” a mid-wing monoplane that would become the Navy’s standard carrier torpedo bomber of World War II.
An $8,000,000 contract for fifty huge bombers was awarded by the War Department today to the Boeing Aircraft Company of Seattle. one of the largest army purchases in recent months.
Prime Minister W.L. Mackenzie King will leave Ottawa in a few days for a short holiday in the South of the United States. On his way through Washington he will pay a visit to President Roosevelt at the White House.
Following preliminary discussions in the People’s Political Council between leaders of the Chinese Government party [the Kuomintang] and the Communist party, the Communist leader Chou En-lai was expected to arrive here within a few days to complete an agreement to remove friction between the two groups. Chou recently returned from Moscow and was said to have proposals bearing on increased Russian aid to Nationalist China that will be of importance in connection with the government’s reported “supreme effort” to obtain effective Soviet military assistance. Reliable informants said friction between Communist and Kuomintang leaders in Shantung Province already had been removed by establishment of a liaison organization known as the Shantung Provincial Association for the Promotion of Constitutionalism.
Coincidental with the arrival in Peiping today of Wang Ching-wei, head of the Japanese-sponsored Central China Government, he was subjected to a violently critical attack in the form of a manifesto by the leader of the New China Youth Party. Mr. Wang arrived by airplane from Nanking.
Chinese Army field headquarters reported today that one of its columns converging on Nanning, key point in the fierce fighting for control of Southern Kwangsi Province, had reached a point only a few miles east of its objective.
Central News, official Chinese agency, reported that more than 400 Japanese were killed or injured when a Japanese troop train struck a Chinese land-mine on the Peiping-Hankow Railway near the Honan-Hupeh border.
An attack by Chinese planes on a Japanese airdrome at Canton last Saturday was described by unofficial Chinese dispatches, which said several hangars had been destroyed and at least sixteen members of the Japanese ground force killed.
Chinese planes also were reported to have bombed and damaged a Japanese gunboat near Macao, Portuguese port opposite Hong Kong.
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Born:
John Havlicek, NBA small forward and shooting guard (NBA Championship-Celtics, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1968, 1969, 1974, 1976; NBA All Star, 1966–1978; Boston Celtics), in Martins Ferry, Ohio (d. 2019).
Died:
Lieutenant Commander Gerard Broadmead Roope, 35, British naval officer and Victoria Cross recipient (Commanding HMS Glowworm; killed in action).
Naval Construction:
The Royal Navy Flower-class corvettes HMS Vervain (K 190), HMS Bryony (K 192), HMS Buttercup (K 193), and HMS Cowslip (K 196) are ordered from Harland & Wolff (Belfast, Northern Ireland).
The Kriegsmarine (German Navy) Type VIIC U-boat U-377 is laid down by Howaldtswerke AG, Kiel (werk 8).
The Kriegsmarine (German Navy) Type VIIC U-boat U-401 is laid down by Danziger Werft AG, Danzig (werk 102).
The Marine Nationale (French Navy) Flower-class corvette La Bastiaise is launched by Smiths Dock Co., Ltd. (South Bank-on-Tees, U.K.). She is the first (and only) Flower-class corvette commissioned into the French Navy just before the armistice.
The Royal Navy Flower-class corvette HMS Periwinkle (K 55) is commissioned. Her first commanding officer is Lieutenant Commander Henry Row, RNR.
The Royal Australian Navy Grimsby-class sloop HMAS Parramatta (L 44; later U 44) is commissioned. Her first commanding officer is Lieutenant Commander Jefferson H. Walker, MVO, RAN.
History Diaries 