Hitler’s Pre-Emptive War: The Battle for Norway, 1940 Henrik Lunde (general ebook reader txt) 📖

out well, he would get much of the credit. On the other hand, if things did not go well, he could blame the outcome on the British for not prosecuting the war vigorously. This was probably the main French motive for arguing that nothing should stand in the way of a successful conclusion in Norway. However, there was still a strong feeling that the commitment of more Germans in far-off Norway would reduce the threat to the French homeland. He argued for strong efforts against Trondheim and talked about sufficient troops in the Narvik area to occupy the Swedish iron ore fields after eliminating Dietl.

Chamberlain expressed complete agreement with Reynaud and explained that the recapture of Narvik was postponed only because forces were redirected to Trondheim. His explanation caused the French to believe that Operation Hammer was still alive and well. The French were not told that it had been cancelled several days before this meeting. While Chamberlain may not have known that the northern pincer against Trondheim was in full retreat through the burning town of Steinkjer, and that the 148th Brigade had been decimated in Gudbrandsdal, he was not honest with his ally. That the fog of war was even thicker at the highest counsels than on the battlefield is illustrated by Reynaud congratulating the British Army on “not hesitating to march on Oslo immediately after landing in Norway.” Reynaud concluded the meeting by summarizing that they had agreed on winning the battle for Trondheim and establishing a strong base there for future offensive operations. The British did not object despite having already cancelled operations against Trondheim.14

The British political and military apparatus was again in a state of confusion. Reports of defeats around Steinkjer and in Gudbrandsdal were arriving in London. Other problems were also obvious. After the landing of the 15th Brigade, Åndalsnes and Namsos had become primary targets for the Luftwaffe. The antiaircraft fire from both land-based guns and the guns on the antiaircraft cruisers proved ineffective. It was not long before the harbor facilities and the town were reduced to ashes. The Luftwaffe also rained destruction on the subsidiary base at Molde, Ålesund, and the city of Kristiansund.

Brigadier General Hogg, who was in charge of the garrison and port facilities in Åndalsnes, concluded in the evening of April 26 that unless the air situation was brought under control, the base would become unusable. General Paget agreed, pointing to his own precarious position. Paget may have intended this as a form of pressure on London to send additional forces, particularly air and antiaircraft assets. If this was his intention, it had the opposite effect after Hogg sent an urgent message next morning to General Massy calling for immediate evacuation. On the previous day, the MCC had already recommended that plans be readied for an evacuation from Åndalsnes and Namsos. Chamberlain and other cabinet members hoped the evacuation could be delayed long enough to announce Narvik’s recapture. The effect of an evacuation on the Norwegians was not discussed, but the British were rightly fearful of reactions in France.

The news of a planned evacuation from southern and central Norway caused tempers to explode in Paris. An enraged Reynaud sent a personal letter to Chamberlain, which caused consternation because of its unusually frank language. One sentence, “One must think big or stop making war, one must act fast or lose the war” was typical of the letter’s flavor.15 General Gamelin came to London and insisted that the Allies hold a sizable bridgehead in central Norway and occupy as many points as possible on the coast between Namsos and Narvik.

On April 27, the two messages from General Hogg supplemented by a memorandum from General Massy, decided the issue. General Massy reminded the government that General Ironside had given him a free hand regarding the timing of any evacuation and he rejected the MCC’s conclusion that an evacuation should be delayed as incompatible with his prerogatives. In a second memorandum on the same day, General Massy requested authority to evacuate both Åndalsnes and Namsos. The request was considered at the meeting of the War Cabinet the following morning and Ironside stated that there were enormous difficulties in carrying out General Gamelin’s proposal and that a disaster was a real possibility unless an immediate evacuation was ordered.

Only Churchill spoke against the evacuation and recommended that forces be left in Norway to do the best they could. He even suggested reconsideration of a Hammer type operation. His colleagues were not willing to face the political fallout of a military disaster, and although the minutes of the meeting are vague it is likely that the participants were fully aware that a decision for immediate evacuation had been made. A message to General Carton de Wiart, the commander in Namsos, sent immediately after the meeting, as well as Ironside’s diary confirm this conclusion.16

The British were less than candid with their allies at the meeting of the Supreme War Council and did not reveal the fact that the decision to evacuate had been made. Chamberlain stated that Gamelin’s suggestions from the previous day were under study. In fact, they had been rejected. While he noted that the situation in Norway had deteriorated and it was no longer possible to take Trondheim, he assured the French “this was not tantamount to a decision to evacuate,” only a recognition that “it could not long be delayed.17

Reynaud stressed that a complete withdrawal from central Norway would be a moral and political disaster. He argued that some sort of foothold be kept north and south of Trondheim along the lines proposed by Gamelin. Chamberlain concurred and the French came away believing the British had agreed to Gamelin’s proposals. Two hours after the meeting, the British ordered the immediate evacuation of south and central Norway. This was nothing short of an open defiance of the Supreme War Council and an insult to their allies.

The French did not learn about the evacuation until the afternoon of April 29. They also learned that