Lofoten Vaagso

First Commando raids in Norway

The previous page was: "Italy"

Lofoten Vaagso; by the end of 1940 and the beginning of 1941 eager young men all over the country; were leaping out of boats, climbing cliffs, learning the use of explosives and they were experimenting with new weapons, including fighting knives; these were the freshly trained Army Commandos.

What they sought was perfection on how to cause violent death; because they knew they would often have to do battle with the enemy, their stealthy terror would be delivered in most cases, after darkness was complete.

Though Commando training had made much progress; in Whitehall all was not well. The admiral's suggestions always met with scant response from the Chiefs of Staff. He tried everything he could think of; the ships and the Commandos were ready and keen for action.

Italy

Months of indecisions pass by

Admiral Keyes put forward a plan for the capture of the Azores by a mixed force of Royal Marines and Army Commandos.

Considerable work was carried out into the design of this operation; some five Commando Units were trained for it at Inveraray; but once again the raid never took place.

Then several more postponements later there was a change of mind; finally there came along a Commando operation which was to take place in the Lofoten Islands off of Norway, about nine-hundred miles from Britain. The Germans were getting valuable supplies of cod and herring oil, they were using it to produce glycerine for their explosives.

The factories were delivering the oil via four ports, Brettesnes, Henningsvaer, Svolvaer and Stamsund. 3 Commando, and 4 Commando were Army Commando Units, which had been training regularly for months for real a Commando Raid.

3 Commando was allotted Stamsund and Henningsvaer, while 4 Commando was allotted Brettesnes and Svolvaer. Their objectives were to destroy the fish oil factories to prevent the Germans from getting the oil. Each Commando was about 250 strong, with another 100 or so Royal Engineers and Norwegian forces, taking their numbers to just over 350 men in each.

They came looking for action

Their infantry landing ships the Princess Emma and the Princess Beatrix sailed from Scapa Flow, with five destroyers escorting them. They reached the outer waters at approximately 3 a.m. 4th March 1942. The Germans were not expecting them, the surprise was complete, there was no naval confrontation.

The Commandos were keen they wanted to experience action; and they were eager to take-on the Germans; they couldn't wait to get stuck in, and for them it was a case of the sooner the better. The raid itself, was down heartening. They had been hoping to meet the enemy on their terms but there was no opposition at all.

When they found the Germans they were asleep in their beds wearing pyjamas and hair nets; no guards were on duty, they weren't expecting the British Army to turn up here. The prisoners were grouped together with a guard keeping a watchful eye on them.

Instead of meeting an aggressive enemy the main force were met by the locals who welcomed them with open arms, it was nice but for them it was an anti-climax. The warm welcome the invaders received and offers of help in the demolitions far exceeded anything they had expected, gifts were exchanged and some of the Norwegians returned with them to join the Commandos.

Prisoners with no casualties

Permission was granted to bring eight women back to England to join the Red Cross. The German prisoners captured were 250 including 10 Quislings; Norwegians who had collaborated with the Germans for one reason or another.

The Only opposition came from an armed trawler, the Krebbs. She very gallantly engaged H.M.S. Somali, which proved fatal for her; she was soon set her on fire and the crew all surrendered.

"Altogether" noted Durnford-Slater, "it had been a highly successful operation with no casualties; it made a good start for large-scale raids."

For a time nothing happened. Spring came and then summer but there were no more Commando raids; the emphasis was on training and more training. The Commandos were engaged in improving their techniques in such matters as crossing over barbed wire, climbing cliffs and other essentials of Commando life, including landings on rough and unfrequented beaches beneath lonely cliffs.

Spitzbergen was their target

A raid on Spitzbergen was required to destroy coal and fuel oil.Once again no resistance was encountered. The Force anchored in Green Harbour in the Ice Sound of west Spitzbergen.

As at Stamsund the locals showed great friendliness, even though they realised that the main object of the expedition was to destroy all of their stocks that were pilled high, or were in storage.

The coal mines had been opened by a Russian Coal Company. Russia was also at war with Germany and they agreed that the mines should be rendered useless.

This was successfully accomplished; 450,000 tons of coal were set on fire, together with 275,000 gallons of fuel oil, petrol and grease.

Hundreds of Norwegians enlist

The Russians returned to Russia by ship, the ship which took them there returned with two-hundred Frenchmen; they had escaped from Germany and they were anxious to fight under General De Gaulle.

Eight-hundred Norwegians volunteered to go back to England.

The Expedition to Spitzbergen was the only large-scale operation attempted during the summer of 1942. The policy of raids on a small scale; had not been abandoned and a number took place at that time.

These raids will be covered on a "Small Raids" page.

The next Link below will be: "Madagascar"

Lofoten Vaagso Madagascar

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