Norway-1940

German invasion of Norway began

The previous page was: "M.N.B.D.O."

The Norwegian campaign, which ebbed and flowed during the occupation of the Faeroes and Iceland, gave the Royal Marines opportunities of fulfilling many of their functions.

Although as usual it is impossible here to give a detailed account of all their activities, this may be said: true to their tradition, they were the first British troops to land and the last to leave.

Detachments from the cruisers H.M.S. Sheffield and H.M.S. Glasgow landed at Namos on 16th April 1940; seven days after the Germans had entered the country. They secured the harbour and road bridges to ensure an unopposed landing for a larger military force which was due to follow two days later.

M.N.B.D.O.

These detachments were under

The command of Captain W.F. Edds, the senior Royal Marines Officer of the 18th Cruiser Squadron, and although the men had been cooped up in ships for several months, they marched long distances through snow-covered roads, then worked cheerfully through the night preparing positions.

They slept in log huts which gave scant protection from the piercing winds, and during the day remained cramped in these shelters to avoid detection from the air.

Having covered the landing of the expeditionary force under Major-General A. Carton de Wiart, V.C., the detachment, their task completed, returned to their ships in destroyers.

Holding on at Aandalsnes

Another force some 700 strong, with an anti-aircraft battery, was given notice on 13th April to embark for Norway, with the object of siezing the port and railhead of Aandalsnes and preventing the landing of German troops by seaplane, submarine and parachute.

It was known as Force Primrose and was composed mainly of Royal Marine detachments from the Nelson, Hood and Barham, which were then refitting. Lieutenant-Colonel H.W. Simpson was in command. Travelling independently from Portsmouth and Plymouth, The Force sailed from Rosyth in four sloops on 15th April.

The flotilla, arrived at the mouth of Romsdals Fjord, which leads to Aandalsnes, on 17th. Then the four sloops went forward cautiously in line ahead, led by Black Swan which carried the Hood detachment. There was no way of knowing whether the town was occupied by the enemy or not?

The Marines stood-to in silence

On the upper decks. The fjord was very narrow, they could see the mountains rising almost sheer out of the water on either side. The night was fine, but intensely cold. It was almost pitch dark when the sloops anchored off Aandalsnes. The actual landing was an anti-climax, instead of German opposition, they found a small crowd of friendly Norwegians waiting to welcome them.

It was said that there were no Germans in the neighbourhood; nevertheless, Colonel Simpson took the precaution of arranging defensive posts near the jetty. It was about 2 a.m. when the marines moved off in lorries to take up their positions. One detachment went to a military camp, Setnesmoen, where they spent the night; another was sent to Aalesund, under the command of Major H. Lumley, with a battery of coast artillery, to prevent enemy traffic passing down between the islands and the mainland.

Halfway between Trondheim in the north and Bergan in the south, the Central Norwegian plain is joined to the waters of Romsdals Fiord by a narrow valley, more than 60 miles in length and flanked by precipitous hills. As the valley approaches the shores of the fjord it opens into a shape of a fan. In one corner of the fan, fronting the fjord, is the little town of Aandalsnes, in the other corner the village of Veblungsnes.

The camp of Setnesmoen is-or was-situated at the point where the valley starts to widen. A collection of long white wooden huts, with low roofs and verandas. When the Marines reached it the camp was in thick snow.

The task of Force Primrose was

Similar to that allotted to the Sheffield and Glasgow attachments at Namos, but on a larger scale. To occupy Aandalsnes and district and to make arrangements for its use as a port of disembarkation for the Central Norwegian Expeditionary Force, the advanced units of which were expected that day?

Seamen platoons were to provide working parties for unloading the ships. The Royal Marine detachments occupied the perimeter beyond the town. One of the Hoods platoons covered the village of Veblungsnes. It was one of those typical Norwegian villages which became familiar to the British troops in that distressful campaign.

On two sides of Veblungsnes it was Washed by the quiet waters of the fjord; behind it rose a grassy slope which soon merged into the steep sides of snow-covered and sparsely-wooded mountain. A small wooden church stood back from the Aandalsnes road in a tree-shaded cemetery which sloped down to the fjord's edge.

Beyond the church, the road was fringed with houses, some of wood, some of stone, low and red-roofed, with narrow doorways and thick framed windows, a few with fenced front gardens. Off the village square was a solidly-built stone house with steps up to the door, a tall tree shading the entrance. It was a tailoring factory. Inside were piles of cloth, ready-made suits and sewing machines. Here the Hood platoon took up their quarters.

The Luftwaffe bombings

The main Expeditionary Force began to disembark on the 18th April 1940, and moved forward to Dombaas, leaving Force Primrose to hold Aandalsnes and its vital landing place and railhead. It was not long before the Germans discovered the occupation, and then the Royal Marines' positions were bombed every day.

There were no airfields in British hands from which fighter cover could be provided; the Germans had complete mastery of the skies throughout the operation. But the Royal Marine anti-aircraft guns met them with spirited fire and the Black Swan gave protection to shipping in the fiord.

One day the Black Swan was bombed for three hours continuously. The Hood platoon at Veblungsnes watched her from their trenches as she dodged and twisted in the narrow waters of the fiord, at times almost hidden from view by the splashes from near-misses, but keeping up an incessant barrage.

When at last the raiders departed Without having scored a single hit. The little ship steamed triumphantly past Veblungsnes on her way to re-ammunition at Aandalsnes. The Hood platoon jumped from their trenches and cheered her. Their voices must have carried across the water, for she flashed her Aldis lamp in answer as she passed the Marines.

A few hours of peace

The raids would stop for the day at 6 p.m. then three hours of peace would follow. As the sky reddened with sunset and the mountain tops turned from white to gold, a party of Norwegians would gather on the square of grass in front of the Royal Marine quarters at Veblungsnes and sing English songs in their own language to a couple of guitars, which they passed from hand to hand.

"It is almost impossible to put into words," wrote one of the officers, "the wonderful feeling of peace descends on Veblungsnes on these indescribably lovely Norwegian evenings, when one can relax, and smoke, and watch the shadows of the little white houses lengthen, and the sky turn from blue to crimson, without listening to the far-away drone of Hienkels.

The loveliness is made all the More poignant by the realization of horror and death only a short way up the great valley, and by the knowledge that tomorrow the bombing will start again, and that this may be the last evening we shall see.

It was not long before it became clear that the Central Norwegian campaign had failed. The deciding factor was the German domination of the air. On 29th April came orders for the evacuation. Cruisers and destroyers were coming up the fiord that night and the following to embark troops.

Force Primrose was to form the rearguard and to hold the mouth of the valley while the evacuation was in progress. By that time there were but two or three scattered houses still standing in Aandalsnes. Setnesmoen Camp was destroyed on the 29th April. In the early hours of the 30th the Marines took up their rearguard positions, which they had orders to hold for the next 24 hours.

"Those hours; the longest I have ever known,"

wrote the same officer. "When dawn came we lay up on our hillside while the Hienkels and Dorniers had a positive field-day over Veblungsnes and Aandalsnes. We could see them through the tree-tops only a few hundred feet up, firing burst after burst of machine gun and cannon fire into Setnesmoen."

"Towards midday we had a feast of chocolate and cold baked beans, washed down with melted snow. When darkness fell again it was bitterly cold. Greatcoats gave hardly any protection and we dared not take any exercise for fear of giving away our positions to the air or the scouts in the surrounding woods...The time dragged on. Every minute it seemed to get colder and colder, and the hands of my watch appeared to go slower and slower."

"From the road along the other side of the valley we could hear faintly the sound of lorries bringing back the remnants of the Army: a comforting sound inasmuch as it indicated the proximity of friends, even though they might be tired, beaten, and in full retreat."

As the darkness deepened, the air raids became fewer and fewer and finally stopped altogether. The valley grew silent and still. Little night noises made themselves heard; the stirring of the tree-tops in the faint breeze; the rustle of some animal in the undergrowth; the far-away hum of a motor-cycle bringing a last lonely despatch-rider back from the front. My watch was ticking away on my wrist; the slow breathing of men hidden in the darkness sounded faint in the crisp air.

What was the time? Half an hour after midnight. Another two and a half hours to go. Were we going to get away with it altogether? At last two black shapes loomed panting out of the gloom. Orders were: "Withdraw at once. Rendezvous at Company Headquarters. Hurry."

The Marines rose, stretching cramped limbs. They formed up in sections, then slipped and tumbled down the slope they had climbed twenty hours before. When they reached the rendezvous they were told that the destroyers were waiting. The ships had been ordered to sail not later than 1 a.m. But on hearing that there were Marines to be withdrawn they remained well beyond their time.

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Time to move out

The Marines moved off A long line of men, black shadows on the snow in the moonlight until they came to the beach. Two destroyers were lying two hundred yards off shore. The scene was flung into harsh relief by the glare of their searchlights. The men were dazzled and blinded as they emerged from the dim Norwegian night. They moved knee deep in the icy water and scrambled into the waiting boats. The destroyers gathered way as they drew alongside.

Royal Marine howitzer battery was among the last of the British forces to leave Central Norway which had been operating in the Namsos area. The Commanding Officer received orders to withdraw immediately, leaving his guns and all of his equipment. He replied that he would evacuate with all speed, bringing his guns with him.

A further signal told him that the destroyer could not wait. He answered that nevertheless he and his men would remain with the battery until it was ready to be moved. Although he kept the destroyer waiting twenty minutes, by requisitioning every boat he could find he succeeded in bringing away every gun, all his equipment and every man.

"It is not the policy of the Corps to leave its equipment in enemy hands," he explained.

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