Text and photography by Sten Stockmann Hitler’s plan for conquering Norway was simple. [27] The message had been sent to the naval base in Horten at 04:10, but the massive communications problems that severely hampered the efforts of the Norwegian military throughout the Norwegian Campaign had prevented it from reaching Oscarsborg in time. It marked the end of the "Phoney War" and the beginning of World War II in Western Europe. According to the report, a major concern is a typhoon damaging the wreck and facilitating a … Thus, the Norwegian government was able to continue the defence of Norway until it had evacuated to exile in the United Kingdom on 7 June, with the Norwegian Army laying down their arms on 10 June. The fleet was engaged in the fjord by Oscarsborg Fortress, an ageing coastal installation near Drøbak, that had been relegated to training coastal artillery servicemen, leading the Germans to disregard its defensive value. Kummetz flew his flag in Blücher. The remaining ships turned around and landed the German invasion forces out of range of Oscarsborg. [19] Only one gun crew of actual artillerymen was available, and two guns could only be made operational by splitting the real gunners between the two guns and using non-combatant privates to assist the gunners. [2], While the main combat station for the Main Battery and the commander of Oscarsborg fortress was on the island Håøya north-west of South Kaholmen, due to the special circumstances in 1940, Oberst Eriksen took position in the backup station on the eastern flank of the main battery at South Kaholmen.[18]. [19] Upon giving the command, Eriksen was questioned. The heavy cruiser Blücher would sail into the Oslo harbor, turn its cannons against the royal palace, and Norway would surrender. Blucher as an armoured cruiser was very good, with excellent main guns, healthy secondaries, good armouring as well as compartmenting and a very good speed. The flawless waterline hull has extensive superstructure detail cast in situ, as well as anchors, chains, and rolled-up torpedo nets. [49] On 9 April, the Storting was able to convene at Elverum and give the cabinet a wide authorization to govern until a Storting could again assemble. [25][26][28][29][30] Later, at 04:35, Oberst Eriksen received a message from the Norwegian minesweeper HNoMS Otra confirming that the intruding ships were German. On 9th April 1940, the fort was attacked by the Kriegsmarine and sank the German cruiser "Blücher". The German heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen was one of the German Navy’s largest ships. After passing the line of fire of the fortress' gun batteries, the cruiser was burning and severely damaged, but her captain still hoped he would be able to save his ship. Copyright © 2014. When the guns on both sides silenced, with all the "passengers" still under deck—"there was a dead silence on board the whole ship, no movement whatsoever was identified".[32]. [40][41] Many of the German wounded were initially taken to Åsgården summer hotel in Åsgårdstrand for medical care, where Norwegian wounded had already been brought. The fjord was the scene of a key event in the German invasion of Norway in 1940. The Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust is pleased to announce that the wreck of SMS Scharnhorst has been located off the Falkland Islands. The first 28 cm shell hit Blücher right in front of the aft mast,[19] and set the midship area up to the fore mast on fire. Petersson. [1] Design work on the first new light cruiser, ordered as "Ersatz Niobe", began in 1921. [9] The third torpedo launcher was left loaded in case more ships were to follow close behind Blücher. "[20] Two rounds from the 28 cm (11.0 in) Krupp guns Moses and Aron engaged the German cruiser Blücher at 1,800 m (2,000 yd) range. The fjord was the scene of a key event in the German invasion of Norway in 1940. [15] Anderssen would show himself worthy of the important task of leading the fortress' most lethal weapon system; having first served at the torpedo battery in 1909, he knew the ageing weapons intimately. [44], The fortress was subjected to heavy Luftwaffe bombing later on the same day, to which the fortress could only reply with two Bofors 40 mm L/60 anti-aircraft (AA) guns and three Colt M/29 7.92 mm (0.312 in) AA machine guns at Seiersten Battery, as well as another four Colt M/29 7.92 mm AA machine guns at Håøya Battery,[45] but again there were no Norwegian casualties. Colonel Eriksen, Commander of the Oscarsborg fortress near Drøbak, mainly maintained for historical purposes, sank the German heavy cruiser Blücher in the Drøbak narrows. Enter a comma separated list of user names. [23] There was only time for the Main Battery to fire these two rounds, due to their slow reload time with only 30 untrained recruits manning them at the time. The two Norwegian guns had been loaded with live, 255 kg (562 lb) high-explosive shells;[21] firing them "in anger" was a violation of the pre-war Norwegian rules of engagement which dictated warning shots be fired first, as had been the case at Oslofjord Fortress further down the fjord. [23] The aim was corrected for the second torpedo launch and the torpedo struck Blücher amidships, hitting the same general area as the first 28 cm shell. According to Article 181 of the Treaty of Versailles, the treaty that ended World War I, the German Navy was permitted only six light cruisers. [22] The second 28 cm round hit the base of the forward 20.3 cm (8.0 in) gun turret shortly thereafter, throwing large parts of it into the fjord and igniting further fires on board. On board Blücher were troops specially designated to capture the King, the Norwegian cabinet, the Storting (Norwegian Parliament) and the national gold reserve; the delay made it possible for all these to escape. The Battle of Drøbak Sound took place in Drøbak Sound, the northernmost part of the outer Oslofjord in southern Norway, on 9 April 1940. Blücher's torpedoes were fired against land to avoid them exploding in the uncontrolled fires aboard. The Blücher was a German Admiral Hipper-class heavy cruiser. The hilariously parodical scenes which follow include the monsters encounter with a lonely, blind hermit (Gene Hackman) who befriends him, spill… [34][35][36] The magazine blast ruptured the bulkheads between the boiler rooms and tore open the cruiser's fuel bunkers, igniting further fires. The Battle of Drøbak Sound took place in Drøbak Sound, the northernmost part of the outer Oslofjord in southern Norway, on 9 April 1940. The invasion included a planned landing of 1,000 troops transported by ship to Oslo. As an unidentified flotilla started forcing its way past the outer fortifications in the south of the Oslofjord, late at night on 8 April, Oberst Eriksen called Anderssen in and had him come down to the fortress. Young Frankenstein (1974) is Mel Brooks inspired spoof of horror movies, in which Dr. Frankensteins grandson, Dr. Friedrich von Frankenstein (Gene Wilder), inherits his grandfathers castle and begins his own attempts at creating a human being and infusing it with the spark of life. Yourwhislist E-Commerce, S.L. By this point, Blücher was doomed. She sank after an heroic and epic fight against Beatty's own ships at the battle of the Dogger Bank in January 1915. The occupation forces would then take care of the rest. By 18:30, the Norwegian soldiers withdrew from the area, abandoning the Germans. The loss of the German flagship, which carried most of the troops and Gestapo agents intended to occupy Oslo, delayed the German occupation long enough for King Haakon VII and his government to escape from the capital. The map created by people like you! The larger guns wrought havoc on board Blücher, while the 57 mm guns concentrated on the cruiser's superstructure and the anti-aircraft weapons,[24] and were partially successful in suppressing the fire from her light artillery as Blücher slowly sailed past the fortress. Named for Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, the Prussian victor of the Battle of Waterloo, the ship was laid down in August 1936 and launched in June 1937. One of the 15 cm rounds from Kopås disabled Blücher's steering gear and forced the cruiser's crew to steer her using the engines to avoid running aground. [16] When Anderssen had been called back into duty a month previously, he had been a pensioner for 13 years, having originally retired from his post as commander of the torpedo battery in 1927. Sørland sank with two of her six-man crew near the village of Skiphelle in Drøbak, as the first civilian Norwegian ship lost during the invasion. [19] There was no time to reload; there was not even time to fire the third gun, Josva, which was loaded but unmanned. The soldiers and non-commissioned officers captured at the mainland batteries were released three days after the fortress' surrender, while the officers were held as prisoners of war at Fredriksten Fortress. The heavy traffic in the straight is another danger. The Germans, on the other hand, lost a powerful heavy cruiser, 650-800 dead, approximately 50 wounded, and around 1000 were taken prisoner. 14.08.2014 - German cruiser Blücher in the Oslo fjord, April 9, 1940 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Stay safe and healthy. Blücher's fire-fighting system was also knocked out by shell fragments from the two Norwegian batteries, making attempts to control the fires aboard the ship and rescue the many wounded much more difficult. Sten Stockmann - www.advanceddivermagazine.com | Snekker Anders (Youtube) | Esben Johannsen (Youtube) | Wouter Groenewegen (Youtube) - Northsea Explorers (Vimeo) - Stig Fredrik Johansson (Vimeo) - Stig Fredrik Johansson (Vimeo). [27] After pulling out of range of the fortress guns, Lützow employed her remaining turret "Bruno" to bombard the defenders from a range of 9–10 km (4.9–5.4 nmi; 5.6–6.2 mi) down the fjord. Blücher was ordered by the Kriegsmarine from the Deutsche Werke shipyard in Kiel. [23] This caused catastrophic damage to the cruiser and blew open many of her bulkheads, allowing water to flood her decks while she was burning furiously. The shelling lasted only for five to seven minutes. [42], By the time Blücher sank, the remaining naval force destined for Oslo had long since turned around and retreated back down the fjord. WW2live is a division of Yourwhislist E-commerce, S.L. VHF-radio and a skilled and experienced surface-crew is a must. During this retreat, the fortress managed to damage the heavy cruiser "Lützow". The heavy cruiser Blücher would sail into the Oslo harbor, turn its cannons against the royal palace, and Norway would surrender. Her keel was laid on 15 August 1936, under construction number 246. The kit depicts Blucher subsequent to the fitting of a tripod foremast in 1913, the first German warship to be so fitted. The only thing they did over the years was to remove the anchors (they are at a museum) and the ship's bell (brought it to a german naval museum). The hotel was the temporary improvised location for the Royal Norwegian Navy Hospital, which had been evacuated from Horten at midnight on 8 April. Seeing the geysers of water from underwater explosions on Blücher, and unaware of the torpedo battery, the commander of the heavy cruiser Lützow (the recently renamed 'pocket battleship' Deutschland) assumed the flagship had hit mines and at 04:40 the decision was made for the flotilla to turn back and land the invasion forces out of range of the Oscarsborg batteries. At this point, however, Blücher entered the sights of Kommandørkaptein Anderssen as she slid past the torpedo battery at a range of only 500 m (550 yd). The fortress was surrendered intact on the morning of 10 April. Norwegian shore batteries sink the Blucher From a range of approximately 1800 metres the two 11inch (28cm) shells from the Krupps guns that were capable of firing caused massive damage to the Blucher. The wreck counts as a war-grave, hundreds of sailors and soldiers died on it. 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