Geon
Donor
Norwegian Debacle
The Germans are about to experience a major problem up north.
Michel-I will take some of your ideas under advisement, they are definitely looking into. And I like the flag!
Bill_the_Bear - I have revised the recording matter, see posting, thank you for pointing that out.
Again - I am not good with detailed battle scenes if someone is so inclined to write a more detailed story on these battles please feel free to do so after sending me a draft to make sure there are no continuity problems.
Geon
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Date: January 31, 1945
Location: Narvik, Norway
Time: 4:45 p.m. [Norwegian time]
In Narvik a disaster was unfolding for the Germans. The retreat by German forces to the port had been orderly enough but when they had arrived the promised transports and destroyers were not there. The ships had been delayed by a combined force of Royal Navy cruisers and Russian submarines and were now fighting for their life several miles south. Some would slip though the naval blockade and get to the port but not nearly enough to evacuate all the troops.
The arrival of the ships caused a breakdown in what discipline was left among the German troops. The delays had caused the combined Swedish/Norwegian/Russian force to press their advantage. The Germans were fighting ferociously on the perimeter but that perimeter had been shrinking for the past three days. Soon the Germans would be fighting in the docks at the quays.
Adding to the Germans misery was the now incessant daily visit by the Red Air Force which strafed the quays and bombed the troops no matter where they hid. Narvik quickly had been reduced to rubble under the attacks by the bombers and by the now very close artillery of the allied forces.
Now as the ships pulled in they had to deal with panicked troops wanting not to be captured, especially by the Russians. Lurid stories were circulating of what the Russians did to German prisoners. At the docks there was fighting among the Germans themselves seeking to get aboard the few transports that had survived and the destroyers. Many died in shootings at the docks trying to save themselves by shooting their comrades and only executions on the spot by some of the officers prevented a total descent into anarchy.
The captains decided to sail after dark in the hope that they could run the Allied blockade. The now reduced flotilla of destroyers and transports prepared to leave the docks only to have to deal with a final raid of the day by the Soviet Air Force. Two destroyers and two transports found themselves on the bottom of Narvik harbor and their passengers frantically swimming to shore, or drowning, or dying of hypothermia in the frigid Arctic waters.
Later that night the flotilla made its run to get past the Allied blockade of Narvik. But three Soviet submarines were waiting. Three more transports and another destroyer were sent to the bottom with thousands of troops aboard all of them. Only 4 transports and 6 destroyers would make it past the blockade and back to the Fatherland.
The German commanding officer in Narvik knew there would be no further evacuations despite the promises to send more ships as soon as possible. He saw no reason to turn Narvik into another Stalingrad and so the next day he would surrender to the Allies, a total of 85,000 troops marched into captivity in Swedish, Norwegian, and Russian POW camps. For future historians this would be known as The Great Narvik Disaster.
The Germans are about to experience a major problem up north.
Michel-I will take some of your ideas under advisement, they are definitely looking into. And I like the flag!
Bill_the_Bear - I have revised the recording matter, see posting, thank you for pointing that out.
Again - I am not good with detailed battle scenes if someone is so inclined to write a more detailed story on these battles please feel free to do so after sending me a draft to make sure there are no continuity problems.
Geon
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: January 31, 1945
Location: Narvik, Norway
Time: 4:45 p.m. [Norwegian time]
In Narvik a disaster was unfolding for the Germans. The retreat by German forces to the port had been orderly enough but when they had arrived the promised transports and destroyers were not there. The ships had been delayed by a combined force of Royal Navy cruisers and Russian submarines and were now fighting for their life several miles south. Some would slip though the naval blockade and get to the port but not nearly enough to evacuate all the troops.
The arrival of the ships caused a breakdown in what discipline was left among the German troops. The delays had caused the combined Swedish/Norwegian/Russian force to press their advantage. The Germans were fighting ferociously on the perimeter but that perimeter had been shrinking for the past three days. Soon the Germans would be fighting in the docks at the quays.
Adding to the Germans misery was the now incessant daily visit by the Red Air Force which strafed the quays and bombed the troops no matter where they hid. Narvik quickly had been reduced to rubble under the attacks by the bombers and by the now very close artillery of the allied forces.
Now as the ships pulled in they had to deal with panicked troops wanting not to be captured, especially by the Russians. Lurid stories were circulating of what the Russians did to German prisoners. At the docks there was fighting among the Germans themselves seeking to get aboard the few transports that had survived and the destroyers. Many died in shootings at the docks trying to save themselves by shooting their comrades and only executions on the spot by some of the officers prevented a total descent into anarchy.
The captains decided to sail after dark in the hope that they could run the Allied blockade. The now reduced flotilla of destroyers and transports prepared to leave the docks only to have to deal with a final raid of the day by the Soviet Air Force. Two destroyers and two transports found themselves on the bottom of Narvik harbor and their passengers frantically swimming to shore, or drowning, or dying of hypothermia in the frigid Arctic waters.
Later that night the flotilla made its run to get past the Allied blockade of Narvik. But three Soviet submarines were waiting. Three more transports and another destroyer were sent to the bottom with thousands of troops aboard all of them. Only 4 transports and 6 destroyers would make it past the blockade and back to the Fatherland.
The German commanding officer in Narvik knew there would be no further evacuations despite the promises to send more ships as soon as possible. He saw no reason to turn Narvik into another Stalingrad and so the next day he would surrender to the Allies, a total of 85,000 troops marched into captivity in Swedish, Norwegian, and Russian POW camps. For future historians this would be known as The Great Narvik Disaster.
. Great update, wonder what affect this will have on the Japanese chemical/biological weapons supply.
