| On April 7 and 8 the order
that Hitler had signed on April 1 and masterminded by Grand
Admiral Raeder, unfolded as most of the German surface fleet
sailed from North German ports. Departure times were staggered
to enable the ships to arrive at their allotted ports simultaneously.
Already anchored up in Stavanger, Narvik and Trondheim were
German freighters with troops and equipment concealed in their
holds. The invasion force was organised into six groups;
Narvik: Ten
destroyers, the battle-cruisers ‘Scharnhorst’
and ‘Gneisenau’, and 2,000 troops.
Trondheim:
Heavy cruiser ‘Hipper’, 4 destroyers and 1,700
troops.
Bergen: 2
light cruisers ‘Köln’ and ‘Königsberg’,
the training cruiser ‘Bremse’, several small
craft, and 1,900 troops.
Kristiansand and
Arendal A light cruiser, three torpedo boats a flotilla
of MTB’s and parent ship ‘Tsingtau.’
Oslo: ‘Blucher’,
‘Lützow’, the light cruiser ‘Emden’
and 2,000 troops.
Egersund: Four
minesweepers with 150 men.
In addition, a support group comprising
15 merchantmen and three oil tankers carried extra troops,
supplies, vehicles and fuel. Only one of the oil tankers
got through and many of the support craft were sunk or delayed. |
