Monday, April 8, 1940 - British destroyer battles German cruiser

Louis

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In the North Sea... Early in the morning the British destroyer Glowworm meets part of the German force bound for Narvik off Trondheim Fiord. After ramming the heavy cruiser Hipper, Glowworm is sunk. About midday the German transport Rio de Janeiro is sunk by a British submarine in the Skaggerak and many German soldiers are rescued by Norwegian fishing boats. Despite these and other indications the Norwegian authorities only alert the coastal forces in the evening. The British naval forces at sea are of course alerted, but are not kept up to date with all the information available to London and are, therefore, deployed too far out to sea to hope for interceptions of a landing force. Instead they guard against a raid out toward the Atlantic. The Royal Navy lays mines in Norwegian waters during the day.

In Britain... The troops embarking at Rosyth for the Anglo-French expedition to Narvik are sent back onshore and their cruiser transports sail. In fact these troops could easily have reached their objectives before the German landings, or at least have been on hand for an attempt on Narvik early in the campaign.
 
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