Sunday, April 7, 1940 - German fleet sails for Norway

[Louis]

In the North Sea... The German warships begin to leave their home ports for the invasion of Norway. The British have detected the concentration of shipping in Kiel but because they have no previous information to compare this with they fail to appreciate the significance. Some of the German units are sighted and attacked by British aircraft, however. The whole of the German surface fleet is committed to this operation, sailing at different times in six groups. They plan to land at Narvik, Trondheim, Bergen, Kristiansand, Oslo and a small detachment at Egersund. The battle cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau sail with the Narvik group but are to go on to operate against shipping in the Arctic. A large part of the U-boat fleet is also involved in the campaign but they achieve very little, partly because they use torpedoes with magnetic exploders which do not function properly in high latitudes. (This error is discovered during the campaign and is later rectified.) The ships carry units of three divisions for the assault. Three more are earmarked for a second wave. Only one, 3rd Mountain Division, is regarded by the Germans as being of best quality. They have air support from 500 transport planes, over 300 bombers and 100 fighters. For this air support to be effective it will be necessary quickly to take airfields in northern Denmark and Norway itself. This difficult task will be achieved. Meanwhile, British units are preparing to sail for their own mining operations. In the evening the main forces of the Home Fleet sail.-