Battle of Drøbak sound

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Battle of Drøbak Sound
Part of World War II
Blücher sinking in the Oslo fjord
Date April 9, 1940 Location Drøbak Sound, Norway Result Norwegian victory
Combatants
Norway	Germany
Commanders
Birger Eriksen	Oskar Kummetz
Strength
3 280 mm coastal guns number of 150-57 mm coastal guns 6 533 mm land based torpedo tubes	1 heavy cruiser 1 pocket battleship 1 light cruiser 3 torpedo boats 8 minesweepers
Casualties
None	1 heavy cruiser sunk 1 pocket battleship damaged 830+ dead

Nazi occupation of Norway
Drøbak Sound –Midtskogen –Narvik–Namsos–Operation Archery–Norwegian heavy water sabotage –Telavåg–Åndalsnes

The Battle of Drøbak Sound took place in the fjord approaching Oslo on April 9, 1940, the day the German invasion of Norway began. It was the start of the war in Western Europe — and an end to the "Phony War".

The Oscarsborg Fortress engaged a German fleet sailing up the Oslo fjord with the goal to seize the Norwegian capital and capture the Norwegian king and government. At this time, all the ageing fort's armament was over 40 years old, leading the Germans to disregard the fortress' defensive value. Both the guns and the torpedo battery worked flawlessly and thus managed to save the Norwegian king and government from being taken captive.

As the political situation was chaotic, the ageing 65 year commander, Colonel Birger Eriksen had not received any clear orders and was not sure whether the approaching warships were German or Allied. He was however well aware of Norway's position of neutrality, but siding with the British if war broke out. Just before he gave orders to fire he said "Either we will become heroes or we will be court martialled. Let's just do our duty for our country."

Apart from the officers and NCOs, most of the fort's soldiers were fresh recruits, having only started their national service days previously. The recent influx of fresh recruits was also the reason that the fortress' naval mines were not deployed on April 9, as part of the recruits' training was to lay the mine barrier, a process which was only meant to begin a few days later.

By the commander's own initiative, the order to fire was given 04:21 and two rounds from the 28 cm calibre Krupp guns Moses and Aaron engaged the 10,000 tonne German cruiser Blücher at 1,800 metres range. Colonel Eriksen later explained his decision by alluding to the fact that the German naval force already had forced their way past the Oslofjord Fortress' forts and had received both warning shots and live rounds from these more outlying coastal fortifications. As the vessels had continued up the fjord towards the capital, Eriksen was of the opinion that he had the right to consider them enemy warships and to engage them as such.

The Blücher was damaged by artillery fire and sunk by two 40 year old torpedoes, of Austro-Hungarian manufacture. These torpedoes had been practice-launched well over 200 times before being fired in anger. Some 830 Germans died, while the remaining naval force destined for Oslo had to retreat. The wet and cold survivors of the Blücher were temporarily captured by a company of Norwegian Royal Guards.

In addition to sinking the Blücher, the fortress damaged the pocket battleship Lützow, the 15 cm guns of the Kaholmen battery scoring three hits and knocking out the ship's forward ("Anton") 28 cm gun turret. Having been caught utterly by surprise by the ferocity of the Norwegian defence, the German flotilla withdrew beyond the range of the fortress' guns. The Lützow employed her remaining "Bruno" turret to bombard the defenders from a range of 11 kilometers down the fjord. The fortress was also heavily bombed later on the same day but without Norwegian casualties.

When Oslo was taken by forces that had been airlifted in, Colonel Eriksen decided that further fighting was in vain and surrendered during the morning of April 10.

The effect of halting the German fleet was huge. On board Blücher were troops specially designated to capture the King, the Norwegian government, the Storting (Norwegian Parliament) and the national gold reserve. The delay made it possible for all these to escape from Oslo. If the King and government had been captured, it is most likely that Norway would have capitulated fairly soon. Instead, the Storting was able to convene at Elverum and give the government a wide authorization to continue until a Storting could again assemble. In fact, the Norwegian government was able to continue the fight until it had to go into exile in London.