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Operation Zitronella, also known as Operation Sizilien, was the German raid and temporary occupation of Spitsbergen on September 6-9, 1943.
British, Canadian and Free Norwegian troops occupied Spitzbergen to deny German use of the islands and their rich coal deposits and to set up weather stations (Operation Gauntlet).
A battalion of German troops was landed to capture and destroy Allied installations, supported by the battleships Tirpitz (her only hostile action), Scharnhorst and nine destroyers (five Narvik class destroyers: Z 27, Z 29, Z 30, Z 31, Z 33, and Erich Steinbrinck, Karl Galster, Theodor Riedel, Hans Lody). After a short stay, the German forces voluntarily withdrew from an unsupportable position. Under cover of the invasion, the Luftwaffe installed a weather station on Hopen Island, which survived through the winter, until weather conditions allowed Allied reaction.
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