Norwegian War History; The bombing of the German cruiser Blücher. The battle of Oscarsborg

An amazing piece of war history, unknown for most people outside Norway. April 9th 1940, in the middle of the Oslo fjord, outside Drøbak just 15km from Oslo in the narrow strait protected by Oscarsborg Fortress.

 

 

I've heard the story many times throughout my childhood. My grandmothers house was just on the beach in Drøbak, and she saw the whole thing from her garden. Can you imagine a 205 meter, 18200 ton warship being bombed by 28cm canons at 1800 meter range with 255kg high explosive grenades - and torpedo batteries, lighting up the ship in the middle of the night. About 1000 german soldiers got killed, either by the blasts or by the cold water. Those who made it on shore was however taken care of by civilians.

German Convoy spotted in the outer parts of the Oslo Fjord

The situation on Norway was chaotic and confusing. Reports on attacks and invasions at multiple locations around the country kept coming in. The aging colonel, Birger Eriksen had not been given clear orders if the incoming ships were german or allied. But he knew that even though Norway was neutral, we would join the allied forces if we got involved. Except from officers almost all soldiers on Oscarsborg fortress were young recruits, called in seven days before.

Late at night, the reports of 7 dimmed warships reached Oscarsborg Fortress.

04:21 hours in the morning April 9th Colonel Birger Eriksen decided to fire live ammo at Blücher. When asked, he said the famous sentence; "Either I will be court martialed, or I'll be a war hero. Fire!"

Two grenades from the 28cm Krupp-canons "Aron" and "Moses" was fired, with no warning shots ahead. Eriksen later explained that warning shots had been fired further out in the fjord. The first shot hit Blücher right in front of the aft mast and lit the ship on fire. The other shot hit the front gun tower. The reason why the first shot did so much damage was because it penetrated the side of ship and exploded inside a ammunition storage.

While the fire was roaring the ship, three 15cm canons at Kopås battery on the east side of the fjord tore through the ship, alongside smaller 57mm machinegun-fire from Husvik.

Sources say that the germans on board started singing "Deutschland, Deutschland über alles", and at this time the soldiers knew who they were fighting.

Even if the ship was on fire, the Captain still tried to save the ship. It drifted past Oscarsborgs secret weapon - the torpedo batteries. From 500 meters distance, they opened fire with 40 year old Whitehead torpedoes. The torpedoes worked like clockwork.

With all engines destroyed, the cruiser anchored up near "Askholmene" and tried to put out the catastrophic fires. It's torpedoes were fired towards land to avoid explosions on board.

06:22 Blücher rolled on its side and sank into the Oslo fjord.

It total between 650 and 1000 germans died. A total of 1200 soldiers made it ashore, and even if the national guard was assigned to arrest the soldiers, they focused on helping the wounded - which resulted in a lot of escaped officers.

The other ships in the convoy turned around when they saw Blücher getting hit. They figured it was mines. The planned coup of forcing the Norwegian administration to surrender was replaced with a plan to advance on land towards Oslo.

Aftermath

Even if the german marine attack on Oslo was stopped, Oslo fell the day after by forces flown in to Fornebu Airport. The fortress surrendered after negotiations with the germans 09:00 april 10th.

By delaying the invasion by only one day, the norwegian administration had the time to flee further north with Norways inventory of Gold. The administration got together and gave the government authorization to continue the battle from England.

Today, the battle of Oscarsborg fortress is considered the single greatest accomplishment during the Second World War, and no other event have had such a big impact both military and politically in Norway.

Oh..and the ship? It's still there, on 52 to 92 meters depth. A popular diving destination, which is, if I'm not mistaken regulated now.