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Jossingfjord
The Altmark Incident in
Jessingfjord
Almost two months before German
soldiers occupied the country, Jossingfjord was the scene of the first
battle of the second world war in Norwegian territory.
Late in the evening of 16th February. the German tanker, "Altmark", was
boarded by a party of Marines from the Royal Navy destroyer, HMS "Cossack",
in Jossingfjord. On board the tanker were 299 captured British seamen, who
were all freed during the dramatic rescue. Seven Germans
were killed in the action. |
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The "Altmark" had sailed as an
auxiliary with the German pocket battleship "Admiral Graf Spee" in the
South-Atlantic. Throughout the autumn of 1939, the "Admiral Graf Spee" had
posed a constant threat to the British merchant marine. Surviving seamen
from the sunken British traders were now onboard the "Altmark" en route to
prison camps in Germany.
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On 14th February the "Altmark"
entered the security of Norwegian territorial waters north of Trondheim
fjord. The vessel gave every appearance of being an ordinary merchantman.
Despite British protests the prisoners were not discovered by the Norwegian
authorities, who allowed the vessel to sail with a pilot and escort
southward down the coast. |
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Two days later the "Altmark" was
intereepted by Royal Navy vessels off Egersund. The British sought to
capture the German tanker, which took shelter in Jessingfjord. The attack
that followed was a clear violation of Norwegian sovereignty. Yet the
Germans had deceived the Norwegian authorities by denying that the ship
carried prisoners, and they had failed to make telegraphic contact with
Bergen war harbour on passing as required.
The attack on the "Altmark" took place on the personal Orders of Minister
for the Navy, Winston Churchill. The matter received big headlines in the
Norwegian and international press. It was later determined that the
Norwegian authorities had conducted themselves by and large correctly during
the over two days that the "Altmark" was in Norwegian waters prior to the
boarding.
But the lack of Norwegian resistance to the Royal Navy action was strongly
criticised by Germany, and historians believe the event sharpened Germany's
interest in the Scandinavian countries. After the "Altmark Incident" Germany
could argue that Norway was incapable of defending her neutrality. |
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