Sinking the Blücher: How an Outdated Fort Stopped the WWII Invasion of Norway
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- čas přidán 19. 06. 2024
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The Battle of Drøbak Sound was one of the most incredible confrontations of the Second World War: an old and outdated fort, manned by recruits, managed to not only strike but sink one of the Kreigsmarine's newest and most powerful warships. The brave actions of the men of the Oscarsborg crucially delayed the invasion of Norway and forever changed the direction of the Second World War.
My film channel: / @filmthings4645
Sources & References:
The Sinking of the Blücher: The Battle of Drøbak Narrows (UK): amzn.to/3sNL9QD
The Sinking of the Blücher: The Battle of Drøbak Narrows (US): amzn.to/49SYtnK
Doomed From the Start: The Allied Intervention in Norway (there's two parts but I only read part one!) (UK): amzn.to/46F73U5
The models for the animations were made with a combination of blueprints and diagrams, most of which came from Shipbucket and then manually painted by myself in photoshop: www.shipbucket.com
This Norwegian government website has wonderful resources and history of the fortress of Oscarsborg, including photos, illustrations and diagrams: www.forsvarsbygg.no/no/vernep...
Info on the Blucher wreck site: www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?3...
I try to make a point of not watching other CZcams videos on the subjects that I cover, just as I don't want to give the appearance of copying anyone! However, I have always enjoyed this video on the battle: • Sinking of Blücher - T...
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00:00 - Introduction
03:25 - Britain Eyes Narvik
03:57 - Plan R4
04:18 - Altmark: The Final Straw for Germany
05:06 - Germany Plans for a Norwegian Invasion
06:32 - The Mighty Bluecher
08:16 - Group V Sets Sights on Oslo
09:33 - Entering the Oslo Fjord
10:40 - Last Stand of Pol III
12:10 - Slipping Past the Defences
12: 40 - The Oscarsborg
14:20 - Undermanned and Unprepared
16:00 - Do We Open Fire?
16:37 - "Either I will be decorated, or I will be court-martialed. Fire!"
18:30 - The Oscarsborg's Final Trick
21:27 - Retreat!
22:01 - The End of the Bluecher
23:50 - Operation Weserübung in Chaos
24:36 - Last Stand of the Oscarsborg
26:10 - Far-Reaching Effects
27:50 - Waffling on a Bit - Věda a technologie
"Either I will be decorated or I will be court martialed. Fire!"
The last words from Birger Eriksen before firing, after explaining his reasoning for ordering direct fire on the German ships instead of giving a warning shot.
Chad
"Last words" means what someone said before dying. Eriksen didn't die afterwards, so it should read "The last words said before firing"
*possibly. I had seen some sources that disagreed with whether that had actually been said at the time, so I decided to leave it out just in case! Amazing line either way
Decorated if the ships were German, and court-martialed if he fired at British ships. Norway was neutral in name only.
I was just waiting to see who would post that quote first.
The animated battlemaps were very very good! The Operations Room would be proud!
Took me WAY too long 😭
completely agreed! i was just showing my wife how good the graphics looked, better than a lot of the big professional programs out there, like War Factories, etc. really top shelf editing by our man!
@@CalumRaasay I for one am very glad you put that work in, the result is incredibly clear to read.
@CalumRaasay well worth it, excellent job friend.
The map graphics were excellent
In particular the battle damage graphics in the bottom left really added another dimension
Many thanks for these
Also wholeheartedly agree about The King’s Choice
One of the best films I have seen in ages although be prepared for subtitles!
My father grew up in Drøbak, the town adjacent to Oscarsborg. An older neighbor had once rescued several drowning Germans, during the sinking of Blücher. Months later, he received a package in the mail, containing an Iron Cross medal. As the story goes, he threw it in the fjord.
Wow, what a story! There's a few photos of locals receiving money rewards and medals from the German authorities in the weeks afterwards
That medal is still there most likely. I will check next time I swim in Drøbak😂
@@niklasnaper6596 Good luck and don't get "Halsschmerzen" 😉
I get the sense that the people of Norway were a big factor in many of the subsequent mishaps for the occuping forces (like the sinking of Tirpitz and of course the destruction of Norsk Hydro's heavy water plant and stockpile of heavy water at Vemork), and it does seem to me that the inspiring example of Eriksen's plucky decision to open fire without official orders may well have put additional steel in the spine of some very resourceful and brave Norwegians, as well as creating (as pointed out very persuasively in this clip) the opportunity for a figurehead government and monarchy in exile rather than on the spot as impotent puppets.
I am a reserve officer in the Norwegian Army and I live in Oslo. I have visited Oscarsborg several times, your video still gave me information I didn't actually understand before now, thank you!
That's the best compliment I have received!
@@CalumRaasay I'll second @TerjeMathisen. Outstanding research and documentary. One of the best I've watched - if not THE best. My pops served in the coastal artillery at Bolærne fort - as a battery commander - during the Cold War, and I grew up with the story of the Blücher. And having read books on this battle, your video and British point of view did provide details and concepts that I wasn't aware of. Great stuff. In fact, I just briefed my old man on your documentary, and he was equally impressed. Keep up the great work!
Blucher was unfortunately a ship belonging to a class where one ship absorbs the luck of all the others. Admiral Hipper didn't fare much better than Blucher, whilst Seydlitz and Lutzow where never even completed. Prinz Eugen however managed to survive the war to become a target ship in the Bikini Atoll nuclear tests.
Always found that to be a sad fate for eugen
And she hasn't 'Fully' sunk to this day.
*fortunately
You forgot the most important detail - she survived the Atom Test and only sunk days later because nobody went to repair her. 😂
@@kunicrossgaming Nobody could repair her because the Baker test irradiated her too much.
My dad was captain on a small, old destroyer in Horten Harbour when the alarms sounded. But the crew were on shore leave so they had to be fetched back on ship from homes, barracks and cafes in town. They then proceeded to fire at the rest of the German fleet passing by until the ammo ran out. My father then ordered abandon ship as there were nothing more to do. He packed up his uniform and managed later to escape to England in a small boat, where he rejoined the Navy, being stationed in the Mediterranean, commanding a small flotilla of mine sweepers.
Wow what an incredible story and connection to the event. Was the ship he was on the Olav Tryggvason? Or the Rauma maybe? I noticed those names mentioned in my books
@@CalumRaasay I've never checked his story so I'm not sure. He was actually a merchant navy captain for a US oil company, and sailed mostly in the Mexico Gulf and across the Pacific before WW2. But as he used the Royal (Norwegian) Navy for his education he was obliged to, and was called up for service in our Navy. I actually thought he was on the old KNM Tordenskiold, but you might be right too. So far I have only found the story of the minesweeper you mentioned. I regret not having written a biography about him, as he really had some
good stories to tell. And he never lied or bragged aabout anything. It was completely beyond him not to be completely honest.
I remember he said he visited Berlin in the 30s and happened to attend one of A Hitler's public outdoor speeches . "It was very scary" - he said.
Addendum: I asked him: "What did you do after the battle was over?"
He said: "I packed my uniform into a suitcase and took a train to home to Molde . There were even German soldiers on the train with me"
Now that must have been the simplified version, and he probably stayed a good while ashore hidden somewhere during the resistance fighting and retreating northwards through the inland valleys before train services "normalised" under German surveillance. So at least two months later I would assume.
My dad sailed to the Persian Gulf. He told me there was a war veteran machinist aboard who served with the merchant convoys across the Atlantic during the war, dodging German wolf packs. When they started getting radio messages from purportedly American vessels that refused to identify themselves in the Gulf, he turned and went nuts. It was too much for him, and he wanted to reverse the ship and go home, threatening to kill a shipmate if they didn't turn around. Five guys had to hold him down, and then lock him in a cabin. Today we know it's PTSD from having lived through probably horrible things during the war. Many Norwegian sailors turned this way, and they were all given a pittance for their bravery after the war, despite being vital for the Allied effort.
Thank you for sharing this amazing story. Your fathers where real life heros. Badass i will call it . Great reading
It is a well known fact here in Norway that the lifeboat of Captain Leif Olsen sank due to the weight his massive balls.
You have to get this inscribed in BRONZE and weld it to the cannon…
Viking blood
Indeed
The most important consequence of Eriksen's decision to open fire was that the modern Norwegian merchant fleet, the fourth largest in the world at the time, did not fall in German hands, but joined the Allied war effort. Norway could not contribute many army or navy personnel to bolster Allied ranks, but their merchant sailors were essential to the Allies, especially in the early years. Out of some 33000 sailors, 3734 men perished. The others were told they could not leave their ships for the duration of the war, even though they were civilians. There is a gripping film about the plight of the Norwegain merchant mariners, called War Sailor (Krigsseileren, 2022), which is worth watching.
I visited one of the US Relocation Ceters, camps established to hold Japanese citizens and American citizens of Japanese descent. I learned that the camps also held Axis diplomats and suspect persons of Itallian and German descent, as well as Danish merchant seamen. Denmark had been occupied by Germany, and the merchant ships were under German authority, so the crews were interned. Relatins bwetseen the Danish, German, and Italian inmates were described as tense.
Yes- that was a very good movie! About the Danish fleet... something not well known, or often talked about, was that Denmark actually had a treaty signed before the war, it was technically a "non aggression pact, but apparently there was a clause in it, where if Denmarks neutrality was in jeopardy (lime Norway, which was about to be I vDed and occupied by France and the UK, it gave Germany the right to occupy the nation for the duration of hostilities... essentially the treaty meant that Germanies occupation was essentially legal, recognized by the Government of Denmark and that they essentially made themselves a temporary German protectorate, so for instance, their merchant Marines sailed for Germany, Germany did not have to garrison to the same extent as other occupied nations and the Danish government helped the Germans recruit and form units of Danes for service on the eastern fronts- as opposed to just allowing it like the others- a quite interesting distinction... also, thank you for mentioning that it was not just Japanese descent people in the American camps, most people don't know Germans and Italians were also there, I have actually gotten into arguments with people who refuse to believe it (including one with a history major!) My own family had a similar story in the first, not second World War, Feds briefly interned an ancestor of mine, even though his son was a machine gunner with the Marines serving on the western front... he was a Getman wood worker who's trade mark on all his carvings was a tiny Iron Cross... the ladies of the house would try to.cover them with blankets when people came to the house but they still brought him in for awhile.
@@daveweiss5647 The Treaty of non-aggression between the German Reich and the Kingdom of Denmark of 31 May 1939 contained two articles. Article 1 states that the parties in the treaty shall in no case resort to war or to any other use of force one against the other and if a third party engages in aggression against either Denmark or Germany the other party in the treaty shall not support such aggression in any way (i.e. they must stay neutral). The second article of the treaty specifies that it will be valid for the duration of ten years. There is NO clause in the treaty that allowed Germany to occupy Denmark under any circumstances!
@@PSPaaskynen The treaty was used as justification for the occupation by Germany, after initial resistance Denmark then accepted this and legally made itself a protectorate even having a German representative in their Cabinet and transferring some officers from their army to German service, etc... maybe there was not a specific clause but the results were the same...
@@daveweiss5647 If you have evidence that the treaty was used as justification for the invasion, I would like to see it. The judgment of the International Military Tribunal in Neurenberg states (among other things): No suggestion is made by the defendants (von Ribbentrop, Raeder, etc) that there was any plan by any belligerent, other than Germany, to occupy Denmark. No excuse for that aggression has ever been offered. In the light of all the available evidence it is impossible to accept the contention that the invasions of Denmark and Norway were defensive, and in the opinion of the Tribunal they were acts of aggressive war.
Huge respect to the commander in charge for realizing what was happening, and taking proper action instead of standing still doing nothing.
As a kid, I learned about the search-and-rescue operations made by Norwegian civillians that night. These were people who lived by and with the sea, and refused to let a little thing like a war stand in the way of rescuing sailors adrift in cold waters.
Locals were gathered along the coastline with blankets, brandy and hot coffee all throughout the morning and the next day. Those with boats were combing the waters, ferrying survivors to the shore.
There are no reports of violence.
There is something sacred about their philosophy of providing aid to *any* person lost at sea, no matter the cause. The sea is a harsh mistress and all humans are allies in opposing her vicious whims.
My father, born 1927, woke up on the 9th of April 1940, by the noise of battle.
He lived with his grandmother on the west side of the Oslo fjord.
Quite close to the Oscarsborg Sea Fortress.
From the glass veranda, he watched how the fortress' cannon fire hit the "Blücher" war ship.
They hit the ammo, bulls eye....💥
Dad's eyewitness story is on the net.
His name ;
Erling Frank Gustavsen.
👦🇧🇻
The battle maps were fantastic, the inclusion of the absurdly expensive video was deeply appreciated. This is a tremendous video Calum and you should be so very proud of your work!!!
Thank you very much! Really pleased with how it came out. Obviously with projects like this you end up only seeing the little mistakes and changes I feel I could have made or fixed so comments like this are much appreciated!
Amen!
Great vid. Remember that we all only see the faults in our own work, not the joy it brings others (the obverse can occasionally be true).@@CalumRaasay
As a Norwegian, this part of WW2 is of course very interesting and thank you for both a well-told and well-illustrated video. An important premise for the Altmark incident, which is often not made clear enough, was that the Norwegian king's recently deceased wife was Maud of Wales (1869-1938). She was the youngest of King Edward VII's daughters and in 1896 she was married to the then Prince Carl of Denmark. In connection with the dissolution of the Norwegian union with Sweden in 1905, Prince Carl was elected king of Norway in a referendum. He took the more Norwegian-sounding name Haakon and was thus the seventh Haakon to be king of Norway since the year 934. Now, a decisive reason why Prince Carl of Denmark was offered the kingship was that his wife was a British princess. This gave Norway far greater influence in both Great Britain and the United States than the country would otherwise have had. Hitler of course knew this and he also knew where Norwegian sympathy really lay despite the Norwegian desire to establish and maintain neutrality in future conflicts as the country also did in WW1. With this in mind, one can easily see the dilemma the Norwegian authorities faced with the Altmark incident. In practice, Norway chose a side in the conflict by not intervening and an important political obstacle was thus removed for Hitler's ambitions to invade Norway. To this day, the Altmark incident is quite controversial in Norway.
norvegians had a far greater sympathy and relation to germany then england before WW2. let there be no doubt about this
@@hotdog9262 Not politically or militarily, but it is relatively correct in relation to e.g. engineering and art. When the news of the rise of the Nazis in Germany reached Norway, most major Norwegian newspapers warned about the situation and Vidkun Quisling's Nazi-friendly party Nasjonal Samling (National Gathering) became politically isolated. In connection with the German invasion of Norway, the king, crown prince and government fled to England. The Crown Princess, who was a Swedish-born princess, but was refused residence there because it was feared that her presence would put Sweden's neutrality in jeopardy, fled with their three children (including the current king of Norway) to the USA and became President Roosevelt's private guests. In the absence of the government, Quisling committed a coup d'état and proclaimed himself Prime Minister. For this treason, he was sentenced to death and executed by firing squad on 24 October 1945 at Akershus Fortress in Oslo.
@@Hvitserk67 sure but that happened fairly close in time to the invasion. also the sinking of hundreds of trade ships during WW1 and the wars outcome did not aid german popularity. but before this and in general..the relation to germany were quite strong. and germans regularly assisted norway like for example when aalesund burned to the ground
IMO doing nothing is the most neutral act. Letting the Germans ship POWs through their territorial waters but also not offering them protection from British rescue is pretty neutral behavior. Stopping an allied rescue attempt while allowing Germany to transport POWs in their territory would have been the opposite of neutral, unfortunately fascists care little for reason or neutrality.
@@hotdog9262 As previously mentioned, the Norwegian union with Sweden was terminated in 1905 after having lasted since 1814 as a consequence of the Napoleonic Wars. However, Norway was still dependent on Sweden, especially financially. The internal Norwegian economy was neglected by the Swedes during the union and was poorly developed in 1905. Swedish financial help was therefore still needed even after 1905 to build infrastructure, power plants, public institutions etc. Now, Sweden has always had extensive relations with Germany in particular and France. This applies especially culturally, but also politically and financially. Wealthy Swedish families such as the Wallenbergs therefore saw an economic opportunity in investing in Norwegian projects. The hydropower plant in Vemork near Rjukan (known for the heavy water sabotage in WW2) was built in 1911 with capital from Wallenberg with support from French banks. The leading Norwegian representatives for the project, the engineer Kristian Birkeland and the industrialist Samuel Eyde (known for the Birkeland-Eyde process) were both educated in Germany. As one can understand, the contacts with continental Europe were many and extensive. It was also common for, for example, classical painters and musicians to be educated in Germany and France in particular. Politically and militarily, however, Norway was oriented towards Great Britain and the United States. Most probably because in that way it was assumed that it was easier to avoid getting entangled in continental conflicts and thus remain neutral in major conflicts.
Thank you for taken interest in this story. As a Norwegian and born and grew up in the Oslofjord, has Blücher destruction so importance. I am from Horten, where the first Norwegian died when the Germans invaded us on the morning/night of the 9th of April 1940.
As you said we were neutral and with a very bad military possibility to defend the country at the time. But we fought back all the 5 years that the Nazi’s occupied Norway, a story that hasn’t been so well documented out there unfortunately. 🇳🇴🇳🇴🇳🇴❤️
That scene from "A King's Choice" where the Blucher was sunk was so good.
Idk how Norwegian media has covered such things over the years but there's a ton of British movies, documentaries, series, shows and articles about the Norwegian Resistance over the decades. And I'll clarify that by saying NOT such content about British Operations carried out but Norwegian centric and focussed.
I think there's a long standing love and respect between Norway & the UK. I was born in Canada but moved to the UK & spent a fair bit of time in Norway whilst serving with the Marines where both our own, and Norwegian Mountain Specialist Instructors had great fun teaching us many a sadistic lesson in how to understand, utilise and respect the weather & terrain of your insanely beautiful country - That & that the best ( & most affordable) booze to be found was usually in a shed or basement of any local you get to know
Mate, you guys stopped the Nazis from getting nukes!
Eyy jeg er også ifra Horten
@@C2K777 I Know there are tons of content now about the subject of the Norwegian resistance during the Second World War, and all the Norwegian seamen that lost their life and those whom survived’s suffering both during the war and afterwards. While all the years I lived in Montréal and Miami, in the 80’s and 90’s, very few knew about all this Norwegian war history, but I guess it is different today. Though I haven’t seen much of it when the many times I’ve been back to Canada the last 25 years to visited my daughters in Montréal.
Quite well made !! The fortress was academy for education of coast artillery officers until a few decades ago. I attended there as cadet in the first years of the eighties, and served later as an officer training new cadets. Strange to see the fortress open as a museum now, as it used to be a very restricted area in my high-days.
Probably the most significant contribution as a result of this battle and the king and governments ability to finally retreat to London, was that the complete Norwegian merchant fleet (the 3rd largest in the world at the time - and by far the most modern tankers), went into allied service, and as such contributed enormously to the all vital supplies to Britain the first two years of war. Especially supplies of oil that kept the Royal Air-force flying,
Also I believe that the torpedoes had just been overhauled and had their internals inspected, serviced, and returned to the fortress the month before. Thus, although they were 40yrs old, they were in top condition, ready to run.
maintenance is a thing is it?
who would have guessed?
😁
Your animation is remarkably unique: You use extremely low tempo on the animation that just about allows us to spot the direction the ships move and gives you plenty of time to make your good narration while saving you the necessity to look for time killing material. In total it makes for a very comfortable watching that allows to focus our attention to the narration which is dense but not confusing.
Altogether very well done!
Thank you! Took a while to figure out and I was worried the maps were a bit too slow. But I tried to make them accurate to the scales we were dealing with as well! My favourite part was adding in a layer of clouds to make it feel more of a "Birds Eye view"
Indeed! Great stuff
@@CalumRaasay That was the first thing that caught my eye: the superiority of your map graphics. Well done!
The smug Norwegians act as they actually were not almosrt all nazis when quisling took power..Pathetic people..Many Brits, French and Poles died for their freedom@@CalumRaasay
Thank you, really appreciate that @@jguenther3049
The battle of Drøbak Sound is one of my favourite pieces of WWII history. Always admired the bold Norwegian decision to skip the warning shots and start firing straight away upon the invading force. The torpedo attack, adding insult to injury, was the icing of the cake. As they say, who dares, wins.
Great video and wonderful footage from Oscarborgs, which is something other videos covering this subject lack and helps a lot to the understanding of the battle.
That is unfortunatly a very naiv view, ignoring the greater picture. That action forced norway into a shooting war with germany that it could not win. norway would have been better of signing a deal with the germans like denmark did. that may not be good or even respectable in your eyes and mine but it could leave norway in a way better state, with no losses and stronger stand. This action here forced the germans and norwegians hands and would lead to a facist pupet goverment till the wars end.
@@hannesromhild8532skjerp deg! Man lager ikke avtaler med nazister! Faaaaaaakk deg ass. Vil du dem skal lage en avtale med putin å? Erre mulig???!
@@hannesromhild8532The BIGGER picture is that Germany was bad, and instead of capitulating fighting, even if you will take losses was better. Diverting 300K of German troops; equipment for them; and supplies had a very positive benefit. Your reasoning is flawed.
@@hannesromhild8532I think you are wrong. If Denmark had Norways size, theg wouldn't give up. Also Norway did not suffer that hard during the war, comparing to other invaded countries. Also without the free Norwegian shipping fleet controlled by NOTRASHIP, did a great deal saving England from starvation during the early fase. Giving up whithout a proper fight, would also be a synonym to loosing all the silver and gold in the Norwegian central bank. And last, but not least, putting up the fight, gave Norway something to be proud of.
@@hannesromhild8532Pathetic
Calum, this video is extraordinary! You tell the history so well.
It's a superb story too, the old dogs and new recruits working together, bringing outdated and obsolete hardware together to offer an absolutely devastating show of force.
Superb.
As mentioned at the end of this video, I also highly recommend the movie "The King's Choice", which is about Germany's invasion of Norway and attempt to capture the King. It's one of my favorite WW2 movies. It's very well done and stars Norwegian and German actors I've not seen anywhere else, which to me helps with their believability in their roles. They're all outstanding. It's a no-nonsense telling of a chapter of the war not well known outside Norway. A few brief scenes from the movie relating to the sinking of the Blucher are shown at the beginning of this video. It's one of the more dramatic scenes in the movie. Again, highly recommended.
This is easily the best video I've seen on the sinking of the Blucher, really well done and researched! If you're ever back in Oslo I recommend visiting the Norwegian Resistance Museum as it really highlights the bravery and sacrifice of Norwegians during the German occupation.
Absolutely. We visited tonnes of museums but didn't have time for them all. Never had time to visit Bergen either which I'd love to. Next time!
I suggested you could dig in the battle of Narvik also where UK also was a big part. most people have never heard about how this was the first battle the Germans had to retract. Operation swordfish is also interesting war story form Norway @@CalumRaasay
there are tons of museums to it everywhere in norway as the occupation affected everyone, i remember when i was like 15 my school took a trip to a concentration camp turned museum/memorial
@@CalumRaasay In Bergen we gave a small museum called the gestapo museum if you're interested in what the gestapo did in Bergen and how the cells in there looked etc.
I get unreasonably excited when I see a new video from you. Thank you for your incredibly brilliant videos and the endlessly fascinating topics you choose to cover. Can't wait to watch this! Thanks for your amazing work Calum!
Wow, thank you!
Wow.. as a proud Norwegian and living just 15 mins away from Oscarsborg, I can appreciate the effort and storytelling here! Please continue keeping history alive!
Thank you! Getting a chance to visit the country was one of my highlights of the year!
Dear Calum! Norway had a labour goverment that neglected the military. They declared Norway neutral, but did not understand that it means a strong military!
It's amazing to me how quickly many European countries capitulated. Like Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands. Obviously they could not win against Germany but at least put up a fight for as long as you can and save some national pride and honor.
I wonder why Norway couldn't block most of the Fjord's entrance with obstacles then have mines ready for the remaining small channel. I wonder why they didn't conscript an army and have thousands of rifles ready. Have your airfields guarded against a landing with troops and AA, and your cities barricaded to stop the German's just walking in.
I feel like many countries just let other countries do the hard work and defeat the Germans for them, whilst they remained occupied but relatively unscathed.
This was a great video about Norways involvement in WWII. To this day the Blücher rests at the bottom of the Oslo fjord, outside og Askholmene as a landmark / graveyard. There are alot more interesting topics from Norway during WWII like, The Norwegian heavy water sabotage (Tungsvannsaksjonen), which was a crucial in stopping the Nazi development of nuclear weapons. Other topics are those of the Norwegian resistance, Max Manus and the sinking of Donau, the burning of Northern Norway and many more!
Agreed, but with an addendum wrt. German nuclear weapons: In addition to their (eventual) lack of access to heavy water, the Germans also had two other fundamental problems.
One was that they had lost most of their nuclear scientists in the years leading up to the war (who had, sensibly, run away to mostly the UK or US), and so no longer had the knowhow to research such weapons in a reasonable timeframe.
Second was Hitler being largely disinterested in it, and so not funding it; somewhat paradoxical considering his love of Wunderwaffe otherwise.
Ultimately, even if the Germans had had access to heavy water, it seems unlikely still that they'd managed to research, design and deploy such weapons.
I've always been told that because of the sinking of the Blücher, Oslo, along with Stavanger on the south-western coast, were the first cities in history to be occupied solely from the air.
Great video as always! Thank you!
Oh that's a great point, never considered that. The airborne invasion is a whole story in and of itself!
The occopation of Oslo by air also happened by accident. The soliders manning the AA guns mistook the first troop planes for Norwegian planes, and didn't open fire.
Aalborg in Denmark was taken by air earlier that morning, with ground troops arriving later . The strategic reason was to use the airport that's still active 80 years later .
And with Recent Events.. we all know how important Airports are to warfare
You are totally right! Sola airfield had no Norwegian troops to defend it! It proves the political and military Norwegian incompetance in South Norway!
Considering king Haakon was from the house of Oldenburg, in hindsight, it might not have been the best secret code name.
The nazis had an absolute boner for obvious codenames, the reason allied forces could figure out how to counteract their radars was due to their name "Woten" or "Odin" since he was a one-eyed god they figured it was a single-beam radar lol
Hiding in plain sight, I'm sure.
@@BreachingCharge That one's particularly great in that it combines _two_ preposterous Nazi obsessions: obvious codenames and basking in the reflected glory of the Norse gods.
@@ZGryphon Wotan is a Germanic (more specifically Teutonic) God, not Nordic. Wotan is in all likelihood the older version which spread to Scandinavia through migration and cultural exchange, and eventually became Odin (Wotan -> Woden -> Odin).
Sure, they had a weird Nordic obsession, but this is not an example of that.
The effort and length you went to create this video was more than worth it in regards to the clarity of the animated battle scenes intertwined with the footage of the guns on the Island.Plus you kept the narration moving forward at just the right pace making for one captivating historical presentation. I've watched your content before and cant think of anyone better on youtube. Thankyou
Thank you very much! It was a difficult edit trying to bring all this together and not skip out too much - people have mentioned things I wish I could have expanded on but I'm always conscious of keeping videos a digestible length!
A good video and nearly very accurate. One of the best I have seen!
A few comments:
- Caliber in the main battery is 28 cm. Main battery on Blücher is 20,3 cm.
- Oberst (Colonel) Eriksen received a report from the signal station at Filtvet at about 03:38 that German talking had been heard from the passing ships. He expressed that hearing this from that distance was not possible.
- first 28 cm hit was much too high, a near miss and did little damage.
- in the three 15 cm batteries at the Eastern bank in Drøbak there were lots of confusion. 30 rounds were ready, but the only managed to fire about 15 of them.
- second hit from 28 cm was also too high but stoped the centre propeller and E-Werk 2. It is mostly known for starting a fire amidship.
- manoeuvre of Blücher were hampered by an early hit, cutting the rudder control from the bridge so she had to be controlled by the side propellers.
- time lag between the two torpedoes are about 2 minutes. The direction of the launchers are fixed at about 25 degrees apart so Blücher had to move about 500 m from one hit to the next.
The most insane, Blücher did cary Germany infantery, who did take big losses, then the ship did sink, but they did regrope and did take Oslo.
Braw Video👍🏴
As a Norwegian. I shall state this humbly. *clears throat* WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEEEN!!! What an ama
Haha I’ll need to save up my pennies and get back to Norway for more!
Oh, please do! You have the longest coastline to play with! Just dont ask for the price of a pint....@@CalumRaasay
@@olejacobstalesen6558 But do remember to take some Scotch !
( more half-bottles rather than a few whole bottles = more happy Norwegians )
@@kumasenlac5504Raasay Single Malt whisky, no less !
@@CalumRaasay : brilliant episode here Calum, thanks.
Tiny correction on pronunciation of Weserübung - -
"Vey zer Oooh buhng"
Cheers
Amazing storytelling. Love the animated maps. Every video you make is a step up. I watched it and felt the tension, almost like reliving it myself - well done!
Thank you!
That "I will be decorated or court martialed" line goes insanely hard.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ for your research, Calum! I have seen the footage you paid so handsomely for before, but I'm staggered at the price. The Captain of KNM (Kongelige Norske Marine / Royal Norwegian Navy) Pol III, Leif Welding-Olsen, was a relative of mine. And the Commander of Oscarsborg Fort, Colonel Birger Eriksen grew up in my grandma's village in the Lofoten Islands in Arctic Norway.
A large part of my family was engaged in fighting the invasion and later on as resistance fighters, outsmarting the Gestapo time and time again. My grandma was a spy for the resistance in Narvik. She was suspected, and called into question by the Gestapo under torture, but she had a phenomenal memory. She had memorized the entire code book, and they had to let her go. She suffered greatly from this experience after the war.
Norway is a Natural Fort. If it wasn't for the Labour Party's disastrous "broken gun" policy leaving the people with outdated weapons and little to no ammo, Norway would NEVER have been taken. It didn't help much that the Swedish Labour Government worked closely with the Nazis (among other things, they made the racial calssification system) before the war, and opened up their railways so fresh German troops, weapons and ammo could swiftly be transported North and into Norway, all the way up to Narvik.
My grandpa and his platoon were left with 1 small box of rifle ammo to repel the entire invasion, and had to flee to Sweden when the ammo was spent. The uniforms they were given, were worn out and although it was made from wool, it gave precious little protection against the bitter cold in the mountains because of the age of the uniforms.
Commander of Oscarsborg had no orders form the indecisive Labour Government in Oslo, so he gave his men this order, upon the question on whether or not to fire: "We have reports of a battle at Bolerne and enemy warships are steaming in the fjord at high speed and with doused lanterns. Yes, we will bloody well fire upon them! Ready the guns!
Thank you, Calum, for making this superb video about an extremely important, but largely forgotten event.
And thank you for remembering those brave warriors who partook in repelling that part of the Nazi Invasion.
You are historically wrong. It was not Labour party's "broken gun" policy that made a harm in 1940 because that campagn was back in the 1920ies when Labour Party was not in power. The big problem 1940 was that thr armed forces of Norway was afraid of the Labour Party and hided away essential parts of guns so they were not operational.
It's amazing to me how quickly many European countries capitulated. Like Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands. Obviously they could not win against Germany but at least put up a fight for as long as you can and save some national pride and honor.
I wonder why Norway couldn't block most of the Fjord's entrance with obstacles then have mines ready for the remaining small channel. I wonder why they didn't conscript an army and have thousands of rifles ready. Have your airfields guarded against a landing with troops and AA, and your cities barricaded to stop the German's just walking in.
I feel like many countries just let other countries do the hard work and defeat the Germans for them, whilst they remained occupied but relatively unscathed.
Really well told story, Calum. Being a norwegian, a scuba diver and fascinated by ww2 history this is close to my heart.
Just wanted to mention, Vidkun Quisling wasn't _installed_ from a norwegian perspective, but rather commited to a coup d'état when the goverment escaped. "Installed" to me has the feel of the german perspective.
Again. Well done and I'll await your next brilliant work. (Or, if I can't wait, rewatch one of your older ones).
That's fair. Doesn't seem the Germans held him in very high regard either! IIRC he wasn't even informed of any of the plans.
Also from wikipedia, regarding Eriksen's stoicism: 'Upon giving the command, Eriksen was questioned. He responded with his now famous response; "Either I will be decorated or I will be court martialled. Fire!"'
This is an incredible video. Extremely well produced. Thanks for all the effort!
So glad I found this channel. Great video. Loved your presentation and commitment to the production. Amazing stuff. Thank you so much
Great video, and what a great effort from the Norwegians. Brings a tear into my eye.
Everyone watching this who is a military tech/history nerd screaming "WARSHIP NOT BATTLE SHIP!" I can hear you from here.
I´ve been to Oscarsborg a couple of times, it´s a great place, as you said, Blücher`s sinking helped the King and his family, the government, and the gold to escape. Part of the Ruge´s general staff stayed at my wife´s great aunt´s farm Vollen Gård north of Lillehammer. There are photos and references to her in the book Àpril 1940´ the book written featuring the diary of Margaret Reid who worked for the British secret service man Francis Foley as they fled Oslo with General Ruge and his staff.
"The King's Choice" is indeed an outstanding movie from several perspectives. It is very well acted and filmed, but also uses computer graphics in a tasteful and believable way to enhance reality, especially the scenes of the Blücher's ordeal and the air attack on the fleeing King and his cabinet later in the film. This is very untypical of Hollywood films which tend to overdo the CG, as in "Pearl Harbor" thereby making it totally unrealistic. The music and sound in the Norwegian film is also very well done, and the story of the Royal family relationships is very revealing and not commonly known outside of Scandinavia. Great film!!
It is Norwegian film so scale had to be smaller. I really liked sympathetic angle shown to German ambassador and mention about Quisling just oozes contempt.
As usual 10/10 documentary. It's amazing what a dedicated and focused individual can output, when compared to the looser and catering to various data points that aren't even understood by the people who order them (who watches a documentary etc). This is good stuff.
Thanks for a very good and accurate video. I know all about this battle and had to lucky talk to a former collage from Drøbak. He witness most of it as a young boy 7 or 8 years old. They was awakened by the gunfire and living in a house high up on the Drøbak side. It was dangerous to watch as the Germans fired blindly. Two Norwegian women were killed in Drøbak and the only Norwegian losses at Drøbak.
I know, my regret with this video is that I didn't mention the two civilian deaths during the battle. What tragic bad luck.
My Grandfather was part of the only Royal Navy Commando unit formed in WWII and put ashore at Aandalsnes. Only 2 men from his unit escaped to the pick up point designated for HMS Maori. The rest were killed or captured. They were shelled and bombed relentlessly for 2 weeks during their escape, with my Grandfather's hair turning white and subsequently falling out on the journey back to the UK. The other chap never recovered the ability to speak and was invalided out of the RN. His job was to take over the bakery at Aandalsnes and organise logistics and replenishment of food stocks for the coming campaign. However Aandalsnes was abandoned due to command confusion leaving their unit exposed and alone with no support.
How was this crack unit formed? HMS Nelson had suffered extensive damage to her bow from a mine and was being repaired at Scapa Flow. Supply and Galley staff were assembled on the aft deck and give blue battledress just days before the Norwegian campaign began. Hey Presto! A Royal Navy Commando unit was formed. Desperate times.
This is one of the best presented history documentaries I have ever seen and I really thank you for all the research and all the school she used in showing us what happened that time…. Very much looking forward to more of your work. Thank you
Wow I wasn't aware of this epic battle. Very riveting and well done mini documentary. I'm especially impressed with the actions of the captain of the Pol patrol boat, Leif Welding-Olsen. What a bad ass. Died bravely for his country in sounding the alarm. I figure he must have some plaque or statue around there. Looking at his brief wiki page, apparently his last words to his men were : "Don't worry about me boys, I am done for anyway. (If) you make it back home, give them my regards." A proud defence mounted by lots of brave people. The Germans insidious war machine under Hitler was pure hubris, in its multitude of invasions and crimes against humanity. The likes of which mankind will hopefully never see again. May the many people who died too soon rest in peace.
there is a statue of him in Horten
Dude! What a to the point, never rambling or repeating, inspiring story! What an edit!!! I've done enough of it to know it is really hard to image the story in a compelling way. Wow. Hats off. Subbed and I will be watching all of your work.
Thank you! This was a mammoth edit - so much to cut down, so many parts to re-record! I was a bit worried I had rushed the conclusion there but I didn't want to hang around too long!
Best recounting of this battle I have seen. Thanks for your hard work.
So well done. Love anything related to the Battle of the Atlantic and this was by far the best shown and explained example of this fight I've seen.
Super interesting video, thanks for making it. I come from Drøbak, so super cool to see our history told by such a talented creator
Well all I can say is sorry for the pronunciations!
[cue horse whinny here] 🐴
RIP Cloris Leachman
Came here looking this exact comment.
Frau Blucher was amazing!
@@heatherjones6647 🐴🐴
OUTSTANDING post Calum!!!! Much enjoyed, thanks for your efforts!
The narration over the animated section around 17min meant an instant subscribe. What a great way to bring history to life.
'I will either be decorated or court martialed. Fire!'
Colonel Birger Eriksen
Ironically it would end up being both.
I was lucky enough to convince Miss Sof to visit Oscarsborg during our Norwegian cruise back in March.
Beautiful country and people. Would highly recommend 👍🏻🇳🇴
King's Choice was my introduction to the battle of Oslo. That naval scene stuck with me
Incredible, incredible scene.
An excellent movie!
Great stuff! You put a lot of resources into this, it is much appreciated.
Great video! My brother moved to Norway years ago and on our most recent visit there last summer we went to the island too. Incredible to stand there and imagine what those men must have felt seeing such a massive warship coming straight for them. Stumbled on your channel by luck, great vid! Subbed!
That was superb...superb work! What a story. Well told. My father was a British soldier, assigned to NATO work for most of his last 10 years in the forces. So he was posted to AFNORTH, that was located under a mountain near Oslo, at one point. Meaning I had the honour to be born in Norway. Albeit I am UK citizen. But we have the Viking claw in our family lineage so, the blood is there. Anyway. I had no more than a surface level awareness of this point in time, when Norway was plunged into 5 years of darkness. So this was absolutely fascinating to watch. You're an artist Sir. Thank you for telling the stories of those brave people from that night of infamy. I'm now going to purchase The Kings Choice too.
Outstanding video, again. I did know the basics of this event already but in some ways it makes it even more interesting to watch and learn new details. The effort to combine custom animations, footage shot on location, and licensing period footage does not go unappreciated!
I love the detail in these videos. And the whole conversation and recommendations at the end. Great channel!
Calum, what an excellent video! This is my first time seeing your channel, but I watch a fair amount of mini-doc content like this, and this stood out to me as one of the very best I've seen. Not only was it a well-told story about an event I was unfamiliar with, but your production value really shone! The combination of modern-day footage of the fort with a good variety of historical footage and your graphics had me thoroughly engaged throughout. Those graphics deserve special mention. Extremely clear, but still stylish. I especially loved the visualization of the shots and strikes against the ship, complete with water ripples from the torpedoes. You might be tempted to speed things up in these animations - don't. The slower pacing really gave me time to absorb the narration and let my imagination fill in what was happening in any given moment. Bravo. You mention that this was a large-scale project, so I realize this level of effort might be outside the scope of a more normal video, but I will certainly subscribe to find out.
Absolutely love your videos. I never comment on videos but I had to take a moment to say it. I really appreciate your passion, research and attention to detail on whichever subject catches your eye. I love history and I come into these deep dives usually knowing nothing about the subject and leave interested enough to want to read a book about it. Keep it up!
Wow thank you! I know what you mean about commenting, I rarely do as well on other videos. Really can’t tell you enjoying how comments such as yours make my day!
Norwegian resistance during the war, and even more so during the German withdrawal, tied up German forces who'd otherwise be assisting at the western and eastern fronts. BTW: I can highly recommend the movie Max Manus if you want to see some of what the Norwegian resistance movement was up to during the war. It's based on the true story about Max Manus and his colleagues. (Though some artistic licenses have been made, but they're rather unimportant imho.) Max's accomplishments have actually been condensed to fit the movie, otherwise it would've been 12 hours long. :) I can also recommend the movie Flammen & Citronen (Flame & Citron) about two of Denmark's resistance fighters. Cheers from Norway! :)
I don't want to lessen the Norweigen fight, but the troops sent there were there to prevent an Allied invasion of Norway, not to fight the Norweigan resistance
@@F.R.E.D.D2986 Now, I didn't write Norway would be devoid of German soldiers but for the resistance, did I?
@@F.R.E.D.D2986 yes, but the troops was not welcome. Norway wanted to be neutral during WW2. So the outcome, if Britain had invaded first, could have been that Norway had taken the German side. This is of course speculation. Neither a British or German invasion was welcomed by Norway at that time.
But it's not the first time that Britain have forced Norway to take side. It happened in 1807 when Britain forced Denmark/Norway to take side with Napoleon
@@F.R.E.D.D2986think you need to get your facts straight there my friend
Yes they started out as a force to prevent the British from invading
BUT In the end they ended up having to push in manpower just so they could hold the country
After all there was more than 350000 German troops in Norway at times just so that the Germans could be Abel to get their iron ore and other materials from the country
Think about the fact that in Norway during the war there was upto 10% of the population that was German soldiers at some point
They would have had to send ALL their troops to France to do the same thing 😂😂
So yeah the resistance in Norway was so strong that Germany ended up depleting their forces just so as to hold it
The Germans called Norway
Festung Norweg for a reason
That is an absolutely atrocious claim. Compare Norway to the Balkans, where Germany only has a fraction of the troops and also heavy partisan warfare. Do the math and use common sense. Hitler feared an invasion from the British - he did not put that amount of troops there to defend against clowns like Max Manus.
Well done Calum. Thank you for putting so much time and money into doing this program. Very much appreciated.
This deserves far more credit, great video, great work, thank you.
Great Work. The attack on Norway had as you mentioned a great significance for the war for Norway, but also for the allied side. The fail of the attack on Oslo had ramifications as you mentioned, but i miss a couple elements.
The invasion was one of the longest fights Germany had to endure during 1940 and tied up several thousand troops. At the end of the war was over 300 000 German troops, as you mentioned, stationed in Norway.
But the fail of the invasion had another side that you didn't mention in your great video. In 1940 had Norway one of the biggest, and most modern, merchant fleets in the world. One of the message that went out in the morning 9th of April 1940, was the the merchant fleet should seek allied or neutral harbour. The significance of this was that most of the merchant fleet was in allied hands. Just to mention the size did 19% of the tanker fleet in 1940 Norwegian.
What happened later on in 1940 was that the Norwegian government established Nortraship and all of the merchant fleet, that was not in German control, was added to Nortraship. Nortraship was under Norwegian control.
Actually could it have been different the story around Nortraship. Britain wanted the merchant fleet to sail under British flag, but since the Norwegian government had survived did this not happen. Nortraship was established and it played a great significance during the war in Europe
The Norwegian Merchant Fleet is the main reason why Germany invading Norway literally made them lose the war. At one point more than 1000 Norwegian state of the art ships brought over 50% of the fuel and supplies to Britain (and this was at their most desperate point). It is realistic to say that without the Norwegian merchant fleet the allies would have lost the war. 500 Norwegian ships were sunk during the war.
Veldig gode fakta! The Norwegian merchant fleet played a very important part to the allied victory!
Takk for en god orientering!
Great visual and sound effects -- thanks for the exciting and informative history lesson!
Absolutely brilliant and so informative. Thank you so much for this work, narrated with such passion!
Very well done Calum, I really enjoyed your graphics and attention to detail about the battle but also the people and the ramifications that rippled out from this battle to this very day. I watched "The Kings Choice" and thank you for the mention as I very much enjoyed the film and may never have otherwise.
Such a great story. Thanks for making this.
This was one of the missons in Enemy Front, kinda cool someone implemented this into a game. Specially me being Norwegian. Great video dude. :)
Someone just told me about this game! Need to try it now
Great work with this video! and THANK YOU for that extra footage that cost you so much. I really do appreciate that footage. Very cool! Well done! Subscribed!
I was wondering when you would drop another video! Glad you’re still providing us with amazing information.
FWIW, that footage was definitely worth 200 pounds. brilliant movie. what i always appreciate about your videos is that you don't just read a wikipedia article - you provide a ton of informed commentary and historic material that i would have not otherwise encountered. awesome work.
So being a Norwegian - I can inform you that there's actually quite a few 'movie' recreations of the sinking. All the others are low budget creations, but they are on NRKs websites, alas probably region blocked. Very interesting to see your take on this topic! And the mispronunciations are funny!
Superbly done, informative and something I had zero knowledge of until you posted this, thank ever so much and keep it up!
One of my favorite stories. Glad you covered it and gave more insight into it!
Thank you for making these videos. Your passion truly shines through. Always learn so much because of how detailed and passionately you present this information.
Well presented and researched as always Calum. Fantastic video.
Thank you!
Always love your productions, Callum. So I'm happy to be able to add some information on this subject you might want to look up, as you're like me; you love the rabbit holes and the details.
Now, don't hold me absolutely to the numbers, you'll have to check, because this is off the top of my head, but the gist of it is still very relevant.
You draw a very interesting line on what this meant for the development of WW2 in general. And I suppose that can be said for a lot of the WW2 actions...but Blucher is interesting in this aspect, because Norway is populationwise a small country and its armed forces at the time had through decades been whittled down to little more than a very toothless neutrality guard.
And yet Norway (with allies, as both Great Britain, France and Poland sent expeditionary forces to fight in Norway), held longer than both France and Poland later did. And as you said, it presented a long coastline for possible allied landings and thus tied up a lot of German troops.
But there's an added dimension. And this one takes on a whole different magnitude. Possibly directly war changing, if not war decisive. Because Eriksen managed to delay the invasion of Oslo, the government and royal family managed to escape as you said. This also cemented the will to resist throughout the population, and interestingly this gave England a very big boon. Norway at the time, long before oil, was primarily a shipping nation. Fishing, merchant shipping, oil tankers. Norway had the worlds 4th largest merchant fleet, and in terms of modern merchant ships was the worlds second largest. And in terms of oil tankers, it was the worlds largest.
When the government was saved, the word was sent out to the entire Merchant fleet to refuse to surrender to the Germans, and all of them that could escape did, and since it was an international merchant fleet, this meant the vast majority of that merchant fleet did get away. This was thousands of ships of all .erchant classes. They were commissioned and formed into what became THE largest shipping company in the world; Nortraship, under government command and enlisted for the duration of the war.
England at the time was hard pressed by Germany, that was trying to cut its supplies through uboat warfare, and was desperate for supplies of materials, oil and food. Ships were constantly lost
When the Norwegians put Nortraship at the disposal to help supply England, it inceased the available tonnage at the time by 50%. That is a staggering amount, when you remember the enormous effort that was put into convoys to try to get supplies through. It was a directly meaningful aid during the battle of Britain.
During the war as a whole Notraship transported a very respectable 20% of all allied oil transports, and 6-7% of other allied supplies (the Americans came into the game in a serious way once they ramped up shipbuilding).
Through this Norway had a continous and important role as a war allied and partner throughout the war. Sadly some 3000 sailors were lost and 694 ships were sunk, and the respect owed to the merchant nariners was overlooked for far too many years. Many of them deeply traumatized. Some had multiple ships torpedoed out under their feet in the cold and dark North Atlantic shipping American tanks and planes to Russia. Others watched comrades eaten by sharks in the Pacific. They were on practically all seas during the war. The after-war governments dallied in giving recognition and war pensions.
I think their role has been overlooked and we only have to go back to a few forgotten statements from the war to glance something about what their service meant.
Vice Admiral Emory Land, chairman of the US Maritime Commission (responsible for the construction of the Liberty and Victory ships) stated that the Merchant Marine Nortraship's role in the first years of the war was worth "a million soldiers".
Parliamentary Secretary in the UK, Phillip Noel-Baker is on record stating "the Norwegian Tanker fleet was as important to the Battle of Britain, as the legendary Spitfire's"
I hope you'll find this little digression interesting, and thx again for a great clip!
Great video man, thoroughly enjoyed that. A good part of history that I never previously knew.
Great video, the animations were cool to show where the Blücher was being hit, and cool that you were able to go to the actual location!
I’d def recommend The King’s Choice…I watched it for the Blücher footage but it’s a great movie too!
I appreciate the licensed footage, thank you for sharing this fascinating story.
GREAT info, graphics, and commentary on this moment of history. Thank you.
Nicely done. Thank you.
Germany conquered Norway within two months, despite the large number of French and British troops helping to defend the country. An outdated fortress didn't stop the invasion of Norway, it just slowed it down. Did it?
You should go up to Narvik sometime and talk about the battles there. Maybe visit the wreckage of the Z2 Georg Theil
Quality work from you here….AND YES, the licensed film was well worth it and probably some of the best WW2 aerial footage out there…great job and many THX
Thanks Calum, this was most interesting and I never knew about the Blucher nor this part of the war. we learn something every day.
This was very well put together!
Always wanted to see animated battlemap of what really happend.
As an norwegian, thank you very much!
I am more into the "Odd Vehicle's" series, but still a captivating Calum Class Documentary!
Fantastic Calum! Thanks so much for the work you and the team put in, the time and effort are appreciated.
Here in the US I feel as though D-Day through V-Day are the main parts of WW2 that are covered. Stories like the invasion of Norway, North Africa, and even the Pacific just aren’t given the attention they deserve.
I had read bits about the demise of the Blucher but not with the clarity and photographs of the actual locations. Brilliantly insightful and makes me want to take a trip to Norway. You did an excellent job.
Norway is so worth the trip. Simply incredible country!
Great video! I'm a big fan of WW2 history and this is one of those events that is too often overlooked or underplayed.
I'd bet nobody expected an old fortress to sink an (at the time) state of the art heavy cruiser.
It's a great underdog story; an aging fortress manned mostly by recruits destroying a brand new symbol of German naval might and technological superiority had to have been a huge blow to the Kriegsmarine's overall morale.
Yes and it pushed our civilian & resistance morale into the sky here in Norway & is still something we think back to till this day as a great representation of our: ''F off'' attitude towards Nazi Germany.
What I find impressive was the accuracy of the initial shots - the early hits before the ship's crew had an inkling of what was happening were crucial. Typically with those old guns, especially with an inexperienced crew under pressure, it takes a few shots to establish the range and lead before getting hits.
@@paulbade3566 The two hits from the 28cm main battery was at a range og 950 m. First hit was too high and made little damage but for killing the commander of the secondary batteries. Second hit was better. Cuting off the steam supply to the centre turbine and E-werk 2. This hit is mostly known for igniting a fire near the hangar. The hit was higher than optimal.
I don't know why but every time you said the word _Blücher_ there was a strange audio track sound of Horses whinnying in th3 background. 😂
😆
Fascinating story, and very well told and explained Calum!
This documentary is very well produced. Just the fact that you travelled to Norway to see Oscarsborg for yourself is impressive. The use of archive photos and films is spot on, and your history is very accurate. Subscribed!
Really great video! As a Northerner I'm sad when the south sort of end the telling of the war with basically what's covered in 'The King's Choice' though, before saying "they then went to England". The war went on for two whole months after the ninth of April. The government flees northward gradually, eventually making it to the vast and brutal north, where the capital eventually gets relocated for a while.
The commander of the northern forces, Major General Carl Gustav Fleischer is a really interesting character in the northern part of the war, where the battle of Narvik took place. The fjords around Narvik are still riddled with wrecks of warships, visible both at low and high tide.
After the evacuation Fleischer get's some pretty poor placements in the exiled Norwegian command, and eventually commits suicide. It seems like his treatment was at least in part political. He had been critical of a passive military policy by the Labour government leading up to the war, but when he was proven right he was punished for it. After the war the Labour government did nothing to honour him, even though the royal family did.
I actually flinched at 17:06. The shots of the fort, and the view of what the men that day must have seen made some great storytelling.
Excellent effort. Covers nuances that my father, who was in RN at the time, had told me about the situation and some others you brought up. No one else has given the subject the prominence that it has deserved. Loved your animations BTW. A very clean and clear presentation that highlights the courage and commitment to their country, by the armed forces and citizens of Norway. Thank you for telling this important and inspirational story in these tenuous times.
Some of your best work, mate! Excellent stuff
Amazing video. But I wanted to mention another big part of the Oscarsborg fortress, often forgotten. The underwater wall.
The Oscarsborg fortress only had torpedo batteries on the east side of the island. Therefore - it was nessesary to force potential enemy ships to sail through the east passage. Between 1874-79 it was built a massive underwater wall from the mainland to the fortess on the west side, forcing all marine traffic of larger ships to pass trough the narrow eastern passage which was defendend with the main guns holding the first line of defence, then the torpedos, which we know - sealed blüchers fate.
The wall underwater is still there today! Funfact - even though it is well marked on marine GPS and with a cutout in the middle to allow for smaller boats, many recreational boats still run aground every year!
All cruiseships and vessels of size are still forced to use the eastern passage, like the USS Gerald Ford when it visited Oslo in May 2023, and sail over the resting place of Blücher. Another fun fact is that still to this day when the sea is calm, you can see oilspill on the surface from Blücher!
And lastly, during filming of the movie you talked about, The Kings Choice, Oscarsborg’s main guns were fired for the FIRST time, since that morning in 1940 when it fired on blücher. You can watch a video of it trough this link: www.smp.no/kultur/i/x45b7Q/fyres-av-for-forste-gang-siden-krigen
Yes, in fact it was something I had actually included originally but cut for time. It's an odd peculiarity when you're editing: everything feels overly bloated or too long and so you end up cutting, cutting cutting! It's when you rewatch it you realise things you could actually have left it in. I also wanted to mention the other batteries in Drobak, there were a few not manned that night. There's also a wonderful anecdote about Erikson correcting the range on the guns just before the fired. The operator of the rangefinder struggled to get the correct range on the Blucher and Erickson corrected him by eye. It was a perfect example of his extreme levels of knowledge and experience of the fort and surrounding waters but I left it out in the end. I was curious if the wall was still there though - I hadn't seen anything mentioned recently so thank you for letting me know!
Also wow, I didn't know they fired the guns FOR REAL! Incredible