Operation Weserubung 1940 - Solitaire

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: sapper32

This will be a great read im signed up, I played this scenario on TOAW III some years ago but cant realy remember much about it.

warspite1

I hope so but I am struggling to locate some of the forces. For example I can't see HMS Renown. Why would she be missing from the OOB? I mean if she's not in the scenario for game balance purposes then okay - but it just makes the history angle explanation a little difficult [:D]

[warspite1]

The scenario rules need clarifying.

The scenario starts on April 8th and refers to invasion turns 1 and 2. But there is no definition of this. I can invade on turn 1 so I assume turn 1 is invasion turn 1....

....but then I couldn't find the paratroop units - but if I kick forward to turn 2, then airlift capability is allowed for attack on the airfields - so turn 2 must be invasion turn 1 . Whateves as the kool kids say.....

[warspite1]

Order of Battle

Norwegian Army

During the years leading up to the Second World War the Norwegians did not use a divisional organisation as it existed in most armies around the world either. Instead, Norway was divided into six military districts, and each district was responsible for fielding a "division" in time of war. The six Military districts had their individual headquarters based in the following locations:

• 1st Division (Halden)
• 2nd Division (Oslo)
• 3rd Division (Kristiansand)
• 4th Division (Bergen)
• 5th Division (Trondheim)
• 6th Division (Harstad)

Each division was made up of a brigade that consisted of two or three infantry regiments. An artillery unit was attached to each division at either battalion or regiment strength, while in some divisions a cavalry regiment was also attached. The units for each division are given below:

• 1st Division - 1st, 2nd and 3rd Infantry Regiments (IR); 1st Dragoon Regiment (DR); 1st Artillery Regiment (AR).
• 2nd Division - 4th, 5th and 6th IR; 1st Guards Battalion; 2nd DR and 2nd AR.
• 3rd Division - 7th and 8th IR; 1st Mountain Artillery Battalion
• 4th Division - 9th and 10th IR; 2nd Mountain Artillery Battalion
• 5th Division - 11th, 12th and 13th IR; 3rd AR; 3rd DR
• 6th Division - 14th, 15th and 16th IR; 3rd Mountain Artillery Battalion

The army was essentially infantry only, with no tanks and few motor vehicles. It was believed that the mountainous nature of the country made mechanisation less important should the country be attacked. Unfortunately, whilst this view has some merit, the Norwegians also fielded few, if any, anti-tank or anti-aircraft (AA) weapons.

The country had no where near been fully mobilised by April 1940. The Formation reports reflect this. The formations named above do not tie in with what is on the map and the regiments don't appear to be linked to the 'Division'.

I will try and piece together the 1st Division at Halden, southeast of Oslo.

As can be seen, the Norwegian Divisions were not truly divisions and the component parts sometimes operated at huge distances from each other. By the time of the German invasion the mobilisation was far from complete. Note: I've used the term battalion in places but I think this is incorrect given the size of the units involved.

[warspite1]

Order of Battle

Norwegian Navy

At the start of the Second World War, the Royal Norwegian Navy (RNN) comprised fifty-nine warships, together with a similar number of auxiliary vessels. However, like most countries during the inter-war years, defence expenditure had been curtailed, and as a result, only a third of the warships then in service had been launched post World War I.

The main strength of the RNN was centred upon two antiquated coastal defence ships of the Norge-class. They were supported by four destroyers, thirty-two torpedo-boats, three submarines, two sloops and ten minelayers; all of varying - but mostly old - vintage. In an effort to modernise the navy, six submarines had been built in the twenties, and these were followed by orders for two destroyers, six torpedo-boats and a number of smaller vessels during the following decade. However, the war came to Norway before the destroyers and two of the torpedo-boats could be completed.

So what units does the Allied player have in this game?

Supreme Sea Defence Command

Two coastal defence ships are in Ofotsfjord, defending Narvik.
Norge
Eidsvoll

There are miscellaneous (unnamed) small vessels at:

Kirkenes
Honningsvag
Tromso

There are a number of vessels that each could represent i.e. there wasn't just one on each station. Its not clear what ship each counter represents but there were fishery protection/patrol vessels at Kirkenes, there were three auxiliary patrol vessels at Narvik and patrol vessels at Tromso too.

Defending Oslofjord are:

The coastal defence ships*
Tordenskjold
Harald Haarfagre

*These ships are decommissioned and have just a few AA guns on board.

Also at Oslofjord are:

Olaf Tryggvason
4 unnamed small vessels (this is the 1st Minelayer Division - Glommern, Langen, Nor, Vidar)
4 unnamed small vessels (this is the 1st Minesweeper Division - Hauk, Hvas, Falk, Kjaek)
2 unnamed small vessels (this is the 3rd Minesweeper Division - Otra and Rauma)

But at Kristiansand there are:

4 unnamed small vessels (minelayers)
4 unnamed small vessels (minesweepers)
2 unnamed small vessels

At Bergen

2 of 3 unnamed small vessels (I assume these are the destroyers Aeger and Draug?)

At Stavanger

2 unnamed small vessels

and there is nothing based at Trondheim. So I'm not sure what is what. Fortunately in the great scheme of things these smaller vessels will not have a big impact on the game just as per real life.


The coastal defence ships Norge and Eidsvold in Ofotfjord....

[warspite1]

Order of Battle

Royal Navy and British Army (incl. French components)

As said above, for all the plan's daring and boldness, Weserubung's success relied very heavily upon luck - it had to given the disparity in naval forces.

At the time Weserubung was launched the British and French had started out on their half baked lunacy that allegedly passed for a plan of military action. But what this did mean was that there were a number of Royal Navy ships at sea in the North Sea for a variety of reasons. These ships included the modernised 15-inch gun battlecruiser Renown and numerous cruisers and destroyers.

That MG1 and Renown missed each other could easily have been different. And when Renown did come across Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, the German ships could perhaps consider themselves fortunate that the weather was absolutely appalling.

I wondered how this scenario was going to cater for the presence of the Royal Navy ships - and the fact that the Allied player has the benefit of hindsight. It appears that the scenario will deal with this by introducing the British vessels on Turn 3 and beyond.

This is a bit of a shame as there has to be a more elegant solution that heightens the intensity of those opening moves for the Kreigsmarine?

Oh well, never mind. I'll just assume these ships are at sea but fail to locate the enemy as per real life:

[warspite1]

Well that's almost that. Just one final piece of scene setting then I'll just jump in and see what I can make of this scenario - with a little history on the way [;)]

8th April 1940

The position in the minds of the Western Allies

It would take a book to properly recount the tortured process by which the Western Allies found themselves in the situation they did on the 8th April 1940. Suffice to say the journey was haphazard, the negotiations tortured and above all, the thinking was muddled. It was as far back as September 1939 that Winston Churchill, back as First Lord of the Admiralty, pointed out the position of Norway and the iron ore traffic and a belief that interdiction of these supplies would have a dramatic effect on Germany's ability to wage war.

The Soviet invasion of Finland at the end of November 1939 gave the Allies a potential 'in' - namely an Allied expedition to assist the Finns - which would just so happen to mean Allied troops occupying Narvik and the ore-producing Gallivare region of Sweden (which just so happened to be on the way to Finland of course). The Scandinavians would apparently be only too happy to have foreign troops on their soil as it was to provide assistance to their fellow Scandinavians.....simples!

It's somewhat ironic that WSC became Prime Minister after the fall of Neville Chamberlain - and Chamberlain lost his job because of the Norwegian fiasco - and WSC was instrumental in British and French involvement there....while Chamberlain was much less keen.

It's easy to criticise - and I have huge sympathy for the politicians of the time that were trying to manage a pretty hopeless situation. But sympathy or not, the situation was farcical.

Discussions and plans came and went over the following months until, eventually, in March 1940 the Finns made peace with the Soviets and this spiffing wheeze was put out of its misery..... or was it?

Unfortunately, although the 'help for Finland' pretext had vanished, and although winter was over and ore supplies could be transferred via the Gulf of Bothnia, interdiction in Norway was still being sought as a way of taking the war to Germany....

The French Government was desperate to 'do something' especially if that 'something' was hundreds of miles from France. When the Finns surrendered Daladier's Government fell and Paul Reynaud took over. He was keen to get an operation in Norway underway.

The mining of Norwegian territorial waters remained on the table - and somewhere along this amateur hour production - a plan to have a reinforced brigade land in Narvik (in reaction to any 'German moves') was introduced.

Wilfred

Operation Wilfred was the operation to mine Norwegian territorial waters in two areas - the first at the mouth of Vestfjord (leading to Narvik) and the second a little further south off the coast of Stadlandet. A third operation in between these two areas off Alesund was ordered but no actual mines were laid. The first ships departed the UK on the 5th April.

The Vestfjord operation was carried out by 4 minelaying destroyers escorted by the battlecruiser HMS Renown and the 2nd Destroyer Flotilla.

For the Standlandet operation, the minelayer HMS Teviot Bank was employed, escorted by four minelaying destroyers. Note: this operation was cancelled due to the spotting of German ships.

The dummy operation was carried out by two mine-laying destroyers escorted by the cruiser HMS Birmingham.

R4

The forces to be made available for any Norwegian Campaign changed regularly as the tortured Allied method of waging war circa 1939/40 went on. Ultimately, in contrast to the Germans, just 4 weak British brigades and 2 French demi-brigades were available for R.4. I won't go into detail here about what forces were destined for where because, as will become apparent during the scenario - the plans and what transpired proved to be very different in any case.

The Allies realise the Germans are up to something

So on the 8th April 1940 elements of the Royal Navy were at sea in order to put into effect operations Wilfred and R4. Wilfred was the mining operation in Norwegian territorial waters that was launched on the back of a strongly worded note to the Norwegian Government delivered 3-days before.

The situation in Germany

The path that led Adolf Hitler to Weserubung began in December 1939 with a visit by the Norwegian National Socialist politician Vidkun Quisling to Berlin (although he was to have no role in the German plans as they developed). The following month Hitler ordered an outline of a plan for intervention in Norway (purely as a precaution measure) and then set up a team to fill out that plan. But it was the 'Altmark' incident in February 1940 that really grabbed Hitler's attention and made intervention in Norway certain. Simply put Hitler did not trust the Norwegians to maintain their neutrality in the face of Allied pressure. He ordered General Falkenhorst and his XXI Army Corps staff to work - with all secrecy - on Weserubung and on 1st March 1940 Hitler Directive 10a was issued calling for the occupation of Denmark and Norway to protect iron ore supplies and to provide new bases from which to operate against England.

Elements of six Divisions were assigned to Norway: 3rd Mountain, 69th, 163rd, 181st, 196th and 214th, while two were tasked with subduing Denmark: 170th and 198th + 11th Motorised Rifle Brigade. The first wave would consist of around 9,000 men on board the warships of the marinegruppen (see above) while 3,500 airborne troops would be allocated. Including the units transferred in transports that made around 16,000 men in the first wave with reinforcements being ferried in by air and sea as fast as possible thereafter. Note that in addition to the marinegruppen, in order to transport the supplies needed by the first wave a number of unescorted freighters and tankers were ahead of time to the invasion ports through Norwegian waters - and were designed to arrive after the objectives were taken. These units do not appear in game from what I can see.

We know how Weserubung turned out and, as has been said, the German armed forces can be praised for executing so successfully such a bold combined operation. The outcome of the operation appear to confirm the German Government and military as one united, professional outfit - the reality - as with so much of Nazi Germany - was quite different when one scratches the surface. The infighting amongst the General Staff who were side-lined from the planning, the petty jealousies of Herman Goering about the role of the Luftwaffe, Donitz's anger about the taking of his U-boats away from the main task - all features that were to crop up time and again during the war - were in evidence here. The outcome of Weserubung was all part of the ever growing myth of Hitler's 'genius' - that gained further foothold with each success - but Norway, and the actions around Narvik, almost drove him to a nervous breakdown. Hardly the actions of a supreme omnipotent warlord totally in control.

- On the 2nd April 1940 Adolf Hitler gave the order for Weserubung
- Beginning on the 3rd April, the first of the transport vessels and tankers started to leave German ports and head for Norway
- Starting on the 6th April the first of the marine gruppen sets sail from Germany
- Starting on the 7th April, the German merchant vessels started to enter Norwegian waters....

The position as seen by the Danes, the Swedes and the Norwegians

The position of all three countries was firmly that they wished to maintain their neutrality in the event of war. Denmark's position on the German's northern border made her situation pretty hopeless in the event of hostile action by Germany and we shall see how the King reacted accordingly once Weserubung started.

The Norwegians - and here is a story repeated consistently amongst all countries - paid too little attention to defence even as the threat of war loomed larger as the thirties progressed. The position of the Government was to maintain strict neutrality and that could be achieved it was believed without massive expenditure on military hardware. But Norway's position was vulnerable and - thanks to the German iron ore supplies from Sweden that in the winter months needed to be transported via Norway - she was a potential target for both. The Norwegians feared the Western Allies wanted to provoke the Germans into aggressive action - thus driving Norway into the war on the Allied side - but wrongly thought that Norwegian neutrality would favour Germany.

The Norwegian situation can be summarised I think as follows: Norway was desperately trying to maintain her neutral status in the face of pressure from both the Allies and the Axis. But while she was prepared to defend that neutrality, she wouldn't get involved in a shooting war with the Allies and suddenly find herself on the 'wrong' side. That this was not tested was thanks to the timing of the two enemy operations and the fact that the Germans beat the Allies to the punch. As the German units headed toward Norway there were plenty of warnings of impending invasion but many of these went unheeded as we shall see.

Sweden's position and sympathies in WWII have been the subject of much debate over the years. I've read two book recently - one that defends Sweden's actions and the other that savages the Swedish Government for its dealings with the Germans. That is not a topic for this scenario, but suffice to say that Sweden, like all smaller countries, was desperate to maintain its neutral status. Sweden was unambiguous in her dealing with the Allies and their plans for assistance to Finland; she would not agree to any foreign troops on Swedish soil under any circumstances. Thankfully perhaps, this was never tested either....

[MikeJ19]

Warspite,

This is great stuff and you are teaching me a lot.

[Zorch]

Does the game allow refueling from tankers? I would like to see the German destroyers at Narvik refueled instead of being sitting ducks. Historically it took 8 hours per ship, and only 2 ships could refuel at a time. Fuel was critical for the Kriegsmarine.

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: Zorch

Does the game allow refueling from tankers? I would like to see the German destroyers at Narvik refueled instead of being sitting ducks. Historically it took 8 hours per ship, and only 2 ships could refuel at a time. Fuel was critical for the Kriegsmarine.

warspite1

No I don't believe the naval game is that detailed. That being the case, presumably the German player can remove his destroyers from Narvik - especially if the RN don't arrive until turn 3? I don't know I will have to see how that plays out. But if there is no RN until turn 3 and all 10 destroyers can simply escape then that's a nice bit of Axis fanboyism in play. Let's hope that is not the case.

As for real life, the fuel situation was all part of the thin margins that Weserubung operated on (as said the Germans were going to need large dollops of luck for the operation to work). There were supposed to be two tankers at Narvik but Kattegat never arrived (she was scuttled after being engaged by the Nordknapp). The one that did arrive - Jan Wellem - as you say, could not re-supply the destroyers fast enough.

Bonte could have perhaps chosen to re-fuel a lesser number and split his force but he chose to keep his destroyers together.

[ChuckBerger]

A little infographic goodness for your AAR. I left out most patrol boats, trawlers etc., and also a whole heck of a lot of merchant shipping that got sunk, or changed hands. The graphic was getting too full! I included the important merchant losses - eg, from the initial German wave, large troopships and tankers, etc.

Also didn't include lots of minor splinter and near-miss damage inflicted on British ships in particular, as a result of them being under near constant air attack during the campaign.

Let me know of any errors!

[warspite1]

I say old boy thank you for that [:)]. I don't suppose you could make it smaller could you? 1024 x 768 pixels or send me a copy and I'll do it?

Thank-you

[ChuckBerger]

Here you go! Hard to read at this resolution, but still a bit legible...

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: ChuckBerger

Here you go! Hard to read at this resolution, but still a bit legible...

warspite1

Thank-you sir - this is useful.

[warspite1]

Rules

So what are the main rules I need to be aware of? Lets look at the ones that affect the initial moves:

1.1 Airborne
German glider infantry may only be transported between friendly airbases.
On the initial invasion turn only they may be used to assault the airbases in southern Norway Fornebu, Kjeller, Gardermoen, Sola, Kjevik) and Denmark (Værløse, Ålborg, Kastrup, Rye, Esbjerg, Tønder), but only after an unsuccessful attempt by at least 1 Fallschirmjäger unit.

1.2 Naval
2) Whenever a naval task force encounters an enemy ship/sub/coastal battery at least one naval vessel and one embarked unit must stop and engage the enemy. The other units in the task force may continue movement until they encounter a new enemy ship/sub/coastal battery and the procedure is repeated
3) Every seaborne assault/invasion against enemy held locations must have at least 1 escorting naval unit.
On the German initial invasion turns 1-2 all naval vessels en route to Norway (except Scharnhorst & Gneisenau) must move together with the troop transports. This is to simulate that most German troops were transported on the warships. This means that you can only divide up any invasion force equal to the maximum number of escorting units.
4) The German sea invasion of Denmark may be conducted by normal sea transport.
5) Subs have no attack ability due to the use of guerilla icons. All naval surface vessels that encounter a sub must attack it for at least one combat round. Surface vessels may not use ranged bombardment against subs.
11) The Nord-Ostsee-Kanal may be traversed by German naval units. The only hexes that may serve as true ports are Brunsbüttel, Rendsburg and Kiel. Land units may only embark at these hexes also. The Weser River may be traversed also to Bremen by German naval units. Land units may only embark or disembark in the port hex.
12) There are a number of ferries (actually river transports) on each side which may be used to transport (must accompany) 1 Norwegian or German unit each between the ports given by the names of the unit and its formation. Super rivers have been placed on coastal deep water hexes to restrict these sea lanes. If a ferry is sunk no transport is available between the corresponding ports.

4.4 Destroyed units
If the unit "Haakon/Gen Ruge" is destroyed the King of Norway and the general staff is considered captured and 2 points awarded the Germans.

[warspite1]

Operation Weserubung - Turn 1
8th April 1940

Marine Gruppe 1 - Approach to Narvik

[warspite1]

Operation Weserubung - Turn 1
8th April 1940

Marine Gruppe 2 - Approach to Trondheim.

Note: I think the two occupied forts - Brettingen and Hysnes - were on the north shore and Hambara, on the southern shore, was not manned - but I may be wrong.

[warspite1]

Operation Weserubung - Turn 1
8th April 1940

Marine Gruppe 3 - Approach to Bergen.


Note the map scale is not conducive to bringing out some of the fine detail and the sighting of Kvarven Fort is not where it should be in relation to Bergen.

[warspite1]

Operation Weserubung - Turn 1
8th April 1940

Marine Gruppe 4 - Approach to Kristiansand and Arendal.

[warspite1]

Operation Weserubung - Turn 1
8th April 1940

Marine Gruppe 5 - Approach to Oslo.


Note: the ships in game do not appear to tie up with what I can find. I will put some explanation around this as the turns play out.


NOTE: Re the scenario. Not sure why this scenario starts on the 8th and allows the attacks to start then. Also when the German MG5 head for Oslo they are attacked by the Danish coastal forts (even when skirting around them as far as they can i.e. hugging the Swedish coast)! Not sure what that's about from an historical perspective. As will be seen there are plenty of things that could be done - if this is a play balance item - that would be more realistic and give the Germans the potential for the bloody nose that they were very lucky they didn't receive in real life.

[warspite1]

Operation Weserubung - Turn 1
8th April 1940

Marine Gruppe 6 - Approach to Egersund.