Altmark Incident

The ''Altmark'' incident ( Norwegian: ''Altmark''-affæren; German: ''Altmark-Zwischenfall'') was a naval incident of World War II between British destroyers and the German tanker ''Altmark'', which happened on 16–17 February 1940. It took place in what were, at that time, neutral Norwegian waters. On board the ''Altmark'' were roughly 300 Allied prisoners (officially internees), whose ships had been sunk by the pocket battleship ''Graf Spee'' in the Southern Atlantic Ocean.

British naval forces cornered the tanker and later the destroyer HMS ''Cossack'' boarded the ''Altmark'' near the Jøssingfjord and liberated all the prisoners; eight German sailors were killed and ten wounded during the hand-to-hand fighting which took place during the boarding. A British sailor was also wounded during the fighting. The German government claimed that the boarding was a violation of international law and Norwegian neutrality, and later used the incident in the propaganda broadcasts of " Lord Haw-Haw".

Background

In February 1940, the German tanker was returning to Germany with 299 captured British sailors on board. These were prisoners of war who had been picked up from ships sunk by the pocket battleship .

On its way from the southern Atlantic to Germany, the ''Altmark'' passed through Norwegian waters. International law did not ban the transfer of prisoners of war through neutral waters. On the insistence of British contacts who had been pursuing the vessel, it was investigated three times on 15 February by the Royal Norwegian Navy. First, the tanker was boarded by officers from the torpedo boat HNoMS ''Trygg'', off Linesøya, then by officers from the torpedo boat HNoMS ''Snøgg'' in the Sognefjord, and finally personally by Admiral Carsten Tank-Nielsen and naval personnel from the destroyer HNoMS ''Garm'' in the Hjeltefjord. In each instance, the men who boarded the ship carried out cursory searches and took the Germans' word that the vessel was conducting purely commercial business. The British prisoners held in the ship's hold reportedly made strenuous efforts to signal their presence, but the Norwegian search parties did not inspect the hold, and allowed the ship to continue on its way.

Following the third boarding, ''Altmark'' was escorted southwards by the torpedo boats HNoMS ''Skarv'' and HNoMS ''Kjell'' and the guard boat HNoMS ''Firern''.

Incident

''Altmark'' was then spotted off Egersund later that same day by British aircraft, which raised the alarm in the Royal Navy. The aircraft were stationed at RAF Thornaby, in the North East of England. After being intercepted by the destroyer , captained by Philip Vian, ''Altmark'' sought refuge in the Jøssingfjord, but ''Cossack'' followed her in the next day. The ''Altmark'''s Norwegian naval escorts blocked initial attempts to board the ship, and aimed their torpedo tubes at the ''Cossack''. Captain Vian then asked the British Admiralty for instructions, and received the following orders directly from the First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill:

The British government made no particular objection to the fact of a prison ship traversing neutral waters. In fact, in official papers regarding the incident, they noted the fact that the Royal Navy had done the same, for example in December 1939, when the cruiser passed through the Panama Canal, which was neutral waters, with German prisoners aboard from the freighter ''Düsseldorf''. But the crew of the ''Altmark'' had gone hundreds of miles out of their way to make the long run through Norwegian waters to Germany. Besides, the Norwegian government had not permitted the Germans to transport prisoners through Norwegian waters (the ''Altmark'' having falsely claimed to be carrying none), nor had the crew been truthful regarding the nature of their cargo and voyage.

The Norwegian naval forces refused to take part in a joint escort, reiterating that their earlier searches of ''Altmark'' had found nothing. Vian then stated that he intended to board ''Altmark'' and invited the Norwegians to take part, but this was also refused. In the ensuing action, ''Altmark'' ran aground. The British then boarded her at 22:20 on 16 February, and – after some hand-to-hand fighting with bayonets – overwhelmed the ship's crew and went down to the hold. One of the released prisoners stated that the first they knew of the operation was when they heard the shout "any Englishmen here?" from the boarding party. When the prisoners shouted back "yes! We are all British!", the response was "well, the Navy's here!" which brought cheers.

This incident is frequently cited as the last Royal Navy action with cutlasses. However, the HMS ''Cossack'' Association do not believe this to be true. Barton and McGrath, the authors of ''British Naval Swords and Swordsmanship'', also think this is dubious, and point out that Frischauer and Jackson, authors of ''The Altmark Affair'', interviewed a large number of the crew, none of whom verified the use of cutlasses. Barton and McGrath suggest that idea may have originated from German accusations that the British were "sea-pirates". However, Jim Rhodes, a former crew member of ''Cossack'', wrote in the April 2002 newsletter of the Association that he had witnessed a cutlass being carried by one of the boarding party. Rhodes did not take part in the action, he watched from B Gun deck, and was not close enough to identify the cutlass holder. Rhodes stated that four cutlasses were kept on board for ceremonial purposes.

Seven German sailors were killed and eleven wounded during the fighting; six seriously. The German dead were buried in Sogndal Cemetery above Jøssingfjord. HMS ''Cossack'' left the Jøssingfjord just after midnight on 17 February. The Norwegian escorts protested, but did not intervene. The official explanation later given by the Norwegian government was that, according to international treaty, a neutral country was not obliged to resist a vastly superior force.

Aftermath

The Norwegians were angered that their neutrality had been infringed, as they did not want to be dragged into the war. Nonetheless, the ''Altmark'' incident sowed doubts about Norwegian neutrality among the Allies and in Germany. Hitler, who earlier had decided on 14 December 1939 on the invasion of Norway after discussions with Admiral Erich Raeder and Vidkun Quisling, ordered intensified planning on 19 February 1940 for attacks on Norway and Denmark, which eventually took place on 9 April 1940 under the code name Operation Weserübung. However, as noted by politician Maurice Hankey, the incident "does not seem to given Hitler the pretext he was seeking for launching an invasion of Norway."

The ''Altmark'' incident gave the British a short-lived but sorely needed morale boost during the Phoney War. The incident also had a lasting propaganda effect in German-occupied Norway during the war, when the Norwegian collaborationist government tried to neutralise their nickname " quislings" by using the location of the skirmish, Jøssingfjord, to coin the derogatory term "''jøssing''", referring to pro-Allies and anti-Nazis. Their efforts backfired, as "''jøssing''" was immediately adopted as a positive term by the general public, and the word was banned from official use by 1943.

The phrase "the Navy's here" became well-known in Britain, being used as the title of a book about the incident; the publisher referred to "the simple statement which stirred the imagination of the world". A popular song was written by Ross Parker and Hughie Charles which saluted the incident by comparing it with those of Drake, Nelson, Beatty, and Fisher.

References

Bibliography

* The American edition under the title ''The Altmark Affair''. Macmillan, New York 1955.
* Janusz Piekałkiewicz: Der Zweite Weltkrieg mit Vorwort von Sebastian Haffner. Düsseldorf 1985,

Further reading

* Martin A. Doherty:
The attack on the Altmark - A case study in wartime Propaganda
', ''Journal of Contemporary History'' 38/2003, pp. 187-200.
* Geirr H. Haarr
''The Gathering Storm – The Naval War In Europe September 1939 -April 1940''
(pp. 352-389.) Seaforth Publishing, Barnsley/UK 2013, . (only partly online)
*

External links

IWM Interview with Altmark prisoner William Melville-Evans

{{February 1940 shipwrecks

Maritime incidents in February 1940
British violations of the rights of neutral nations during World War II
European theatre of World War II
International maritime incidents
Sokndal
Naval battles of World War II involving Germany
February 1940 events
1940 in Norway