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Aviation History
1940
1940 - 1472.PDF
464 MAY ib, 1940 in the Am Total War Starts : Holland and Belgium Invaded : Norwegian Evacuation Debated in Parliament MR. CHAMBERLAIN, Prime Minister, made hispromised statement on the Norwegian campaign toa crowded House of Commons on Tuesday, May 7 th. He said that when he spoke last Thursday he could give only an incomplete account of the operations in Southern Norway, because we still had to withdraw troops from Namsos. That was bound to be even more dangerous than the withdrawal from Aandalsnes, both on account of the larger number of men to be taken off ancL of the fact that it would be possible for the Germans to bring there the whole available force of their bombers. Now he was able once again to pay his tributes to the very remarkable skill of our naval and military forces who managed to effect a withdrawal in the course of one single short night with- out suffering any loss in the operation. The danger which they were running was illustrated by the fact that early on the following morning the Germans discovered that the troops were returning in their ships, and they sent a force of some 50 bombers to attack them. Considering that this convoy was outside the range of our fighters and that it had to depend, therefore, solely upon the anti-aircraft fire of the ships, we might count ourselves fortunate that we did not lose more than one British and one French destroyer. The men from Namsos and those from Aandalsnes were now back again, and the campaign in Southern Norway was at an end. He then went on to point out that no very large forces were involved, in fact, just over a division, and these were just an arrowhead to hold strategic points until a regular striking force arrived. The local air superiority of the Germans, owing to them holding all the established air bases, rendered the maintenance of our lines of communi- cation impossible and the decision, rightly or wrongly, was made to withdraw the troops from the Namsos and Aandalsnes areas. The striking force was never sent. * Reason for Failure T ASTLY, there was the question: Was it right, when -*-' we had decided that our operations could not capture Trondheim, to withdraw, or could we have reinforced those we had already in Norway while they were making their further attempt? He believed it was right to make the first attempt and equally right to withdraw troops when it was clear that the plan would not succeed. The failure of the plan was due to two factors. First, our inability to secure aerodromes from which to operate our fast fighters ; secondly, the rapid arrival of German rein- forcements. We always believed that if our troops could get ashore they would not suffer heavy casualties from the air, and, in fact, that proved to be the case. But the absence of fighters enabled the enemy to attack our com- munications and hindered reinforcements, while his own land communications enabled him to bring up an ever- increasing superiority of strength. It became clear to us that we could only maintain our forces in the Trondheim region by such a concentration of men and materials and aircraft as would have drawn off altogether an undue proportion of our total resources, and in these circumstances we decided that we could carry on the campaign in Norway elsewhere with greater vigour and effect. So, thanks to the skill and courage of all three Services, we successfully withdrew all our forces from the Trondheim area. In the debate which followed, the Air Minister, Sir Samuel Hoare, outlined the work of the bomber squadrons in attacking the enemy aerodromes in Norway, Denmark and Germany, and went on in these words to describe the wonderful effort made by a squadron of Gladiators to estab- lish themselves on a frozen lake. It was a story of fine achievement which should dispose of the rumour that owing to bad management the machines had no opportunity to operate. Reconnaissance parties were sent out with the first troops that went to Aandalshes to search for level ground which could be used as landing places for aircraft. Mr. Morrison had asked why searches were not made before. One reason was that the only level spaces in the neighbourhood were frozen lakes, and as the thaw was beginning it was impossible to say a day or two before whether a particular lake would take aircraft. One suitable lake was found, which was swept clear of snow to form a runway, and the necessary supplies of Some views secured by British Paramount News at the Frenchbombing school at Cazaux. At the top practice bombs are being loaded ; the second view shows a formation of Amiots,which are used as instructional aircraft; and finally live bombs are leaving the wing racks.
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