Battle of Narvik april 9th . 1940

[StarLion45]

BATTLE OF NARVIK
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PANZERSHIP " EIDSVOLD " SINK !
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When that german " Narvik group " with the " Zerstörer Wilhelm-Heidkamp " in the front of the group at 0310 (am) April 9th . 1940
with 30 knots speed heading in to the "Ofotfjord" , was it almost day ......


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Panzership " Eidsvold " was ready for fight outside the harbour of Narvik .
Exitement aboard the ship was intense .
It was heavy snow over the fjord , and the watchout was stearing very carefully
into the snowy darkness . Suddently two german " Zerstörers " comes out of the snow only 300-400 meters from the ship .
CommanderCaptain Willoch aboard the " Eidsvold " gave immediately order to give signal , but when the german " Zerstörers " not responsed the signals , gave CmdrCaptain Willoch order to fire one warning shot .

The german Commander aboard on the " Zerstörer " Commodore Bonte , signal back with the answer : " I'll send boat with officer ".
When that motorboat arrived " Eidsvold " with the KorvettenKapitan Gerlach aboard , he come with the usual phrase : " We come as friends " .
And he adviced the Cmdr Willoch to surrender the ship " Eidsvold " without a fight .
Cmdr Willoch asked for 10 minutes , but this was not granted and the KorvettenKapitan Gerlach leaved the ship " Eidsvold " immediately .

Immediately after the meeting , Cmdr Willoch connected him self with his boss
on the Panzership " Norge " Cmdr Askim , and report was what happen . Cmdr Askim
then answered him back short , with the order to open fire .
KorvettenKapitan Gerlach was again aboard on the Panzership " Eidsvold " and
meeting Cmdr willoch who then gave him the message that he had the order to open fire . KorvettenKapitan Gerlach then saluted him , and leaved the " Eidsvold ".
Right after , Cmdr Willoch was running to the command bridge and called out :
" Man the battlestations , now we're gonna fight boys " !
In the meanwhile that german Zerstörer Z-21 " Wilhelm-Heidkamp " had went
behind , and around the " Eidsvold " , and was now at babord bow ofrom the
"Eidsvold " 700 meters away . And was ready to launch out his torpedoes .

Aboard on the " Eidsvold " it was given the order " halfspeed ahead " toward "
" wilhelm-Heidkamp " , and the order to open fire was given . Before the crew
on the " Eidsvold " was ready to shoot , theywas hit of 3 torpedoes with devastiting effects .

Then some nervous minutes followed .

" The Panzership " Eidsvold " turned slowly their huge cannon towers against us ,
and we steared nervous on this cannons , but nothing happened " ,
wrote a german .
3 torpedoes hit the " Eidsvold " , one torpedo hit the forward ship , one hit midship,
and the third one hit the sternship followed of an huge explosion .
It looks like they hit the ammunition area , because the forward ship went down first in 15 seconds .
The last that been seen of the Panzership " Eidsvold " before it disapeared , was the stern ship , sunk right into the deep . The clock was then 04.47 (am) .
Of the crew , wa only six men rescued , the other crew of 175 went down with the ship ......