The famous quote of Col Eriksen was " I will either be decorated or I will be court martialed , Fire!" he was of course a great man and a hero to my nation

The sinking of the Blucher was a major embarrassment for Germany. Here was one of their newest ships being destroyed by old weapons that had been supplied by Germany itself some 40 years earlier. The 11-inch cannons the fortress had were 1898 Krupp's, ancestors to the 8-inch guns used on the Blucher. The torpedoes, as mentioned by another commenter, were old Whitehead's that just days earlier had been used solely for training. They didn't even know if the torpedoes were going to work when they put the warheads back in them. Adding to the embarrassment was that this fortress was used solely for training up to that point. Nearly everyone there was a barely trained recruit. They didn't even know how to reload the guns as I recall, hence why each cannon fired only once.

Man, the music when the Norwegian Army (?) searchlight catches the Blücher... the music was spot-on with how ominous and tense this was for everyone.

King's Choice is a great film, and it's interesting to see the perspective of the King throughout the film. King Haakon was not born to be crowned king originally. If you didn't know, Norway is a fairly young nation in its current incarnation. Yes it's an old country, but ever since the middle ages it's been ruled by its neighbors. In 1905, only 35 years before Germany invaded, Norway gained independence after the dissolution of the union with Sweden and they offered a Danish prince the crown. A king chosen by the people. The Norwegian people stood no chance against Nazi Germany, but I think that gaining independence and sovereignty within living memory gave a lot of heart to the people standing up to the invasion. And with that in mind, imagine being chosen to be King of another country's people, accepting them as your own as they accepted you as their own, have a family there, and now to face the ultimatum of giving it up to an invading force while the people fight for king and country..

So the full story is that due to Norway's neutral stance in the prospects of the war, the fort had standing orders to only shoot warning shots if encroached upon - as at the time Germany was very interested in invading Norway for its resources and because of its coastline as a strategic point, and the British was very keen to invade to basically rob the Germans of their objective. Therefore, on the night of the 9. of April, due to the darkness, heavy fog and due to the ships not flying any identifying colors, they did not know whether it was the Germans or the British coming up the fjord. The Germans had been basically promised by their Norwegian collaborators that if there was to be an invasion, due to Norway's standing orders of neutrality, they would have ample time to take the major cities, capture the royal family and create a sympathetic puppet government - and due to the nature of the battery's current role as a training facility more than an active defensive position, they should have little trouble getting into Oslo. On that night, Col. Birger Eriksen received radio chatter from posts and patrol boats out in the mouth of the fjord that a huge flotilla of multiple large ships had been seen in the early hours heading in towards Oslo up the fjord, though their affiliation could not be confirmed. Eriksen then orders for the request for permission to open fire on the unknown ships to be sent to military high command, and orders his men to load the guns. He will not be receiving the answer to his request, and due to the fortress/battery currently only being used as a training facility he is low on manpower, and what little men he has is either recruits or pensioners/veterans acting as instructors. This logistical problem means that he only has the manpower to man and load 2 of the battery's 3 south turned canons, and that it will not be possible for them to reload due to most of the men crewing the guns themselves. Eriksen calls and wakes up the retired torpedo battery commander to load and man the battery, a battery the Germans have not been informed of. As the time passes by, they see the shapes of the ships appear, and though multiple attempts to radio them and order them to turn about is made, there is no reply - they just continue onwards. This is when Eriksen decides to go against his orders and orders the guns to take aim at the ship leading the flotilla, to which we have the famous lines "Do we shoot warning shots?" "No warning, no hesitation - these are enemies!" and as the guns find their target, Eriksen turns to his second officer and is said to have uttered a cooler line that wasn't included in the movie, he turns and says "Either I'll be decorated or court-martialed, either way it's on my command - now Fire!" The guns hit key targets, the first striking near the bridge taking out the Germans ranging and targeting equipment, the second striking lower into a fuel depot, bursting open and setting a good portion of the ship ablaze. Due to the loss of the ranging tech, the Germans could no accurately identify where the shots had come from or if there was more coming, so they started firing blindly back into the darkness, trying to move past the fort as quickly as they could in fear of more canon fire, right into the range of the torpedo battery that they had not been informed about. Getting hit by 2 torpedos as they passed by, the second torpedo hitting midships tearing up the bulkhead and destroying the laboard enginge compartments, Blücher was taking on heavy water with reduced ability to steer, and the call was made to abandon ship - the ship itself drifted a few more kilometers past the fort into the fjord before going down. The flotilla behind the Blücher had completely stopped in its tracks, not only from seeing what happened to the lead vessel, but also being repelled by 2 smaller shore batteries on the eastern side of the fjord, dealing out significant damage despite the difference in their "weightclass" between battery and ship. The invasion of Oslo had been halted, for the moment, and this pause in the German attack plan gave the royal family as well as the seated government time to flee the capital and get out before the Germans finally arrived. In the meantime, Oscarsborg and the surrounding shore batteries were bombed to hell by German Luftwaffe before the flotilla resumed their journey through the straight and reaching the capital.

The guns "Aron" and "Moses" as seen in the video and even on location I might add are 280mm (28cm) Krupp (German manufacturer) built in the 1890s and installed in 1896. The crew on cannon number two were chefs, cleaners and other personnel with no military training whatsoever. Crew on cannon number 1 consisted mostly of 1 week old recruits and some trained personnel. The guns were loaded 1 hour before the Blucher arrived even tho Norway knew of the invasion force for 48 hours. Also the cannons were loaded unwillingly by the crews because it might make too much noise in the middle of the night, and nighttime is for sleeping that type of deal, because Oscarsborg being an Island fortress it was mostly underfunded and used by recruits as a training camp, the two other "modern" batteries down south missed the attackgroup but fired some shots towards them. The torpedo battery was bought in 1901 from Austria Hungary a country that stopped existing in 1918. The torpedoes used was 40 year old Whitehead Mark 3 torpedoes (also used by the USA) The commander of the torpedo battery was sick so they got a pensioner to man the battery, but this pensioner had been the Captain of the Torpedo battery from 1910-1928 and he was the only person who had any experience with the torpedo battery on the whole island and started to teach the 1 week old recruits on how to operate it, it was also a secret weapon because it was built into the rock and the torpedoes was launched inside the rock under the waterline, kinda complex system. After the sinking Luftwaffe bombed Oscarsborg fortress for like 24 hours straight flying volleys of 40 planes with short brakes bombing it constantly, no one died because this fortress was built even before the civil war in America 1848 and was in service to 2002. Some more stuff in Norway.... Anyone want to see a battleship on land? We have the «Gneisenau» turret at Austrått fort. Also anyone wanted to see the Bismarck? Yes Norway got that too, we have the last surviving main battery gun that was the same model as the Bismarck and the Tirpitz had, Tirpitz is still laying in a fjord up north but it is broken down for scrap. The main battery gun name is " 38 cm SK C/34 " and is at Møvik Fort it got a nice paintjob in later years. (nice casemate there too) Also you want something bigger than the Bismarck? We got that too you have to google "H-class battleship proposals" to see what this gun is, it was supposed to be fitted to the new H-class battleship bigger than the Yamato even, German gigantism they did it with the Maus and the 800mm (80cm) Dora Railway Cannon and the Karl Thor 600mm mortar. Anyways it is the Trondenes fort, "40.6 cm SK C/34" gun we have 4 of this one. 3 others got scrapped.

Fun fact the torpedoes sinking the Blücher were 40-year-old Whitehead torpedo weapons of Austro-Hungarian manufacture. "The Battles of Narvik - 3 battles, 3 sides, 1 week" By the KZfaqr Drachinifel is recommended maybe a bit too long for a reaction but might do you good in recovering through joyous learning.

the most terrifying part of this is the Norwegians didn't know who they were shooting at whether it was British or German. they could have been on either side of the war depending on whose ships sailed up that fjord first

Not counting Russia, Norway resisted the German invasion for the longest time (about two months) before capitulating.

The torpedo battery hidden inside the island was unknown to the germans and even kept secret well into the 1960ies. They only launched once in anger and that was this early morning of april 9th. The torpedos were 40 years old and had been run several times for exercise. They were sunk into the water by a lift and launched. Both made exellent hits punching through the side armour in two places and giving Blücher her death blow.

83 years ago, an event took place that will forever tie Rijeka and Croatia to Norwegian history. 07. Apr 2020 In the early hours of 9 April 1940, Blücher - the flagship of the navy of Nazi Germany - reached the fjord just outside Oslo. It was transporting the forces that were tasked with invading Norway. The German plan was to surprise the Norwegian defence forces and quickly obtain control over Oslo, capture the royal family and install their own regime. One hurdle on the way into the heart of Oslo, was the Oscarsborg fortress. The Germans knew of it from before and that it had antiquated guns. But they had no knowledge of its hidden underwater torpedo battery. A natural cave had been enlarged and enhanced with three chambers loaded with torpedoes produced in Rijeka, Croatia. The Blücher unwittingly passed with 500 m of the torpedo battery. Two torpedoes were launched towards the target. What followed were some of the most dramatic hours in Norwegian history. The torpedoes sunk the ship and simultaneously severely damaging other ships in the German fleet. This delayed the Germans' arrival to Oslo. It allowed for the King, his family and the government to avoid captivity and continue to run the resistance from exile in London. All made possible because of torpedoes from Rijeka. This drama is captured in the movie “The King’s Choice” directed by Erik Poppe.

I am from Germany. My Grandfather served on the Heavy Cruiser Blücher. He survived the sinking and told me many Jears later the Story on this Night

What the Germans learned in those engagement is that it doesn’t matter if you’re shiny new cruiser still has that new car smell or not-Getting hit by antique 11” naval rifles & heavy torpedos HURTS. And if you’re traversing a passage so narrow that the only range is point blank & there’s no room to dodge it doesn’t matter much if the weapons are antiques.

Fun fact: The Colonel Birger Eriksen, is played by the father of Tormund Giantsbane frome Game of Thrones.

Some extra info for you in regards to the importance of Blücher, the German troops that were meant to capture the Norwegian royal family was aboard her. Because of this it allowed the royal family to escape to Sweden and finally make their way to Great Brittain. Norway also fought the Wehrmacht for 62 days before capitulating, the longest anyone had held the germans up until that point and only the Soviet Union lasted longer. The allies also gained the services of the Norwegian merchant navy, the fourth largest at the time. Another Norwegian movie that might be of interest is Max Manus, it follows the actions of Norway's most famous resistance fighter during the occupation.

Of all the countries that was taken by Germany, Norway was the only country that lasted the longest when the war started. No other country lasted as long as Norway, and that is incredible considering the low population of Norway

Norway was actually the country that fought the longest before they was captured.

Thanks for reacting and giving your insights. This event went down in history as one of the biggest contributors to the slowing down of the German invasion of my nation

This scene is so good the Norwegians really showed the Germans that it won’t be so easy to conquer them and they proved it. Also love the Norwegian language so nice.

The importance of this single decision cannot be understated. By delaying the fleet whose primary purpose was to capture the King and Government of Norway, had an effect on the outcome of the war that can never be measured. Norway, with the King in exile and defiant to the Nazi regime, was able to make the largest, and most modern fleet of oil tankers in the world (at the time) available to the allied cause. Add to that, the destruction of German "Heavy Water" production - based in Norway, along with the vast majority of "Heavy Water" stocks, crippled German nuclear research. All because 1 man knew his duty and had the courage to act.

The masked ships which were German, the Norwegians didn’t know if they were French British etc, but they had plenty of warning through the other forts up the line, so they knew they had to fire because they were not going to stop until they got to the capital. Sinking the highest tech heavy nazi cruiser with basically 1890’s tech (I believe I could be wrong) is nothing shy of admirable, what a man, a time where men were men.

The colonel is a nasjonal hero here 🔥

in this film sp you see that it is one of the cannons that hits which again makes Blucher sink, And it is a cannon that hits with two grenades and there is then no time to reload as this film shows because it took them 15 minutes to recharge. The torpedo battery was also located at Oscarsborg. the guns on this fort were from around 1890 so these were outdated and the torpedoes were not from 1939 either, the torpedoes were just upgraded. you can follow Oscarsborg museums here on KZfaq

The torpedos used were actually pre ww1 made from the Austrian Hungarian empire and given to the Norwegians

The British torpedoes were made in the late 1800s. A 50+ year old Torp brought down a WW1 super vessel. Wild.

My grandfather fought against the Kriegsmarine on the sea during 1942-43. But he got injured and couldn't do it anymore. So he had to retired. But I am proud of him defending our country.

What that Colonel did bought time for the King and his Cabinet to escape to Britain. Not only that, they took Norway's gold reserves with them. This essentially left the Germans the collaborator government with absolutely no money. Also, this event completely humiliated a man by the name of Vikin Quisling who would later become a right hand man and Marshall for Norway for the Nazis. Quisling was known as the biggest traitor and a collaborator of World War 2. Even today in Norway, if someone calls you a Quisling, it means they are calling you a traitor. In short, to be a Quisling is to be a Judas. Anyway, when the war ended, Quisling tried to make peace with the king's government. He was sent a quick reply of "turn yourself in or we will find you and take you by force". A dazed and confused Quisling surrendered at an Oslo police station. He would later be found guilty in court and executed for his actions.

I love how the Norwegians destroyed the Blücher with an outdated gun too. lol

With the German fleet steaming up the fiord with their lights off in the wee hours of the morning before dawn wasn't very bright, as peaceful ships lights would be lit... I believe that was a factor for Eriksen deciding to fire the big guns...

Very nice to know what theyre saying

Good thing the brunette’s in ABBA father was not on the Blücher or we would never have gotten some great 70s pop music

And those were old torpedoes as well.

Very good film along with other hidden jems on the other side of the war such as warriors of the rainbow, my way, (japanese invasion of Manchuria)

U should watch te movie Max Manus, its amazing

Have you watched Sevastopol yet? is good like this.

If you like Battleships, you should react to "Navals Legends" Great video with great models of the ships, details of their armour, caliber, speed and history: -"Naval Legends: Yamato. The largest battleship ever built" :kzfaq.info/get/bejne/sL-inZaY377LlXU.html "Naval Legends: Bismarck": kzfaq.info/get/bejne/bbFpda2Z0dqUqqM.html

It's actually 2017

Umm.. Norway is landlocked with Europe xD I mean... like the whole right side of the country borders Sweden, Finland and Russia.. They dont share a landborder with Germany I think you mean.. But they did have troop on trains coming in from Sweden also (Germany into Denmark into Sweden to Norway), as its connected by bridges there and very possible to drive

1:25 is when the video starts

i really reccomend the movie.

este ataque fue real pero si yo hubiera estado al mando de esa batería al primer buque de guerra alemán lo hubiera atacado atacado con los dos torpedos y con los dos cañones al segundo este es el camino

They would of fired on a British ship has well no hesitation 😅 Churchill prob dragged norway into the war tbo he was war crazy just like hitler

Lack of Nazi German intel about torpedoes, ment nazi Germany didnt think this fortress had torpedoes. Big mistake. This scene alone shows how important secretcy is when it comes to military. Nato today have allmost forgot all of this.... Saying productions of rounds to media as example...

Du gehörst wohl auch zu den Wichtigstuern auf KZfaq, die was kommentieren müssen. Dazu ein Amerikaner der von nichts eine Ahnung hat.