I am currently working on an AAM scenario depicting the May 1940 amphibious assault to recapture the town of Narvik, Norway. Part of this effort involves recreating the weaponry used by both the German and the Allied (British, French, Norwegian & Polish) forces. The vast majority of this is easily deduced by consulting books on the subject. But sometimes the written record is a bit vague on what was actually used. For example....
I have found accounts that say the Germans stripped some guns off of sunken destroyers and used them for their defense of the Narvik area. It is said they placed them on rail cars so that they could be moved about or hidden in RR tunnels. Up to now I could only guess what this might have looked like. But then I found an old newsreel from that time period that actually shows these guns mounted on rail cars. So now I'm trying to figure out what type of gun / caliber they might be. They came from either a type 1934 (Z2), 1934a (Z9, Z11, Z12, Z13) or 1936 (Z17, Z18, Z19, Z21, Z22) German Destroyer.
Please take a look at these photos and give me your best guess as to the type of gun and what caliber they might be.
This one is a bit tough. Mostly covered with only the barrel showing:
A smaller gun that was hidden in an RR tunnel and probably rolled out to fire. Might be a bit easier to identify in the close up shot.
The Germans only had 127mm guns on their destroyers.. They are the only ones they could be are those guns. But I do believe they may be Norwegian guns.
The Germans only had 127mm guns on their destroyers.. They are the only ones they could be are those guns. But I do believe they may be Norwegian guns.
That is very possible. There are plenty of accounts saying the Germans confiscated a lot of Norwegian weaponry in the Narvik area and used them for their own defense. I may have to look at what the Norwegians had in their inventory just before the German attack to deduce what the guns might be.
What I am looking for would have predated the preparations for the Atlantic Wall. The Germans invaded Norway in early April 1940. So I believe many of these guns were not there at that time. Although I could see the 105 mm gun being part of the Norwegian armies inventory.
Here is a quote from a Wikipedia article about the second naval battle of Narvik:
"....Although unsuited for combat in the mountainous terrain around Narvik, the shipwrecked sailors manned the two 10.5 cm (4.1 in) FlaK guns and the 11 light anti-aircraft guns salvaged from the ships sunk during the naval battles and conducted defensive operations.[5] The sailors were armed from the stocks captured at the Norwegian army base Elvegårdsmoen, more than 8,000 Krag-Jørgensen rifles and 315 machine guns intended for the mobilisation of Norwegian army units in the Narvik area.[41]...."
At least this gives me an idea of the type of gun salvaged and used.
I have a possible answer as to where some of the "...two 10.5 cm (4.1 in) FlaK guns and the 11 light anti-aircraft guns..." might have come from. I now believe some of these naval guns may have been salvaged from two Norwegian patrol boats (HNoMS Senja and HNoMS Michael Sars) that were located in Narvik Harbor on April 12 1940. They were both sunk while moored in Narvik Harbor. My evidence comes from the following:
This photo shows German Destroyer Z9 Wolfgang Zenker moored at a pier in Narvik along with two smaller vessels identified as Norwegian patrol boats. This is probably the Senja and Michael Sars. A passage on page 264 in the book "Hitler's Pre-Emptive War" mentions the Senja being sunk by a bomb dropped from a British Swordfish on April 12th 1940 while the Michael Sars was damaged and sank the next day. The destroyer in the foreground is Z17 Diether von Roeder.
Some of their armament may have been the source of the reported naval weaponry found later on RR cars defending Narvik.
Here is a picture of HNoMS Nordkapp which was a sister ship to the Senja
This ship looks very similar to the ship seen tied up at the pier behind the foreground pier.
I'm not sure, but this is all a fantastic read, love the old photos of this hardware. I do agree the ship at the pier on the backside of those destroyers does indeed look very similar to that Nordkapp.