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author: behemoth.

the arrows are flawless

(1) route to norway

at 9:15 pm on december 25, following boller's sailing order, all ships participating in "operation archery" left scapa flow and sailed towards norway against the monstrous waves of the north sea. just as they were sailing towards the shetland islands, the hulls of two assault transport ships with relatively poor seaworthiness were damaged, and seawater entered the interior of the hulls along some of the damage. under such circumstances, boller ordered the formation to slow down and all ships to do a good job of resisting wind and waves. the next morning, the formation arrived at the shetland islands. as a result of inspection, they found that the "prince charles" was seriously damaged, with more than 140 tons of water in the hull, and the bow of the ship had also sunk. the "prince leopold" was also seriously injured, with a dent in the superstructure. of course, in such an environment, the commandos on these two ships all suffered from severe seasickness and needed timely rest.

obviously, the condition of these two ships is no longer suitable for going to sea, and emergency repairs must be carried out. however, even the minimum maintenance required to ensure route safety takes considerable time. to make matters worse, the previous weather forecast was wrong, and the western wind ruthlessly swept the ships and the people on the ships. after weighing the pros and cons, the helpless boler was forced to give a 24-hour repair time, and accordingly, the start date of the operation was postponed by one day.

on christmas day, the personnel of the participating troops spent time in the shetland islands. it was not until 2 pm the next day that the ships that had completed repairs embarked on the journey again. this time, it was god's will. the wind and waves on the sea gradually calmed down, and the formation was finally able to arrive at kolovnin island (kolovnin island) under the guidance of the "tuna".Klovning Island) near the entrance of the fjord, it was exactly 7:39 in the morning on the 27th, only 1 minute later than originally planned. a norwegian pilot on the bridge of the "kenya" led the formation into the fjord. after that, people on the ship heard the roar of engines in the distance. the "hampton" from the 50th squadron had already it flew over their heads and flew directly towards the nearby islands. these bombers flew through the fjords and cliffs at low altitudes, bombing some german coastal defense artillery positions, and hoping to attract the attention of the germans, so that böhler's formation could escape the attention of the germans. this tactic did produce good results. the german anti-aircraft guns kept firing at the bomber group, and the artillery shells drew countless flashing trajectories in the sky. however, it was impossible for such a huge formation to completely avoid the sight of the german army. just as it was passing through herswag (Husevaag), a nearby german observation post discovered the formation and immediately reported it to the german port command on south vagso island. however, the command personnel were overconfident and mistook the formation for their own coastal transport fleet, so no alarm was issued.

when they were about to reach the target, the ships in the formation began to disperse and find their respective positions according to the predetermined plan. "kenya" led "onslow" and "offa" to the outskirts of malloy island and occupied the predetermined shore bombardment area. among them, "onslow" and "offa" were respectively located in "kenya" "'s starboard side and aft side. as for other ships, the "antelope" has been guarding the entrance of the fjord to prevent german ships from intruding, while the "chiddingfold" escorted two transport ships to prepare for the transfer point south of hollewijk. the landing troops were released. during this process, the two transport ships began preparations for landing. the commandos followed the steps of previous training and boarded their respective landing craft in turn. then at 8:35 in the morning, all personnel were on board. the two transport ships sent signals to boller, who was stationed on the "kenya", telling him that everything was ready. boller responded and asked the transport ship to release the landing craft immediately. , all landing craft were released at 8:42. after that, the landing craft group divided into two groups. the landing craft released from the "prince charles" sailed directly north to attack south vagso island, while the landing craft released from the "prince leopold" sailed south. preparing for landing at malloy island.

figure 1. commandos preparing grenades on the transport ship

figure 2. commandos boarding the landing craft on the "prince leopold" and preparing to land.

(2) the first wave of offensive

just as the landing troops rushed towards wageso island and malloy island, the "kenya" and other ships were also ready for shore bombardment. in the faint morning light, the outline of the island has gradually been revealed. at 8:48, the "kenya" fired several rounds of flares, illuminating the distant scenery extremely brightly. immediately, the two front main turrets of the "kenya" began to suppress the target with fire. since the hull was facing the island at this time, the rear main battery turret was unable to exert firepower. therefore, the captain of the "kenya" ordered the entire ship to adjust its course in order to meet the enemy from the side and launch a salvo of all main guns at the target. the german coastal defense artillery positions and other fortification buildings were covered by artillery fire, thick smoke was everywhere, and balls of scarlet fireballs shot out. later, "onslow" and "offa" also joined in, using their main guns to conduct shore bombardment against predetermined targets. however, just after experiencing the initial shock and confusion, the german army had fully reacted. the previously bombed lugasando (Rugsundo)'s coastal defense battery positions also came to life, and shells began to fall on the british. due to proper concealment, one coastal defense gun escaped the "hampton" bombing in the previous bombing. just after the british bombers left, the gun crew members returned to their positions from the shelter and began to tilt toward the british ships. firepower. not only the landing craft, but even the "kenya" became their target. although the german artillery fire seemed a bit sparse, it still posed a threat to the british operations. therefore, the "kenya" turned its guns and fired several salvos at this artillery position, which quickly silenced the german artillery. the british army's firepower became more intense. in just 9 minutes, 20 main guns from three ships fired 400 rounds.

under the cover of artillery fire, the landing troops gradually approached the planned landing point. the first to land was clements (Clements) the 1st assault group commanded by captain, they completed the landing on a rocky coast near hollevik, and then began to search for nearby artillery positions. afterwards, the landing craft carrying dunford-slater himself and the 2nd assault group also approached the scheduled landing beach on south vagso island. as the british artillery shells were getting closer and closer to them, in order to prevent accidental damage, dunford-slater, who was sitting on the pilot boat, pulled out his flare gun and fired 10 flares into the sky. the flare traced a low arc across the sky, then exploded into bright red bursts of light. according to prior regulations, just after 10 flares are fired, the navy's shore bombardment will stop immediately, and the bombers will conduct their last air support and then return to the base. soon, seven "hamptons" approached malloy and vagso islands at low altitude and dropped dozens of phosphorus-containing bombs. after these bombs exploded, they emitted a large amount of smoke. suddenly, the visibility on the battlefield was greatly reduced, and the german soldiers who poured into the position to block the attack could not see the british landing craft at all. with the help of the smoke screen, the british landing craft began to land smoothly.

figure 3. under the cover of smoke screen, british commandos braved german artillery fire to land. the person near them was holding a "lee enfield" rifle with a bayonet, and the person squatting in the middle was holding a "bren" light machine gun.

figure 4. british commandos breaking into south vagso island

just when everything was going smoothly, something unexpected happened. during the bombing process, a "hampton" bombing south vagso island was hit by german anti-aircraft fire. after struggling to fly for a period of time, the aircraft crashed in the fjord, near the "leopold" the lookout post of the "prince" discovered the fallen "hampton" and immediately called for support. subsequently, the crew lowered the lifeboat, managed to approach the wreckage of the aircraft, and rescued three crew members. the whereabouts of another crew member are unknown. however, due to excessive injuries and other reasons, two of them died after unsuccessful rescue efforts. pilot smith (Smith) sergeant was rescued. however, just before crashing, the unlucky "hampton" mistakenly dropped bombs into the landing craft group. one of them hit a landing craft carrying the commandos of the 4th commando group. after the explosion, burning phosphorus scattered everywhere. a fire broke out on the boat, killing two people on the spot, except for crovo, who jumped into the sea in time to escape when he saw the bomb falling.Komrower), almost everyone else was injured to varying degrees. after that, the fire on the landing craft grew larger and larger, became uncontrollable, and spread to the ammunition storage area on the boat, causing some ammunition to explode. suddenly, flames shot into the sky and debris flew everywhere. just as everyone was trying to escape, the bottom of the landing craft touched the beach and stopped sinking. however, crovo's legs, which had been clinging to the hull of the boat, were pinned down and unable to move. all the commandos who were still able to move supported their injured companions and left this small hell on earth with difficulty. in addition to this boat, several surrounding boats were also affected and burst into flames to varying degrees.

dunford-slater's landing craft escaped the disaster and finally landed on a rocky beach about 220 yards southwest of the village. just after landing, in order to avoid the sight of the german army. dunford-slater led his troops to hide at the foot of a rocky mountain. at this moment, a bomb hit the rocky mountain, and the flying phosphorus fell on his coat and ignited it. he had to take off his coat immediately and managed to extinguish the flames on his coat. at this time, the landing craft that had been hit before was still parked near the beach, seriously hindering the landing of subsequent troops. dunford-slater immediately ordered the landing craft to be pushed off the beach, and then organized treatment for the wounded. some of them were later acquired by 3rd commando medical officer corey (Corry) were treated by the captain, while some of the seriously injured wounded returned to the transport ship on the landing craft.