page_title: Operation Claymore
section_title: Landings
hierarchical_section_title: Operation Claymore / Landings
caption_attribution_description: English: The Arrival at Lofoten - 4th March 1941 image: Troops disembarking via a ladder from a landing craft at the dockside. A rowing boat is drawn up alongside. Dockers, sailors and civilians look on; one is waving a Norwegian flag. Two men look out from the first floor of a large timber faced warehouse building standing on stilts immediately behind the quayside. Barrels, rope and crates litter the side. Other Norwegian flags are flown from fishing boats in an adjacent quay.
context_page_description: Operation Claymore was a British commando raid on the Norwegian Lofoten Islands during the Second World War. The Lofoten Islands were an important centre for the production of fish oil and glycerine, used in the German war economy. The landings were carried out on 4 March 1941, by the men of No. 3 Commando, No. 4 Commando, a Royal Engineers section and 52 men from the Norwegian Independent Company 1. Supported by the 6th Destroyer Flotilla and two troop transports of the Royal Navy, the force made an unopposed landing and generally continued to meet no opposition. The original plan was to avoid contact with German forces and inflict the maximum of damage to German-controlled industry. They achieved their objective of destroying fish oil factories and some 3,600 t of oil and glycerine. The British experienced only one accident; an officer injuring himself with his own revolver and returned with some 228 German prisoners, 314 loyal Norwegian volunteers and a number of Quisling regime collaborators.
  Through naval gunfire and demolition parties, 18,000 tons of shipping were sunk.
context_section_description: The naval task force known by the codename Rebel left Scapa Flow and headed towards the Faroes. They berthed in the Skálafjørður at 19:00 hours 1 March 1941 to take on fuel. Refuelling took five hours and the naval task force set out again heading northwards towards the Arctic to avoid detection by German air and sea patrols. They then turned east and headed towards Norway. They arrived at the Lofoten Islands during the early morning of 4 March 1941, just before 04:00 hours. Entering the Vestfjorden they were surprised to see all the harbour navigational lights illuminated, which they believed to be a sign that they were not expected and had achieved complete surprise.
  During the planning for the operation, plans were drawn up that called for simultaneous landings at all their targets at 06:30 hours, but on arrival, they decided to postpone the landings by 15 minutes so they would not be landing in total darkness. When they did commence to disembark the landing force, they were all ashore by 06:50 hours. On shore, the landing force commenced their operations unopposed. The only German shots fired were by the armed trawler Krebs, which managed to fire four rounds at HMS Somali before being sunk.  Other ships sunk by the landing forces were the merchant ships Hamburg, Pasajes, Felix, Mira, Eilenau, Rissen, Andø, Grotto, and Bernhard Schulte, which amounted to 18,000 tons of shipping.
  The force that landed at Stamsund destroyed the Lofotens Cod Boiling Plant. Two factories were destroyed at Henningsvær and 13 at Svolvær. In total, about 800,000 imperial gallons (3,600 m³) of fish oil, paraffin were set on fire. They captured 228 prisoners of war, seven from the Kriegsmarine, three from the Heer, 15 from the Luftwaffe, two from the Schutzstaffel, 147 from the Merchant Navy and 14 civilians.
  Perhaps the most significant result of the raid was the capture of a set of rotor wheels for an Enigma cypher machine, and its code books. These were rescued from the sinking Krebs, although her commander, Lieutenant Hans Kupfinger, threw his machine (one of three known to be on the island) overboard minutes before he was killed. Documents found disclosed the Kriegsmarine Home Waters key for February and also helped solve the April traffic which was sent between 1 March and 10 May.
  Their capture enabled Bletchley Park to read all the German naval codes for some time and provided the intelligence needed to allow Allied convoys to avoid U-boat concentrations. By 13:00 hours, both the infantry landing ships Princess Beatrix and Queen Emma had embarked all their troops and were ready to sail. With them came 300 volunteers for the Free Norwegian Forces in Britain.
caption: Arrival at Lofoten on 4 March 1941
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