Capture of Egersund The Capture of Egersund took place on 9 April 1940 , and saw German soldiers of a bicycle squadron land at the Norwegian port town of Egersund , as part of the German invasion of Norway during the Second World War . The Germans seized the town without armed resistance , capturing the small Norwegian army and navy force there and achieving their main objective of cutting the undersea telegraph cable between Norway and the United Kingdom . By seizing control of Egersund , the Germans created one of several invasion beachhead s in Norway . The landing at Egersund was an important factor in making Norwegian forces in the county of Rogaland pull back from the coast and confront the invading Germans further inland . By cementing their control of the Rogaland coastline , the Germans were free to use Stavanger Airport , Sola , as an important base for Luftwaffe operations in Norway . Although the civilian population of Egersund initially reacted calmly to the German invasion , panic broke out the following day and led to a mass exodus from the town , after unfounded rumours began to circulate about an incoming British bomber raid . Background . Following the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939 , Norway declared herself neutral . Norwegian neutrality was repeatedly violated by both warring parties , including by way of German U - boat attacks on shipping within Norwegian territorial waters . The Norwegian Armed Forces were ill - equipped , only partially mobilized , and unable to efficiently protect Norwegian neutrality . On 17 February 1940 , the day after the Altmark Incident , where the British Royal Navy had ignored Norwegian neutrality in an operation to rescue 299 captive British sailors from the German auxiliary " Altmark " in Norwegian territorial waters , Adolf Hitler ordered the invasion of Norway . Hitler gave as his reasons for carrying out the invasion a need to pre - empt a potential British landing in Norway , to secure the iron ore and other natural resources originating in or being supplied through Norway , and to secure Germany ' s northern flank and giving the Kriegsmarine easy access to the Atlantic Ocean . General Nikolaus von Falkenhorst was given overall command of the invasion of Norway . Prelude . When General von Falkenhorst delivered the initial plans for the invasions of Norway and Denmark to Hitler , on 29 February 1940 , Egersund had been selected as one of the Norwegian targets for the first day . Egersund was considered important to secure because of the town having the Norwegian land station for an undersea telegraph cable from Norway to Peterhead , Scotland . By severing Norway ' s links with the outside world , the Germans intended to inhibit Allied intelligence from gaining information on the German invasion . It would also aid the Germans in gaining control of Norway ' s communications , and in using those communications to pacify the population and discourage resistance . Further , the German planners feared that the good harbour at Egersund , if left unoccupied , could be used by Norwegian or Allied troops to attack Stavanger Airport , Sola , an airport which featured prominently in the German invasion plans . The town was to be seized by " Gruppe 6 " , the smallest of the six German invasion flotillas . " Gruppe 6 " , which had been assembled at Cuxhaven , set sail for Norway at 05 : 45 on 8 April . Before they had set off towards Norway , the troops in the Egersund force had been told that the German forces would be " received as friends " by the Norwegian people . On the way north , " Gruppe 6 " accompanied the minesweepers and minelayers of the two " Gruppen " detailed to capture Denmark . Off the coast of Denmark , " Gruppe 6 " proceeded alone in the direction of Norway in heavy wind and poor visibility . By the early hours of 9 April , the ships of " Gruppe 6 " lost contact with each other , with and managing to stay together in the fog and push on in the direction of Egersund . Opposing forces . German . The force employed by the Germans against Egersund consisted of four M class minesweepers , carrying the 150 soldiers of the bicycle squadron of Reconnaissance Unit 169 , under the command of " Rittmeister " Friedrich Eickhorn . The bicycle unit , belonging to the 69th Infantry Division , had been transported by train from their base in Stettin to the port of Cuxhaven on 7 April 1940 . Of the four minesweepers , " M - 1 " belonged to the 1st Minesweeper Flotilla , while , " M - 9 " and sorted under the 2nd Minesweeper Flotilla . " Korvettenkapitän " Kurt Thoma commanded the flotilla from " M - 9 " . The minesweepers were manned by a total of 328 officers and men . Norwegian . Based at Egersund was the torpedo boat , an 84 - ton 2 . class torpedo boat launched in 1906 . The modern " Sleipner " class destroyer was also based at Egersund , but on 9 April the destroyer was absent on an escort mission to Kristiansand . On 8 April " Skarv " had been ordered to observe increased readiness . " Skarv " was under the command of Sub - lieutenant Hjalmar Svae and had a crew of 17 officers and men . Sub - lieutenant Svae had requested permission to patrol the approaches to the port , but had been instructed by his superiors to stay in the harbour . Egersund was not a garrison town , and had no permanent army presence , but on 8 April 1940 a 36 - man Jeger platoon under the command of Captain Carsten Dehli was ordered to move into the town . The unit relocated from Madlamoen Army Camp in the late evening of 8 April , by train on the Jæren Line . Landing . Around 04 : 00 on 9 April 1940 , " M - 1 " and " M - 9 " sighted Egersund . While " M - 9 " remained off the port the secure the surrounding waters , the more manoeuvrable " M - 1 " , carrying " Rittmeister " Eickhorn and 40 troops , entered Egersund harbour . At 04 : 15 the Germans landed near the moored " Skarv " , the guard on board the Norwegian vessel initially believing " M - 1 " to be " Gyller " returning from Kristiansand . The torpedo boat was quickly boarded and seized by the German troops . After their capture , the crew of " Skarv " managed to destroy maps and important documents , as well as making a telephone call to the regional naval headquarters in Kristiansand . Before long , the captured Norwegian naval personnel were locked up in a shed under armed guard . Following the capture of the harbour area in Egersund , " M - 1 " replaced " M - 9 " on her station off the port , allowing the latter to land her landing force . While 12 soldiers guarded the harbour , the rest of the German troops spread out through the town , seizing pre - selected targets . The telephone and post office , the police station and the railway station were occupied , and the entrance to the harbour put under guard . Shortly after reporting to his superiors in Stavanger that " a large invasion force " had landed in Egersund , Captain Dehli and his army unit were surprised in their quarters and observation posts and captured without offering resistance . The naval personnel captured in the initial phase of the landing were later moved to the building where the army men were held and interned there . The formal surrender of " Skarv " took place later in the day , with Sub - lieutenant Svae handing over his sabre to Eickhorn . An hour after the capture of Egersund , the delayed " M - 2 " and " M - 13 " arrived at the port . After all the army soldiers and equipment had been unloaded , the four minesweepers of " Gruppe 6 " headed off to return to Kiel in Germany . Some time after departing Egersund , the force was ordered to divert to Kristiansand , in order to support operations there . The German forces attacking Kristiansand had encountered unexpectedly heavy resistance , but the southern port city was secured before the " Gruppe 6 " minesweepers arrived in the afternoon of 9 April 1940 . Although the Allies did not try to intervene directly in the German capture of Egersund , later in the day a Lockheed Hudson of No . 224 Squadron RAF overflew the area , counting 18 German aircraft in the airspace above the town . Aftermath . Following his capture of Egersund , " Rittmeister " Eckhorn initially placed the telegraph cable to Scotland under armed guard , before later severing the communications link in accordance with his orders . The German beachhead at Egersund was initially isolated from other German forces , due to defective radio equipment and Norwegian efforts to cut the telephone lines in the area . Contact with the German units at Stavanger was eventually achieved by despatching a motorcycle - mounted officer disguised as a civilian . Captain Dehli ' s inaccurate report on the German forces in Egersund led the commander of the Norwegian forces in Stavanger , Colonel Gunnar Spørck , to withdraw his forces from the coastal Stavanger area in Rogaland and set up defensive positions further inland . The Norwegian retreat allowed the Germans to build up forces and make use of Sola airport as a base for the Luftwaffe . Based on Sola , Luftwaffe bombers dominated the waters of the Skagerrak and the eastern parts of the North Sea . After heavy fighting in the Dirdal area from 15 April onwards , the Norwegian forces in the region capitulated in late April 1940 . Some citizens of Egersund left the town soon after the German landing , and joined the Norwegian units being formed to defend against the invasion . The German unit which had captured Egersund saw action against Norwegian forces from mid - April onwards . After capturing Egersund , " Rittmeister " Eckhorn set about enforcing German rule in the town . Cars and lorries were confiscated for use by the German armed forces , the local press was ordered to follow the instructions of the invaders and print German propaganda , and blackout was introduced . Although the civilian population of Egersund initially reacted calmly to the German invasion , the next day , 10 April , panic broke out in the town after unfounded rumours held that 600 British bombers were about to attack the town . Despite efforts by the Germans and municipal officials to restore order , almost all of the population fled to the countryside within the hour , leaving only Germans and some municipal workers in the town . Similar incidents of popular panic based on rumours occurred in other Norwegian town and cities on 10 April , most prominently in the capital Oslo . The prisoners of war the Germans took in Egersund were set to construction work on the air base at Forus in Stavanger , before being released in June 1940 . " Skarv " was pressed into Kriegsmarine service as " Gazelle " , and was lost in a collision in 1942 . The last Norwegian forces still fighting , in Northern Norway , capitulated at 24 : 00 on 9 June 1940 , ending the 62 - day Norwegian Campaign . The Norwegian Armed Forces then continued fighting the Germans from exile in the United Kingdom . In 1941 , the commander of " M - 1 " during the Norwegian Campaign , " Kapitänleutnant " Hans Bartels , published the book " Tigerflagge heiß vor ! " about his experiences during the invasion of Norway and the subsequent military campaign . After the end of the Second World War , the German capture of Egersund was evaluated by the Military Investigative Commission of 1946 . The commission concluded that no - one was to blame for the loss of Egersund and the forces based there .