Sinking of the Blücher

Saturday, April 9, 2022, marks the 82nd anniversary of Nazi Germany’s invasion of Norway, the start of five brutal years of oppression and tyranny. To commemorate this pivotal day in history and the suffering and sacrifice it engendered, I point to an initial battle that proved critical to Norway: The sinking of the German heavy cruiser Blücher.

The Blücher led a formidable invasion flotilla steaming up Olsofjord in the early morning hours that day. Named after a Prussian general who was a victor at the Battle of Waterloo, the sixteen-thousand ton, 675-foot warship had been launched only the year before and after sea trials put into service just four days before the invasion. It carried a crew of 1,400 sailors and naval officers.

The water-borne force’s destination was Oslo, Norway’s capital city. On board the lead ship was Major General Erwin Engelbrecht, a veteran officer who led a German army force of nearly 1,000 soldiers of the 163rd Infantry Division. Engelbrecht’s orders were to capture King Haakon and government members and place them under house arrest, seize the country’s $5.5 million in gold reserves, take over police headquarters, and wrest control over all transportation and communications centers. The Blücher also transported bureaucratic functionaries who were to move into Norwegian government administrative offices.

When the attack group reached the entrance to the fjord on a northward heading to the capital city, a small Norwegian Navy patrol boat, Pol III, armed with a lone gun, put a flood light on the Blücher and fired a warning shot. One of the enemy ships fired back and sank the boat with a direct hit. But before taking the destructive blow, Pol III raised an alarm of the approaching unidentified force.

In those moments, Norway, which had stayed out of World War I and had formally declared its neutrality in the escalating war in mainland Europe, was plunged into what would become World War II.

As the German force continued up Oslofjord, it faced other limited challenges from shore batteries at Bolærne and Rauøy and from Norwegian naval ships near Horten. But the Nazis turned them back and pushed on largely unimpeded. Until it reached the archaic Oscarsborg Fortress on Kaholmen Island just north of the municipality of Drøbak and roughly fifty miles south of Olso.

The stone fortress sat on the south end of the island, which splits the fjord into two channels at a point where it narrows to one mile wide. It was built at the turn of the Nineteenth Century after the Crimean War. Twin 28 cm guns, ironically German-made, were mounted, and a vintage torpedo battery was built into the bluff below the waterline.  Neither emplacement had ever been fired in war.

The German flotilla led by the Blücher was steaming up the fjord at a steady 12 knots when it reached the fortress. It was on schedule to reach the Oslo’s city harbor at dawn. Norwegian Oberst (Colonel) Birger Kristian Eriksen, commander of the fortress and his gunnery crews spotted the battle group enter the narrow channel in close range of the guns just after 4 a.m. Norwegian searchlights illuminated the Blücher and Eriksen, a military officer 44 years and just six months away from retirement, issued the order. He later recalled saying, “Either I will be decorated or I will be court-martialed. Fire!”

Two 12-inch shells struck the ship on its port side. The first one hit the bridge, disabling the main range finder, and an anti-aircraft-gun battle station. The second struck a hangar housing a seaplane, igniting a fire that spread rapidly. Two torpedoes also were launched, both hitting the warship. The first torpedo tore into a boiler room and the second hit a turbine room powering side rudder shafts. By the time the vessel limped out of the fortress’ target zone, it lost much of its power and steering.

Ship crews were unable to contain the fire, which ultimately ignited a magazine and explosives held for the ground troops. With all propellers stopped and most of its electric power gone, the Blücher began listing and dropped anchor just north of the fortress. An order to abandon ship was issued, and at 7:30 a.m. the battered ship, a pride of the German Kriegsmarine (Navy), rolled over and sank to more than 200 feet of water. Estimates of Nazi lives lost vary, but it likely numbered in the hundreds.

The rest of the flotilla withdrew further down the fjord and found a place to move troops and equipment ashore. Thus, the main contingent for forces didn’t enter the capital city until midafternoon.

The so-called Battle of Drøbak Sound bought the Norwegian government critical time. The king and members of the royal family, government cabinet ministers and members of the Storting (the Norwegian parliament) were able to flee the city by train. It also allowed time for the Bank of Norway to truck the gold reserves out of Olso where it ultimately was deposited in banks in England, United States and Canada.

The wreck of the Blücher remains on the bottom of the Oslofjord, and Commander Birger Kristain Ericksen emerged as a war hero. Today, a statute of him stands at the entrance of Oscarsborg Fortress.