WI the Altmark incident turns bloody

[wemayberry]

On Feb 16, 1940, the German naval auxiliary Altmark entered Norwegian waters on her way back to Germany. Her status as neither purely a warship nor a merchant vessel, prevented Norway from outright denying her passage. So after several searches by the Norwegian authorities, which failed to discover the presence of British prisoners aboard, the Altmark proceeded under escort by 2 Norwegian warships.

The British having become aware of her presence, dispatched a group of 6 destroyers to intercept. The British under Captain Vian had orders to use any means necessary to capture the Altmark.
Also the local Norwegian commander, Lt. Halvorsen had received orders to use force in necessary to prevent violations of Norway's neutrality.

In the OTL, cooler heads prevented both sides from opening up on each other during this incident but what if it hadn't? What if either Commander had decided that the actions of the other warranted opening fire?

Considering the state of the Norwegian group( 2 very old destroyers) vs the Brits (3 modern destroyers onsite with 3 more close by in support), the final outcome of the skirmish is not in doubt but what do you all see as the political fallout from this?

 

[Winand_von_Rabenmund]

I think it is very unlikely for the Norwegians to open fire, since they were facing a superior force. But if they try to keep the RN destroyers away from Altmark simply by maneuvering and the British Captain gets pissed, things could get hairy... If the right (or wrong) people act on this, there are many possible outcomes, the most frightening a Norway that declares war on the UK and asks for German assistance... oh so many butterflies

 

[Bill Cameron]

Wemayberry,

The Norwegians were actually relieved by Vian's actions, but had to make the usual mouth noises for foreign consumption.

Everyone knew there were British POWs aboard Altmark. Altmark's supply role and use in carrying captured merchant crews had been widely reported in the western press thanks to stories and statements from those captives from neutral nations Graf Spee had sent ashore instead of shipping back to Germany.

The so-called Norwegian searches were nothing of the sort. The officers involved allowed themselves to be bullied into making limited inspections by the Germans aboard Altmark just as much as the officers' superiors ashore and government allowed itself to be bullied by the German government. The searches were cursory at best and several of the merchant sailors later released by Vian claimed Norwegian officers actually saw them only to turn away.

Norway believed it was looking at a catastrophe no matter what it did, so Britain "solved" the conundrum for Norway by taking the onus on itself. When Germany screamed Norway could blame both the UK and it's destroyer commanders for not following orders, while also letting out a sigh and washing it's hands of the whole affair.

There is no way Norway would declare war on Britain, even if her destroyer commanders finally grew a pair and opened fire on Vian.

It should be noted that it was Norway's rather craven behavior during this episode led both German and the Allies to begin planning to violate Norwegian neutrality and occupy that country in order to prevent their enemies from doing the same.


Bill