Narvik: And the Norwegian Campaign of 1940

by Donald Macintyre

The epic story of the brutal battle for Norway in 1940.

The perfect book for fans of Ian Toll, Max Hastings, and Alex Kershaw.

In this brief, untidy campaign that lasted just six weeks, all branches of the Allied military service united against the lightning-fast invasion that the Nazis had surprised them with. On an almost hourly basis, air battles, amphibious landings by troops, and monumental naval engagements took place.

Donald Macintyre, the renowned military historian and escort commander, takes the reader to the heart of the battle, providing not just an overview but also provides fascinating details of the attack that left six German destroyers damaged within Narvik’s harbour, the sacrifice made by the damaged HMS Glowworm as it rammed the heavy-cruiser Admiral Hipper, the heroism displayed by one naval officer who worked tirelessly to evacuate the shore bases near Trondheim, and the final tragic loss of the carrier HMS Glorious.

The Norwegian campaign that took place in the spring of 1940 is often overshadowed by later successful Allied operations in the European North Africa, Sicily, Italy, and France. Yet, although German forces surprised and ultimately held off the Allied counterattack, Captain Macintyre demonstrates why this is such an important campaign and how the Allies had to learn difficult lessons here before they were able to march on to victory.

Narvik should be essential reading for anyone interested in the oft-overlooked campaign that took place during what was known as the ‘Phoney War’, proved a brutally eye-opening to the Allies, but taught them much about how to fight in the battles to come.

‘Really first rate.’ Kirkus Reviews

‘A book to set the blood tingling’ Evening News

‘fascinating reading’ U.S. Naval Institute

Genres: History

268 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 15, 2024

About the author

Commander Donald George Frederick Wyville Macintyre DSO & DSC was a Royal Navy officer during the Second World War and a successful convoy escort commander. As Commander of HMS Hesperus Macintyre was involved in the Battle of Narvik during the Norway campaign and the Battle of the Atlantic. Following the war, he published his memoirs U-Boat Killer and authored numerous books on British naval history.

Reviews

[Terence Lionel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Book

Donald Macintyre is on the best writers on WW2 Naval History. The best writer of British Naval history. The book fills in the blanks of Norway Campaign's Naval history and he did a great job of analyzing the political situation and military situation that happened that caused the campaign to fail and the repercussions, the British military learned how to fight WW2, the British learned military learned skills such as raiding, providing air support to naval and army forces and finally invading the enemies territories under a supreme commander, it was a tough lessons such as Crete and Malta. Awesome work!!

[Alan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent history of this campaign.

An excellent and honest account of this lesser known campaign. With clearer leadership and determination this period of history could have been so different. I wish the history I had been taught could have been as balanced and objective.

The book is very well written and hard to put down. Highly recommended. I shall certainly seek out more of this authors publications.

[Steve]

I have the paperback version published by Sapere Books. The author is a former RN officer and the language and terminology reflects his experience. Writing is clear and this reader was never confused about the events related. A large disappointment was the lack of charts/maps, even though the acknowledgement refers to seven maps included by permission of HM Stationary Office. In accounts of naval actions charts/maps are essential to situate vessels in their locations and this is probably the main problem with the book. In any event the reader understands much better the reasons for the failure of the British effort. A nice piece of overlooked history ranking with C. Barnett. Recommended.

[James Stickradt · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very detailed account of early WWII action in Norway

I enjoyed the detailed description of the first pitched battle between Britain, France and the Germans moving on Norway. To understand that Belgium, Holland and France were being overrun while these far flung battles were raging helps the reader understand why this battle was limited in resources from both sides. We can see the British army and Navy, and lack of an airforce have an enlightened baptism of fire in an insane arctic environment. Lessons were learned at the
cost of many brave men.

[Andrew Parker-Jervis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent book which is readable and concise. However, I would add and not mentioned in the book is that it was a Pyrrhic victory and major strategic mistake by the German government of the time. The reason being that as a result of the perceived failure of the British intervention in the campaign Chamberlain lost the confidence of the House of Commons and was replaced by Churchill as Prime Minister. If Chamberlain had remained as Prime Minister during the ensuing occupation of France and Battle of Britain the outcome of the Second World War might have been very different. Also the losses of the German Navy during the Norwegian campaign strongly contributed to the successful evacuation from Dunkirk and subsequently acted as a major deterrent on the invasion of the British Mainland

[wally walter · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very interesting account of the less well known Norwegian campaign

[Mr. Ciaran · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great detail about a rarely discussed campaign, but the book could do with more narrative as it often ends up reading like a roll call of ships, military units and commanders.

[Kyle Mackenzie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic account of a disastrous campaign, so many missed opportunities but so many lessons learned.