The Heroes of The Oscarsborg Fortress

It was a cold morning on the 9th of April 1940, Norway and there was a dense fog on the Oscarsborg fortress which was protecting the city of Oslo from naval invasion. It was early at 4:00 am and visibility was low. The commander of the fortress, Birger Erikson was old but experienced. The fortress was used mainly as a training facility. The morale on the fort was high and everyone was in good spirits. At 4:20 am, they sighted a ship's silhouette.

Commander Birger Erikson was unsure whether the ships were British or german. He did know that Norway had friendly relationships with Great Britain. The ship was now under 2 km of the Island fortress of Oscarsborg. Unable to resist, the commander said, "Either I will be decorated or court-martialed, Fire!" The first Gun battery of the fortress roared and hit the ship on one of its mast. Though the men on the fortress were not aware of it they had just hit the newest ship of the Kriegsmarine. The brand new Blucher, the Admiral Hipper class heavy cruiser. Allowing the Germans no time to respond, they fired the second high caliber gun which hit the aircraft hangar of the Blucher which caused two fires. The second cruiser, the Lutzow was hit with medium caliber artillery on the mainland and was forced to turn back and retreat with the rest of the attack group. The Blucher continued as she was burning and passed the fortress.

The Germans were well aware of the defences on the Oscarsborg fortress but they were not aware of the Torpedo battery in the back of the Island. The Blucher was hit by two Torpedos causing her to take on water and capsize to the Port side and sank at 4:40 am. The captain was saved but 500-1000 men were lost on the blucher.

The Germans bombed the fortress with bombs and forced commander Birger Erikson to surrender. The germans made a landing and captured Oslo, the capital of Norway. The resistance of the men of Oscarsborg allowed King Haakon vii to flee from the capital with the national Gold reserve and mount resistance for the Next two months. The captain received the Highest honour, the sword with a cross.