Operation Zitronella, also known asUnternehmen Sizilien (OperationSicily), was an eight-hourGerman raid onSpitzbergen, in the Svalbard Archipelago, on 8 September 1943. ThebattleshipsTirpitz (in its only offensive action) andScharnhorst, plus nine destroyers, sailed to the archipelago, bombarded Allied-occupied settlements inIsfjorden and covered a landing party. Six Norwegians were killed and 31 were taken prisoner; sixteen Germans were wounded, one dying of his wounds.

Operation Zitronella
Part of TheArctic Campaign of theSecond World War
Map of Svalbard with Spitsbergen in the west in red
Date 8 September 1943 Location Spitsbergen,Svalbard,Norway 78°54′N18°01′E / 78.900°N 18.017°E /78.900; 18.017 Result German victory
Belligerents
Germany	Free Norway
Commanders and leaders
Friedrich Hüffmeier	Morten Bredsdorff (POW) Trond Astrup Vigtel †
Strength
2 battleships 9 destroyers 1 battalion fortress infantry	152 soldiers 2coastal guns 2AA guns
Casualties and losses
2 dead (one executed, one died of wounds) 15 wounded	6 killed 31  (POW)

The Svalbard Archipelago is in theArctic Ocean, 650 mi (1,050 km) from theNorth Pole and a similar distance toNorway to the south. The islands are mountainous, with permanently snow-covered peaks, some glaciated; there are occasional river terraces at the bottom of steep valleys and some coastal plains. In winter, the islands are covered in snow and the bays ice over. To the west, Spitzbergen Island has several large fiords along its west coast;Isfjorden being up to 10 mi (16 km) wide. TheGulf Stream warms the waters and the sea is ice-free during the summer. In the 1940s, there were settlements atLongyearbyen (Longyear Town) andBarentsburg, in inlets along the south shore of Isfjorden, in Kings Bay (Quade Hock) further north along the coast and inVan Mijenfjorden to the south.^[1]

The settlements attracted colonists from many places; the treaty of 1920 neutralised the islands and recognised the mineral and fishing rights of the participating countries. Before 1939, the population consisted of about3,000 people, mostly Norwegian and Soviet workers in the mining industry.Drift mines were linked to the shore by overhead cable tracks or rails and coal dumped over the winter was collected by ship after the summer thaw. By 1939 production was about 500,000 long tons (510,000 t) a year, split between Norway and theUSSR.^[1]

During theSecond World War, the Svalbard Archipelago was the scene of several military operations. In August 1941, British, Canadian andFree Norwegian Forces landed on Spitzbergen duringOperation Gauntlet to destroy the coal industry, associated equipment and stores. No attempt was made to establish a garrison and the civilian population was evacuated.^[2]Germany set up manned meteorological stations in theArctic to improve weather forecasts, vital for the warfare againstAllied convoys from theUK to the USSR.^[3] DrErich Etienne, a former Polar explorer, commanded an operation to install a manned station on the islands. Advent Bay (Adventfjorden) was chosen for its broad valley, a safer approach and landing ground for aircraft. The subsoil of alluvial gravel was acceptable for an airstrip and the south-eastern orientation of the high ground did not impede wireless communication withBanak in Norway; the settlement of Longyearbyen was close by. The site received the code-nameBansö (from Banak and Spitzbergen Öya) and ferry flights of men, equipment and supplies began on 25 September.^[4]

The British followed events fromBletchley Park throughUltra, four British minesweepers were diverted to investigate and reached Isfjorden on 19 October. AWettererkundungsstaffelWekusta 5 aircraft crew spotted the ships and the thirty men at Adventfjorden quickly were flown to safety by the aircraft and twoJunkers Ju 52 transport aircraft. Adventfjorden was deserted when the British arrived but some code books were recovered; the Germans returned once the ships had departed. Dr Albrecht Moll and three men arrived to spend the winter of 1941–1942 transmitting weather reports.^[5] On 29 October 1941,Hans Knoespel and five weathermen were installed by theKriegsmarine atSignehamna, a small bay onLilliehöökfjorden, a branch ofKrossfjorden in north-western Spitzbergen.^[5] An automatic weather station (Kröte) with a thermometer, barometer, transmitter and batteries arrived at Banak, to be flown toBansö and the Moll party to be brought back. It took until 12 May for favourable weather; aHeinkel He 111 and aJunkers Ju 88 were sent with supplies and the technicians to install theKröte.^[6] In April 1942,Operation Fritham, the landing of a Norwegian force at Barentsburg to occupy the islands, met with disaster but by the summer of 1943, the later AlliedOperation Gearbox andOperation Gearbox II secured Allied control of the islands.^[3]

TheKriegsmarine decided to evacuate theKnospe weather station during the summer of 1942, since the ice-free season made it vulnerable to Allied attack. The submarineU-435 (KapitänleutnantSiegfried Strelow) was ordered to recover the six men. On 23 August 1942, Strelow took aboard the party at Ebeltofthamna in Krossfjorden on the Mitra peninsula without Allied interference and arrived at Narvik on 31 August.^[7] After the replacement ofGroßadmiral (Grand Admiral)Erich Raeder byKarl Dönitz in January 1943, command arrangements in northern waters were changed. The posts of Flag Officer Northern Waters at Narvik was merged with Group North, which brought the commander of the German ships at Alte Fjord under the command ofGeneraladmiralOtto Schniewind at Kiel. Dönitz persuaded Hitler not to scrap the surface fleet and made plans to demonstrate the value of the ships and raise the morale of the crews.^[8]

ThebattleshipsTirpitz (Kapitän zur See (KzS) Hans Karl Meyer) andScharnhorst (KzS Friedrich Hüffmeier) and nine destroyers of the 4th (KzS Rolf Johannesson), 5th (KzS Max-Eckart Wolff) and 6th (KzS Friedrich Kothe) destroyer flotillas, with theNarvik-class destroyersZ27,Z29,Z30,Z31,Z33 andZ15 Erich Steinbrinck,Z20 Karl Galster,Z6 Theodor Riedel andZ10 Hans Lody, embarked abattalion of the 349th Grenadier Regiment,230th Infantry Division. The ships sailed for Svalbard on 6 September.^[8]Tirpitz ledScharnhorst, withKarl Galster,Theodore Riedel andHans Lody providing an anti-submarine screen ahead,Erich Steinbrinck,Z27 andZ30 to starboard andZ29,Z31 andZ33 to port, as the ships sailed past Stjernsundet. By8:00 a.m. on 7 September, the force was halfway to Bear Island. During the evening a message was received that a British reconnaissance aircraft had flown over Alte Fjord at4:45 p.m., when the ships were only 400 km (250 mi) from Svalbard, with the British fifty hours away, even at full speed.^[9]

At3:00 a.m. on 8 September,Scharnhorst and the 5th and 6th Destroyer Flotillas landed troops in Advent bay, whileTirpitz and the 4th flotilla sailed to Barentsburg,Tirpitz flying a white ensign as a ruse.^[10] Just before the ships opened fire, a wireless message from Grønfjord was intercepted by the ships that three cruisers and seven destroyers had arrived;Tirpitz began to jam the frequency but could not tell if the message was blocked. At4:00 a.m. a reply from Reykjavik suggested that the message had been received andTirpitz silenced the transmitter with shells from its main armament.^[11] Supported by the gunfire of the eight 15-inch guns ofTirpitz at Barentsburg (fifty-two 15-inch and eighty-two 5.9-inch rounds) and the nine 11-inch guns ofScharnhorst at Longyearbyen, against the two 3-inch guns of the defenders, the destroyers landed the battalion of fortress troops.^[10] The Norwegian guns were put out of action and coal heaps, supplies of food, water and electricity generators were destroyed.^[12] WhenZ29,Z31 andZ33 manoeuvred intoGrønfjorden, to land troops at Barentsburg, they sailed in front ofTirpitz and the gunners of the twoBofors 40 mm guns took advantage and fired about150 rounds at the destroyers, which moved aside to giveTirpitz a clear field of fire.Z29 andZ33 were both damaged, withZ33 having to be taken in tow. A broadside of twelve shells silenced the Bofors guns.Tirpitz fired its main guns at a coalmine atHeerodden and set it on fire. A message fromZ29 ledTirpitz to sail further into Grønfjorden, fire another twenty shells and at5:00 a.m. Johannesson reported that the troops had landed as planned.^[13]

The surviving Norwegians fled into the hinterland, using a blazing coal dump for cover as the landing party seized the installations at Barentsburg. Kummetz was apprehensive about the wireless message sent by the Norwegians, in case the Home Fleet was already at sea and wanted the infantry back on board his ships by11:00 a.m.Scharnhorst had sailed further into Isfjorden to Longyearbyen and reported by5:12 a.m. that the Norwegians had been overrun. At7:00 a.m., the infantry commander, Colonel Wendte, reported that the demolitions would be complete by8:00 a.m. After a methodical bombardment, the German ships re-embarked the landing party, their prisoners by11:00 a.m. and put to sea,Tirpitz firing another eight shells at ammunition and fuel dumps outside Barentsburg. Recovering the last of the floatplanes caused a delay toTirpitz until12:00 p.m. and then the German ships left at 19 kn (35 km/h; 22 mph)^[14] The Norwegians repaired their wireless and got off a sighting report, which led to theHome Fleet sailing from Scapa Flow but too late to intercept the German ships, which reached port on 9 September.^[15]

Unternehmen Zitronella/Sizilien was a qualified success; it brought no lasting benefit, since the Allies quickly re-occupied Spitzbergen island. On 19 October, the cruiserUSS Tuscaloosa arrived at Barentsburg with relief and reinforcements for the Norwegian garrison.^[16]Samuel Eliot Morison, the official historian of the US Navy, describedZitronella as a political move on the part of theKriegsmarine, to show Hitler that the German surface fleet had some value. Morison judged the effort disproportionate to the results, suggesting that the same ends could have been achieved more simply.^[17] In 2013, Niklas Zetterling and Michael Tamelander called the operation insignificant, apart from useful training for the crews.^[18]

Sixteen German sailors were wounded, one dying of his wounds and six Norwegians were killed.^[19] CaptainMorten Bredsdorff and thirty prisoners were sent toOflag XXI-C in Schildberg (nowOstrzeszów) in theReichsgau Wartheland in theformer state of Poland, joining1,089 Norwegian officers interned there.^[20] A German Leading Seaman from a destroyer was court-martialled and sentenced to death for cowardice (he had hidden on his ship rather than accompanying troops to the shore) and was executed on the quarterdeck ofScharnhorst. This episode, along with a dispute over medal allocation, when the crew ofScharnhorst received only 160Iron Crosses against 400 for the crew ofTirpitz, exacerbated the bad relationship between the crews.^[21]

Under cover of the attack, theLuftwaffe installed a weather station onHopen Island. (Isolated for months after the German surrender in May 1945, the airmen on Hopen Island gave themselves up in September 1945 to the captain of a Norwegian fishing boat.)^[22] A British–Soviet attack onTirpitz andScharnhorst inAltafjord was being prepared when the ships had sailed for Svalbard. ACatalina flying boat of190 Squadron, based atSullom Voe in theShetland Isles, inScotland, was ordered to reconnoitre Isfjorden and took off at5:00 p.m. The crew was to fly to Svalbard, then south to a point off the Norwegian coast, turning east to make landfall atMurmansk. If the German ships were sighted, the Catalina crew were to shadow the ships until shot down or the prudent limit of endurance (PLE) was reached, then fly to Grasnaya on theKola Inlet. The Catalina was filled with fuel and left behind itsdepth charges.^[23]

The Catalina flew toSørkapp, then navigated up the west coast to Isfjorden and searched for signs of life aroundKapp Linné, Barenstburg, Green Harbour,Grumant and Longyearbyen, taking photographs and finding only destroyed buildings and smoke from the fires started by the Germans. (The aviators heard later that a survivor in the hills heard them and ran to the shore but was not seen.) The Catalina was flown towards Norway along the expected track of the German ships, assuming that they were making for Alta Fjord. Some oil was seen on the sea and a Ju 88 was spotted high up, flying the other way but no ships. The Catalina landed as planned and the crew were told the flight was in support ofOperation Source, anX-Craft (midget submarine) attack against the ships; their reconnaissance photos were to be flown to Britain for briefing material.^[23]

• Arctic Ocean operations of World War II

• Torkildsen, Torbjørn (1998).Svalbard : vårt nordligste Norge [Svalbard: Our Northernmost Norway] (in Norwegian) (3rd ed.). Oslo: Aschehoug and Det norske svalbardselskap.ISBN 978-82-03-22224-5.

• German newsreel, Spitzbergen @4:50 minutes
• Operation Zitronella
• Operation 'Silizien' (Zitronella)Archived 15 April 2012 at theWayback Machine