Operation Anklet

Lofoten Islands

Date	26–27 December 1941
Location	Lofoten Islands 67°59′N 13°00′E / 67.983°N 13.000°E / 67.983; 13.000Coordinates: 67°59′N 13°00′E / 67.983°N 13.000°E / 67.983; 13.000
Result	Allied victory

Belligerents

United Kingdom

Norway

Poland

Nazi Germany

Commanders and leaders

Admiral Frederick Dalrymple-Hamilton
Naval:
Captain Hugh Dalrymple-Smith
Land:
Lieutenant Colonel S.S. Harrison

Generaloberst Nikolaus von Falkenhorst

Strength

Naval:
Royal Navy
1 Light cruiser
6 Destroyers
3 Minesweepers
2 Landing Ship Infantry
2 Submarines
1 Survey ship
Royal Fleet Auxiliary
2 Tankers
1 Freighter 1 Tugboat Royal Norwegian Navy
2 Corvettes
Polish Navy
2 Destroyers

Land:
No. 12 Commando 223 men
Norwegian Company 77 men

Eight divisions in Norway
three coastal defence
four infantry
one Luftwaffe Field Division
Unknown number of aircraft and naval forces

Casualties and losses

1 light cruiser heavily damaged

1 patrol ship sunk
2 wireless stations destroyed

Operation Anklet was the codename given to a British Commando raid during the Second World War. The raid on the Lofoten Islands was carried out in December 1941, by 300 men from No. 12 Commando and the Norwegian Independent Company 1. The landing party was supported by 22 ships from three navies.

At the same time, another raid was taking place in Vågsøy. This raid was Operation Archery, on 27 December 1941, and Operation Anklet was seen as a diversionary raid for this bigger raid, intended to draw away the German naval and air forces.

After the British Expeditionary Force had been evacuated from Dunkirk in 1940, the then British Prime Minister Winston Churchill called for a force to be assembled and equipped to inflict casualties on the Germans and bolster British morale. Churchill told the joint Chiefs of Staff to propose measures for an offensive against German-occupied Europe, and stated: "they must be prepared with specially trained troops of the hunter class who can develop a reign of terror down the enemy coast."

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Wikipedia