RN / USN ships photographed from HMS Belfast during Operation Leader – October 1943
Operation Leader was a joint RN / USN operation to strike at German shipping off of Occupied Norway under the overall command of RN Admiral Bruce Fraser.
The combined force consisted of HMS Duke of York (flagship), HMS Anson, USS Ranger, HMS Belfast, USS Tuscaloosa, 7 RN Destroyers and 4 USN Destroyers.
Aided by weather reports radioed from two Norwegian Intelligence teams, the force departed Scapa Flow on October 3, 1943 and arrived unobserved by German Forces 140 miles / 230km off Bodø Norway before dawn on October 4.
Two groups of Dauntless dive bombers, Avenger torpedo bombers, and escorting Wildcat fighters were launched from USS Ranger, each air group had a RAF Norwegian Navigator in the lead aircraft.
Both air groups sighted German coastal convoys and attacked, five ships were sunk with seven damaged, in addition a Ju88 and He115 were downed by the Wildcats, these were the first Luftwaffe aircraft to be shot down in WW2 by USN aircraft.
German losses included the Kriegsmarine troop ship Skramstad carrying some 850 German soldiers (200 reportedly perished) and the cargo ship La Plata, carrying a cargo of ammunition which exploded after the ship was beached.
USN Losses included four planes shot down (2 Dauntless, 1 Avenger, 1 Wildcat) with some crew losses and the survivors taken prisoner.
Note that German ship loss records differ because some of the ships that were damaged and beached were later repaired, also the German personnel losses reported by German records and Norwegian Resistance reports do not agree.
British historian Stephen Roskill judged that the operation was an “outstanding success”, especially as it was the first combat mission for most of the aircrews involved.
In 1987 the wreck of the downed Avenger was located off of Fagervika with the remains of two aircrew still in the wreckage.
In 1990 one of the two downed Dauntless’ in the operation was located also with remains of two aircrew still in the wreckage.
A memorial in honor of the Allied aircrew killed in Operation Leader was dedicated in Fagervika in 1987.
IWM – Davies, F A (Lt) Photographer
