World War: Rescue in a Fjord

Out of the North Atlantic into Norwegian territorial waters one day last week came a bulky grey German vessel of some 12,000 tons. She looked like a merchantman: some said she flew the Nazi naval flag; at any rate from her name, Altmark, anyone at all conversant with World War II must have known that she was the armed tender for the late raider Admiral Graf Spee, a ship sought .furiously by the British Navy because she was reported to ' carry, in verminous prison quarters below decks, between 300 and 400 British seamen taken from the Spee'?, seven sunken victims (TIME, Jan. 29).

One version was that Norway's customs authorities at Bergen went aboard the Altmark but, honoring her service flag, did not search her. Norwegian officials claimed that the ship was stopped first outside of Trondhjem Fjord, did not call at any port. A Norwegian gunboat was assigned to escort her through Norway's territorial waters as she made for her home port, Hamburg.

Whether they are official or not, the British Navy has sharp-eyed friends in Norway. The Altmark had not proceeded more than 100 miles south of Bergen, closely hugging the craggy, fjord-bitten coast, before three big British reconnaissance planes swooped low over her. Soon after, with express Admiralty orders to do so, into Norwegian waters from their stations on North Sea patrol raced a British cruiser and five destroyers. The destroyer Intrepid halted the Altmark, but while Captain Philip Louis Vian of the senior destroyer Cossack had words with the Norwegian gunboat's commander, the Altmark slid into Joesing Fjord, a deep, narrow, dead-end harbor five miles long. Another Norwegian gunboat appeared, joining the first to bar the fjord to the British.

Captain Vian said he had orders to rescue British prisoners from the Altmark. He suggested that the Norwegians join him in putting guards aboard her, taking her back to Bergen for examination. The Norwegians explained that their authorities had found the Altmark to be unarmed, were unaware of any prisoners aboard. Would the British please respect Norway's neutrality, withdraw from her waters? Captain Vian & mates pulled out beyond the three-mile limit where they lay watchfully, awaiting further Admiralty instructions. While they waited, along came the German tanker Baldur which, accosted by the destroyer Ivanhoe, scuttled and fired herself.

After dark came the Admiralty's command: go in and rescue the Altmark'?, prisoners, with or without Norway's permission. Captain Vian at once took his Cos sack into the fjord again. He went aboard the Norwegian gunboat Kjell, invited her commander to lead a British boarding party which would find out for certain about prisoners on the Altmark. The Norwegian declined, but went aboard the Cossack, which proceeded up the moonlit fjord to its precipitous end, where the Altmark had got fast in pack ice.

As the Cossack approached, playing its searchlights, the Altmark broke free, tried to swing around and ram the Cossack. The latter darted alongside and grappled.