Capture of Egersund
The Capture of Egersund took place on 9 April 1940, and saw German soldiers of a bicycle squadron land at the Norwegian port town of Egersund, as part of the German invasion of Norway during the Second World War. The Germans seized the town without armed resistance, capturing the small Norwegian army and navy force there and achieving their main objective of cutting the undersea telegraph cable between Norway and the United Kingdom.
| Capture of Egersund | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Invasion of Norway during the Second World War | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
| Germany | Norway | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
|
Kurt Thoma (naval) Friedrich Eickhorn (land) |
Hjalmar Svae (naval) Carsten Dehli (land) | ||||||||
| Units involved | |||||||||
|
Invasion fleet
| Jägers | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
|
328 sailors 150 soldiers 4 M class minesweepers (only 2 ships took part) |
17 sailors 36 jägers 1 torpedo boat (Skarv) | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| none |
53 captured 1 torpedo boat captured | ||||||||
By seizing control of Egersund, the Germans created one of several invasion beachheads in Norway. The landing at Egersund was an important factor in making Norwegian forces in the county of Rogaland pull back from the coast and confront the invading Germans further inland. By cementing their control of the Rogaland coastline, the Germans were free to use Stavanger Airport, Sola, as an important base for Luftwaffe operations in Norway.
Although the civilian population of Egersund initially reacted calmly to the German invasion, panic broke out the following day and led to a mass exodus from the town, after unfounded rumours began to circulate about an incoming British bomber raid.