The Saber and Scroll Journal Volume 5, Issue 4, Fall 2016 | Page 17

fleet, which he demanded be scrapped as it was not worth its weight in steel. Hitler
ignored the fact that his own restrictive policies had served to hamper Kummetz’s
freedom of action. In any event, the new commander-in-chief of the Kriegsmarine,
Admiral Karl Dönitz, a Hitler favorite and commander of the U-boat arm,
convinced the Führer, once he had calmed down, that most of the surface ships be
retained, Tirpitz especially, which he saw as a valuable fleet-in-being. Dönitz thus
prevented Hitler from handing the Allies a bloodless naval victory. 28
Tirpitz remained in Fættenfjord until completion of sea trials in early
March 1943, when she was declared fully operational. She was transferred to
Bogen once more, where she could remain close to the Allied convoy routes.
Several smaller vessels accompanied her. In Bogen, and then later in Kåfjord (a
part of Altafjord), from late March to September 1943 she formed the nucleus of a
small but powerful force, which included Lützow and the battleship Scharnhorst.
From their northern lair, the German ships loomed as ever-present threats to the
Allied convoys. 29
In September 1943, Tirpitz conducted what would be the only operational
deployment in which she fired her main guns in anger. As opposed to her abortive
forays against the Arctic convoys, Operation Sizilien’s scope was much more
limited, and, to paraphrase a Norwegian adage, using “cannons to shoot
sparrows.” 30 Sizilien’s objective was the destruction of a tiny Allied weather
station in the Norwegian Arctic territory of Svalbard, garrisoned by no more than
150 soldiers, mainly Norwegians. To accomplish this task, the Germans called on
not only Tirpitz, but also sent forth Scharnhorst and a destroyer screen. It was an
overwhelming show of force, as much for the Allies as for the German naval
leadership to demonstrate to the Führer and to themselves that the Kriegsmarine
surface fleet could still prove useful. 31
Needless to say, there was little the Norwegians on Svalbard could do
against the guns of two German battleships. On board was a contingent of 615
men from the army’s 349th Infantry Regiment. The Allied soldiers not killed or
captured fled into the mountains as the enemy troops landed on the island. The
German attack killed six Allied soldiers, while capturing 41 men. The Germans
returned to Norway unmolested by the British Home Fleet, and put into Kåfjord on
9 September. If nothing else, the German foray had given the ships’ crews a
chance to practice their gunnery. In strategic terms, however, the attack was nearly
worthless. 32
Sizilien was the third and final operational deployment Tirpitz would
make in World War II. Shortly after returning to Norway, a daring British midget
submarine attack crippled the ship and left her in various stages of repair until
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