The German tanker Altmark was the support vessel for the Graf Spee. The captured crews of the British merchant ships sunk by the Spee during her brief spell as a commerce raider were transferred to the Altmark and these 299 prisoners were being transported back to Germany. While on the Graf Spee, they were well treated, although once aboard the Altmark, they saw a whole new side to the Germans. En route back to Germany, the Altmark passed into Norwegian waters and at the insistence of the British authorities, the ship was singled out for particular attention by the neutral Norwegians. Despite being stopped and boarded three times, the hold was not searched and the prisoners were missed, leading to the Altmark being allowed to continue on its way.
The Altmark was spotted off Egersund later the same day by the RAF, who alerted the Royal Navy. The destroyer HMS Cossack, under the command of Philip Vian, was despatched to intercept and forced the German ship to seek refuge in the Jossingfjord, where the Cossack followed her the next day. Initially, the elements of the Norwegian navy escorting the Altmark made some effort to prevent the Cossack from boarding by training their torpedo tubes and guns towards the British ship. After receiving direct orders from the Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill, Vian proceeded to intercept the Altmark regardless of the threat from the Norwegians and despite violating the country's neutrality by being in their national waters. During the final part of the chase, the Altmark ran aground and was boarded at 2200 hours on February 16th, 1940. Seven members of the German crew were killed and a further eleven wounded. HMS Cossack left the fjord just after midnight on the 17th and while there were protests from the elements of the Norwegian naval forces present, no effort was made to intervene.
While there was much outrage expressed about the violation of their neutrality, the Norwegians cited the presence of superior forces as the reason for allowing the Cossack to carry out its mission unmolested; this could well have accelerated the German plans to invade Norway in order to protect the Swedish supply of iron ore which was shipped out of Narvik in Norway. The Altmark incident provided the British with a further propaganda victory in addition to the sinking of the Graf Spee, at a time when little was happening on land in the Phoney War.
The naval hat pictured above is reputed to have belonged to a member of the crew of HMS Cossack.
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