Operation Gauntlet

Operation Gauntlet
Part of the Arctic Campaign of the Second World War
Demolition of a German wireless station
Type	Raid
Location	Spitzbergen, Svalbard, Norway 78°14′48″N 15°40′38″E / 78.24667°N 15.67722°E / 78.24667; 15.67722
Planned	Combined Operations
Commanded by	Arthur Potts Philip Vian Ragnvald Tamber
Objective	Deny Germans access to natural resources Prevent Germans from receiving weather reports Repatriate local population, scientists and POWs
Date	25 August – 3 September 1941 (1941-08-25 – 1941-09-03)
Outcome	Success
Casualties	None

Operation Gauntlet was an Allied Combined Operation from 25 August until 3 September 1941, during the Second World War. Canadian, British and the Norwegian armed forces in exile (Utefronten, Outside Front) landed on the Norwegian island of Spitzbergen in the Svalbard Archipelago, 650 mi (1,050 km) south of the North Pole.

Coal mines on the islands were owned and operated by Norway at Longyearbyen and by the Soviet Union at Barentsburg; both governments agreed to their destruction and the evacuation of their nationals. The objective of Gauntlet was to deny Germany the coal, mining and shipping infrastructure, equipment and stores on Spitzbergen and suppress the wireless stations on the archipelago, to prevent the Germans receiving weather reports.

Gauntlet was a success; the Germans were ignorant of the expedition until after it had departed, the raiders suffered no casualties, the civilians were repatriated, coal dumps were set on fire and mining equipment destroyed, several ships were taken as prizes and a German warship was sunk on the return journey.