Operation Fritham

Operation Fritham
Part of the Arctic Campaign of the Second World War
Global view of Norway (Svalbard circled)
Date 30 April – 14 May 1942 Location Spitsbergen, Norway 78°14′48″N 15°40′38″E / 78.24667°N 15.67722°E / 78.24667; 15.67722 Result See Aftermath section
Belligerents
Norway  United Kingdom	Germany
Commanders and leaders
Einar Sverdrup (killed 14 May 1942)	Dr Erich Etienne (killed 23 July 1942)
Strength
82 men SS Selis (transport ship) SS Isbjørn (icebreaker)	4 Focke-Wulf 200 Kondors
Casualties and losses
12 killed 15 wounded 2 died of wounds	4 (23 July 1942)

Operation Fritham (30 April – 14 May 1942) was an Allied military operation during the Second World War to secure the coal mines on Spitsbergen, the main island of the Svalbard Archipelago, 650 mi (1,050 km) from the North Pole and about the same distance from Norway. The operation was intended to deny the islands to Nazi Germany.

A party of Free Norwegian troops sailed from Scotland on 30 April 1942, to reoccupy the island and eject a German meteorological party. On 14 May four German reconnaissance bombers sank the ships in Green Harbour; the commander, Einar Sverdrup and eleven others were killed, eleven more members of the party were wounded and most of the supplies were lost with the ships.

On 26 May, P-Peter, a Catalina flying boat, was flown to Spitsbergen; the crew made contact with Fritham Force and destroyed a German Ju 88 bomber caught on the ground. More sorties delivered supplies, attacked German weather bases, evacuated wounded and rescued shipwrecked sailors. Operation Gearbox (30 June – 17 September 1942) superseded Fritham, after HMS Manchester and the destroyer HMS Eclipse delivered 57 more Norwegians and 116 long tons (118 t) of supplies. Operation Gearbox II began on 17 September.

By autumn, the Allied foothold on Svalbard had been consolidated and the Navy used Spitsbergen as a temporary base to refuel Arctic convoy escorts. On 22 September, a Catalina delivered new wireless equipment and in November, the cruiser USS Tuscaloosa and five destroyers delivered more Norwegian troops. In Operation Zitronella (6–9 September 1943) Barentsburg was bombarded by a German naval squadron, including the German battleship Tirpitz, and a landing party disembarked to destroy facilities.