Operation Source

Operation Source
Part of World War II

Tirpitz c. 1941
Date20–22 September 1943
Location
Altafjord, Norway
Result Allied partial success
Belligerents
 United Kingdom
 Norway
 Australia [1]		  Germany
Commanders and leaders
 Hans Meyer
Strength
6 midget submarines
6 conventional submarines		 Battleship Tirpitz
Heavy cruiser Lützow
Casualties and losses
  • 6 midget submarines sunk
  • 9 killed
  • 6 captured
 Tirpitz damaged

Operation Source was a series of attacks to neutralise the heavy German warships – Tirpitz, Scharnhorst, and Lützow – based in northern Norway, using X-class midget submarines.

The attacks took place in September 1943 at Kåfjord and succeeded in keeping Tirpitz out of action for at least six months. The concept for the attack was developed by Commander Cromwell-Varley, with support of Max Horton, Flag Officer Submarines, and Prime Minister Winston Churchill.[2] On September 12, 1943, in conditions of low clouds and rain, Soviet pilot Leonid Elkin found the Tirpitz anchorage in Altenfjord, descended under the edge of the clouds and passed above it three times under heavy anti-aircraft fire at an altitude of 50 meters, achieving high-quality photography of the target. The resulting photographs were immediately transferred to the British Admiralty, which, based on them, prepared a new operation.[3]

The operation was directed from HMS Varbel, located in Port Bannatyne on the Isle of Bute. Varbel (named after Commanders Varley and Bell, designers of the X-Craft prototype) was the on-shore headquarters for the 12th Submarine Flotilla (midget submarines). It had been a luxury 88-bedroom hotel (the Kyles Hydropathic Hotel) requisitioned by the Admiralty to serve as the flotilla's headquarters. All X-craft training and preparation for X-craft attacks (including that on Tirpitz) was co-ordinated from Varbel.[4]

Intelligence contributing to the attack on Tirpitz was collected and sent to the Royal Navy by the Norwegian resistance, especially brothers Torbjørn Johansen and Einar Johansen.

  1. ^ The CO of X5, Henty Henty-Creer was an Australian commissioned in the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve and five members of the Royal Australian Navy were among the crew of the British midget submarines involved. Worledge, Ray. 2012 Australians in Midget Submarines. (Access date: 24 March 2012.)
  2. ^ "Lost heroes of the 'Tirpitz'". BBC. 17 February 2011. Retrieved 21 August 2018.
  3. ^ Кикнадзе В. Г. Международное сотрудничество в области освещения обстановки в Арктике (по опыту второй мировой войны). // Военно-исторический журнал. — 2014. — № 12. — С.42. (Kiknadze V. G. International cooperation in the field of covering the situation in the Arctic (based on the experience of the Second World War). // Military historical magazine. - 2014. - No. 12. - P.42.)
  4. ^ Bute at War