I present with one addition to this post, from The King’s Choice.
What should be said that, when the commander of the fortress was asked (which was cut from the film) whether it was the correct action to fire on the ship he responded with “I will either be court-martialed, or given a medal. Fire!”
The German cruiser Blucher is sunk during the Battle of Drøbak Sound in Norway during the German invasion.
In one of the more peculiar battles of the war, a hundred year old fortification, manned by raw recruits and pensioners and armed with 40- to 50-year-old weaponry of German and Austro-Hungarian manufacture, had destroyed a ship so new, its crew was still finishing training. Oscarsborg had fulfilled its mission and denied an invader access to the capital. Even though it and the country were ultimately captured and occupied, the effects of delaying the German advance were immediate and considerable. On board Blücher were troops specially designated to capture the King, the Norwegian cabinet, the Storting (Norwegian Parliament) and the national gold reserve; the delay made it possible for all these to escape.
