History of Svalbard - World War II

World War II

Svalbard was initially unaffected by the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany on 8 April 1940. However, following the German attack on the Soviet Union, Svalbard became of strategic importance to secure supplies between the Allies. At first the Soviet Union proposed at Soviet–British occupation of the archipelago, but this was rejected by the Norwegian government-in-exile. Instead, an evacuation of all Norwegian and Soviet settlements were carried out by Operation Gauntlet in August and September.

With the island evacuated, German troops occupied Longyearbyen, where they built an air strip and a weather station. A Norwegian expedition was in May 1942 sent to liberate the island; they were attacked by German aircraft, but were able to set up a garrison in Barentsburg. The German outpost was subsequently abandoned. The Germans, presumably underestimating the Allied forces' size, initiated Operation Zitronella. The battleships Tirpitz, the Scharnhorst were along with nine destroyers sent to Isfjorden were they leveled Barentsburg, Grumant and Longyearbyen. Sveagruva was bombed in an air raid in 1944. The German forced established a weather station on Hopen, which was taken over by Norway after the war.