Operation Alphabet was an evacuation, authorized on May 24, 1940, of Allied (British, French and Polish) troops from the harbour of Narvik in northern Norway marking the success of Nazi Germany's Operation Weserübung of April 9 and the end of the Allied campaign in Norway during World War II. The evacuation was completed by June 8.
The evacuation was prompted by the Wehrmacht's assault on Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and France in the spring of 1940, which reduced the relative importance of Germany's iron ore provision, and of Scandinavia as a whole.
Several nights after the final military evacuation, the civilians of the town were rescued by British Sub-Lieutenant Patrick Dalzel-Job. Against orders, he organized local fishing boats to remove the population just before a German reprisal bombing. The town was largely destroyed, but only four people were killed. The Royal Navy wanted to discipline Dalzel-Job but was unable to, after King Haakon VII awarded him the Knights Cross of the Order of Saint Olav (First Class). Later in the war, he served with Ian Fleming. Many sources cite Dalzel-Job as the inspiration for the James Bond character.
A consequence of the evacuation of Allied troops from Norway was that Sweden's and Finland's position vis-à-vis Nazi-Germany was weakened. Subsequently an agreement was reached in June leading to extensive transfers of (unarmed) Wehrmacht troops on Swedish rail-roads – probably Sweden's chief digression from her policy of neutrality between the parties of the World War – and in August Finland concluded a secret agreement according to which Finland could acquire weapons through Germany and Germany could transfer (armed) troops by truck through northernmost Finland. Thereby Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, still united by the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, had excluded other international powers from influence in Northern Europe.
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Famous quotes containing the words operation and/or alphabet:
“Waiting for the race to become official, he began to feel as if he had as much effect on the final outcome of the operation as a single piece of a jumbo jigsaw puzzle has to its predetermined final design. Only the addition of the missing fragments of the puzzle would reveal if the picture was as he guessed it would be.”
—Stanley Kubrick (b. 1928)
“I believe the alphabet is no longer considered an essential piece of equipment for traveling through life. In my day it was the keystone to knowledge. You learned the alphabet as you learned to count to ten, as you learned “Now I lay me” and the Lord’s Prayer and your father’s and mother’s name and address and telephone number, all in case you were lost.”
—Eudora Welty (b. 1909)