Operation Gauntlet

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• In Operation Gauntlet, Canadian and Norwegian troops with British engineers land on Spitzbergen (north of Norway) to sabotage the coal mines. 450,000 tons of coal and 275,000 gallons of fuel are destroyed. The Germans are kept in the dark by false radio messages from the Norwegian islanders. 800 Norwegians are evacuated to Britain along with three captured colliers, an icebreaker, a whaler, a tug and two sealers. 2,000 Russian coal miners are taken to Arkhangelsk aboard the liner Empress of Canada. Once there, the liner loads 200 French POWs who had escaped from German camps and made their way to the USSR. These men will enlist with the Free French."