Operation Leader was an air attack conducted against German shipping in the vicinity of Bodø, Norway, on 4 October 1943, during World War II. Conducted by aircraft from the United States Navy aircraft carrier , which was part of the British Home Fleet, the raid located numerous German and Norwegian ships in the area, destroying five and likely damaging another seven. Two German aircraft searching for the Allied fleet were shot down. Additionally, three American aircraft were destroyed in combat during the operation, and one crashed while landing.
The attack followed a two-year lull in Allied aircraft carrier operations against Norway and took the German occupation forces by surprise. The choice of target was guided by intelligence gained from decoding German radio signals and reports from Norwegian Secret Intelligence Service agents; two Norwegian airmen flew with the attack force to provide advice on the local geography. In addition to sinking ships, Operation Leader damaged the German war effort by considerably disrupting the convoy system in the region and reducing shipments of iron ore.
Background
During mid- to late-1943 the Home Fleet, the Royal Navy's main striking force stationed in the United Kingdom, was augmented by two forces of United States Navy warships to replace British ships dispatched to the Mediterranean and Pacific. These reinforcements were considered necessary to ensure that the fleet remained able to counter the German battle group based in Norway, which was built around the battleships Tirpitz and Scharnhorst, and the heavy cruiser Lützow.
The initial US Navy task force arrived in May, and comprised the battleships and , the heavy cruiser and five destroyers. This force came under the command of Rear Admiral Olaf M. Hustvedt and conducted patrols into the Norwegian Sea with British warships, but did not make contact with German forces. The two battleships and the destroyers were withdrawn in August, and proceeded to the Pacific.
A second task force built around the aircraft carrier replaced the two battleships in September 1943. The other elements of this force were the heavy cruisers and Tuscaloosa, as well as five destroyers; Hustvedt remained in command. Rangers air wing was made up of three squadrons: VF-4 with 27 Grumman F4F Wildcat fighters, VB-4 with 27 Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bombers, and VT-4 with 18 Grumman TBF Avenger torpedo bombers. Prior to Rangers arrival the Home Fleet was assigned only a single aircraft carrier, the elderly , which was unavailable for operations at the time as she was undergoing a refit. Ranger had last seen combat against Vichy French forces while supporting the Operation Torch landings in Morocco during November 1942, and had later been used to ferry aircraft to North Africa and train aircrews off the United States east coast. On 8 September 1943 the main body of the Home Fleet, including the American task force, sortied in response to reports that Tirpitz, Scharnhorst and nine destroyers had put to sea. The Allied force returned to the Home Fleet's main base at Scapa Flow the next day after it was learned that the German ships had returned to port after briefly attacking Allied positions on Spitsbergen.
On 22 September the German battle group in Norway was attacked by several British midget submarines. This raid inflicted significant damage on Tirpitz, leaving the battleship unable to proceed to sea until repairs were complete. Once this was known to the Allies, the commander of the Home Fleet, Admiral Bruce Fraser, judged that the changed balance of forces would allow his force to assume a more offensive role by attacking German shipping off Norway and restarting the Arctic Convoys to the Soviet Union.
Preparations
Following the midget submarine operation Fraser decided to dispatch the main body of the Home Fleet to conduct an air attack against ports and German shipping in northern Norway. Ranger was assigned responsibility for attacking the port of Bodø, which was an important rendezvous point for German and German-controlled Norwegian shipping. Fraser also initially planned to use the aircraft carrier to attack shipping in the port of Brønnøysund, to the south of Bodø, but this element of the operation was cancelled due to unfavourable weather. The slow-moving Fairey Albacores on Formidable required cloud cover to operate over hostile territory. While several Luftwaffe (German Air Force) bases were located near Bodø, most of the aircraft previously stationed in northern Norway had been transferred elsewhere and those that remained posed little threat to the Allied fleet. In the case no shipping could be found, the American pilots were given as alternative targets Bodø Air Station, the oil depot in Bodø, and radar installations at Røst.
The Home Fleet's plans were informed by considerable intelligence on German shipping movements and forces in northern Norway. The Royal Navy's Operational Intelligence Centre collated information on these topics, and regularly provided assessments to the Home Fleet and other commands. The decision to attack the Bodø area was made on the basis of Ultra intelligence obtained by decoding German radio signals, from which the Allies learned that the ships in the region included the large oil tanker , which was carrying fuel for the German battle group at Altafjord. In addition, at the time of Operation Leader two groups of Norwegian Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) agents operated radio transmitters on the coast of Helgeland: "Crux III" on the island of Renga and "Pisces" on Lurøy. Both groups provided reports to the Allies on the weather and shipping movements in the target area in the lead-up to the attack. From 3 October onwards, "Crux III" radioed weather reports every half hour.
Attack
The Home Fleet sailed from Scapa Flow on 2 October 1943. The British elements of the force were the battleships (Fraser's flagship) and , the light cruiser and seven destroyers. The US Navy component comprised Ranger, Tuscaloosa and four destroyers. The Allied ships were not detected by German forces during their voyage north, and arrived at the flying-off position for Rangers air wing approximately off Bodø shortly before dawn on 4 October.
The US Navy attack force was organised into two groups of aircraft: the Northern Attack Group, which was to strike shipping at Bodø, and the Southern Attack Group, which was to target ships near the town of Sandnessjøen nearly to the south. Both groups had one Norwegian navigator from No. 333 Squadron RAF in the lead aircraft, providing knowledge of the local geography.
The Northern Attack Group, which comprised 20 Dauntless dive bombers escorted by eight Wildcat fighters, began to take off at 6:18 am. These aircraft flew at low altitude towards Bodø until their crews sighted Myken Lighthouse, and then turned to the north and climbed as they neared the target area. Weather conditions were clear, and the air crews had good visibility. Four Dauntlesses and a pair of Wildcats were detached from the force shortly after it passed Myken Lighthouse to search for German shipping near Åmøya island. They soon sighted the German freighter , and two of the dive bombers attacked the ship. The Americans believed that La Plata was badly damaged, and the six aircraft rejoined the main body of the Northern Attack Group.
In the meantime the other American aircraft continued north, sighting but not attacking many small cargo ships and fishing boats. At 7:30 am they located a German convoy comprising the steamer and the tanker Schleswig under the escort of the minesweeper . Eight of the Dauntlesses attacked Schleswig and another pair targeted Kerkplein, inflicting significant damage on both. One of the escorting Wildcats was damaged by gunfire during the attack and returned to Ranger. Schleswig was beached to avoid sinking, and later salvaged and brought to Bodø for repairs. Following this engagement, the eight Dauntlesses which had yet to drop their bombs continued on to Bodø where they attacked four small German cargo ships: the ore carrier was sunk, was badly damaged, received minor damage from a near miss, and the small steamer was machine-gunned. Two of the dive bombers were shot down by anti-aircraft guns located on the shore and ships. The crew of one of the aircraft survived and were taken prisoner after ditching into the sea, but both men on the other Dauntless were killed.
The Southern Attack Group began launching from Ranger at 7:08 am. It was made up of ten Avenger torpedo bombers and six Wildcats. Two of the Avengers attacked the Norwegian cargo ship off the island of Løkta south of Sandnessjøen; the ship was set on fire and beached to avoid sinking. Three of the Norwegian crew members on Topeka were killed in the attack, along with several German soldiers manning anti-aircraft guns on board the ship. One of the attacking aircraft was shot down by anti-aircraft fire from the shore with only its pilot, Lt(jg) John H. Palmer, surviving. Topeka was carrying a cargo of cement and timber, and had until the previous evening been sailing in an escorted German convoy. Local fishermen made their way to the burning vessel to help rescue those on board.
Following the attack on Topeka the American aircraft continued north, and bombed and sank the Norwegian cargo liner off Fagervika without loss of life. The crew of Vaagan had observed the bombing of Topeka and brought their unarmed ship close to shore, lowering the lifeboats in preparation for a possible attack. Vaagan was carrying a cargo mostly of food for civilian consumption, and the sinking led to a margarine shortage in parts of northern Norway. The force then bombed La Plata, causing her to be beached on the island Rødøya where the ammunition on board exploded, and she burned for several days. The aircraft also bombed the Kriegsmarine troop ship (a Norwegian cargo ship requisitioned with her crew by the German occupying authorities), which had some 850 German soldiers embarked and was protected by two escorts. Skramstad was severely damaged and beached, burning for days. The number of casualties on board this ship are unclear, with some sources stating that 200 of the troops died while others report that only one Norwegian sailor and a few German soldiers were killed. The Norwegian resistance movement claimed after the attack that around 360 Germans had been killed in the bombing of Skramstad, while the official German reports state that 37 soldiers died. The American aircraft also strafed the German cargo ship and attacked the ammunition barge F231, which was hit by a bomb and beached. After all the aircraft had completed their attacks, the force returned to Ranger shortly before 9:00 am. As well as the four American aircraft destroyed, six suffered damage from anti-aircraft artillery.
The German response to the raid was hampered by a shortage of capacity within the local military communication network. Following the attacks, a German report described their channels of communications as "constantly noisy with interruptions" during the attack. This prevented the Germans from sending warnings once the attack had begun.
Aftermath
At about 2 pm on 4 October, as the Home Fleet was sailing westwards, three German reconnaissance aircraft approached Ranger, which was covered by a combat air patrol of two pairs of Wildcats, which were guided to intercept the German aircraft. One pair shot down a Junkers Ju 88 bomber from the carrier, and the other pair shot down a Heinkel He 115 float plane from Ranger. The remaining aircraft, a Ju 88, was not sighted, and escaped. These were the first German aircraft to have been shot down by US Navy aircraft. One of the Wildcats crashed during landing; its pilot survived. All of the elements of the Home Fleet dispatched for Operation Leader returned to Scapa Flow by 6 October.