If you're a kid from Oslo or its neighbouring municipals, taking a school trip to this fortress is mandatory. You get a guided tour of all the guns and equipment. It was a real treat for a young WW2 buff like myself. This scene is exceptional and stands out in an otherwise alright film.
Didnt really care for the film, the kings effort wasnt all that impressive during the war compared to the man in the street. But the Oscarsborg scenes were great.
@@martinh1309 well, the significance of the king refusing their demands left enough of an impression on Nygaarsvolds cabinet to say "alright sure, lets bail and set up resistance" cause regjeringa just wanted to keep neutrality and say "ok" to hitler. Also lets not downplay Håkon VII's daily radiospam with speeches of relative importance for the morale of the everyday norwegian. My now-deceased great grandmother used to tell us kids back in the early 2000s about how she would spend every day near the radio listening to the king speak, letting his words soothe the 11 year old girl while she witnessed the occupation. He had much more significance on morale than people realize really
@@muninn9674 that is absolutely true. I just think his escape is a bit overdramatized, and series like Atlantic Crossing attempts to portray norwegian royalty as important diplomats in winning the war, which they wasnt really. Totally agree on everything else
@@martinh1309 oh skjønner haha, well in terms of the war outside our borders the only thing they did of significance that im aware of was allow one final ship to leave from finland to the us with us citizens who had no other means of escape. That and an anti air cannon i believe hahaha
"Friendly forces don't try to sneak a blacked out battlecruiser into your capital in the middle of the night without announcement." or something like that.
One thing that always astounds me about this scene is not only how good it looks, but how they got almost every detail right. The first shell, as depicted in the movie, struck the battle station for the anti aircraft gun commander and knocked out the range finder up there. The second shot hit the aircraft hangers, igniting the aviation fuel stored within. The secondary explosion we see is I believe the explosives for the landing parties going up. The engines were badly damaged by this explosion, and later the 10.5 cm AA gun battery violently exploded which is what gave Blucher the coup de grace, coupled with the torpedo hits of course. She sank 3 hours after the initial engagement iirc. Another detail I loved is, if you look closely in the background, you can see the muzzle flashes and subsequent hits from the 15cm gun batteries on the opposite bank, which isn’t a detail they had to include but it shows their dedication to getting this right, something very few movies do. Fun fact: while they were removing fuel from Bluchers wreck in 1994, they also raised one of Bluchers two Arado 196 recon aircraft which is now in a museum. I believe it’s one of three such known aircraft still in existence
They shot this scene in actual fortress Oscarsborg and fired the original guns, of course with blank shots. I presume it was still cheaper to do it than to hire a CGI company to produce CGI of such quality.
Another small detail is that the two coastal guns on the other side of the Fjord (from Drøbak i think) that shoot after the first two main cannons. You can distantly see them for around 10 seconds fire once
That _is_ a nice touch. Col. Eriksen ordered the shore batteries to open fire if they saw the island's big guns fire, and so they did. These smaller guns did serious damage to the Blucher and also to the Leipzig, the ship behind her.
@@marshalleubanks2454 you sure you arent mixing Leipzig with Lützow? cause GC Leipzig wasnt in Group 5 during Weserübung. though Leipzig was here in norway when it escorted Lützow to norway around early June 1941.
@@kshitizsrivastava9429 It doesn't matter that much since that's not a precise translation anyway. At least the Norwegian language (bokmål) Wikipedia gives the quote as "Enten blir jeg stilt for krigsrett, eller så blir jeg krigshelt. Fyr!" which is something like "Either I'll be court martialed or I'll become a war hero. Fire!". (Disclaimer: I don't speak Norwegian. This based on my rather rusty Swedish and some googling.)
4:54 The guns that fired on Blucher here were a pair of German-made Krupp 28 cm coast defence guns, and the torpedos were Austro-Hungarian-made Whitehead torpedos. The guns were roughly 50 years old, and the torpedoes were 40 years old. Weapons almost half a century old destroyed a ship which had been comissioned less than a year earlier.
4:32 you know that the people who made this film really cared about history, in those few seconds, you can see in the background the flashes from thetwo 150mm on the other side of the channel firing at blucher
I got goosebumps from watching this video. I visited Oskarsborg when I was maybe 16 or 17. At the time, I didn't really get what this place meant to the Norwegians that I was visiting, but it was clear to me that it meant a lot. It's a beautiful location with a panoramic view of the Oslo fjord and the little towns that are scattered around it. I highly recommend it.
@@VloggingThroughHistory In a video sometime ago, you had a quick mention about all the mines that were laid down on the western beaches of the european continent. May i suggest the movie Land of Mine. It was nominated for an Academy Award a few years ago and takes place in the immediate aftermath of WW2 in Denmark, were german soldiers (boys) were forced to remove the mines. It's a fantastic movie!
@@VloggingThroughHistory Absolutely recommend going to Oscarsborg, and try to get in on the guided tours there. They also have a youtube channel, with some of the movies in english. ruclips.net/channel/UCDawQmKi4eS-4Rb4OQ-LJyA. While you're at it, visit Rjukan, site of operation Gunnerside. Where Norwegian resistance fighters, some trained bye SOE in Britain, destroyed the heavy water facility there. Heavy water supposed to be used in Germanys atomic bomb research program. Other places of note nearby is Bagn in Valdres, which as far as I know is the first place where Norwegian forces withstood the German wehrmacht, and was contemplating trying to starting a counter-offensive. That are the most notable WW2 places in eastern Norway I know of. ruclips.net/video/rqNXLIPTVzY/видео.html From there it's a not to long a drive over to the west side of the country, if you want to see some nice nature while you're at it. Vøringsfossen, Sognefjorden, Trollstigen are good suggestions. Other than that, the other notable sites I know of are Namsos and Narvik, in northern Norway. The last one there, site of a battle including several British and German ships, of which atleast one wreck you can visit now. www.bjerkvikhistorie.no/Jagere/Thiele.htm www.google.no/maps/place/Georg+Thiele/@68.4083435,17.8095675,411m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x45dbb9c125908fe7:0x8c58cb6b9cb9ab5b!8m2!3d68.4083415!4d17.8117562 Also, in the Narvik area; Norwegian, Polish, French and British forces were starting to push back, until they suddenly didn't any more..... Anyways, just ask if you need help planning a trip, I have some contacts which may be helpful.
Fun fact about the swordfish torpedo bombers that attacked the Bismarck is that since the planes were made of cloth and wires the AA shells that passed right through since they did not have the time to arm and explode
I’m not sure you realize what your asking for. Either you asking for a retread of an already made movie called Sink the Bismarck or your asking for a Nazi centric story which by nature of story telling is going to have to paint Nazis as sympathetic characters.
About that torpedo battery, I think the Germans didn't even know it was there. And don't quote me on this, but the idea was that the Blucher could survive the hits from the guns if it came to that (obviously, the shots were well placed and caused more damage than expected) and the captain did still believe the ship could be saved. What the germans didn't know was that the Norwegians had an old Austro-Hungarian torpedo battery installed under the fortress. Once the torpedoes hit, the Blucher was finished.
It was a special torpedo bunker built below the water line It could not be seen by aerial photos and was hidden That's why they had no idea it was there
4:56 The sound of the Blücher's horn sounding makes it sound like a wounded animal, a young metal titan, asail for mere months, crying out as it is damaged.
I found the movie Kongens Nei (The Kings No/The Kings choice) to be a very interesting and fine film. Absolutely recommended if you want to learn a little about how Norway fared when attacked by Nazi Germany. Everything from the political intrigue, forest firefights and how the King managed to escape. Of course, being Norwegian myself, I'm probably biased xD Colonel Eriksen is considered by many Norwegians to be a great war hero. The day is remembered still, with a saying; "April 9th, Never again". While we're on the topic of WW2 films set in Norway, I'd recommend the movie "Max Manus" and the 6part series "Kampen om tungvannet" (The Heavy Water War/The Saboteurs (UK))
Max Manus definitely heavily recommended, production quality is pretty damn good, and it shows the story of the Norwegian resistance movement pretty well
Totally agree on all of these. Also, if it can be found, the movie "Ni liv" (Nine Lives) tells the story of a Norwegian resistance fighter that survives the sinking of his ship off the coast of Norway, and travel across the country by himself to reach the safety of sweden, mid winter without clothes and/or proper winter supplies. A very intense film, though quite old (made in the late 50's)
If I could add one more movie to that list it is The Last Lieutenant (Secondløitnanten) from 1993. A slightly long, but telling story about a retired, old officer with experience going back to active duty, Norwegian unpreparedness, willingness to resist, and minor successes to the disintegration of the defense, from the standpoint of a volunteer unit that sees limited combat.
I think from a pure standpoint of a movie scene, the fact that there's absolutely NO music before the Blucher is sighted, is quite amazing. The simple tension building of the same note pregressively getting louder and louder. It's similar to the idea of adrenaline slowly building up. You see a recruit throwing up from pure anxiety and nerves.
Loving that you give this movie attention. Speaking of big guns and ships. Im from Norway and I live not far from one of the main gun towers from the german warship Gneisenau that was dragged and placed upon a nearby hill at Austrått by ca 640 Jugoslavians. The gun tower with three barrels were one of three from the german warship, specifically the C tower. Weighing about 800 tons. The place is called Austrått Fort. And is quite the tourist attraction in the municipality of Ørland, come and visit 😁
If I remember correctly the guns made to replace the main battery also got sent to Norway. One of the 38 cm guns can still be found in Kristiansand,(the same type as on Bismark and Tirpitz, just in single turret no double). Really gives an idea of how big those ships would have to be to carry them.
@@martinwew And four 40,6 cm guns were placed at Trondenes, Harstad. I believe there are or were 3 more at Engeløya in Nordland. These two batteries overlapped protecting the approach to Narvik. You can still visit "The Adolph Gun" at Trondenes, even though it's inside an active military base (unless...recent events...suspended the guided tours).
An interesting fact is that the rest of the fleet following Blücher that turned back thought the Blücher hit underwater mines because the torpedo battery was secret. The torpedoes were 40 years old and of Austro-Hungarian manufacture, while the 11 inch coastal guns were of German manufacture and were designed in 1891.
Watch the entire movie, Chris! One of the finest foreign language war movies I've ever seen. I guarantee you will not be disappointed! Then, once you're done, watch "The 12th Man" next. That's another Norwegian language movie, this time telling the true story of Jan Baalsrud. One of the most bad-ass dudes you'll ever hear about in WWII.
Someone recommended this movie to me and mentioned this scene. I accidentally watched the King's Speech fully expecting to see a bunch of Norwegians sink a battleship but I don't regret it was also a great movie.
I am a Norwegian and still enjoyed The King`s Speech more than The King`s Choice". Great movie. I fell asleep during The King`s Choice , which except for the sinking of Blucher scene, is a bit slow and boring
Colonel Eriksen was court martialed by the Quisling government and decorated as the hero he was by the legitimate norwegian government after the war. So yeah, he was right on both counts. Fun fact: The guy playing Col. Eriksen is the father of Kristoffer Hivju, who played Thormund Giantsbane in Game of Thrones.
Thank you for posting this. One other interesting thing about this engagement, I believe that the Torpedos that the Norwegians used were already 40 year old Whitehead torpedos and were considered obsolete in 1940! Excellent film!
Since you are looking at foreign ww2 films I recommend a Danish film called "April 9th". It's about the German invasion from the Danish side and I think it is really well done.
@@lenzschwarze Hehe, yeah. Once the fighting starts the movie almost go into realtime. It means the combat actually feels right to a greater degree than most movies.
The commander was right, warning shots were fired from the previous fort so his steadfastness and engaging the ships was the right thing. He's a good commander.
Actually a coastal guard ship had been strafed and sunk at the very southern part of the Oslofjord. M/S Pol III was hit and the commander lethally wounded around midnight, but had managed to send alarm flares before. Norway was at war after this act.
@@JohnOlimb Pol III was actually not sunk. Only damaged. The ship actually survived not only the war but took on several roles and changed names and was sold several times during the following decades. It was even used by the germans as a guard boat from the invasion up untill the end in 1945. It was a whaleship to begin with from the early 30ies and did guard service in these troubled days of early 1940. It was finally chopped as late as 2011. Sad thing is that it was not preserved as a war memorial, not even a piece.
Really loved how human they made the royal family feel in this movie. You see all their uncertainty, doubt, and fear they had privately. While also trying to keep the country united in public. And then you also have a few scenes of defiance, obviously this scene, but also later on a small group of soldiers holding off the germans chasing the royal family north.
the quote you wanted he actually said 30min prior to the engagement, as they knew from earlier batteries that they were coming, hence it wasnt in the film its also to note that the fort had 4 cannons but only enough men trained to use 2, as the fort was actually a recruitschool. the gunners had only 7 weeks of training. the torpedos were also 40 years old and no one knew if they would work
I am from this fjord! From Drøbak, where it all happened! I love this scene, and the only thing missing is the Colonel (Oberst) best quote. What he actually replies when the SIC asked if they would fire live ammunition, or do a warning shot. "Visst fanden skal der skytes med skarpt!" (Hell yes, we will fire live ammunition!) After that he said the quote you mention. And yes, the guns are still there and the whole island is today a museum. But every year, in our town, on our National Day, May 17th, we place flowers and give a speech about Eriksens actions. He has a large bust in my hometown :D If you ever plan to visit, let me know, I can give you a tour ;)
I went to Oscarsborg yesterday and it was fantastic! I really recommend it if you are into ww2 and Norwegian history. They have a guide you can use and I think it is in English and Norwegian. We didn’t use the guide though but it was a really good experience.
As a Norwegian we are though about this in school. And how it interrupted the German plans to capture the royal family and force them too accept German occupation. The sinking of Blùcher meant not only the escape from the royal family, but also the continued resistance of Norway for 3 months until total occupation. And The resistance force Milorrg often Called "gutta I skauen"= the boys in the wood. after the occupation. it also led to the Norwegian slogan Alt for Norge= everything for Norway. which was quoted by the Norwegian king Håkon under his escape from Oslo. when a Norwegian private said everything for the king. the kings escape was crucial not just for legitimace on Norwegian occupation, but also for further resistance through the war. :)
Part of this story is the amazing luck they had. Those torpedoes were antique and would normally have barely scratched the paint, but the second torpedo hit in the exact same spot where an 11 inch shell had slammed into the hull, and it was enough to bust the hull open.
The other guns from across the ford also were able to continue to fire into the Blucher as it passed the fortress Killing the fleet Admiral and command crew And preventing the flagship from deploying any invasion forces
The 3 280 mm gus are still at Oscarsborg Fortress. The first shot hit the tower and knocked out the radios, 2nd shot hit the hangar at detonated the the aircraft fuel and ammonition for antiaircraft guns and knocked out the ships firefighting abilities.
i watched this movie the first time with my dad. I'm from Norway. and my great grandfather was in the Norway military at the time and fought in midtskogen against the germans. when I watched this scene. i think I clenched my fist bcs of how powerful it was to see that knowing what was coming. being from Norway and watching this movie just makes it.. much more intense
For those who don't know..the fortresses tropedo bay was built under the island so that the launch Bay was below the waterline It was hidden by both the sea and under the fortress bunker This meant that the germans would not have known about it As no aerial photos or reconnaissance would have been able to spot it A most excellent defence and secret weapon.
During unloading in Kristiania/Oslo, one of the cannons went to the bottom of the sea. It was raised and popularly named Moses, the other two were then named Aaron and Joshua.
Britain had actually violated the Norwegian sovereignty by dropping naval mines along the coast to prevent German troops from entering. The Germans avoided them and were able to land troops in many of the major harbor-cities. The king and the government later fled to the North where the resistance were able to hold off and almost drive the Germans into Sweden after a month of fighting. However, the British, French and Polish troops were called back to Britain when France fell later and Norway came under German occupation
German paratroopers had also been deployed to speed up the taking of the capital However the stalling of the sea borne invasion meant the paratroopers Had no reinforcement or resupplying.
Where exactly did the battle take place? I’ve been looking at google maps and from the location you stated, I was only able to measure 1800 meters south as that’s the direction the guns are pointed and is well to the other side of an overpass. Additionally the site google maps provides says she made it another 4-5 kilometers to an island by the name of Askholmene, just to the mouth of a passage between the island and a small rocky patch just to the east, before going under. How could that work? I always thought that she went down where she was attacked.
One important, but perhaps subtle point about "The King's No" is that he wanted the government to make the decisions, and he refused to personally make the decisions for the government- because Norway is a constitutional monarchy where the government, not the monarch alone, is supposed to rule. He did make clear, however, that he and his family would abdicate rather than become a puppet ruler for Hitler.
As a Norwegian we all here in the country know about the story Blücher. I knew what was going to happen, but I remember watching this in the cinema and I genuinely felt dread as the German ships emerged from the mist, pretty spooky. I've been to Oscarsborg Fortress many times and it is a very nice place. Also, a lot of the naval personnel (The Kriegsmarine) gave their lifejackets to the army (Heer) personnel. A memorial was erected after the sinking which was unsurprisingly torn down after Germany's surrender. Those perhaps more well-versed in history know that the main cannons at the fortress that sunk Blücher were German-made cannons.Which I've always joked about. Blücher's sister ship, Admiral Hipper was sent further up north, to Trondheim. The mayor of Trondheim was caught by surprise of the arrival of Group 2 (Hipper's Group) when he was phoned still wearing his pyjamas.
Part of the 163 Infantry Division was on board blucher when she sank. This is the division that in 1941 after much political wrangling was allowed to travel from Norway to Finland on Swedish railways. One of the stops was the fortress town of Boden in northen Sweden. When the fortress commander went to meet with the Divisional Commander Engelbrecht (which had been fished out of the Oslo fjord when the Blucher sank) he had all fortress guns aimed at the train station in case of a coup with strict orders to open fire if the Germans tried anything despite him and Swedish troops being in the target area. The forts had in total: Eight 15cm guns Twelve 12cm guns Nineteen 8,4cm guns ( the prototype barrel for the Carl Gustav recoiless rifle was made from a spent barrel from Boden Fortress, the caliber was excellent so they kept it)
The amazing thing is that the Guns were old 11inch shore batteries that barely worked and he had barely enough crew to fire them. Plus the Ancient Torpedos they used. A absolutely shocking result for a brand new class of German warship.
Gun #1 hit Blucher's rangefinder, knocking the ship blind. Gun #2 hits the hanger, igniting the ammunition and starts a major fire which cripples the fire suppression system. 15 cm batteries open fire on starboard side of the crippled ship. Blusher was then finished off by Whitehead torpedoes which was brought back from service even though they were outdated by 50 years. Blucher suffered a thousand casualties while the Norwegians suffered none. An fort with outdated guns managed to sink one of Germanys newest warships is nothing short of an achievement.
It's not really true that Norway didn't suffer any casualties. Several civilians were caught in the crossfire when the batteries on land started exchanging fire with the other German ships. But it wasn't nearly as bad as the German losses, because of how overloaded Blücher was...
My late grandma lived her last teenage years in the north, when the germans came. In the 1960s he moved down to this area, on the west side of this fjord, and has a great overview of Blücher's location and were the battle took place. As she didn't grow up there, she could not tell me this, but she got to know a lot of other people who grew up there, and they also shared stories with me. They are all in their 90s now, but they told me the screams of hundreds of germans burning alive in oil and freezing water still haunts them. Enemy or not, not a fate I would wish on anyone, it sounds horrifying.
Just to add some notes on the language. Oskarsborg translates to Oskars fortress. So by saying oskarsborg fortress, you're saying Oskars fortress fortress. Also its more o sound and not e as you said. As berg is another word that roughly translates to mountain. Other than that loved your raction and hope you find time to watch the entire movie
You should your favorite scenes from the Elizabeth movies with Cate Blanchette. I loved when they set that boat on fire and it caught the rest of the Spanish fleet on fire.
Something I learned growing up in Minnesota: Don't annoy an irritated senior Norwegian, Finn, Dane, or even a slightly better natured Swede. Can you say Vikings?
Hey man, I am South African. Would love for you to talk about some South African history about the boer wars and independence, Bush war etc. Of course not all in one video but just down the line. Thanks :) Keep up the amazing work, better history teacher then school teachers in my opinion. Learning a lot!
Actually Oskaraborg was known to be there but was regarded as a training base it had 3 gun batteries but it only had personel for two . It was armed with 10 inch guns of WW1 vintage as were the torpedos . The Bluicher was a brand new German heavy cruiser on its first combat mission and sailed into point blank range which guaranteed devastating hits, and the torpedos alone would have sunk the ship . The first hit wiped out the fire control station so it couldn't fire back the second hit destroyed the seaplane station and one of the magazines . Bear in mind the station was manned by new recruits and commanded by a Colonel who was called out of retirement they had been on station for about a week when this occurred .
The guns are Indeed there to this day. I live about 30 minutes away from the Oscarsborg fortress and have visited the location lots of times. My grandparents always told me the story of the battle and sinking og the Blücher which only fueled my interest in ww2 history. Getting to finally see the events depicted on film was so satisfying. All of it was filmed on location aswell, so the guns that you see on screen are infact the real deal. Only change i believe is the hiding of minor damage still visible on the gunbarrels, after the fortress recieved fire from onboard machinegun batteries as seen in the clip.
Another cool quote from Birger Eriksen, is when questioned wheter they should fire with live rounds or not, he replied: "Visst fanden skal der skytes med skarpt!" (Which roughly translates to "Sure as hell we will be shoting live rounds!"
"The 12th man", "Max Manus", "Narvik" and "The Convoy" are good followups on "The Kings Choice" (Kongens Nei). Now I hope they will make historical movies of "The Tirpiz" (The Lonely Queen of the North Sea) and "Scharnhorst". These are important stories about the War on the Western Front and all relate to each other.
"Visst fanden skal der skytes med skarpt!" Fun fact, the man portraying Commander Eriksen is the father of our favourite ginger beardo from North of The Wall =D
@@VloggingThroughHistory Acting runs in the family, haha. Hey, maybe a stupid idea...but a reaction of the film entire on your channel? :D Haven't found anyone else that's done it yet.
Its insane that Prinz Eugen was bombed to hell with modern equipment and made it to the end of the war, and here we have Blucher going down to outdated equipment.
It you travel to Oslo by sea (there are routes from Denmark or the Netherlands) you have to pass by this fortress, following more or less the same course as Blücher (since that is where the deep water channel is). Those big naval guns are intimidating even now and on a clear day could have raked anything coming up the confined fjord from bow to stern. With the peaks enclosing it on either side, the whole thing reminded me of Tennyson: “‘Forward, the Light Brigade! Charge for the guns!’ He said. Into the valley of Death rode the six hundred”.
The voice in the background says "1200 meters. Cannon two tracking target. Cannon two in position". "Cannon one in position". One fires. Two fires. Three fires with no one talking, they just did what the others did.
Another interesting detail to think about is that in 1940, Norway had only been an independent country for 35 years. Before 1905, Norway had been controlled by both Sweden and Denmark for more than 500 years combined, and so it's not hard to understand why Norway was so hellbent on making their own decisions and not be told what to do or who to be allied with by other nations. This was also a huge blow to the Norwegian people when they faced Nazi occupation after being an independent country for such a short amount of time. No wonder there were so many resistance movements during the war, and I'm proud to be descended from resistance fighters and people who generally gave the Nazi occupants a hard time.
The Fortress is named after King Oscar I which was a Swedish and Norwegian king at the time. There is a sister fortress outside stockholm called Oscar-Fredriksborg it was meant to be called Oscarsborg as well but as there was a risk of confusion between the two fortresses the Swedish fortress got a double name from an older fortress (Fredriksborg) that it replaced. "Borg" is Swedish is for Castle which is an apt name for a fortress. What's missed in the movie is that the Battery at Korpås (on the other side of the sound) with it's modern 15cm guns engaged and won an artillery duel with the Lutzow pocket battleship knockign out a turret and causing heavy flooding.
I hope you get to watch the movie. King Haakon VII refused Hitlers demands when he invaded Norway, and as a result Hitler chased him and the rest of the royal family until they were able to escape later on. King Haakon and Crown Prince Olav escaped to London where they lived during the war, while Crown Princess Martha and the royal children including Norways current King Harald V, escaped to Washington D.C. where they actually lived with President Roosevelt for a while. King Harald V was present for the last inauguration of FDR. The Crown Princess and FDR were very close friends, and her influence on FDR was very helpful for Norway during WWII. It`s a very interesting movie. One of the better movies made about WWII. The European Royal family are very closely related, and King Haakon VII was King George VI uncle, while Crown Prince Olav was George VI first cousin. FDR became a close friend of the Norwegian Crown prince and crown princess when they visited the U.S. in 1939. FDR invited the Norwegian royal family in 1939 to live in the US if Germany were to invade Norway because of his friendship to the Crown prince and princess. Roosevelt saw the way the war was going and probably anticipated Hitlers attack on Norway already in 1939.
If I remember our guide correctly, this place was heavenly bombed, but when the German forces entered afterwards they discovered that there had only been one single casualty - a man got a tiny wooden splinter in his finger when he looked out of his window to see what was going on.
I live like 30km south of Drøbak(the place where Oskarsborg fortress is), after the germans was attacked, the rest of the kriegsmarine halted and went in to my hometown called Son. Its one of few harbors that deep to take in big ships. So the germans went a shore there and comandered the civilian to give up there cars and trucks so the could get to Oslo by roads instead.
I'm ashamed I basically know two stories about Norway during WW2. How they evacuated the national treasury (Moving 50 tons of gold isn't that easy in Norwegian terrain) and Norwegian saboteurs destroying a heavy water plant thanks to a Sabaton song. Apart from that, when Germans were pushed out of Finland they were chased north to Norway while burning all they could.
Some other good Norwegian war movie "Max Manus" who is a resistant war hero, who, together with his comrades, blew up many german ships habored in Norway. Theres also a tv series called "The Heavy Water War" which is also resistant groups blowing up Heavy water productions, since the germans needed heavy water in order to make nuclear bombs. So really the reason Germany invaded Norway was because of, the iron ore in Norway and Sweden, heavy water from Norway, strategic postion against Britan and Soviet as well as trade blockade.
If you're a kid from Oslo or its neighbouring municipals, taking a school trip to this fortress is mandatory. You get a guided tour of all the guns and equipment. It was a real treat for a young WW2 buff like myself. This scene is exceptional and stands out in an otherwise alright film.
Yea ive been on 2 or 3 tours myself with school. Its pretty cool
Didnt really care for the film, the kings effort wasnt all that impressive during the war compared to the man in the street. But the Oscarsborg scenes were great.
@@martinh1309 well, the significance of the king refusing their demands left enough of an impression on Nygaarsvolds cabinet to say "alright sure, lets bail and set up resistance" cause regjeringa just wanted to keep neutrality and say "ok" to hitler. Also lets not downplay Håkon VII's daily radiospam with speeches of relative importance for the morale of the everyday norwegian. My now-deceased great grandmother used to tell us kids back in the early 2000s about how she would spend every day near the radio listening to the king speak, letting his words soothe the 11 year old girl while she witnessed the occupation. He had much more significance on morale than people realize really
@@muninn9674 that is absolutely true. I just think his escape is a bit overdramatized, and series like Atlantic Crossing attempts to portray norwegian royalty as important diplomats in winning the war, which they wasnt really.
Totally agree on everything else
@@martinh1309 oh skjønner haha, well in terms of the war outside our borders the only thing they did of significance that im aware of was allow one final ship to leave from finland to the us with us citizens who had no other means of escape. That and an anti air cannon i believe hahaha
"Friendly forces don't try to sneak a blacked out battlecruiser into your capital in the middle of the night without announcement." or something like that.
Shes a heavy cruiser not a battle cruiser
@@Brendan200 yeah, what ever more than a frigate
@@geirhaag shea a bit heavier than a frigate
@@Brendan200 Yeah, a bit, as in 10,000 tons heavier or, so, than your average Frigate. Not much, but yeah.
@@Brendan200 whatever🙄
One thing that always astounds me about this scene is not only how good it looks, but how they got almost every detail right. The first shell, as depicted in the movie, struck the battle station for the anti aircraft gun commander and knocked out the range finder up there. The second shot hit the aircraft hangers, igniting the aviation fuel stored within. The secondary explosion we see is I believe the explosives for the landing parties going up. The engines were badly damaged by this explosion, and later the 10.5 cm AA gun battery violently exploded which is what gave Blucher the coup de grace, coupled with the torpedo hits of course. She sank 3 hours after the initial engagement iirc. Another detail I loved is, if you look closely in the background, you can see the muzzle flashes and subsequent hits from the 15cm gun batteries on the opposite bank, which isn’t a detail they had to include but it shows their dedication to getting this right, something very few movies do. Fun fact: while they were removing fuel from Bluchers wreck in 1994, they also raised one of Bluchers two Arado 196 recon aircraft which is now in a museum. I believe it’s one of three such known aircraft still in existence
They shot this scene in actual fortress Oscarsborg and fired the original guns, of course with blank shots. I presume it was still cheaper to do it than to hire a CGI company to produce CGI of such quality.
Another small detail is that the two coastal guns on the other side of the Fjord (from Drøbak i think) that shoot after the first two main cannons.
You can distantly see them for around 10 seconds fire once
That _is_ a nice touch. Col. Eriksen ordered the shore batteries to open fire if they saw the island's big guns fire, and so they did. These smaller guns did serious damage to the Blucher and also to the Leipzig, the ship behind her.
you do recall correctly indeed as Blucher was engaged by Birger at 04:30ish, finally being abandoned and sinking at 07:30am.
@@marshalleubanks2454 you sure you arent mixing Leipzig with Lützow? cause GC Leipzig wasnt in Group 5 during Weserübung. though Leipzig was here in norway when it escorted Lützow to norway around early June 1941.
"I will either get a medal, or a court martial. Fire!"
What a great quote! :)
It was decorated actually not medal😅
@@kshitizsrivastava9429 It doesn't matter that much since that's not a precise translation anyway. At least the Norwegian language (bokmål) Wikipedia gives the quote as "Enten blir jeg stilt for krigsrett, eller så blir jeg krigshelt. Fyr!" which is something like "Either I'll be court martialed or I'll become a war hero. Fire!". (Disclaimer: I don't speak Norwegian. This based on my rather rusty Swedish and some googling.)
@@seneca983 it's spot on
Fire!
@@lordhermis8718 Almost. Noone says "fyr" in Norwegian, the term is "ILD!"
4:54 The guns that fired on Blucher here were a pair of German-made Krupp 28 cm coast defence guns, and the torpedos were Austro-Hungarian-made Whitehead torpedos. The guns were roughly 50 years old, and the torpedoes were 40 years old. Weapons almost half a century old destroyed a ship which had been comissioned less than a year earlier.
4:32 you know that the people who made this film really cared about history, in those few seconds, you can see in the background the flashes from thetwo 150mm on the other side of the channel firing at blucher
well the saying is "Youth and exuberance are no match for old age and treachery"
I got goosebumps from watching this video.
I visited Oskarsborg when I was maybe 16 or 17. At the time, I didn't really get what this place meant to the Norwegians that I was visiting, but it was clear to me that it meant a lot.
It's a beautiful location with a panoramic view of the Oslo fjord and the little towns that are scattered around it. I highly recommend it.
I hope I get the chance to visit there someday!
@@VloggingThroughHistory In a video sometime ago, you had a quick mention about all the mines that were laid down on the western beaches of the european continent. May i suggest the movie Land of Mine. It was nominated for an Academy Award a few years ago and takes place in the immediate aftermath of WW2 in Denmark, were german soldiers (boys) were forced to remove the mines. It's a fantastic movie!
@@VloggingThroughHistory Absolutely recommend going to Oscarsborg, and try to get in on the guided tours there. They also have a youtube channel, with some of the movies in english. ruclips.net/channel/UCDawQmKi4eS-4Rb4OQ-LJyA.
While you're at it, visit Rjukan, site of operation Gunnerside. Where Norwegian resistance fighters, some trained bye SOE in Britain, destroyed the heavy water facility there. Heavy water supposed to be used in Germanys atomic bomb research program.
Other places of note nearby is Bagn in Valdres, which as far as I know is the first place where Norwegian forces withstood the German wehrmacht, and was contemplating trying to starting a counter-offensive. That are the most notable WW2 places in eastern Norway I know of. ruclips.net/video/rqNXLIPTVzY/видео.html
From there it's a not to long a drive over to the west side of the country, if you want to see some nice nature while you're at it. Vøringsfossen, Sognefjorden, Trollstigen are good suggestions.
Other than that, the other notable sites I know of are Namsos and Narvik, in northern Norway. The last one there, site of a battle including several British and German ships, of which atleast one wreck you can visit now. www.bjerkvikhistorie.no/Jagere/Thiele.htm
www.google.no/maps/place/Georg+Thiele/@68.4083435,17.8095675,411m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x45dbb9c125908fe7:0x8c58cb6b9cb9ab5b!8m2!3d68.4083415!4d17.8117562
Also, in the Narvik area; Norwegian, Polish, French and British forces were starting to push back, until they suddenly didn't any more.....
Anyways, just ask if you need help planning a trip, I have some contacts which may be helpful.
@@VloggingThroughHistory you should take a visit to Narvik aswell, the site of where Hitler lost his first land battle i believe.
They need a new movie on the Bismarck with this quality and shots. It’d look amazing
Agreed
For sure
Fun fact about the swordfish torpedo bombers that attacked the Bismarck is that since the planes were made of cloth and wires the AA shells that passed right through since they did not have the time to arm and explode
@@jasonharding96 One of the best tid bits of info about the "stringbags." Despite their age, they were still quite effective here and also at Taranto.
I’m not sure you realize what your asking for. Either you asking for a retread of an already made movie called Sink the Bismarck or your asking for a Nazi centric story which by nature of story telling is going to have to paint Nazis as sympathetic characters.
I was in Oslo in early March 2024, we took a day trip to Oscarsborg. Everything is still there.
About that torpedo battery, I think the Germans didn't even know it was there.
And don't quote me on this, but the idea was that the Blucher could survive the hits from the guns if it came to that (obviously, the shots were well placed and caused more damage than expected) and the captain did still believe the ship could be saved.
What the germans didn't know was that the Norwegians had an old Austro-Hungarian torpedo battery installed under the fortress.
Once the torpedoes hit, the Blucher was finished.
Poor Hipper sisters, none of them had a good ending.
It was a special torpedo bunker built below the water line
It could not be seen by aerial photos and was hidden
That's why they had no idea it was there
4:56 The sound of the Blücher's horn sounding makes it sound like a wounded animal, a young metal titan, asail for mere months, crying out as it is damaged.
Large vessels make that sound on huge impact.
@@OberDesiah Say what? A ship doesn't make that sound when it's hit, it was the ship's horn.
I found the movie Kongens Nei (The Kings No/The Kings choice) to be a very interesting and fine film. Absolutely recommended if you want to learn a little about how Norway fared when attacked by Nazi Germany. Everything from the political intrigue, forest firefights and how the King managed to escape. Of course, being Norwegian myself, I'm probably biased xD Colonel Eriksen is considered by many Norwegians to be a great war hero. The day is remembered still, with a saying; "April 9th, Never again".
While we're on the topic of WW2 films set in Norway, I'd recommend the movie "Max Manus" and the 6part series "Kampen om tungvannet" (The Heavy Water War/The Saboteurs (UK))
Max Manus definitely heavily recommended, production quality is pretty damn good, and it shows the story of the Norwegian resistance movement pretty well
Totally agree on all of these. Also, if it can be found, the movie "Ni liv" (Nine Lives) tells the story of a Norwegian resistance fighter that survives the sinking of his ship off the coast of Norway, and travel across the country by himself to reach the safety of sweden, mid winter without clothes and/or proper winter supplies. A very intense film, though quite old (made in the late 50's)
If I could add one more movie to that list it is The Last Lieutenant (Secondløitnanten) from 1993. A slightly long, but telling story about a retired, old officer with experience going back to active duty, Norwegian unpreparedness, willingness to resist, and minor successes to the disintegration of the defense, from the standpoint of a volunteer unit that sees limited combat.
I was disappointed in how the movie ADD in it's subject matter and lacking in focus to one particular area but Max Manus was awesome.
There is a movie about perhaps norways greatest achievemt during the war, the battle of Narvik, in post production aswell.
I think from a pure standpoint of a movie scene, the fact that there's absolutely NO music before the Blucher is sighted, is quite amazing. The simple tension building of the same note pregressively getting louder and louder. It's similar to the idea of adrenaline slowly building up. You see a recruit throwing up from pure anxiety and nerves.
Loving that you give this movie attention. Speaking of big guns and ships. Im from Norway and I live not far from one of the main gun towers from the german warship Gneisenau that was dragged and placed upon a nearby hill at Austrått by ca 640 Jugoslavians. The gun tower with three barrels were one of three from the german warship, specifically the C tower. Weighing about 800 tons. The place is called Austrått Fort. And is quite the tourist attraction in the municipality of Ørland, come and visit 😁
If I remember correctly the guns made to replace the main battery also got sent to Norway. One of the 38 cm guns can still be found in Kristiansand,(the same type as on Bismark and Tirpitz, just in single turret no double). Really gives an idea of how big those ships would have to be to carry them.
@@martinwew And four 40,6 cm guns were placed at Trondenes, Harstad. I believe there are or were 3 more at Engeløya in Nordland. These two batteries overlapped protecting the approach to Narvik. You can still visit "The Adolph Gun" at Trondenes, even though it's inside an active military base (unless...recent events...suspended the guided tours).
An interesting fact is that the rest of the fleet following Blücher that turned back thought the Blücher hit underwater mines because the torpedo battery was secret. The torpedoes were 40 years old and of Austro-Hungarian manufacture, while the 11 inch coastal guns were of German manufacture and were designed in 1891.
Norways Death Star moment
@Kabuki Kitsune Combined with the fact that Koppås opened fire from the opposite side as well.
They had also lost the fleet commander who had been killed when the command tower on the Blucher was hit by a direct shot from the shore guns.
Watch the entire movie, Chris! One of the finest foreign language war movies I've ever seen. I guarantee you will not be disappointed! Then, once you're done, watch "The 12th Man" next. That's another Norwegian language movie, this time telling the true story of Jan Baalsrud. One of the most bad-ass dudes you'll ever hear about in WWII.
Its nice to see someone give appreciation to one of our heroes, thank you for the reaction
Someone recommended this movie to me and mentioned this scene. I accidentally watched the King's Speech fully expecting to see a bunch of Norwegians sink a battleship but I don't regret it was also a great movie.
Not a battleship its a heavy cruiser
I am a Norwegian and still enjoyed The King`s Speech more than The King`s Choice". Great movie. I fell asleep during The King`s Choice , which except for the sinking of Blucher scene, is a bit slow and boring
Colonel Eriksen was court martialed by the Quisling government and decorated as the hero he was by the legitimate norwegian government after the war. So yeah, he was right on both counts.
Fun fact: The guy playing Col. Eriksen is the father of Kristoffer Hivju, who played Thormund Giantsbane in Game of Thrones.
Thank you for posting this. One other interesting thing about this engagement, I believe that the Torpedos that the Norwegians used were already 40 year old Whitehead torpedos and were considered obsolete in 1940! Excellent film!
As a Swede I respect Norway so much when I watch this scene. ELD
@Croatian_gamer [SGE007] He might have ment "ILD!" which is what he Colonel was shouting for them to fire. "Ild" means fire in norwegian.
@@kingvvk Well it's "eld" in Swedish so...
@@kingvvk ELD is the Swedish word for for fire while it’s Ild in Norwegian.
Thats warming to hear, kjære nordiske nabo. Skål!
@@odinulveson9101 Skål. 🍻
The music really intensifies the seriousness of this situation. The sound of the horn rising in intensity during the battle.
Since you are looking at foreign ww2 films I recommend a Danish film called "April 9th". It's about the German invasion from the Danish side and I think it is really well done.
April 9th was a fantastic film.
@@johnthegreat97 I thought so. I appreciated the tone, no dramatics and attention to realism.
How long is the movie? 5 minutes? Just joking
@@lenzschwarze Hehe, yeah. Once the fighting starts the movie almost go into realtime. It means the combat actually feels right to a greater degree than most movies.
That's a good movie
The commander was right, warning shots were fired from the previous fort so his steadfastness and engaging the ships was the right thing. He's a good commander.
Actually a coastal guard ship had been strafed and sunk at the very southern part of the Oslofjord. M/S Pol III was hit and the commander lethally wounded around midnight, but had managed to send alarm flares before. Norway was at war after this act.
@@JohnOlimb
Pol III was actually not sunk. Only damaged.
The ship actually survived not only the war but took on several roles and changed names and was sold several times during the following decades.
It was even used by the germans as a guard boat from the invasion up untill the end in 1945.
It was a whaleship to begin with from the early 30ies and did guard service in these troubled days of early 1940.
It was finally chopped as late as 2011.
Sad thing is that it was not preserved as a war memorial, not even a piece.
Really loved how human they made the royal family feel in this movie. You see all their uncertainty, doubt, and fear they had privately. While also trying to keep the country united in public.
And then you also have a few scenes of defiance, obviously this scene, but also later on a small group of soldiers holding off the germans chasing the royal family north.
the quote you wanted he actually said 30min prior to the engagement, as they knew from earlier batteries that they were coming, hence it wasnt in the film
its also to note that the fort had 4 cannons but only enough men trained to use 2, as the fort was actually a recruitschool. the gunners had only 7 weeks of training. the torpedos were also 40 years old and no one knew if they would work
Wow very nice of you sir. This is also one of my favorite sence. It’s fascinating!
I've just saw the movie because of your recomendations, really liked it!
The guy playing the commander is acctually my neightbour! super cool and nice guy!
I am from this fjord! From Drøbak, where it all happened! I love this scene, and the only thing missing is the Colonel (Oberst) best quote. What he actually replies when the SIC asked if they would fire live ammunition, or do a warning shot. "Visst fanden skal der skytes med skarpt!" (Hell yes, we will fire live ammunition!) After that he said the quote you mention.
And yes, the guns are still there and the whole island is today a museum. But every year, in our town, on our National Day, May 17th, we place flowers and give a speech about Eriksens actions. He has a large bust in my hometown :D If you ever plan to visit, let me know, I can give you a tour ;)
Thank you for your deep understanding of our culture and history.
I went to Oscarsborg yesterday and it was fantastic! I really recommend it if you are into ww2 and Norwegian history. They have a guide you can use and I think it is in English and Norwegian. We didn’t use the guide though but it was a really good experience.
your channel is underrated. thanks for the useful fun content!
As a Norwegian we are though about this in school. And how it interrupted the German plans to capture the royal family and force them too accept German occupation. The sinking of Blùcher meant not only the escape from the royal family, but also the continued resistance of Norway for 3 months until total occupation. And The resistance force Milorrg often Called "gutta I skauen"= the boys in the wood. after the occupation. it also led to the Norwegian slogan Alt for Norge= everything for Norway. which was quoted by the Norwegian king Håkon under his escape from Oslo. when a Norwegian private said everything for the king. the kings escape was crucial not just for legitimace on Norwegian occupation, but also for further resistance through the war. :)
Part of this story is the amazing luck they had. Those torpedoes were antique and would normally have barely scratched the paint, but the second torpedo hit in the exact same spot where an 11 inch shell had slammed into the hull, and it was enough to bust the hull open.
The other guns from across the ford also were able to continue to fire into the Blucher as it passed the fortress
Killing the fleet Admiral and command crew
And preventing the flagship from deploying any invasion forces
The 3 280 mm gus are still at Oscarsborg Fortress. The first shot hit the tower and knocked out the radios, 2nd shot hit the hangar at detonated the the aircraft fuel and ammonition for antiaircraft guns and knocked out the ships firefighting abilities.
i watched this movie the first time with my dad. I'm from Norway. and my great grandfather was in the Norway military at the time and fought in midtskogen against the germans. when I watched this scene. i think I clenched my fist bcs of how powerful it was to see that knowing what was coming. being from Norway and watching this movie just makes it.. much more intense
For those who don't know..the fortresses tropedo bay was built under the island so that the launch Bay was below the waterline
It was hidden by both the sea and under the fortress bunker
This meant that the germans would not have known about it
As no aerial photos or reconnaissance would have been able to spot it
A most excellent defence and secret weapon.
During unloading in Kristiania/Oslo, one of the cannons went to the bottom of the sea. It was raised and popularly named Moses, the other two were then named Aaron and Joshua.
Great video and you have really done your home work, well done!!
Such an exceptional scene in an already exceptional movie.
I just found out that this movie is free to watch on RUclips right now. I know what I'm doing with my night!
Britain had actually violated the Norwegian sovereignty by dropping naval mines along the coast to prevent German troops from entering. The Germans avoided them and were able to land troops in many of the major harbor-cities. The king and the government later fled to the North where the resistance were able to hold off and almost drive the Germans into Sweden after a month of fighting. However, the British, French and Polish troops were called back to Britain when France fell later and Norway came under German occupation
German paratroopers had also been deployed to speed up the taking of the capital
However the stalling of the sea borne invasion meant the paratroopers
Had no reinforcement or resupplying.
Where exactly did the battle take place? I’ve been looking at google maps and from the location you stated, I was only able to measure 1800 meters south as that’s the direction the guns are pointed and is well to the other side of an overpass. Additionally the site google maps provides says she made it another 4-5 kilometers to an island by the name of Askholmene, just to the mouth of a passage between the island and a small rocky patch just to the east, before going under. How could that work? I always thought that she went down where she was attacked.
You can take a ferry out to the fort from Drøbak. Take a guided tour. Amazing.
Allso, the anchor of Blücher is on display on Aker brygge in Oslo.
Actually, the anchor is in Drøbak. Right next to the bust of Birger Eriksen.
One important, but perhaps subtle point about "The King's No" is that he wanted the government to make the decisions, and he refused to personally make the decisions for the government- because Norway is a constitutional monarchy where the government, not the monarch alone, is supposed to rule. He did make clear, however, that he and his family would abdicate rather than become a puppet ruler for Hitler.
@4:33 You can see the 15cm battery across the fjord firing.
I was just watching the Opperations Room video on this yesterday.
Yea this fort and all its guns, torpedo batteries and defences are up for display for anyone if you visit. Its pretty cool
As a Norwegian we all here in the country know about the story Blücher. I knew what was going to happen, but I remember watching this in the cinema and I genuinely felt dread as the German ships emerged from the mist, pretty spooky. I've been to Oscarsborg Fortress many times and it is a very nice place. Also, a lot of the naval personnel (The Kriegsmarine) gave their lifejackets to the army (Heer) personnel. A memorial was erected after the sinking which was unsurprisingly torn down after Germany's surrender. Those perhaps more well-versed in history know that the main cannons at the fortress that sunk Blücher were German-made cannons.Which I've always joked about. Blücher's sister ship, Admiral Hipper was sent further up north, to Trondheim. The mayor of Trondheim was caught by surprise of the arrival of Group 2 (Hipper's Group) when he was phoned still wearing his pyjamas.
Part of the 163 Infantry Division was on board blucher when she sank.
This is the division that in 1941 after much political wrangling was allowed to travel from Norway to Finland on Swedish railways.
One of the stops was the fortress town of Boden in northen Sweden.
When the fortress commander went to meet with the Divisional Commander Engelbrecht (which had been fished out of the Oslo fjord when the Blucher sank) he had all fortress guns aimed at the train station in case of a coup with strict orders to open fire if the Germans tried anything despite him and Swedish troops being in the target area.
The forts had in total:
Eight 15cm guns
Twelve 12cm guns
Nineteen 8,4cm guns ( the prototype barrel for the Carl Gustav recoiless rifle was made from a spent barrel from Boden Fortress, the caliber was excellent so they kept it)
This action bought enough time for the king, government and gold reserves to escape to Britain
The amazing thing is that the Guns were old 11inch shore batteries that barely worked and he had barely enough crew to fire them. Plus the Ancient Torpedos they used. A absolutely shocking result for a brand new class of German warship.
Gun #1 hit Blucher's rangefinder, knocking the ship blind.
Gun #2 hits the hanger, igniting the ammunition and starts a major fire which cripples the fire suppression system.
15 cm batteries open fire on starboard side of the crippled ship.
Blusher was then finished off by Whitehead torpedoes which was brought back from service even though they were outdated by 50 years.
Blucher suffered a thousand casualties while the Norwegians suffered none.
An fort with outdated guns managed to sink one of Germanys newest warships is nothing short of an achievement.
It's not really true that Norway didn't suffer any casualties. Several civilians were caught in the crossfire when the batteries on land started exchanging fire with the other German ships. But it wasn't nearly as bad as the German losses, because of how overloaded Blücher was...
- Are we firing warning shots, Colonel?
- No warning! No hesitation! These are enemies!
Interesting, I haven't heard of The King's Choice before. Thanks for posting!
Nice video. I live about 3 km from Oscarsborg in a town called Drøbak.
That for sure looks like a fascinating movie to watch!
Highly recommend watching it!
My late grandma lived her last teenage years in the north, when the germans came. In the 1960s he moved down to this area, on the west side of this fjord, and has a great overview of Blücher's location and were the battle took place. As she didn't grow up there, she could not tell me this, but she got to know a lot of other people who grew up there, and they also shared stories with me. They are all in their 90s now, but they told me the screams of hundreds of germans burning alive in oil and freezing water still haunts them. Enemy or not, not a fate I would wish on anyone, it sounds horrifying.
Just to add some notes on the language. Oskarsborg translates to Oskars fortress. So by saying oskarsborg fortress, you're saying Oskars fortress fortress. Also its more o sound and not e as you said. As berg is another word that roughly translates to mountain.
Other than that loved your raction and hope you find time to watch the entire movie
You should your favorite scenes from the Elizabeth movies with Cate Blanchette.
I loved when they set that boat on fire and it caught the rest of the Spanish fleet on fire.
Something I learned growing up in Minnesota: Don't annoy an irritated senior Norwegian, Finn, Dane, or even a slightly better natured Swede. Can you say Vikings?
Hey man, I am South African. Would love for you to talk about some South African history about the boer wars and independence, Bush war etc. Of course not all in one video but just down the line. Thanks :) Keep up the amazing work, better history teacher then school teachers in my opinion. Learning a lot!
Actually Oskaraborg was known to be there but was regarded as a training base it had 3 gun batteries but it only had personel for two . It was armed with 10 inch guns of WW1 vintage as were the torpedos . The Bluicher was a brand new German heavy cruiser on its first combat mission and sailed into point blank range which guaranteed devastating hits, and the torpedos alone would have sunk the ship . The first hit wiped out the fire control station so it couldn't fire back the second hit destroyed the seaplane station and one of the magazines . Bear in mind the station was manned by new recruits and commanded by a Colonel who was called out of retirement they had been on station for about a week when this occurred .
-Are we firing live?
Colonel Eriksen : - Damn right we are firing live ammunition!
Great movie scene!
The guns are Indeed there to this day. I live about 30 minutes away from the Oscarsborg fortress and have visited the location lots of times. My grandparents always told me the story of the battle and sinking og the Blücher which only fueled my interest in ww2 history. Getting to finally see the events depicted on film was so satisfying. All of it was filmed on location aswell, so the guns that you see on screen are infact the real deal. Only change i believe is the hiding of minor damage still visible on the gunbarrels, after the fortress recieved fire from onboard machinegun batteries as seen in the clip.
This movie is really good and highly recommended, have it in my movie collection, this scene in particular is amazing. :)
Been to the fortress this September. A fantastic place to visit. Highly recommendable and easy to get to from Oslo.
I was going to mention that, he said: "Either I'd be court martialed or I'd be a war hero. FIRE!"
this scene always give me the chills. i was at oscarsborg last week actually, super cool place.
Another cool quote from Birger Eriksen, is when questioned wheter they should fire with live rounds or not, he replied: "Visst fanden skal der skytes med skarpt!" (Which roughly translates to "Sure as hell we will be shoting live rounds!"
"The 12th man", "Max Manus", "Narvik" and "The Convoy" are good followups on "The Kings Choice" (Kongens Nei). Now I hope they will make historical movies of "The Tirpiz" (The Lonely Queen of the North Sea) and "Scharnhorst". These are important stories about the War on the Western Front and all relate to each other.
Love your channel man. Found it just a few days ago and already watched like half of all your vids.
Could you also do some roman history or persian?
"Either I will be decorated, or I will be court-martialed. Fire!" Col. Birger Eriksen
"Visst fanden skal der skytes med skarpt!"
Fun fact, the man portraying Commander Eriksen is the father of our favourite ginger beardo from North of The Wall =D
Somebody mentioned that yesterday. Crazy. Love Tormund!
@@VloggingThroughHistory Acting runs in the family, haha. Hey, maybe a stupid idea...but a reaction of the film entire on your channel? :D Haven't found anyone else that's done it yet.
Very intresting to see your perspective as a norwegian
Its insane that Prinz Eugen was bombed to hell with modern equipment and made it to the end of the war, and here we have Blucher going down to outdated equipment.
You should react to Kamelot - Blücher. Kamelot is a symphonic power metal band. The song Blücher specifically is about the sinking of Blücher.
Nice. This film is on RUclips Movies. Definitely checking this out.
The dialouge is amazing, and the performances are amazing and the norwegian is Oddly chilling (I’m Norwegian btw)
Also extremely chilling to a Dane - by the way this movie is incredibly easy to understand for us down south haha
i am norwegian, and i saw this film when it got released in 2016 in the cinima. its were were good recomend to watch it 100%
It you travel to Oslo by sea (there are routes from Denmark or the Netherlands) you have to pass by this fortress, following more or less the same course as Blücher (since that is where the deep water channel is). Those big naval guns are intimidating even now and on a clear day could have raked anything coming up the confined fjord from bow to stern. With the peaks enclosing it on either side, the whole thing reminded me of Tennyson: “‘Forward, the Light Brigade! Charge for the guns!’ He said. Into the valley of Death rode the six hundred”.
Yes - Land based guns have been demolishing naval ships for some 800 years lol
The voice in the background says "1200 meters. Cannon two tracking target. Cannon two in position". "Cannon one in position". One fires. Two fires. Three fires with no one talking, they just did what the others did.
Another interesting detail to think about is that in 1940, Norway had only been an independent country for 35 years. Before 1905, Norway had been controlled by both Sweden and Denmark for more than 500 years combined, and so it's not hard to understand why Norway was so hellbent on making their own decisions and not be told what to do or who to be allied with by other nations. This was also a huge blow to the Norwegian people when they faced Nazi occupation after being an independent country for such a short amount of time.
No wonder there were so many resistance movements during the war, and I'm proud to be descended from resistance fighters and people who generally gave the Nazi occupants a hard time.
The place is called oskars borg and yes the cannons is still there. I think there is still a torpedo there too.
(Commented in the start of the videos)
The Fortress is named after King Oscar I which was a Swedish and Norwegian king at the time.
There is a sister fortress outside stockholm called Oscar-Fredriksborg it was meant to be called Oscarsborg as well but as there was a risk of confusion between the two fortresses the Swedish fortress got a double name from an older fortress (Fredriksborg) that it replaced.
"Borg" is Swedish is for Castle which is an apt name for a fortress.
What's missed in the movie is that the Battery at Korpås (on the other side of the sound) with it's modern 15cm guns engaged and won an artillery duel with the Lutzow pocket battleship knockign out a turret and causing heavy flooding.
You can see the kopas battery firing at 4:32
One of the proudest moments in modern Norwegian history, Colonel Birger Eriksen was the type of Norwegian we should all aspire to be.
i think the fortress has been turned into a resort now, might still have the guns though, not sure. very nicely explained before watching/reacting.
fantastic scene!
Remember the ship was full of SS and Gestapo staff, with long lists who to arrest, who to kill.... so that was a great clearance!!
I hope you get to watch the movie. King Haakon VII refused Hitlers demands when he invaded Norway, and as a result Hitler chased him and the rest of the royal family until they were able to escape later on. King Haakon and Crown Prince Olav escaped to London where they lived during the war, while Crown Princess Martha and the royal children including Norways current King Harald V, escaped to Washington D.C. where they actually lived with President Roosevelt for a while. King Harald V was present for the last inauguration of FDR. The Crown Princess and FDR were very close friends, and her influence on FDR was very helpful for Norway during WWII. It`s a very interesting movie. One of the better movies made about WWII. The European Royal family are very closely related, and King Haakon VII was King George VI uncle, while Crown Prince Olav was George VI first cousin. FDR became a close friend of the Norwegian Crown prince and crown princess when they visited the U.S. in 1939. FDR invited the Norwegian royal family in 1939 to live in the US if Germany were to invade Norway because of his friendship to the Crown prince and princess. Roosevelt saw the way the war was going and probably anticipated Hitlers attack on Norway already in 1939.
honesty when i saw this in school the sound scared me
If I remember our guide correctly, this place was heavenly bombed, but when the German forces entered afterwards they discovered that there had only been one single casualty - a man got a tiny wooden splinter in his finger when he looked out of his window to see what was going on.
Not only was the scene well done, it was historically accurate.
The shockwave’s from the canons destroyed Windows all over Oslo
I live like 30km south of Drøbak(the place where Oskarsborg fortress is), after the germans was attacked, the rest of the kriegsmarine halted and went in to my hometown called Son. Its one of few harbors that deep to take in big ships. So the germans went a shore there and comandered the civilian to give up there cars and trucks so the could get to Oslo by roads instead.
I'm ashamed I basically know two stories about Norway during WW2. How they evacuated the national treasury (Moving 50 tons of gold isn't that easy in Norwegian terrain) and Norwegian saboteurs destroying a heavy water plant thanks to a Sabaton song.
Apart from that, when Germans were pushed out of Finland they were chased north to Norway while burning all they could.
Some other good Norwegian war movie "Max Manus" who is a resistant war hero, who, together with his comrades, blew up many german ships habored in Norway. Theres also a tv series called "The Heavy Water War" which is also resistant groups blowing up Heavy water productions, since the germans needed heavy water in order to make nuclear bombs.
So really the reason Germany invaded Norway was because of, the iron ore in Norway and Sweden, heavy water from Norway, strategic postion against Britan and Soviet as well as trade blockade.
Hi Chris... Have you seen the whole film yet? Very good film....
Brilliant video