1.
GV Narvik fjord.
0.06

2.
LV Memorial chapel.
0.10

3.
SV Minister Haughland unveils Norwegian monument.
0.15

4.
LV Major-General Lindback lays wreath.
0.21

5.
LV Admiral Hilary lays wreath on British monument.
0.30

6.
SV French, Polish and Norwegian Generals lay wreaths.
0.39

7.
SV General Bronislaw lays wreath on Polish monument.
0.48

8.
LV General Molle lays wreath on French monument.
0.58

9.
LV People in attendance.
1.01

10.
SV French, Norwegian and Polish Generals lay wreaths.
1.05

11.
LV Officers and clergy disperse.
1.10



Initials KJ/S/MR/AS


SEE ALSO PROD. 1863/60.

Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: In Narvik, May 28, senior Norwegian, British, French and Polish officers attended a memorial service and laid wreaths during several ceremonies, marking the 20th anniversary of the temporary recapture of Narvik by the Allies in the early phase of World War II.

After the service at Narvik Memorial Chapel, Norway's Minister of Justice, Haugland, unveiled a monument dedicated to the country's war dead. Wreaths were laid, at memorials for the individual national groups forming the Allied landing force, by Norwegian Major-General Lindback-Larsen, British Admiral Sir Hilary Biggs, Polish Brig.-Gen. Bronislav, and French General Molle.

After the fall of Narvik, in the course of the German invasion which started on April 9, 1940, the British continued operations against the coastal base. On May 28, an Allied landing force succeeded in recapturing Narvik from the Germans. But with the surrender, the same day, of the Belgian army and the subsequent decision to withdraw the British Expeditionary Force from Flanders, it became necessary to abandon the Norwegian outpost. Under continuous aerial bombardment, the evacuation from Narvik - June 4/8 - was carried out in an early manner. The Norwegian campaign came to an end on June 10, 1940.