Operation Zitronella

Operation Zitronella
Part of The Arctic Campaign of the Second World War

Map of Svalbard with Spitsbergen in the west in red
Date8 September 1943
Location
Spitsbergen, Svalbard, Norway
78°54′N 18°01′E / 78.900°N 18.017°E / 78.900; 18.017
Result German victory
Belligerents
 Germany Free Norway
Commanders and leaders
Friedrich Hüffmeier Morten Bredsdorff (POW)
Trond Astrup Vigtel †
Strength
2 battleships
9 destroyers
1 battalion fortress infantry		 152 soldiers
2 coastal guns
2 AA guns
Casualties and losses
2 dead (one executed, one died of wounds)
15 wounded		 6 killed
31  (POW)

Operation Zitronella, also known as Unternehmen Sizilien (Operation Sicily), was an eight-hour German raid on Spitzbergen, in the Svalbard Archipelago, on 8 September 1943. The battleships Tirpitz (in its only offensive action) and Scharnhorst, plus nine destroyers, sailed to the archipelago, bombarded Allied-occupied settlements in Isfjorden and covered a landing party. Six Norwegians were killed and 31 were taken prisoner; sixteen Germans were wounded, one dying of his wounds.

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