The German surface force was based at Altafjord in Finnmark, near Bear Island and a stretch of the Arctic route where convoys were far from Britain and had limited Soviet support. That geography concentrated the danger from German ships and aircraft at the point where Allied cover was hardest to provide. The British used separation as protection: Burnett's Force R cruisers steamed well apart from JW 51B so that finding either formation would not reveal the other. Gales and the search for stragglers had further scattered a destroyer, Bramble, trawlers, and merchant ships, while another homebound convoy and its escorts were also nearby. This separation left the Germans uncertain about where the British cruisers were while the escorts contested their approach to the merchants.
Notable Point · 2:32:17-2:40:22
How Arctic geography concealed Force R
Altafjord gave the German force a strong position near a vulnerable convoy corridor, but JW 51B and Force R were kept far enough apart to preserve the cruisers' surprise.