Narvik offers an unusual chance to walk the physical setting of a naval battle and test written accounts against the harbor itself. Seeing that scale in person makes the actions of British ships easier to understand as they pushed into the confined harbor and worked around it methodically. Pom-pom fire used against snipers and heavier weapons used for counter-battery fire could penetrate buildings at the distances involved. British sailors knew civilians and houses were close to the targets and tried to limit collateral damage while suppressing German positions. The harbor turns an abstract engagement into a problem of overwhelming close-range firepower, target discrimination, and restraint.
Notable Point · 34:02-36:08
Narvik's harbor reveals close-range firepower and restraint
Walking Narvik's harbor makes the destructive power and collateral-risk choices of the 1940 naval fighting easier to grasp than a map alone.