Operation "Weserübung". Combat report of the cruiser "Admiral Hipper" and group II (destroyer) covering the period from April 6th-12th, 1940. Circa 100 pages with final assessment and signature of the "Seebefehlshabers West" Admiral Lütjens, and maps.
In Operation Weserübung, the cruiser was the leading ship of group II, which should bring Gebirgjäger to Trondheim. Together with the destroyers "Paul Jacobi", "Theodor Riedel", "Bruno Heinemann" and "Friedrich Eckoldt", the "Admiral Hipper" took 1,200 men from Gebirgsjäger-Regiment 138 on April 6th, 1940 in Cuxhaven on board. On the morning of April 8th, the cruiser encountered the British destroyer "Glowworm". The "Glowworm" took up the unequal fight, laid a smokescreen and was hit hard by the superior artillery of the "Admiral Hipper" several times. The British managed to shoot three torpedoes at the "Admiral Hipper", but they did not hit. One last attempt was to ram the "Admiral Hipper", damaging the ship at the bow. The "Glowworm" got under the bow of the Admiral Hipper and the forecastle of the destroyer was separated to the bridge construction. The burning "Glowworm" drifted beside the "Admiral Hipper" for a few more minutes and then capsized. The British commander was posthumously the first British soldier in World War II, awarded with the Victoria Cross, this happened i.a. based on a report that Captain to Sea Hellmuth Heye, the commanding officer of the "Admiral Hipper", sent to the British Admiralty via the Red Cross. At dawn the next day, group II landed their troops in Trondheim.
On April 10th, the cruiser returned to Wilhelmshaven to get the damaged bow repaired.
