So Norway was at peace in April 1940 when it was suddenly attacked by naval, air and military forces from Nazi Germany.

Not least was a desire to secure the flow of iron ore from mines at Kiruna in the north of Sweden to Germany's war industries.

It was frozen in winter, so for several months each year the Swedes shipped most of their iron ore by rail through the ice-free port of Narvik in the far north of Norway.

The only alternative in winter was a long rail journey to Oxelösund on the Baltic, south of Stockholm, which was not obstructed by ice.

Without the Swedish iron ore shipments through Narvik, the German war industry could not have produced as many tanks, guns, submarines and other weapons.

The Admiralty was investigating the possibility of sending ships into the Baltic Sea in the spring of 1940 (Operation Catherine) to interdict German seaborne trade during the summer months.

Narvik, Trondheim, Oslo, Bergen and other Norwegian towns were seized on the first day of the campaign in a surprise attack.

The British and French prime ministers and their military advisers were of one mind in deciding to retake Trondheim, link up with the Norwegians and block a German advance north.

The retired Admiral of the Fleet Sir Roger Keyes, MP, repeatedly urged Churchill to seize Trondheim from the Germans, using obsolete battleships if necessary, and offered to lead the attack.

Namsos, then a town of 3,615 people, was felt to be the logical spot to land the troops assigned to the northern pincer, because of its location and facilities.

The landing party was under the command of Captain Edds and took up blocking positions in the hills outside town which soon attracted German aircraft.

The commander, Lieutenant-General Sir Adrian Carton De Wiart, V.C., flew in the next day and his Short Sunderland flying boat was strafed by German aircraft as it landed.

De Wiart was an energetic and competent commander who inspired his troops by his bravery during air attacks but no Allied aircraft were available over Namsos to provide protection against the Luftwaffe.

De Wiart made the decision, because of unopposed enemy air activity, to divert his large, slow and vulnerable troopships 100 mi (160 km) north to Lillesjona in Nesna, where they would be offloaded to destroyers for a fast run into Namsos.

HMS Afridi, Nubian, Matabele, Mashona and Sikh got under way for Namsos carrying De Wiart with 36 officers and 1,208 other ranks.

De Wiart showed considerable vigour in managing the landing and dispersal of troops and supplies, getting them into the hills during the five hours of darkness in Namsos in late April.

De Wiart understood that speed was vital and that the force should reach Steinkjer, where the two roads south met, before the Germans got there from Trondheim.

Since most of the remaining troops at Lillesjona were aboard the RMS Empress of Australia, much time was wasted with further trans-shipping, and Chrobry, accompanied by HMS Vanoc got into Namsos just before sunrise on 17 April.

By 21 April, British forces had advanced quickly as far south as the hamlet of Verdal, where road and railway bridges crossed the River Inna, a few miles inland from Trondheimsfjord.

They spotted a German gunboat, two armed trawlers and a destroyer in the fjord, on their flanks, well able to land troops behind them and direct fire at them, to which they lacked the means to respond.

When De Wiart landed at Namsos on 15 April, the Germans had about 1,800 troops in the Trondheim area, some in the city and some along the railway to Sweden.

Their possession of the Værnes airfield enabled them to fly extra troops in daily, and by 18 April, they had 3,500 men in the area, the next day 5,000.

The Verdal bridge was defended by about 80 Norwegian soldiers, armed with Krag-Jørgensen rifles and Colt M/29 heavy machine guns.

Attacks lasted throughout the day, and most of the houses, as well as the railway terminal, a church, the French headquarters and the two wooden wharves were burned.

Fourteen German bombers went after the tiny anti-submarine trawler HMT Rutlandshire and badly damaged it just down the bay from Namsos.

From 28 April to 2 May, Arab endured 31 air attacks; her captain, Richard Stannard, received the Victoria Cross for his actions during those five days.

Some eighteen Gladiators were flown off the Glorious and briefly operated from the frozen Lake Lesjaskogsvatnet at Lesjaskog, but these were too far south to help Namsos.

Meanwhile, German troops were closing in on the rearguard in the hills outside Namsos, and the convoy ships were vulnerable to air attack if the fog lifted in daylight.

After the Afridi had picked up some of the French sailors and Allied soldiers, she was hit by two heavy bombs and capsized with the loss of a hundred men, including some of the rearguard and the wounded from the Bison.