Coal mines on the islands were owned and operated by Norway at Longyearbyen and by the Soviet Union at Barentsburg; both governments agreed to their destruction and the evacuation of their nationals.

The objective of Gauntlet was to deny Germany the coal, mining and shipping infrastructure, equipment and stores on Spitzbergen and suppress the wireless stations on the archipelago, to prevent the Germans receiving weather reports.

Drift mines were linked to the shore by overhead cable tracks or rails and coal dumped over the winter was collected after the summer thaw.

[1] From 25 July to 9 August 1940, the Admiral Hipper sailed from Trondheim to search the area from Tromsø to Bear Island and Svalbard (formerly Spitzbergen) and intercept British ships returning from Petsamo but found only a Finnish freighter.

[2] Action to deny Germany its coal exports was mooted by the British War Cabinet and the Admiralty soon after the German occupation of Norway in 1940.

[4] Vian reported that Murmansk was too close to German-held territory, that its air defences were inadequate and that the prospects of offensive operations on German shipping were poor.

Vian was then sent to reconnoitre the west coast of Spitzbergen, the main island of the Svalbard Archipelago, which was mostly ice-free and 450 mi (720 km) from northern Norway, to assess its potential as a base.

[6] On 26 July 1941, the Canadian Corps in Britain offered to provide sufficient troops for a landing on Spitzbergen, to garrison a naval refuelling base for four months and then withdraw before winter.

1 Combined Training Centre at HMS Quebec (shore establishment), Inveraray on Loch Fyne and began rehearsing the landings.

[8] The expedition sailed from the River Clyde on 19 August in Empress of Canada and rendezvoused with Force A (Vian) with the cruisers Nigeria, Aurora and the destroyers HMS Anthony, Antelope and Icarus.

At 4:30 a.m., Icarus landed a signal party at the Kap Linne wireless station at the entrance to the fiord, where they were welcomed by the Norwegian operators.

[9] The evacuation proceeded slower than planned because the Soviet Consul wanted machinery and stores loaded on Empress of Canada as well as personal effects.

[10] Normal business was kept up at the wireless station by the Norwegian Military Governor Designate, Lieutenant Ragnvald Tamber except for bogus reports of fog, to deter Luftwaffe air reconnaissance.

The final wireless message was transmitted on the evening of 3 September and the sets at Barentsburg, Longyearbyen, Kap Linné and Grønfjord were destroyed; as Force A made its return journey, a German station was heard calling Spitzbergen.

A plan to establish a temporary base was abandoned after an odd illumination, resembling searchlights, was seen in the sky; the two aircraft hurriedly took off for Norway in case it was the British.

The cruisers sank the training ship Bremse but Barcelona and Trautenfels, two troop transports with 1,500 men of the 6th Mountain Division aboard, escaped into the fjord.