ISBN 071465119-2
188 pages + maps

Foreword; Preface; Addendum to Sources; List of Abbreviations; Sources; Introduction; photos; maps; tables; Appendices; Index

   Frank Cass Publishers of London continues to amass an enviable track record with an ever-increasing list of excellent books about the Second World War.
   One the company's latest releases is the second in its series of studies originally published in the immediate post-war years by the Naval Historical Branch of the Royal Navy. (The first volume in the series, The Evacuation of Dunkirk, edited by W.J.R. Gardner, was reviewed here in August.) These studies were originally intended for internal use and were prepared using primary source material from the Public Records Office such as reports from ships and individual officers participating in the campaign, the Admiralty War Diary, etc. Naval Operations of the Campaign in Norway was written in 1951 and thus includes information from Kriegsmarine documents that became available after the war; the new edition adds another Foreword and a new Preface by the editor, noted naval historian David Brown.
   The book opens with a brief review of British plans for mining the Leads and Admiral Raeder's plans for the Kriegsmarine, including an OB of German naval forces. Nine chapters then cover the complete span of events from the German landings to the British counter-moves to the eventual Allied evacuation. A final chapter offers some overall assessments and commentary.
   As with the volume on Dunkirk, this study includes a fair amount of detail which is not mentioned in other accounts of the campaign, including the British official history volumes.
   The book concludes with over twenty-five pages of appendices, largely of tabular nature:

• Allied warships employed in connection with operations in Norway, April-June 1940, with main armament and commanding officers
• German warships mentioned in the narrative, with main armament, etc
• Disposition of the Home Fleet, Noon, 9 April
• Dispositions during the retreat from central Norway, 30 April - 3 May
• Dispositions, 8 June
• Dispositions of Allied submarines during British minelaying and German invasion of Norway, 8-9 April
• Similarity of German silhouettes
• Summary of air attacks on HMS Suffolk, 17 April 1940
• HMS Furious
• Some extracts of General Auchinleck's dispatch, dated 19 June 1940
• Naval losses and damage (Allied and German)

   The book also contains a selection of photos and sixteen well-designed maps showing naval dispositions, warship movements, and locations of engagements and losses.
   Once again, Cass offers a valuable chunk of history, mostly unvarnished, and probably as close to the actual events as most readers are likely to get without visiting repositories of yellowing documents. Not a glossy pop history by any means, but definitely recommended to students of the Norwegian campaign and to those interested in the Royal Navy in particular or naval and amphibious operations in general.
   Available from online booksellers, local bookshops, or directly from Frank Cass.
   Thanks to Cass for providing this review copy.