Operation Zitronella

Operation Zitronella
Part of The Arctic Campaign of the Second World War
Map of Svalbard with Spitsbergen in the west in red
Date 8 September 1943 Location Spitsbergen, Svalbard, Norway 78°54′N 18°01′E / 78.900°N 18.017°E / 78.900; 18.017 Result German victory
Belligerents
Germany	Free Norway
Commanders and leaders
Friedrich Hüffmeier	Morten Bredsdorff (POW) Trond Astrup Vigtel †
Strength
2 battleships 9 destroyers 1 battalion fortress infantry	152 soldiers 2 coastal guns 2 AA guns
Casualties and losses
2 dead (one executed, one died of wounds) 15 wounded	6 killed 31  (POW)

Operation Zitronella, also known as Unternehmen Sizilien (Operation Sicily), was an eight-hour German raid on Spitzbergen, in the Svalbard Archipelago, on 8 September 1943. The battleships Tirpitz (in its only offensive action) and Scharnhorst, plus nine destroyers, sailed to the archipelago, bombarded Allied-occupied settlements in Isfjorden and covered a landing party. Six Norwegians were killed and 31 were taken prisoner; sixteen Germans were wounded, one dying of his wounds.