Altmark Incident: British Sailors Board German Ship, Free 300 Prisoners
British sailors from HMS Cossack boarded the German supply ship Altmark in Norwegian waters and liberated 299 British merchant seamen held captive below decks. The daring raid violated Norwegian neutrality and enraged Hitler, who used the incident to justify his invasion of Norway two months later, dramatically expanding the scope of the war in Scandinavia.
February 16, 1940
86 years ago
Key Figures & Places
World War II
Wikipedia
Altmark Incident
Wikipedia
German tanker Altmark
Wikipedia
destroyer
Wikipedia
HMS Cossack
Wikipedia
World War II
Wikipedia
Red Army
Wikipedia
Warsaw Ghetto
Wikipedia
German occupation of Norway
Wikipedia
Third Battle of Kharkov
Wikipedia
Altmark incident
Wikipedia
German tanker Altmark
Wikipedia
Destroyer
Wikipedia
HMS Cossack
Wikipedia
Heinrich Himmler
Wikipedia
Operation Weserübung
Wikipedia
Geschichte Norwegens
Wikipedia
Cossack (Schiff, 1938)
Wikipedia
What Else Happened on February 16
Trajan sent laurel-wrapped letters to the Senate in 116 CE announcing he'd conquered Parthia. Rome's eastern frontier had been a problem for 150 years. Augustus…
l'abbé Suger se voit confier la régence du royaume de France en l'absence de Louis VII parti en croisade.
Jean d'Angleterre "sans Terre" débarque à La Rochelle.
Louis IX sent a friar to the Mongol Empire in 1249. Not a general, not a diplomat — a Dominican monk named Andrew of Longjumeau. The mission: convince the Mongo…
Lithuanian forces crushed the Livonian Order on the frozen surface of the Baltic Sea, killing the Grand Master Otto von Lutterberg. This victory halted the Orde…
en Fráncfort del Meno, Maximiliano I de Habsburgo es elegido rey de los romanos.
Talk to History
Have a conversation with historical figures who witnessed this era. Ask questions, explore perspectives, and bring history to life.