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• Josef Terboven was appointed the Reichskommissar of Norway. ww2dbase [CPC]
• France urged Italy to stay out of the European War. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Orion sank the ship Haxby in the Atlantic Ocean. ww2dbase [Orion | CPC]
• US Naval Attaché in Norway Lieutenant Commander Ole E. Hagen escorted a group of American citizens fleeting Norway into Sweden. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Cruiser Georges Leygues was ordered to sail to Mers-el-Kébir, French Algeria. ww2dbase [Georges Leygues | CPC]

• Duquesne was assigned to Force X stationed in Alexandria, Egypt. ww2dbase [Duquesne | Alexandria | CPC]

• In Norway, 18 Gladiator biplanes of the 263 Squadron RAF arrived at the frozen Lake Lesjaskogsvatnet in Norway, which was to become their base of operations; the field had no anti-aircraft defense. Troops of the British 15th Brigade landed at Åndalsnes after a 9-day journey by sea from France; they immediately marched south toward Lillehammer, Norway. Troops of the Norwegian 6th Brigade attacked German positions north of Narvik, Norway; Gratangsbotn was briefly re-captured by Norwegian troops. German troops repelled a British attack near Trondheim. ww2dbase [Invasion of Denmark and Norway | TH]
• The 6,503-ton merchant steamer Afrika, a German cargo ship previously captured by Norwegian torpedo boat Stegg, was scuttled by Norwegian troops during the Germans attempt at recapture at Ulvik, Norway. ww2dbase [Invasion of Denmark and Norway | Ulvik, Hardanger | HM]
• HMS Glorious arrived off off the Norwegian and transferred Gladiator aircraft to airfields on land. ww2dbase [Invasion of Denmark and Norway | Glorious | AC]
• During an air raid near Molde, Norway, the British trawlers HMT Bradman and HMT Hammond were both sunk by German aircraft. Hammond was salvaged by the German Navy in 1941 and commissioned as the Salier. In 1942 she was renamed NT-04, and after various other names she was broken up in 1971. ww2dbase [Invasion of Denmark and Norway | HM]
• British trawler HMT Larwood, requisitioned in Aug 1939 and used as an anti-submarine vessel, was sunk in a German air raid on the coast of Norway. She was later raised by the German Navy and was used under the names Franke (1940), V-6110 (1941), V-6111 (1942), and V-6305 (1944). ww2dbase [Invasion of Denmark and Norway | HM]
• The 1,519-ton Estonian cargo ship Begonia was scuttled by Norwegian authorities, after having been bombed by the German Air Force. Captain Mihkel Kägi was killed during the air raid. ww2dbase [HM]
• Emden was relieved of her duty as the communications ship at Oslo, Norway. ww2dbase [Emden | Oslo, Østlandet | CPC]

• British House of Commons approved a trade agreement with Spain; it was the first since the Spanish Civil War. ww2dbase [London, England | TH]
• Three British cargo merchant steamers were sunk by aerial mines off the River Thames Estuary, England, United Kingdom. The 1,149-ton Stokesley had been on her way to London, England from Antwerp, Belgium carrying 1,600 tons of ammonium sulphate. The 1,969-ton Lolworth from Portsmouth, England on her way to the Tyne in northeastern England in ballast and the 1,049-ton Rydal Force from Sunderland, England for Cowes in the Isle of Wight with coal. Fifteen of the Stokesley's crew died, eleven died on board the Rydal Force, and eight were wounded on board the Lolworth. ww2dbase [Start of the Battle of the Atlantic | England | HM]

24 Apr 1940 Interactive Map