Operation Alphabet was the evacuation, authorized on
May 24,
1940, of Allied (British, French and Polish) troops from the harbour of
Narvik in northernmost
Norway marking the success of
Nazi Germany's
Operation Weserübung of
April 6 and the end of the
British campaign in Norway during
World War II. The evacuation was completed by
June 8.
The evacuation was prompted by the
Wehrmacht's assault on
Benelux and
France in the spring of 1940, which reduced the relative importance of Germany's iron ore provision, and of
Scandinavia as a whole, to that of a sideshow.
Several nights after the final military evacuation, the civilians of the town were rescued by British Sub-Lieutenant
Patrick Dalzel-Job. Against orders, he organized local fishing boats to remove the population just before a German reprisal bombing. The town was largely destroyed, but only four people were killed. The Royal Navy wanted to discipline Dalzael-Job but was unable to, after King
Haakon VII awarded him the
Knights Cross of the Order of Saint Olav (First Class). Later in the war, he served with
Ian Fleming. Many sources cite Dalzael-Job as the inspiration for the
James Bond character.
A consequence of the evacuation of
Allied troops from Norway was that
Sweden's and
Finland's position vis-à-vis Nazi-Germany was weakened. Subsequently an agreement was reached in June leading to extensive transfers of (unarmed) Wehrmacht troops on Swedish rail-roads – probably Sweden's chief digression from her policy of
neutrality between the parties of the World War – and in August Finland concluded a secret agreement according to which Finland could acquire weapons through Germany and Germany could transfer (armed) troops by truck through northernmost Finland. Thereby Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, still united by the
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, had excluded other international powers from influence in
Northern Europe.