another twenty shells and at Johannesson reported that the troops had landed as planned. The surviving Norwegians fled into the hinterland, using a blazing coal dump for cover as the landing party seized the installations at Barentsburg. Kummetz was apprehensive about the wireless message sent by the Norwegians, in case the Home Fleet was already at sea and wanted the infantry back on board his ships by had sailed further into Isfjorden to Longyearbyen and reported by that the Norwegians had been overrun and at , the infantry commander, Colonel Wendte, reported that the demolitions would be complete by After a methodical bombardment, the German ships re-embarked the landing party and their prisoners by and put to sea, firing another eight shells at ammunition and fuel dumps outside Barentsburg. Recovering the last of the floatplanes caused a delay to until and then the German ships left at The Norwegians repaired their wireless and got off a sighting report, which led to the Home Fleet sailing from Scapa Flow but too late to intercept the German ships, which reached port on 9 September. Aftermath Analysis was a qualified success; it brought no lasting benefit, since the Allies quickly re-occupied Spitzbergen island. On 19 October, the cruiser arrived at Barentsburg with relief and reinforcements for the Norwegian garrison. Samuel Eliot Morison, the official historian of the US Navy, described as a political move on the part of the , to show Hitler that the German surface fleet had some value. Morison judged the effort disproportionate to the results, suggesting that the same ends could have been achieved more simply. In 2013, Niklas Zetterling and Michael Tamelander called the operation insignificant, apart from useful training for the crews. Casualties Sixteen German sailors were wounded, one dying of his wounds and six Norwegians were killed. Captain Morten Bredsdorff and 30 prisoners were sent to Oflag XXI-C in Schildberg in the annexed , joining officers interned there. A German Leading Seaman from a destroyer was court-martialed and sentenced to death for cowardice (he had hidden on his ship rather than accompanying troops to the shore) and was executed on the quarterdeck of . This episode, along with a dispute over medal allocation, when the crew of received only 160 Iron Crosses against 400 for the crew of , exacerbated an already bad relationship between the crews. Subsequent operations Under cover of the attack, the installed