The Allies had a fairly secure hold over northern Norway until late May. The situation was dramatically altered, however, by their deteriorating situation in the Battle of France. With the Germans rapidly overrunning France, the Allied high command decided that the forces in northern Norway should be withdrawn. The royal family and Norwegian government were evacuated from Tromsø on 7 June aboard HMS Devonshire with a total of 461 passengers. This evacuation became extremely costly for the Royal Navy when the German warships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau attacked and sank the nearby aircraft carrier HMS Glorious with its escorting destroyers HMS Acasta and HMS Ardent. Devonshire did not rebroadcast the enemy sighting report made by Glorious as it could not disclose its position by breaking radio silence. No other British ship received the sighting report, and 1,519 British officers and men and three warships were lost. Devonshire arrived safely in London and King Haakon and his Cabinet set up a Norwegian government in exile in the British capital.
The Allies had a fairly secure hold over northern Norway until late May The situation was dramatically altered however by their deteriorating situation in the Battle of France With the Germans rapidly overrunning France the Allied high command decided that the forces in northern Norway should be withdrawn The royal family and Norwegian government were evacuated from Tromsø on 7 June aboard HMS Devonshire with a total of 461 passengers This evacuation became extremely costly for the Royal Navy when the German warships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau attacked and sank the nearby aircraft carrier HMS Glorious with its escorting destroyers HMS Acasta and HMS Ardent Devonshire did not rebroadcast the enemy sighting report made by Glorious as it could not disclose its position by breaking radio silence No other British ship received the sighting report and 1519 British officers and men and three warships were lost Devonshire arrived safely in London and King Haakon and his Cabinet set up a Norwegian government in exile in the British capital