Operation Zitronella

Operation Zitronella
	Part of the Arctic naval operations of World War II
	; Map of Svalbard with Spitsbergen in the west in red
Date	8 September 1943
Location	Spitsbergen in Svalbard, Norway78°54′N 18°01′E / 78.900°N 18.017°E
Result	German victory
Belligerents
Germany	Free Norway
Commanders and leaders
Friedrich Hüffmeier	Morten Bredsdorff (POW); Trond Astrup Vigtel †;
Strength
2 battleships; 9 destroyers; 1 battalion fortress infantry;	152 soldiers; 2 coastal guns; 2 AA guns;
Casualties and losses
2 dead (one executed, one died of wounds); 15 wounded;	6 killed; 31 (POW);

Operation Zitronella, also known as Unternehmen Sizilien (Operation Sicily), was an eight-hour German raid on Spitzbergen, in the Svalbard Archipelago, on 8 September 1943. The battleships Tirpitz (in its only offensive action) and Scharnhorst, plus nine destroyers, sailed to the archipelago, bombarded Allied-occupied settlements in Isfjorden and covered a landing party. Six Norwegians were killed and 31 were taken prisoner; sixteen Germans were wounded, one dying of his wounds.