Video: 'The World At War 1973(World War II Documentary) 02.Distant War (September 1939 – May 1940)' (Feb. 16, 1940, at 30:43)

(Friday, February 16, 1940, 10:20 p.m. Central European Time; part of World War II and Phoney War) — Forces of the Royal Navy seized the German steamer Altmark today in Norwegian waters and freed 299 prisoners of war whose ships were sunk by the pocket battleship Graf Spee in the Southern Atlantic Ocean.

British naval forces cornered the tanker and later the destroyer Cossack attacked the German ship near the Jøssingfjord and freed all the prisoners, killing eight German seamen with firearms and wounding ten others, five of them seriously.

A British and a Norwegian sailor were also seriously wounded in the action.

Germany claimed that the attack was a grave violation of international law and of Norwegian neutrality.