Germany depended heavily on iron ore brought by rail from Sweden and then carried down the Norwegian coast by ship to German factories. The Banff Strike Wing was created specifically to stop those shipments. This forced the ore ships to travel only at night and hide in Norway's fjords by day. On 17 February 1945, a convoy of ore ships was spotted in the Norwegian port of Aalesund and a force of Mosquitos was sent to sink it.
