German industry was heavily dependent on the import of iron ore from the northern Swedish mining district, and much of this ore was shipped through the northern Norwegian port of Narvik during the winter months. [c], Two diary entries by Jodl dated 13 and 14 March did not indicate any high-level awareness of the Allied plan but also that Hitler was actively considering putting Weserübung into operation. “The parachutes were packed, the ammunition supplies and the weapons laced in their containers,” he wrote soon afterward. By the time it was signed on May 31, 1939, though, Hitler’s blatant violation of the Munich Pact and march into Prague two months earlier left no doubt what Hitler’s word was worth. Though later implemented, Operation Wilfred was initially rejected by Neville Chamberlain and Lord Halifax for fear of an adverse reaction among neutral nations like the United States. But Prior proved to be the lone voice of resistance. ", "The objectives were to take Narvik, the railroad, and the Swedish ore fields","an intercepted radio message setting 14 March as the deadline for preparation of transport groups indicated that the Allied operation was getting under way. The antiaircraft fire shone, too. In December, the United Kingdom and France began serious planning for sending aid to Finland. “Although he preserved outward appearances and maintained absolute dignity during the audience.

Swedish and Finnish trade was dependent on the Kriegsmarine, and Germany put pressure on neutral Sweden to permit transit of military goods and soldiers on leave. The German invasion of Denmark in World War II was the swiftest military conquest in history—less than three hours—but still had moments of high drama. After some beer with him, he showed me the quarters of the commanders, the military offices, the telephone exchange, the watch posts, and the old gates by the north and south entrances.”. Significant differences in geography, location and climate between the two nations made the actual military operations very dissimilar. If the demands were not met, the Luftwaffe would bomb the capital, Copenhagen. More aircraft arrived: Stukas and bombers. There was even less resistance to seaborne landings around the peninsula.

Here, we are being gaped at like a traveling circus,” a German officer commented. “It is in our interest that Norway remains neutral,” General Franz Halder, chief of the German general staff, recorded in his diary on New Year’s Day, 1940. “Take the government to the Hosraeltelejren military base and make a stand there.”. The main striking force was to land at Narvik and advance along the railroad to its eastern terminus at Lulea, occupying Kiruna and Gallivare along the way. Exhibition: “Poor Art – Rich Legacy” in Oslo. [10] In the end, 477 Danish Jews were deported, and 70 of them lost their lives, out of a pre-war total of Jews and half-Jews at a little over 8,000.

The night before, General Himer had handed him a sealed envelope with instructions to deliver it at this odd hour, and he did not have to read it to know its contents. By the summer of 1943, in the midst of World War II, Denmark had been occupied for more than three years. The navy argued that possession of Norway would allow control of the nearby seas and serve as a platform for staging submarine operations against the United Kingdom. He would be back in five days—on business. In 700 pages of postwar writing, Prime Minister Churchill gave the invasion one line: “Denmark was easily overrun after a formal resistance in which a few faithful soldiers were killed.” In the next five years, though, Danes were to show that if they could not fight, they could resist. The Germans were driven out of Narvik on 28 May, but the deteriorating situation on the European continent made the Allied troops withdraw in Operation Alphabet, and on 9 June, the Germans recaptured Narvik, which was also now abandoned by civilians because of massive Luftwaffe bombing. Instead, the British cabinet voted to proceed with the mining operation in Norwegian waters, followed by troop landings. The incident was enough for Hitler to order Norway occupied and, as an afterthought, Denmark as well. “The troops have not fought at all!” Prior angrily answered, unaware of the scattered resistance across Jutland. “Everything was ready to go,” he wrote of the preparations. The plan was to provoke a German reaction by laying mines in Norwegian waters, and once Germany showed signs of taking action, UK troops would occupy Narvik, Trondheim, and Bergen and launch a raid on Stavanger to destroy Sola airfield. The Danish commander in chief, General Walter Wein Prior, had left the Kastellet scant moments before the Germans had barged in, headed for the War Ministry. If Denmark’s invasion was almost bloodless and its occupation bloodier, its liberation came without bloodshed. “Not smart in appearance, perhaps, but they are tough and crack shots,” a German colonel conceded about these determined, scrappy Danes. Both men were bitterly aware of what those words were worth. This came at the insistence of the Luftwaffe to capture fighter bases and sites for air-warning stations. He is still looking for an excuse". Almost all U-boat operations in the Atlantic were to be stopped for the submarines to aid in the operation. He had fought in Finland during the First World War and was familiar with Arctic warfare, but he was to have command only of the ground forces, despite Hitler's desire to have a unified command. Given Denmark's position on the Baltic Sea, the country was also crucial for the control of naval and shipping access to major German and Soviet harbours. At 04:00 on 9 April 1940, the German ambassador to Denmark, Cecil von Renthe-Fink, called the Danish Foreign Minister Peter Munch and requested a meeting with him. It was a last-minute addition to the invasion because of the report of those unknown “white Italians.” Though all he had for intelligence were a brochure and a postcard taken during a “tourist” visit, Giercke assured them that there would be no problem.
Mass nonviolent direct action began first with labor strikes. The French intended to commit about 50,000. He phoned the information in code to Hamburg, then finally arranged for a truck to be on the Langelinie in two days—at the odd hour of 4 am. On the night of April 8, 1940, almost four million people went to bed at peace in the midst of a world war. Throughout the preceding Sunday, German warships were sighted off Jutland. The plan also called for the swift capture of the kings of Denmark and Norway in the hope that this would trigger a rapid surrender. We have received the order to occupy Denmark tomorrow.’”. Conveniently, that would also allow the Allied forces to occupy the Swedish iron ore mining district. On 21 February 1940, command of the operation was given to General Nikolaus von Falkenhorst. The inevitable confrontation came in August 1943. Every available submarine, including some training boats, were used as part of Operation Hartmut in support of Weserübung. One British plan was to go through Norway and occupy cities in Sweden. Their plan called for a force to land in Narvik, in northern Norway, the main port for Swedish iron ore exports and to take control of the Malmbanan railway line from Narvik to Luleå in Sweden on the shore of the Gulf of Bothnia. Major Hans Lunding ran a spy ring in northern Germany, which sent him reports of troop concentrations, increases in military traffic, and the stockpiling of supplies. Germany was dependent on iron ore from Sweden and was worried, with justification, that the Allies would attempt to disrupt those shipments, 90% of which originating from Narvik.

It changed the world more than any other single event in history. After firing, the Danes were either quickly surrounded or retreated into the towns to trade shots around corners in the back streets. Slowly, imperceptibly, the night gave way to the dawn, which brought a sense of relief to the captain of the transport squadron. The aircraft continued descending, and we saw land again, the island of Masnedo. The light at this time of day made it almost impossible to distinguish sky from the sea in the mix of clouds and darkness. The king finally decided it was hopeless to continue, so at 6:35 am a messenger left to deliver the capitulation to Ambassador Renthe-Fink. [6] However, the other branches of the Wehrmacht were not then interested, and Hitler had just issued a directive stating that the main effort would be a land offensive through the Low Countries. “To the Danes,” the Times of Londonobserved, “belongs the credit of inventing a new order unthought-of by Hitler: the Order of the Cold Shoulder.”. Two other more desperate officers were on the move around town. On the night of April 8, 1940, almost four million people went to bed at peace in the midst of a world war. Munch soon understood the diplomat’s distress.

Another German attack was to come from the sky, aiming to make military history but ending as just a farcical footnote. “Hitler has no warlike intentions toward Denmark,” Renthe-Fink genuinely believed, and he reassured Munch, who remained optimistically obtuse to the very end. “Denmark will be occupied next week.”. Our aim is to share with you the exciting destinations in Scandinavia, what’s going on and tell you about places, traditions, design, architecture and food. But there’s NEVER been anything like THIS before. The invasion of Norway was given to the XXI Army Corps under General Nikolaus von Falkenhorst and consisted of the following main units: The initial invasion force was transported in several groups by ships of the Kriegsmarine: In the far north, Norwegian, French and Polish troops, supported by the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force (RAF), fought against the Germans over the control of the Norwegian harbour Narvik, important for the year-round export of Swedish iron ore. Danish airfields were recognized as vital for any Norwegian campaign. ", "The British held back two divisions from France, intending to put them into the field in Norway, and planned to expand their force eventually to 100,000 men. Times when the very landscape appears to shift. Author John W. Osborn, Jr., is resident of Laguna Niguel, California. On 12 March, the United Kingdom decided to send an expeditionary force to Norway just as the Winter War was winding down. When it was rejected with just 15 minutes left, the Germans dismissed the fiction of the protectorate, imposed martial law, confined the king in his palace, dismissed the government, and moved against the Danish military.
Back in 1937, a Danish colonel complained, “From the German view, we do actually invite occupation.” Stauning and Munch made it appear even more so after the outbreak of war, actually cutting Denmark’s army in half to just 15,450 by April 1940, 7,840 of them conscripts with just two months service. While ostensibly intended to bring Allied troops to the Finnish front, it laid its main emphasis on operations in northern Norway and Sweden. As they became the sole prisoners taken by the Danes throughout the war, another German pilot landed, got out, thanked the Danes who were taking care of them, and then took off.