But Hitler issued a new directive on 1 March that called for the invasion of both Norway and Denmark. Frankrig og Storbritannien forsøgte at opnå norsk og svensk tilladelse til at sende et ekspeditionskorps til hjælp for finnerne gennem deres lande, men dette blev afvist af de norske og svenske regeringer. A total of 2.14 million German soldiers, and more than 100,000 German military railway carriages, crossed Sweden until this traffic was officially suspended on 20 August 1943. Churchill assumed that Wilfred would provoke a German response in Norway. But stern warnings issued to both Norway and Sweden resulted in strongly negative reactions in both countries.

[1], 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.

Initially, the plan was to invade Norway and to gain control of Danish airfields by diplomatic means. Luftvåbenet fungerede både i en transportfunktion og som offensiv kraft til bemægtigelse af strategiske positioner i Danmark. Three companies of paratroopers would be used to seize airfields.

This new plan called for a full army corps, including a mountain division, an airborne division, a motorized rifle brigade, and two infantry divisions. Two days later, the long-planned Operation Wilfred was put into action, and the Royal Navy detachment—led by the battlecruiser HMS Renown—left Scapa Flow in order to mine Norwegian waters. Selvom Weserübung Süd forløb næsten problemfrit set fra et tysk perspektiv, var operationen samlet set en kolossal satsning. Den danske regering var opmærksom på opmarchen syd for grænsen. Operationen førte ikke blot til besættelsen af dansk og norsk territorium, den markerede også et skifte i krigens dynamik. 4.15 gik de første tyske tropper over grænsen i Jylland, samtidig med at troppetransportskibet ”Hansestadt Danzig” anløb Langelinie i København. General Nikolaus von Falkenhorst blev sat i spidsen for arbejdet med Operation Weserübung. After the start of the Winter War between the Soviet Union and Finland in November had changed the diplomatic situation, Churchill again proposed his mining scheme, but once more was denied. [1], As the German demands were communicated, the first German advances had already been made, with forces landing by ferry in Gedser at 03:55[8] and moving north. Ellers ville Det Tyske Rige blive afskåret både strategisk og økonomisk af den britiske flådes dominans. Forsvaret blev sat i beredskab, men man ønskede ikke at flytte rundt på tropperne eller rykke dem tæt på den dansk-tyske grænse, da man ikke ville udfordre tyskerne eller give dem et påskud til aggression. They were counting on the cooperation of Norway, which would alleviate some of the legal issues. Overalt i landet nedkastedes flyvebladet "Oprob", som begrundede - og legitimerede - det tyske angreb med ønsket om at forsvare Danmarks og Norges neutralitet over for et offensivt britisk træk mod landene. ca. 5.30 mødtes med regeringsledelsen og kongen på Amalienborg for at drøfte situationen, var Masnedøfortet på Sydvestsjælland og Aalborg Lufthavn blevet angrebet af tyske faldskærmssoldater. Hitler blev nu mere lydhør over for flådeofficerernes interesse for Norden og dæmpede samtidig sin interesse for offensiven mod Frankrig. The German force took Narvik and landed the 2,000 mountain infantry, but a British naval counter-attack by the old battleship, Main German land campaign northward from Oslo with superior equipment; Norwegian soldiers with turn-of-the-century weapons, along with some British and French troops (see, Land battles at Narvik: Norwegian and Allied (, With the evacuation of the King and the Cabinet Nygaardsvold from, The Norwegian Army capitulated (though Norwegian armed forces continued fighting the Germans abroad, Japanese prisoners of war in World War II, German prisoners of war in the Soviet Union, Romanian prisoners of war in the Soviet Union, German prisoners of war in the United States, Battles and operations of World War II involving Denmark, Battles and operations of World War II involving Norway, Battles and operations of World War II involving the United Kingdom, Military history of Denmark during World War II, Military history of Norway during World War II, Naval battles and operations of World War II (European theatre), Aerial operations and battles of World War II, Military operations directly affecting Sweden during World War II.

[9], At 04:20 local time, a reinforced battalion of German infantrymen from the 308th Regiment landed in Copenhagen harbour from the minelayer Hansestadt Danzig, quickly capturing the Danish garrison at the Citadel without encountering resistance. Norway was vital to Germany as a transport route for iron ore from Sweden, a supply that the United Kingdom was determined to stop. Disse officerer, især fra flåden, lagde strategiske analyser udarbejdet i 1926 til grund for deres interesse for Norden. Mødedeltagerne på Amalienborg besluttede efter godt en halv times drøftelse at indstille kampene. Angrebet forblev i det store hele en hemmelighed indtil selve dagen, men den tyske flåde led alligevel store tab pga. The first German attack on Amalienborg was repulsed, giving Christian X and his ministers time to confer with the Danish Army chief General Prior. 4.15 om morgenen. The rapid Danish capitulation resulted in the uniquely lenient occupation of Denmark, particularly until the summer of 1943, and in postponing the arrest and deportation of Danish Jews until nearly all of them were warned and on their way to refuge in Sweden. He had fought in Finland during the First World War and was familiar with Arctic warfare. Convinced of the threat posed by the Allies to the iron ore supply, Hitler ordered Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (Armed Forces High Command; OKW) to begin preliminary planning for an invasion of Norway on 14 December 1939. Instead, the British cabinet voted to proceed with the mining operation in Norwegian waters, followed by troop landings.

Malmtransporterne var potentielt truet af den britiske flåde, hvis denne besluttede sig for at stoppe dem. On 12 March, the United Kingdom decided to send an expeditionary force to Norway just as the Winter War was winding down. The British government was reluctant to engage in another land conflict on the continent that they believed would be a repeat of the First World War. Det tillod gesandten ham. The name comes from the German for Operation Weser-Exercise (Unternehmen Weserübung), the Weser being a German river. Schrøder, Hans A.; Vagn Holm (1999) (in Danish). Operation Wilfred was over, but later that day, the destroyer HMS Glowworm—detached on 7 April to search for a man lost overboard—was lost in action to the German heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper and two destroyers belonging to the German invasion fleet. Den fransk-britiske hensigt var dog også i den forbindelse, i al hemmelighed, at bemægtige sig kontrol over de svenske malmværker. ", http://www.cultours.dk/presse/besettelsen-af-danmark-den-9.-april-1940-var-ikke-fredelig, The operation against the Danish Jews in October 1943, Norwegian Defence Force website on the sinking of the, National Archives and Records Administration, State Department and Foreign Affairs Records – Sweden, Jatkosota 1941–1944: 2. Operation Weserübung. Nevertheless, in the early morning hours, a few Danish troops engaged the German army, suffering losses of 16 dead and 20 wounded. Rent politisk blev en smidig politisk besættelsesform forpurret af den norske nazistiske leder af partiet Nasjonal Samling, Vidkun Quisling, der begik statskup straks den 9. april.

Dette ville man gerne komme i forkøbet, eller hvis påbegyndt bruge som et påskud for Operation Weserübung.

Peace in Finland interrupted the Allied plans[23]. The 1941 Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran, and the 1940 German invasion of Norway have been argued to be preemptive, with the German defense in the Nuremberg trials in 1946 arguing that Germany was "compelled to attack Norway by the need to forestall an Allied invasion and that her action was therefore preemptive. 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 (The Swedish harbour of Luleå is blocked by ice in the winter months).