World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseThe WW2-era German economy relied on over 11 million tons of iron ore imported from Sweden every year. During the warm months, there was little concern regarding the transportation of the ore into Germany, as the north-south railways were clear of snow, the Swedish Baltic ports free of ice, and the narrow entrance to the Baltic Sea sealed off to British warships. In the winter, however, the Swedish ore destined for Germany was forced to take a westward overland route into Norway, where it would board sea-going freighters for a southward coast-hugging voyage. This arrangement worked for as long as Norway stayed out of the war, which the Norwegian government desperately attempted to do. The Altmark incident on 16 Feb 1940, in which Norwegian gunboats stood by and allowed a British destroyer to board a German transport, however, changed the German viewpoint. The Norwegian lack of response in this particular incident meant, in Adolf Hitler's mind, that a meek Norway could easily fall prey to an Allied invasion, which in turn would close of this important iron ore supply route. Furthermore, should the Allies embark on an invasion of Norway, it was difficult to predict whether Sweden would be included in the invasion plans as well. Hitler, therefore, decided that Germany must act first.

ww2dbaseThe Western Allies had indeed been eyeing Norway for a long time, aiming to cut this very supply route. In addition, they also wished to open a land route so that Allied troops could possibly march in to aid Finland in its war against the Soviets. Winston Churchill, the British Lord of the Admiralty, proposed a preemptive strike at Norway before Germany could do the same, but he failed to fully convince his colleagues. Instead, all Churchill achieved by 8 Apr 1940 was the mining of Norwegian coastal waters to deter German transports. Such a mining operation was a gross violation of Norwegian sovereignty, but Churchill justified it to the British people by noting it would hurt Germany far greater than it would Norway.

ww2dbaseThe 8 Apr 1940 announcement of the naval mining gave Hitler the perfect excuse to launch an invasion, responding to Britain's first strike. The German plan would include both Denmark and Norway, and the invasion would begin on the very following day, 9 Apr 1940. This seemingly impossible rate of reaction was, of course, not so impossible, as Germany had long since planned for such an invasion and occupation.

ww2dbaseFor decades, Friedrich Krupp AG, a German munitions firm, had been the weapons suppliers of many nations. Norway and Denmark were no different. Two months before the invasion, Krupp agents at Oslo and Copenhagen had already sent information back to Berlin regarding the weaponry of their respective nations. The agents at Oslo, however, would make one mistake: they had forgotten the ancient 28-cm Krupp cannon at the fortress at Oscarborg. Despite the old age, the cannon was still in remarkably good condition, and this oversight was to have consequences during the invasion.

ww2dbaseOn 9 Apr 1940, German armor and men poured across the Danish border. A few dozen defenders were killed before the Danish government surrendered a few hours later.

ww2dbaseControl of the Skagerrak Channel by warships usually secured the control of the entire Baltic Sea in previous wars. The introduction of aviation meant machines costing a fraction of ships-of-the-line could perform the same function. By a swift takeover of Danish airfields, German aircraft now controlled both the channel and the sea. William Manchester noted that

ww2dbaseEven before Denmark was fully occupied, German transports set sail for Oslo, Norway. En route, engagements with the Norwegian Navy spelled the end of the small Norwegian vessel Pol III by naval gunfire. The German Navy was not left without scars, however. As the German fleet approached Oslo, the ancient 28-mm Krupp cannon at Oscarborg opened up, surprising the Germans. The cruiser Lützow was damaged, and the cruiser Blücher was sunk, taking 1,600 men with her. Oskar Kumetz, the admiral commanding the fleet who had broken his flag aboard Blücher, had to swim ashore to save his own life. King Haakon VII of Norway, with the delay achieved at Oscarborg, announced his intention to fight the German invasion, and retreated away from Oslo with the royal family and members of the government. Meanwhile, German paratroopers took control of airports and airfields in the Oslo region, including the seizure of Aalborg airfield on 9 Apr 1940. Together with the airborne operation at Masnedø, Denmark, the German campaign against Denmark and Norway was the first to fully utilize an organized airborne assault in history. Before long, German naval forces landed troops at or near Bergen, Stavanger, Egersund, Kristiansand, Arendal, Horten, Trondheim, and Narvik.

ww2dbaseAt Narvik, a naval engagement on 10 Apr between British and German naval forces saw two German destroyers sunk and five seriously damaged at the cost of two British destroyers; three days later, British Vice Admiral William Whitworth led the battleship HMS Warspite and aircraft carrier HMS Furious, supported by British and Polish destroyers, in the destruction of the remainder of the German fleet at Narvik. Although 2,000 German troops had a secure footing on land near Narvik, the unexpected naval losses brought Adolf Hitler into an uncontrollable panic, knowing that Germany had just lost half of her destroyer strength. "The hysteria is frightful", recalled Alfred Jodl who witnessed Hitler's reaction to the news. The German leader was only able to regain composure after Jodl's reassurance that the losses were trivial in the grand war plan. This would be one of the events that would lead to Hitler's later pattern for his total personal control of the battlefields; "even in seemingly trivial matters", recalled Wilhelm Keitel. Although the Allied forces eventually recaptured Narvik on 28 May 1940, Allied inefficiencies and inexperience consistently gave the German forces an upper hand. American foreign correspondent Leland Stowe observed the British troops in Norway and reported sadly that they were untrained, poorly equipped, and without adequate leadership; British newspaper journalists agreed. The best British troops were in France, first sitting idle, then overwhelmed by the German invasion of France and the Low Countries.

ww2dbaseInitially, the political leaders in London focused on denying the Germans the use of Norwegian ports and on disrupting German supplies from sailing up and down the coast. However, after King Haakon VII urged Britain to retake Trondheim, Norway's historical and cultural capital, the prior focused strategy began to waver. Although Britain was without a force strong enough to retake Norway, Lord Halifax and others committed to the royal request. Winston Churchill fought fervently against it, but he met little success. On 13 Apr, British troop transports originally bound for Narvik were redirected to Trondheim. Beyond the fact that Norwegian and British intelligence failed to acquire a good estimate of the strength of German forces at Trondheim (the British would send too small a force, the decision having been based on intelligence reports with underestimated German strength), the battlefield tacticians also committed grave errors. Avoiding a frontal attack, they decided to deploy a pincer around Trondheim. The northern pincer landed in Namsos, but this force was slowed by heavy snow, unable to move toward Trondheim at the planned rate of advance. The southern pincer landed at Andalsnes. Instead of moving toward Trondheim, it was diverted to reinforce Lillehammer, eighty miles away in the opposite direction. When the Germans captured Lillehammer, British formations became separated and became lost in the vast fields of snow. A group found themselves two days later at the town of Nykirke, 200 miles from Trondheim. German troops pushed both pincers all the way back to the ports where they had originally disembarked. The cost of this failed operation came in the form of 1,559 casualties. Not a meter of ground was won.

ww2dbaseOn the European continent, France was about to fall, which factored in the British leadership's decision to withdraw from Norway by 9 Jun 1940. King Haakon VII departed Norway for Britain aboard British cruiser HMS Devonshire on 7 Jun 1940; three days later, Norway officially capitulated. A German-sponsored puppet government was established in Norway to ensure German access to Swedish iron ore, but armed Norwegian resistance would continue for the remainder of the war. In addition to gaining safer passage for transports between Norway and Germany, a German-controlled Norway also provided the German Navy control of the North Sea, disrupting Allied supply convoys bound for the Soviet Union in the later years of the war. For the remainder of the war, Britain would conduct occasional commando raids in Norway against German occupation forces, forcing Germany to commit troops in Norway that could otherwise be deployed on the continent.

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