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Germany's economy relied on over 11 million tons of iron ore imported from Sweden every year, transported over land into Norway before the ore was shipped to Germany. This was made possible with Norway's neutrality. The government of Norway, unwilling to become involved in the war, protected German transports sailing in her waters in order to appease Adolf Hitler. Hitler, therefore, had no plans to invade Norway; in fact, many top German leaders later reported that Hitler much preferred Norway to remain neutral so that Germany did not need to extend her military to occupy that country. The Altmark incident on 16 Feb 1940, where Norwegian gunboats stood by and allowed a British destroyer to board a German transport, however, changed Hitler's viewpoint. Norway might need to be occupied to safeguard the supply route from British Royal Navy's interference.

The Western Allies, on the other hand, had been eyeing Norway for a longer time. Britain and France had long wished 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 the Finns in their struggle against the Russian aggression against Finland. Winston Churchill, the Lord of the Admiralty, purposed a pre-emptive strike at Norway before Germany could do the same. However, it was not easy to wage war in the British government. Instead, all Churchill could achieve by 8 Apr was the mining of Norwegian coastal waters to deter German transports. It was a flagrant violation of Norwegian neutrality, but Churchill justified it by noting it would hurt Germany far greater than it would Norway.

The 8 Apr announcement of the naval mining gave him the perfect excuse to launch a legitimate invasion. It appeared as if Germany reacted to the British mining with impossible speed, but in actuality, Germany had long since planned for such an invasion and occupation.

For decades, Friedrich Krupp AG, a German munitions firm, had been the weapons suppliers of many nations. Norway and Denmark were of no difference. 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-mm 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.

On 9 Apr 1940, German armor and men poured across the Danish border. The small Danish military had no chance defending the relatively flat country that was ideal for German operations, but they engaged the invaders nevertheless, suffering a few dozen dead. A few hours later, however, the government in Copenhagen realized a successful defense was impossible, and a prolonged campaign would only spell bombing of Danish cities, thus surrendered immediately.

In terms of naval strategy. In the previous wars, by deploying a fleet at the Skagerrak Channel, a superior naval force could control the Baltic Sea. With the introduction of aircraft, machines a fraction of a ship-of-the-line could perform the same function. With the control of Danish airfields, that was exactly what Germany achieved. William Manchester noted that

Even before Denmark was fully occupied, German transports set sail for Oslo across the newly secured Baltic Sea by means of Luftwaffe aircraft. 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 surprisingly. 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 paradrop operation at Masnedø, Denmark, the German campaign against Denmark and Norway was the first campaign that utilized organized airborne assault in history. Before long, German naval forces had already landed troops in or near Bergen, Stavanger, Egersund, Kristiansand S, Arendal, Horten, Trondheim, and Narvik.

At Narvik, a naval engagement on 10 Apr between the British Royal Navy and German ships saw the sinking of two German destroyers with five seriously damaged at the cost of two British destroyers; three days later, Vice Admiral William Whitworth led the battleship Warspite and carrier Furious, supported by British and Polish destroyers, destroyed the remainder of the German fleet there with surface and air attacks. Despite British naval victories, 2,000 German infantrymen were established on land near Narvik. Nevertheless, 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 scheme of the war. Hitler's behavior after that episode, however, was one of a man needing total control, setting his repeated behavior later in the war; as Wilhelm Keitel noted, Hitler reserved the right to making every decision, "even in seemingly trivial matters". 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.

Initially, the political leaders in London focused on preventing German use of Norwegian ports and disrupting German supplies from sailing up and down the coast. However, after King Haakon VII's plead for British to retake Trondheim, Norway's historical and cultural capital, the focused strategy was lost. Without a force strong enough to retake Norway, Lord Halifax and many other British leaders committed to the royal request. Winston Churchill fought fervently against the shift in strategic paradigm, but met little success. On 13 Apr, troop transports originally bound for Narvik was redirected to Trondheim. Beyond the fact that Norwegian and British intelligence completely failed in getting a good estimate on the strength of German forces at Trondheim (the British sent far too little men based on bad intelligence reports), the tacticians also left far more to be desired. Avoiding a frontal attack, they decided to deploy two pincers around Trondheim. The northern pincer landed in Namsos, but quickly was bogged down by heavy snow and unable to move toward Trondheim; London had failed to provide her troops with skis, a necessity in Norway. The southern pincer had worse luck. Landing at Andalsnes, they were unwisely diverted to reinforce Lillehammer, eighty miles away in the opposite direction, instead of attacking Trondheim. When Lillehammer fell, the British troops became separated and 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 chased both pincers all the way back to the ports where they disembarked. The operation cost 1,559 men in casualties. Not a meter of ground was won.

With France nearly fallen, British leaders decided to cut their losses and withdrew from Norway by 9 Jun 1940. Immediately before the evacuation, King Haakon VII had already exiled to Britain; on 10 Jun, Norway officially capitulated. A puppet government was set up in Norway to ensure German access to Swedish iron ore, though Norwegian resistance continued to fight German occupation for the remainder of the war. In addition to gaining safer passage for transports between Narvik and Germany, a German-controlled Norway also provided the Kriegsmarine the control of the North Sea, preventing Allied supplies to enter Russia via the northern sea route. For the remainder of the war, the British would send occasional commando raids to Norway against the local German forces there, successfully leading to Germany's troop commitments in Norway while these soldiers could have been better deployed elsewhere. It was the kind of commitment Hitler wished to avoid in the first place.

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Visitor Submitted Comments

1. Torben Nørgaard says:
   8 Dec 2006 05:14:55 AM
   
   I am sorry, but the paratroopers at the Norwegian airport were not the first airborne assault in history! Before that the Germans had used paratroopers at Masnedø Fort in Denmark. (And before that the Russian had used paratroopers against the Finns)
2. Timothy Ward says:
   11 Dec 2006 09:00:42 PM
   
   Germanys successful invasion of Norway! How little difference there often is between defeat and victory. If ARK ROYAL had been available to attack the Kreigsmarine during their most vulnerable moment, traveling to the invasion site. If Hitler had not countermanded his own order to Deitl to withdraw into Sweden better internment than capture. Norway should have been Germanys first major defeat.
3. Timothy Ward says:
   11 Dec 2006 09:03:37 PM
   
   I should also say however that Norways resistance shattered Germany s claim that the occupation was a peaceful one, welcomed by the Norwegians. And I wish I could have been there to see the BLUCHER done in by the 11 guns at that fortress.
4. Anonymous says:
   19 Mar 2007 05:18:55 PM
   
   ohhhhhhhh
5. David britt says:
   20 Jan 2010 04:42:44 AM
   
   wow this is good information doin a book about hitlers canary a book report and this has useful information

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