Operation Weserübung (german: Unternehmen Weserübung , , 9 April – 10 June 1940) was
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...
's assault on
Denmark
)
, song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast")
, song_type = National and royal anthem
, image_map = EU-Denmark.svg
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark
, establish ...
and
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...
during the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
and the opening operation of the
Norwegian Campaign.
In the early morning of 9 April 1940 (''Wesertag'', "
Weser
The Weser () is a river of Lower Saxony in north-west Germany. It begins at Hannoversch Münden through the confluence of the Werra and Fulda. It passes through the Hanseatic city of Bremen. Its mouth is further north against the ports o ...
Day"), Germany occupied Denmark and invaded Norway, ostensibly as a preventive manoeuvre against a planned, and openly discussed, French-British
occupation of Norway known as
Plan R 4
Plan R 4 was an unrealised British plan to invade Norway and Sweden in April 1940, during the Second World War. As a result of competing plans for Norway and a German invasion of Norway the same month, it was not carried out as designed. Simi ...
(actually developed as a response to any German aggression against Norway). After the occupation of Denmark (the Danish military was ordered to stand down as Denmark did not declare war with Germany), envoys of the Germans informed the governments of Denmark and Norway that the ''
Wehrmacht
The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the '' Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previo ...
'' had come to protect the countries'
neutrality against Franco-British aggression. Significant differences in
geography
Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, an ...
, location and
climate
Climate is the long-term weather pattern in an area, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorologi ...
between the two nations made the actual military operations very dissimilar.
The invasion fleet's nominal landing time, ''Weserzeit'' (), was set to 05:15.
Background
In the spring of 1939, the
British Admiralty
The Admiralty was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for the command of the Royal Navy until 1964, historically under its titular head, the Lord High Admiral – one of the Great Officers of State. For much of i ...
began to view
Scandinavia
Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and S ...
as a potential
theatre of war in a future conflict with Germany. The British government was reluctant to engage in another land conflict on the continent in the belief that would repeat the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
. Therefore, the British began to consider a
blockade strategy in an attempt to weaken Germany indirectly. German industry was heavily dependent on the import of
iron ore
Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the ...
from the northern
Swedish mining district, and much of that ore was shipped through the northern Norwegian port of
Narvik
( se, Áhkanjárga) is the third-largest List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Nordland Counties of Norway, county, Norway, by population. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Narvik (town), town of Narvik. Some of t ...
during the winter months. Control of the Norwegian coast would serve to tighten a blockade against Germany.
In October 1939, the chief of the German
Kriegsmarine
The (, ) was the navy of Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The was one of three official branches, along with the a ...
, Grand Admiral
Erich Raeder
Erich Johann Albert Raeder (24 April 1876 – 6 November 1960) was a German admiral who played a major role in the naval history of World War II. Raeder attained the highest possible naval rank, that of grand admiral, in 1939, becoming the fir ...
, discussed with
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and the ...
the danger posed by potential British bases in Norway and the possibility of Germany seizing those bases before the British could. 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. However, the other branches of the Wehrmacht were not interested, and Hitler issued a directive stating that the main effort would be a land offensive through the
Low Countries
The term Low Countries, also known as the Low Lands ( nl, de Lage Landen, french: les Pays-Bas, lb, déi Niddereg Lännereien) and historically called the Netherlands ( nl, de Nederlanden), Flanders, or Belgica, is a coastal lowland region in N ...
.
Toward the end of November 1939,
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...
, as a new member of the
British War Cabinet
A war cabinet is a committee formed by a government in a time of war to efficiently and effectively conduct that war. It is usually a subset of the full executive cabinet of ministers, although it is quite common for a war cabinet to have senio ...
, proposed the mining of Norwegian waters in
Operation Wilfred
Operation Wilfred was a British naval operation during the Second World War that involved the mining of the channel between Norway and its offshore islands to prevent the transport of Swedish iron ore through neutral Norwegian waters to be use ...
. That would force the ore transports to travel through the open waters of the
North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian ...
, where the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...
could intercept them.
Churchill assumed that Wilfred would provoke a German response in Norway and that the
Allies
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
would then implement
Plan R 4
Plan R 4 was an unrealised British plan to invade Norway and Sweden in April 1940, during the Second World War. As a result of competing plans for Norway and a German invasion of Norway the same month, it was not carried out as designed. Simi ...
and occupy Norway. Though later implemented, Operation Wilfred was initially rejected by
Neville Chamberlain
Arthur Neville Chamberlain (; 18 March 18699 November 1940) was a British politician of the Conservative Party who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1937 to May 1940. He is best known for his foreign policy of appeaseme ...
and
Lord Halifax
Edward Frederick Lindley Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax, (16 April 1881 – 23 December 1959), known as The Lord Irwin from 1925 until 1934 and The Viscount Halifax from 1934 until 1944, was a senior British Conservative politician of the 19 ...
for fear of an adverse reaction among neutral nations like the United States. The start of the
Winter War
The Winter War,, sv, Vinterkriget, rus, Зи́мняя война́, r=Zimnyaya voyna. The names Soviet–Finnish War 1939–1940 (russian: link=no, Сове́тско-финская война́ 1939–1940) and Soviet–Finland War 1 ...
between the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
and
Finland
Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bot ...
in November 1939 changed the strategic situation. Churchill again proposed his mining scheme but once again was denied.
In December 1939, the United Kingdom and France began serious planning for sending aid to Finland. Their plan called for a force to land in Narvik, in northern Norway, the main port for Swedish iron ore exports and then to take control of the ''
Malmbanan'' railway line from Narvik to
Luleå
Luleå ( , , locally ; smj, Luleju; fi, Luulaja) is a city on the coast of northern Sweden, and the capital of Norrbotten County, the northernmost county in Sweden. Luleå has 48,728 inhabitants in its urban core (2018) and is the seat of Lu ...
in Sweden on the shore of the
Gulf of Bothnia
The Gulf of Bothnia (; fi, Pohjanlahti; sv, Bottniska viken) is divided into the Bothnian Bay and Bothnian Sea, and it is the northernmost arm of the Baltic Sea, between Finland's west coast ( East Bothnia) and the Sweden's east coast ( We ...
. Conveniently, that would also allow the Allied forces to occupy the Swedish iron ore mining district. The plan received the support of both Chamberlain and Halifax. They were counting on the co-operation of Norway, which would alleviate some of the legal issues, but stern warnings issued to both Norway and Sweden by Germany resulted in strongly negative reactions in both Scandinavian countries. Planning for the expedition continued, but the justification for it was removed after the
Moscow Peace Treaty between Finland and the Soviet Union had been signed in March 1940 and ended the Winter War.
Planning
Following a meeting with
Vidkun Quisling from Norway on December 14th, Hitler turned his attention to Scandinavia. Convinced of the threat posed by the Allies to the iron ore supply, Hitler ordered the ''
Oberkommando der Wehrmacht'' (Armed Forces High Command; OKW) to begin preliminary planning for an invasion of Norway. The preliminary plan was named ''Studie Nord'' and called for only one
army division
A division is a large military unit or formation, usually consisting of between 6,000 and 25,000 soldiers.
In most armies, a division is composed of several regiments or brigades; in turn, several divisions typically make up a corps. Hist ...
.
Between 14 and 19 January, the ''Kriegsmarine'' developed an expanded version of this plan. It decided upon two key factors: surprise was essential to reduce the threat of Norwegian resistance (and British intervention), and faster German warships, rather than comparatively slow merchant ships, should be used as troop transports. That would allow all targets to be occupied simultaneously, which was impossible if transport ships were used since they travelled only slowly. The new plan called for a full
army corps, including a mountain division, an
airborne division, a motorized rifle brigade and two infantry divisions. The target objectives of the force were the Norwegian capital,
Oslo
Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...
, and other population centres:
Bergen
Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, secon ...
,
Narvik
( se, Áhkanjárga) is the third-largest List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Nordland Counties of Norway, county, Norway, by population. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Narvik (town), town of Narvik. Some of t ...
,
Tromsø
Tromsø (, , ; se, Romsa ; fkv, Tromssa; sv, Tromsö) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Tromsø.
Tromsø lies in Northern Norway. The municipality is the ...
,
Trondheim
Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, an ...
,
Kristiansand
Kristiansand is a seaside resort city and municipality in Agder county, Norway. The city is the fifth-largest and the municipality the sixth-largest in Norway, with a population of around 112,000 as of January 2020, following the incorporati ...
and
Stavanger
Stavanger (, , American English, US usually , ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Norway. It is the fourth largest city and third largest metropolitan area in Norway (through conurbation with neighboring Sandnes) and the a ...
. The plan also called for the swift capture of the Kings of Denmark and Norway in the hope of triggering a rapid surrender.
On 21 February 1940, command of the operation was given to ''General''
Nikolaus von Falkenhorst. He had fought in Finland during the First World War and was familiar with
Arctic warfare
Cold-weather warfare, also known as arctic warfare or winter warfare, encompasses military operations affected by snow, ice, thawing conditions or cold, both on land and at sea. Cold-weather conditions occur year-round at high elevation or at ...
, but he would have command of only the ground forces, despite Hitler's desire to have a unified command.
The final plan was codenamed "Operation Weserübung" on 27 January 1940. The ground forces would be the XXI Army Corps, including the
3rd Mountain Division and five infantry divisions;none of the latter had yet been tested in battle. The first phase would consist of three divisions for the assault, with the remainder to follow in the next wave. Three companies of
paratroopers would be used to seize airfields. The decision to also send the
2nd Mountain Division was made later.
Almost all
U-boat operations in the Atlantic were to be stopped for the submarines to aid in the operation. All available submarines, including some training boats, were used as part of
Operation Hartmut in support of Operation Weserübung.
Initially, the plan was to invade Norway and to gain control of Danish airfields by diplomatic means. However, Hitler issued a new directive on 1 March that called for the invasion of both Norway and Denmark. That came at the insistence of the ''
Luftwaffe
The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German '' Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the '' Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabt ...
'' to capture fighter bases and sites for air warning stations. The
XXXI Corps, formed for the invasion of Denmark, consisted of two infantry divisions and the 11th motorized brigade. The entire operation would be supported by the X Air Corps, which consisted of some 1,000 aircraft of various types.
Preliminaries
In February, the Royal Navy
destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort
larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed ...
boarded the German transport ship ''Altmark'' in Norwegian waters. That itself violated Norwegian neutrality. The ''Altmark'' rescued British
prisoners-of-war, which also violated Norwegian neutrality since she was obliged to release them as soon as she entered neutral territory. Hitler regarded that response to German violation of Norwegian neutrality as a clear sign that the Allies were also willing to violate Norwegian neutrality. That made him become even more strongly committed to the invasion.
On 12 March, the United Kingdom decided to send an
expeditionary force to Norway just as the Winter War was winding down. The expeditionary force began boarding on 13 March, but it was recalled and the operation cancelled because of the end of the Winter War. Instead, the British Cabinet voted to proceed with the mining operation in Norwegian waters, followed by troop landings.
The first German ships set sail for the invasion on 3 April. Two days later, the long-planned Operation Wilfred was put into action, and the Royal Navy detachment, led by the
battlecruiser
The battlecruiser (also written as battle cruiser or battle-cruiser) was a type of capital ship of the first half of the 20th century. These were similar in displacement, armament and cost to battleships, but differed in form and balance of attr ...
, left
Scapa Flow
Scapa Flow viewed from its eastern end in June 2009
Scapa Flow (; ) is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, sheltered by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray,S. C. George, ''Jutland to Junkyard'', 1973. South Ronaldsay a ...
to mine Norwegian waters. The mine fields were laid in the
Vestfjorden in the early morning of 8 April. Operation Wilfred was over, but later that day, the destroyer , which detached on 7 April to search for a man lost overboard, was lost in action to the German
heavy cruiser
The heavy cruiser was a type of cruiser, a naval warship designed for long range and high speed, armed generally with naval guns of roughly 203 mm (8 inches) in caliber, whose design parameters were dictated by the Washington Naval T ...
and two destroyers belonging to the German invasion fleet.
On 9 April, the German invasion was under way, and the execution of Plan R 4 was promptly started.
Invasion of Denmark
Strategically, Denmark's importance to Germany was as a staging area for operations in Norway. Considering its status as a minor nation bordering Germany, it was also seen as a country that would have to fall at some point. Given Denmark's position on the
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain.
The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...
, 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. When the two men met 20 minutes later, Renthe-Fink declared that German troops were then moving in to occupy Denmark to protect the country from Franco-British attack. The German ambassador demanded that Danish resistance cease immediately and that contact be made between Danish authorities and the German armed forces. If the demands were not met, the ''Luftwaffe'' would bomb the capital,
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan a ...
.
As the German demands were communicated, the first German advances had already been made, with forces landing by ferry in
Gedser at 03:55 and moving north. German ''
Fallschirmjäger'' (paratrooper) units had made unopposed landings and taken two airfields at
Aalborg
Aalborg (, , ) is Denmark's List of cities in Denmark by population, fourth largest town (behind Copenhagen, Aarhus, and Odense) with a population of 119,862 (1 July 2022) in the town proper and an Urban area, urban population of 143,598 (1 July ...
, the
Storstrøm Bridge as well as the fortress of
Masnedø, the latter being the first recorded attack in the world made by paratroopers.
At 04:20 local time, a reinforced battalion of German infantrymen from the 308th Regiment landed in Copenhagen harbour from the minelayer , quickly capturing the Danish garrison at
the Citadel without encountering resistance. From the harbour, the Germans moved toward
Amalienborg Palace to capture the Danish royal family. By the time the invasion forces arrived at the king's residence, the
King's Royal Guard had been alerted and other reinforcements were on their way to the palace. The first German attack on Amalienborg was repulsed, giving
Christian X
Christian X ( da, Christian Carl Frederik Albert Alexander Vilhelm; 26 September 1870 – 20 April 1947) was King of Denmark from 1912 to his death in 1947, and the only King of Iceland as Kristján X, in the form of a personal union rather ...
and his ministers time to confer with the Danish Army chief
General Prior. As the discussions were ongoing, several formations of
Heinkel He 111
The Heinkel He 111 is a German airliner and bomber designed by Siegfried and Walter Günter at Heinkel Flugzeugwerke in 1934. Through development, it was described as a " wolf in sheep's clothing". Due to restrictions placed on Germany after t ...
and
Dornier Do 17 bombers roared over the city dropping
leaflets headed, in Danish/Norwegian,
OPROP!
OPROP! ( in correct 1940-Danish; ) was a German airborne propaganda leaflet dropped over several Danish cities at the German invasion of Denmark on 9 April 1940. The leaflets were signed by the head of Operation Weserübung Süd, General Leo ...
(proclamation).
At 05:25, two squadrons of German
Messerschmitt Bf 110s attacked
Værløse
Værløse () is a town in Furesø Municipality in the northwestern outskirts of Copenhagen, Denmark. As of 1 January 2022, it has a population of 13,069. Situated on the west side of the Hillerød Motorway, between Farum Lake to the north and Søn ...
airfield on
Zealand and neutralised the Danish Army Air Service by
strafing. Despite Danish
anti-aircraft fire
Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...
, the German fighters destroyed ten Danish aircraft and seriously damaged another fourteen, thereby wiping out half of the entire Army Air Service.
Faced with the explicit threat of the ''Luftwaffe'' bombing the civilian population of Copenhagen, and with only General Prior in favour of fighting on, King Christian and the entire Danish government capitulated at approximately 06:00, in exchange for retaining political independence in domestic matters.
The invasion of Denmark lasted less than six hours and was the shortest military campaign conducted by the Germans during the war. The rapid Danish capitulation resulted in the uniquely-lenient
occupation of Denmark
At the outset of World War II in September 1939, Denmark declared itself neutral. For most of the war, the country was a protectorate and then an occupied territory of Germany. The decision to occupy Denmark was taken in Berlin on 17 Decem ...
, 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 neutral Sweden. 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.
Invasion of Norway
Order of battle
The operation's military headquarters was Hotel Esplanade in Hamburg, where orders were given to, among others, the air units involved in the invasion.
Norway was important to Germany for two primary reasons: as a base for naval units, including U-boats, to weaken Allied shipping in the North Atlantic, and to secure shipments of iron ore from Sweden through the port of
Narvik
( se, Áhkanjárga) is the third-largest List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Nordland Counties of Norway, county, Norway, by population. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Narvik (town), town of Narvik. Some of t ...
. The long northern coastline was an excellent place to launch U-boat operations into the North Atlantic to attack British commerce. 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.
The invasion of Norway was given to the XXI Army Corps under ''
General
A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry.
In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". O ...
'' Nikolaus von Falkenhorst and consisted of the following main units:
*
69th Infantry Division
*
163rd Infantry Division
*
181st Infantry Division
*
196th Infantry Division
*
214th Infantry Division
*
3rd Mountain Division
The initial invasion force was transported in several groups by ships of the ''Kriegsmarine'':
#
Battleship
A battleship is a large armour, armored warship with a main artillery battery, battery consisting of large caliber guns. It dominated naval warfare in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The term ''battleship'' came into use in the late 1 ...
s and as distant cover, plus 10 destroyers with 2,000 ''
Gebirgsjäger
''Gebirgsjäger'' () are the light infantry part of the alpine or mountain troops (''Gebirgstruppe'') of Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The word '' Jäger'' (meaning "hunter" or "huntsman") is a characteristic term used for light infantr ...
'' (mountain infantry) under General
Eduard Dietl to
Narvik
( se, Áhkanjárga) is the third-largest List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Nordland Counties of Norway, county, Norway, by population. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Narvik (town), town of Narvik. Some of t ...
# Heavy cruiser and four destroyers with 1,700 troops to
Trondheim
Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, an ...
#
Light cruisers and , artillery training ship , ''
Schnellboot'' mothership ''Karl Peters'', two
torpedo boats and five motor torpedo boats with 1,900 troops to
Bergen
Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, secon ...
# Light cruiser , three torpedo boats, seven motor torpedo boats and ''
Schnellboot'' mothership (''Schnellbootbegleitschiff'') ''Tsingtau'' with 1,100 troops to
Kristiansand
Kristiansand is a seaside resort city and municipality in Agder county, Norway. The city is the fifth-largest and the municipality the sixth-largest in Norway, with a population of around 112,000 as of January 2020, following the incorporati ...
and
Arendal
Arendal () is a municipality in Agder county in southeastern Norway. Arendal belongs to the region of Sørlandet. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Arendal (which is also the seat of Agder county). Some of the notab ...
# Heavy cruiser , heavy cruiser
''Lützow'', light cruiser , three torpedo boats and eight
minesweeper
A minesweeper is a small warship designed to remove or detonate naval mines. Using various mechanisms intended to counter the threat posed by naval mines, minesweepers keep waterways clear for safe shipping.
History
The earliest known usage of ...
s with 2,000 troops to
Oslo
Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...
# Four minesweepers with 150 troops
to Egersund
Course of actions
Shortly after noon on 8 April, the clandestine German
troopship was sunk off
Lillesand by the Polish submarine , part of the Royal Navy's 2nd Submarine Flotilla. However, the news of the sinking reached the appropriate levels of officialdom in Oslo too late to do much more than trigger a limited, last-minute alert. Late in the evening of 8 April 1940, ''
Kampfgruppe
In military history, the German term (pl. ; abbrev. KG, or KGr in usage during World War II, literally "fighting group" or "battle group") can refer to a combat formation of any kind, but most usually to that employed by the of Nazi Germ ...
'' 5 was spotted by the Norwegian guard vessel . ''Pol III'' was fired at; her captain
Leif Welding-Olsen
Leif Welding-Olsen (15 August 1895 – 8 April 1940) was the commander of the Royal Norwegian Navy patrol boat HNoMS ''Pol III''. He was the first Norwegian to be killed during the German invasion of Norway.
On 8 April 1940, Leif Welding-Olsen ...
became the first Norwegian killed in action during the invasion. German ships then sailed up the
Oslofjord
The Oslofjord (, ; en, Oslo Fjord) is an inlet in the south-east of Norway, stretching from an imaginary line between the and lighthouses and down to in the south to Oslo in the north. It is part of the Skagerrak strait, connecting the N ...
leading to the Norwegian capital, reaching the
Drøbak Drøbak is a town and the centre of the municipality of Frogn, in Viken county, Norway. The city is located along the Oslofjord, and has 13,409 inhabitants.
History
Drøbak and Frogn was established as a parish on its own through a royal decre ...
Narrows (
Drøbaksundet).
In the early morning of 9 April, the gunners at
Oscarsborg Fortress fired on the leading ship, ''
Blücher'', which had been illuminated by spotlights at about 04:15. Two of the fortress guns were 48-year-old German-made
Krupp
The Krupp family (see pronunciation), a prominent 400-year-old German dynasty from Essen, is notable for its production of steel, artillery, ammunition and other armaments. The family business, known as Friedrich Krupp AG (Friedrich Krupp ...
guns (nicknamed ''Moses'' and ''Aron'') of caliber. Within two hours, the badly damaged ship, unable to manoeuvre in the narrow fjord from
multiple artillery and torpedo hits, sank with very heavy loss of life totalling 600–1,000 men. The threat from the fortress (and the mistaken belief that mines had contributed to the sinking) delayed the rest of the naval invasion group long enough for the
Royal Family
A royal family is the immediate family of kings/queens, emirs/emiras, sultans/ sultanas, or raja/ rani and sometimes their extended family. The term imperial family appropriately describes the family of an emperor or empress, and the term pa ...
, the
Cabinet
Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to:
Furniture
* Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers
* Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets
* Filin ...
and
members of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
to be evacuated, along with the
national treasury. On their flight northward by special train, the court encountered the
Battle of Midtskogen and bombs at
Elverum and
Nybergsund. As the Norwegian king and his legitimate government were not captured, Norway never surrendered in a legal sense to the Germans, leaving the
Quisling government illegitimate. The
Norwegian government-in-exile
__NOTOC__
Nygaardsvold's Cabinet (later becoming the Norwegian government-in-exile, Norwegian: ''Norsk eksilregjering'') was appointed on 20 March 1935, the second Labour cabinet in Norway. It brought to an end the non-socialist minority Gove ...
based in London remained, therefore, an
Allied nation in the war.
At 7:06pm 5 Norwegian fighters were sent into battle to combat a wave of 70–80 enemy planes. German airborne troops landed at the
Oslo airport Fornebu,
Kristiansand airport Kjevik, and
Sola Air Station – the latter constituting the ''first opposed paratrooper attack in history''; coincidentally, among the ''Luftwaffe'' pilots landing at Kjevik was
Reinhard Heydrich. Vidkun Quisling's radio-effected ''
coup d'etat'' at 7.30pm on 9 April was another first. At 8.30pm the Norwegian destroyer was attacked and sunk outside Stavanger by ten
Junkers Ju 88 bombers, after it sank the German cargo ship . ''Roda'' was a carrying a clandestine cargo of anti-aircraft artillery and ammunition for the German invasion force. Bergen, Stavanger,
Egersund, Kristiansand,
Arendal
Arendal () is a municipality in Agder county in southeastern Norway. Arendal belongs to the region of Sørlandet. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Arendal (which is also the seat of Agder county). Some of the notab ...
,
Horten
is a town and municipality in Vestfold in Vestfold og Telemark county, Norway—located along the Oslofjord. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Horten. The municipality also includes the town of Åsgårdstrand a ...
, Trondheim and Narvik were attacked and occupied within 24 hours. Ineffective resistance by the Norwegian armoured coastal defence ships and took place at Narvik. Both ships were torpedoed and sunk with great loss of life.
The First Battle of Narvik took place between the Royal Navy and the Kriegsmarine on 9 April. The German force took Narvik and landed the 2,000 mountain infantry, but a British naval counter-attack by the modernised battleship and a flotilla of destroyers over several days succeeded in sinking all ten German destroyers once they ran out of fuel and ammunition.
The towns
Nybergsund,
Elverum,
Åndalsnes,
Molde
Molde () is a town and municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Romsdal. It is located on the Romsdal Peninsula, surrounding the Fannefjord and Moldefjord.
The administrative centre of t ...
,
Kristiansund N,
Steinkjer,
Namsos,
Bodø
Bodø (; smj, Bådåddjo, sv, Bodö) is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Salten. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Bodø (which is also the capital of Nordland coun ...
, and Narvik were devastated by German bombing; some of them were tactically bombed, others terror-bombed. The main German land campaign advanced northward from Oslo with superior equipment; Norwegian soldiers with turn-of-the-century weapons, along with some British and French troops,
stop invaders for a time before yielding; this was the first land combat between the British Army and the Wehrmacht in World War II. In the
Second Naval Battle of Narvik, the Royal Navy defeated the Kriegsmarine on 13 April.
In land battles at Narvik, Norwegian and Allied forces under General
Carl Gustav Fleischer achieved the first major tactical victory against the Wehrmacht in WWII. German forces then
overpowered Norwegian troops at Gratangen. The King and his cabinet evacuated from
Molde
Molde () is a town and municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Romsdal. It is located on the Romsdal Peninsula, surrounding the Fannefjord and Moldefjord.
The administrative centre of t ...
to
Tromsø
Tromsø (, , ; se, Romsa ; fkv, Tromssa; sv, Tromsö) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Tromsø.
Tromsø lies in Northern Norway. The municipality is the ...
on 29 April, and the Allies evacuated from
Åndalsnes on 1 May. Resistance in Southern Norway then came to an end.
Hegra Fortress continued to
resist German attacks until 5 Mayit was of Allied propaganda importance, like Narvik. King Haakon,
Crown Prince Olav
Olav V (; born Prince Alexander of Denmark; 2 July 1903 – 17 January 1991) was the King of Norway from 1957 until his death in 1991.
Olav was the only child of King Haakon VII of Norway and Maud of Wales. He became heir apparent to the Nor ...
, and the Cabinet Nygaardsvold left from Tromsø
7 June
Events Pre-1600
* 421 – Emperor Theodosius II marries Aelia Eudocia at Constantinople (Byzantine Empire).
* 879 – Pope John VIII recognizes the Duchy of Croatia under Duke Branimir as an independent state.
*1002 – Henry II ...
aboard the British cruiser to represent Norway in exile. The King would return to Oslo on that exact date five years later.
Crown Princess Märtha and children, denied asylum in her native Sweden, later left from
Petsamo Petsamo may refer to:
* Petsamo Province, a province of Finland from 1921 to 1922
* Petsamo, Tampere, a district in Tampere, Finland
* Pechengsky District
Pechengsky District (russian: Пе́ченгский райо́н; fi, Petsamo; no, Peisen ...
, Finland, to live in exile in the United States. The Norwegian Army in mainland Norway capitulated on 10 June 1940, two months after ''Wesertag.'' That made Norway the occupied country that had withstood a German invasion for the longest time before succumbing. Despite the surrender of the main Norwegian forces, the Royal Norwegian Navy and other armed forces continued fighting the Germans
abroad and
at home until the German capitulation on 8 May 1945.
In the far north, Norwegian, French and Polish troops, supported by the Royal Navy and the
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...
(RAF), fought against the Germans over the control of the Norwegian harbour Narvik, important for the year-round export of Swedish iron ore. 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
Operation Alphabet was an evacuation, authorised on 24 May 1940, of Allied (British, French and Polish) troops from the harbour of Narvik in northern Norway marking the success of Operation Weserübung (the German invasion of 9 April) and th ...
, and on 9 June, the Germans recaptured Narvik, which was also now abandoned by civilians because of massive Luftwaffe bombing.
Encircling of Sweden and Finland
Operation Weserübung did not include a military assault on neutral Sweden because there was no strategic reason. By holding Norway, the
Danish straits and most of the shores of the Baltic Sea, the Third Reich encircled Sweden from the north, the west and the south. In the east, there was the Soviet Union, the successor of Sweden's and Finland's archenemy, Russia, on friendly terms with Hitler under the terms of the
Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact
, long_name = Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
, image = Bundesarchiv Bild 183-H27337, Moskau, Stalin und Ribbentrop im Kreml.jpg
, image_width = 200
, caption = Stalin and Ribbentrop shaking ...
. A small number of Finnish volunteers helped the Norwegian Army against Germans in an ambulance unit.
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. On 18 June 1940, an agreement was reached. Soldiers were to travel unarmed and not be part of unit movements. A total of 2.14 million German soldiers, as well as more than 100,000 German military railway carriages, crossed Sweden until that traffic was suspended on 20 August 1943.
On 19 August 1940, Finland agreed to grant access to its territory for the ''Wehrmacht'', with the agreement signed on 22 September. Initially for transit of troops and military equipment to and from northernmost Norway but soon it included minor bases along the transit road that eventually would grow in preparation for
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa (german: link=no, Unternehmen Barbarossa; ) was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and many of its Axis allies, starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during the Second World War. The operation, code-named afte ...
.
Nuremberg Trials
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
The Nuremberg trials were held by the Allies of World War II, Allies against representatives of the defeated Nazi Germany, for plotting and carrying out invasions of other countries, and other crimes, in World War II.
Between 1939 and 1945 ...
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". The German defence was to attempt to refer to
Plan R 4
Plan R 4 was an unrealised British plan to invade Norway and Sweden in April 1940, during the Second World War. As a result of competing plans for Norway and a German invasion of Norway the same month, it was not carried out as designed. Simi ...
and its predecessors. However, it was determined that Germany had discussed invasion plans as early as 3 October 1939 in a memo from
Admiral Raeder to
Alfred Rosenberg whose subject was "gaining bases in Norway". Raeder had begun by asking questions such as "Can bases be gained by military force against Norway's will, if it is impossible to carry this out without fighting?" Norway was vital to Germany as a transport route for iron ore from Sweden, a supply that the United Kingdom was determined to stop. One British plan was to go through Norway and occupy cities in Sweden. An Allied invasion was ordered on 12 March, and the Germans intercepted radio traffic setting 14 March as deadline for the preparation. Peace in Finland interrupted the Allied plans.
Two diary entries by
Alfred Jodl
Alfred Josef Ferdinand Jodl (; 10 May 1890 – 16 October 1946) was a German '' Generaloberst'' who served as the chief of the Operations Staff of the '' Oberkommando der Wehrmacht'' – the German Armed Forces High Command – throughout Worl ...
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 first said, "Führer does not give order yet for 'Weser Exercise'. He is still looking for an excuse". The second: "Führer has not yet decided what reason to give for Weser Exercise". It was not until 2 April 1940 that German preparations were completed and the Naval Operational Order for ''Weserübung'' was issued on 4 April 1940. The new Allied plans were
''Wilfred'' and Plan R 4. 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
( se, Áhkanjárga) is the third-largest List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Nordland Counties of Norway, county, Norway, by population. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Narvik (town), town of Narvik. Some of t ...
,
Trondheim
Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, an ...
, and
Bergen
Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, secon ...
and launch a raid on
Stavanger
Stavanger (, , American English, US usually , ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Norway. It is the fourth largest city and third largest metropolitan area in Norway (through conurbation with neighboring Sandnes) and the a ...
to destroy
Sola airfield. However, "the mines were not laid until the morning of 8 April, by which time the German ships were advancing up the Norwegian coast". The International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg determined that no Allied invasion was imminent and so rejected the German argument that Germany was entitled to attack Norway.
See also
*
List of Danish military equipment of World War II
The following is a list of Denmark military equipment of World War II which includes artillery, vehicles and vessels. World War II was a global war that was under way by 1939 and ended in 1945.
Weapons
* List of World War II weapons of Denm ...
*
Battle of Kristiansand
*
List of Norwegian military equipment of World War II
*
British occupation of the Faroe Islands in World War II
The British occupation of the Faroe Islands during World War II, also known as Operation Valentine, was implemented immediately following the German invasion of Denmark and Norway. It was a small component of the roles of Nordic countries i ...
*
List of British military equipment of World War II
The following is a list of British military equipment of World War II which includes artillery, vehicles and vessels. This also would largely apply to Commonwealth of Nations countries in World War II like Australia, India and South Africa as ...
*
List of French World War II military equipment
Uniforms and Protective equipment
* Adrian helmet
* Combat uniform (go to France section)
Weapons
* List of World War II weapons of France
Utility vehicles
* P107
* Laffly S15
* Laffly V15
* SOMUA MCG
* Citroën U23
* Renault AGx
...
* ''
Kampf um Norwegen – Feldzug 1940'' (1940 documentary film)
*
List of German military equipment of World War II
The following is a list of German military equipment of World War II which includes artillery, vehicles and vessels. World War II was a global war that was under way by 1939 and ended in 1945. Following political instability build-up in Europe from ...
*
''Luftwaffe'' Order of Battle April 1940
*
*
Occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany
*
Operation Juno
*
Operation Weserübung's effects on Sweden
*
Timeline of the Norwegian Campaign
Notes
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
The Campaign in NorwayThe Operation against Danish Jews in October 1943Judgement: The Invasion of Denmark and Norway
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weserübung, Operation
Conflicts in 1940
Amphibious operations involving Germany
Battles and operations of World War II involving Denmark
Battles and operations of World War II involving Norway
Weserübung
Naval battles and operations of World War II involving the United Kingdom
Aerial operations and battles of World War II involving the United Kingdom
Military history of Denmark during World War II
Military history of Norway during World War II
Norwegian campaign
1940 in Norway
1940 in Denmark
Naval battles and operations of the European theatre of World War II
Aerial operations and battles of World War II
Military operations directly affecting Sweden during World War II
Code names
World War II invasions
Invasions by Germany
Invasions of Denmark
Invasions of Norway
Amphibious operations of World War II
Germany–Norway military relations
Denmark–Germany military relations
Military operations of World War II