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THE WAR IN THE NORTH INVASION TO NORWAY AND DENMARK |
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Norway and Denmark were neutral countries but non the Germans, neither the allies were willing to respect that neutrality. Norway possessed huge iron ore deposits, very important for the war industry and the German economy in general. With that reasons Hitler decided to invade Denmark and Norway before doing anything against the allies. On April 9 1940 the German forces occupied Denmark without any opposition from the Danes, in order to avoid problems with the population, the Germans allowed the king to remain in the throne. Norway should be invaded by sea, in order to accomplish that mission 5 task forces were formed to transport the German ground troops: Group 1: Battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau and 10 destructors. Heading to Narvik. Group 2: Battlecruiser Hipper and 4 destructors. Heading to Trondheim Group 3: Battlecruisers Koln and Konigsbergen. Heading to Bergen Group 4: Battlecruiser Karlsruhe and 2 torpedo ships. Heading to Kristiansand. Group 5: Battlecruisers Blucher, Lutzow and Emden and light units. Heading to Oslo the Norwegian capital city. The landings took place on April 9 1940 despite the losses suffered due to the British navy attacks. The Norwegians resisted the invasion but their numerical and material inferiority made resistance useless. The city of Oslo was captured by the Germans easily. On April 15 the French and British allies decided to send troops to help Norway, but the southern zone of the country was already taken by the German forces. Between April 19 and 30 the allies fought the German forces in the central zone of the country but at last they were forced to evacuate to the sea. In the northern city of Narvik an allied landing also took place, the city resisted a long time but due to the situation in the rest of Europe (France was being invaded by the Germans) they were forced to retreat on June 8. In that way Norway remained now in German hands. The Germans secured their iron ore supply, the access to the North Sea for their fleet, and many air and naval bases that will allow them to launch attacks against England in the future. |