Weserübung--70 years ago today

[Simon O.]

Just to remind everybody that today is the 70th anniversary of the start of Weserübung, the German invasion of Denmark and Norway and for these countries 'a day that will live in infamy'. it was also the catalyst which led to the downfall of the Chamberlain government and saw the First Sea Lord take over as Prime Minister against the expectations of many..cometh the hour cometh the man as they say..the world might have ended up a very different place had Churchill not taken over.

[Gowert]

lest we forget those who fell in the frozen lands of norway.

[Simon O.]

I should also have mentioned.

Last year saw the publication of what is to date, the best and most thoroughly researched book on the German invasion of Norway in the English language, in my opinion.

One of the reasons for this is that the author is Norwegian and he has a knowledge of the country and the norwegian side of the invasion which you simply wont find coming from German or British authors.


http://www.amazon.co.uk/German-Invas...1184403&sr=8-1

[VtwinVince]

Don't forget that the German invasion of Norway pre-empted a British invasion of the same country. Also, Churchill retained Chamberlain and Halifax in his cabinet, and made overtures to Italy regarding their possible entry into the war.

[Brian R]

The German invasion of Norway... one of the most interesting, and forgotten, campaigns of the whole war!!!!

[Woolgar]

The German invasion of Norway... one of the most interesting, and forgotten, campaigns of the whole war!!!!

I agree it was a fascinating theatre !

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Weser%C3%BCbung

Nick

[Simon O.]

Don't forget that the German invasion of Norway pre-empted a British invasion of the same country. Also, Churchill retained Chamberlain and Halifax in his cabinet, and made overtures to Italy regarding their possible entry into the war.

Two of them in fact. If the Finns hadn't made peace with the russians on the day they did then British and French forces would have 'taken control of various Norwegian ports as well as moving into sweden to secure the northern iron ore mines at kiruna.

the second plan in april was all set to go, the first phase, the mining of Norwegian waters occured on the 8th april, the second phase was to be to take control of key norwegian ports.

Ironically both the Germans and allies hoped to do so peacefully, as happened in Denmark, the difference was, the allies were to pull out if they met anything more than token resistance whereas the Germans were to use maximum force should the norwegians decide to resist....they resisted...though by no means all did so.

A few little known facts about Weserübung..

-The first capital ship to be sunk by aircraft in war occured on the 10th April 1940 when FAA blackburn Skua dive bombers sunk the light cruiser Königsberg in Bergen harbour
-The first allied amphibious operation of the war occured at Narvik when French and Norwegian troops landed, by British landing craft, under fire to the north of Narvik as part of the operation to retake the town from the Germans, which they were successful in doing
- Narvik is remembered in Norway as the first defeat suffered by the Germans in WWII. By this it's meant that Dietl's force was on the verge of being forced to either surrender or intern themselves in Sweden when the allies decided to pull out of Narvik, thus leaving the Norwegian forces no choice but to capitulate.
- The Norwegian campaign lasted exactly 2 months, 9 april to 9 June 1940, longer than the invasion of France and the low countries.
- The norwegian campaign was truely an pyhrric victory for the KM. It started the war already weak in surface ships, after norway it had lost almost half it's entire destroyer force (10) as well as the brand new heavy cruiser Blücher (1 of only 3), the light cruisers Königsberg and Karlsruhe (2 of 6). Several other captial ships also suffered serious damage such as the Lützow, Gneisenau and Scharnhorst. This leaves the KM with almost nothing substantial for the upcoming invasion of Britain.

[stray_dog]

This is a period reprint of a 6 page War Office document, fallen in German hands, titled "Role of AVONFORCE whilst in Norway", taken from an Auswärtiges Amt publication from my collection. The publication is called "Continuation of Official Documents on the Policy of the "Escalation of War" of the Western Forces. The Staff Conversations of England and France with Belgium and the Netherlands".

It is a 104 page propaganda publication, with greek translations of French and British documents, as well as reprints of the original ones, proving the presence of British and French troops in Benelux before the German invasion, trying to justify the German "intervention" to the public of the still neutral Greece.

Not the original document unfortunately, but at least a period reprint of it. Hope you 'll find it interesting!

Regards, Giorgos

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[Willi Z.]

I just watched the "World at War" episode on this campaign the other day again. I have always thought it was a very objective view of that campaign.

Just curious: was the British mining of Norwegian harbors an act of war? What about them sailing into a Norwegian port to seize the Altmark?

[Simon O.]

Both actions were breachs of neutrality Willi. With the minefields the British simply went ahead and did it then advised the Norwegian navy they had done so when challenged by them saying they would look after the minefields for 48 hours before handing them over to the Norwegians. They also gave the the coordinates of the fields.

[Gowert]

Me and a Few GJ did a display this weekend due to the 70th being this year,,,