Spring, 1940
Chapter 3
War in the North
April - May
German warships at sea
As 1940 continued, so did the so called “phoney war”, or as the Germans called it, Sitzkireg did also. But that was not to continue as April began. The ramifications of the capture of the German invasion plans continue to be felt, as the Dutch government ordered general mobilization on the second of March. On the same day in Berlin Adolf Hitler signed the final order for a major new military operation, codenamed Operation Weserubung, to commence in a mere week.
The Allies were also busy, as the Royal Navy began to mine Norwegian territorial waters to interdict German shipping, in clear violation of the Scandinavian country’s neutrality. As they do this, reports are beginning to arrive that the Germans are building up forces in northern Germany for an unknown operation. On April fifth a warning is sent from the Norwegian embassy in Berlin, informing Oslo that an invasion is imminent.
Polish POWs are marched into Soviet captivity
In occupied Poland movements of a different kind were underway. As the Germans clamped down on the subjugated populace and the Nazis began to exert their terror on the population, the Soviets also began their own campaign of terror. Polish prisoners of war were force marched to the area of Katyn in the USSR, where the Soviet Secret Police, the NKVD, began to separate and execute them en mass. Over the course of the month of April, some 22,000 Polish prisoners will be executed and buried in mass graves concealed in the forests around Katyn.
German troops in northern Denmark
On April seventh a German fleet set out from bases on the North Sea, with the RAF trying and failing to bomb it. Ships were also dispatched, and the next day the HMS Glowworm won the first Victoria Cross of the Second World War for attacking and ramming the German heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper. The Polish Navy, with the few ships that had escaped to Britain when their homeland fell, also attacked and destroyed German transports in the Skaggerak, the channel into the North Sea from the Baltic. But these did little to disrupt the overall plans.
German troops disembark the cruiser Admiral Hipper to land in Norway
At 0415 on April 9th, 1945 the Wehrmacht crossed the border and launched an undeclared invasion of Denmark. After a series of small skirmishes, the small Danish Army, which had only been mobilized hours earlier, collapsed, and the country surrendered to the Germans at 1015, and the Reich’s force’s continued on their drive northward, as Denmark had only been a stepping stone.
Norwegian troops in position
Further north, in the pre-dawn darkness, a column of German warships led by the cruiser Blucher were blacked out and steaming toward the Norwegian capitol of Oslo, with the mission to land troops and seize the government before the Norwegians could react. As they did, they approached an old fortress guarding the mouth of the fjord, whose commander sprang into action, reporting darkened warships approaching and ordering the cadets under his command to man the aging guns. Sighting the lead ship, he ordered his batteries to open fire at 0421, the stillness of the night rent apart by the blast of the 11 inch coastal defense guns. Both of the two shells fired found their marks, setting the fires along the cruiser’s superstructure. These hits also had the effect of disabling electricty to much of the ship, rendering her unable to return fire with her main batteries as they were jammed in position. Shortly afterward, a salvo of outdated WWI era torpedoes were fired from the shore batteries, finishing off the German cruiser. This action caused the rest of the Germans to retreat, and the Norwegian government was able to evacuate Olso.
Vidkun Quisling
“Norwegian men and women!
Proclamation to the Norwegian people:
After England violated Norway’s neutrality by laying out minefields in Norwegian territorial waters without facing any opposition other than the usual bland protests from the Nygaardsvold government, the German government offered the Norwegian government its peaceful help accompanied by a solemn assurance to respect our national independence and Norwegian life and property. In response to this offer of a solution to a completely unsustainable situation for our country, the Nygaardsvold government has initiated general mobilization and given the pointless order to the Norwegian armed forces to oppose German aid with armed force. The government itself has fled after thus frivolously putting the fate of the country and its inhabitants at stake. Under these circumstances, it is the duty and right of the National Unity Movement to take over government power to protect the life interests of the Norwegian people and Norway’s security and independence. We are the only ones who, by virtue of the conditions and the national goals of our movement, can do this and thereby save the country from the desperate situation that the party politicians have brought our people into. The Nygaardsvold government has resigned. The national government has taken over government power, with Vidkun Quisling as head of government and foreign minister, and with the following other members: Professor Birger Meidell, Minister of Church and Education.
Chief of Police Jonas Lie, Minister of Justice.
Dr. Gulbrand Lunde, Minister of Social Affairs.
Director Albert V. Hagelin, Minister of Trade and Supply.
Architect Tormod Hustad, Minister of Agriculture
Professor R. Skancke, Minister of Labor.
Landowner Fredrik Prytz, Minister of Finance.
Major R. Hvoslef, Minister of Defense.
All Norwegians are encouraged to show calmness and restraint in this situation, which is so difficult for our country. Through joint efforts and the goodwill of all, we will save Norway freely and saved through this great crisis. I add that as the situation has developed, any continued resistance is not only useless, but directly tantamount to criminal destruction of life and property. Every civil servant and other civil and municipal official, and in particular all our country’s officers in the army, navy, coastal artillery and air force, are obliged to obey orders exclusively from the new national government. Any deviation from this will entail the most serious personal responsibility for the person in question. Otherwise, all compatriots will be treated fairly and considerately.”
As the ninth of April wore on, the leader of the Norwegian National Socialist Party, Nasjonal Samling, Vidkun Quisling, entered a radio station in Oslo and declared himself Prime Minister, further ordering the immediate surrender of the country to the Germans. During that first day of hostilities the Germans had landed and seized the ports of Oslo, Trondheim, Bergen and Narvik, dotted along the entire coast of Norway.
British troops embark for Norway
The Allies struck back quickly, as on the morning of April tenth the Royal Navy steamed into Narvik, a squadron of destroyers engaging and overwhelming the German ships anchored there. Soon the British were reinforced, and a German counterattack failed to dislodge them from the port days later. With an attack by German paratroopers on the fourteenth, the war had officially transitioned into a ground campaign.
King Haakon VII and Crown Prince Olav in the field
On the same day, King Haakon VII took the the airwaves to implore his country to fight on, and aid their new British allies. In cabinet meetings he had remained adamant that resistance must continue, even threatening to abdicate if the government accepted German surrender terms. He himself had been directly targeted by German air raids, and on the same day as his speech German paratroopers landed so close that the King was barely escorted away as the fighting began.
French troops land in Narvik to support the Allied Expeditionary Force in Scandinavia
The first French troops began to arrive in Narvik on Aptil nineteenth, the same day that the British and German armies met for their first major engagement of the war at Verdal. This is a component of the general Allied counteroffensive now underway toward Trondheim, but within days the British and Norwegian forces find themselves under threat of envelopment, and withdraw. The Norwegians attempted an independent counterattack on the 23rd, but were driven back two days later. The effects of the overwhelming German air power were taking a heavy toll on the Allies.
British and French officers confer near a French light tank in Norway
By the 26th Allied planners were beginning to consider abandoning Norway, as the battles raged on for the country. A day later, seventeen days after their attack, the Germans finally declare war on Norway, on the same day they open a new concentration camp in Poland, a place that will eventually be burned into the annals of history: Auschwitz.
By the 29th the British had had enough, and the Royal Navy was ordered to sortie out from Scapa Flow to cover an evacuation of Allied forces from central Norway. The battle for the southern part of the country was to be abandoned, although the Allies were not yet ready to abandon Scandinavia entirely. Forces around Narvik remained, and the fight would continue. The last Norwegian forces at Trondheim would capitulate on May third.
A German Gebirgsjager in Norway
Additional British and Polish troops landed at Narvik on May seventh, as far to the west more British troops land to occupy Iceland, precluding actions by the Germans in the former Danish territory. Even as this occurs, things of a disturbing nature are happening back in western Europe, with both the Dutch and Belgians moving to high alert by the ninth in response to German movements along their frontiers.
Timeline
4-2-1940:
Hitler confirms orders to commence Operation Weserubung
4-3-1940:
Royal Navy begins mining Norwegian coasts
4-5-1940:
Soviets begin massacre of Polish POWs at Katyn
Norwegian Embassy in Berlin issues warning of imminent German invasion
4-7-1940:
RAF fails to attack a German fleet in the North Sea
4-8-1940:
British and Polish ships engage Germans in North Sea and Skaggerak
4-9-1940:
Germans invade Denmark at 0415, Norway at 0421
German Cruiser Blucher is sunk by Oslo coastal defenses
Denmark surrenders at 1015
Germans seize Norwegian ports of Oslo, Trondheim, Narvik and Bergen
Vidkun Quisling declares himself Prime Minister of Norway and demands immediate surrender to Germany
4-10-1940
Royal Navy retakes Narvik
4-13-1940
German naval counterattack at Narvik fails
4-14-1940
German paratroops almost capture King Haakon VII at Donbas
King Haakon VII address his people, imploring continued resistance
4-19-1940
French troops begin landing in Norway
British and German troops engage each other for the first time this war at Verdal as the British advance on Trondheim
4-22-1940
British forces retreat from Trondheim
4-23-1940
Norwegians launch a counteroffensive from Narvik
4-25-1940
Norwegian counteroffensive fails.
4-27-1940
Germans open a new concentration camp at Auschwitz in Poland
Germany declares war on Norway
5-3-1940
British evacuate south/central Norway
Norwegian troops at Trondheim surrender
5-7-1940
British and Polish reinforcements arrive in northern Norway
5-9-1940
Belgium goes to war alert as German movements are reported near the border
Britain occupies Iceland