1939 Nazi Germany invaded Poland, and countries such as Britain and France, which have long implemented appeasement policies, know that they can't stand it anymore. If they had endured it, Hitler would have killed western Europe sooner or later, so they formally declared war on Germany, but in fact they just defeated the enemy without fighting. Based on the lessons of World War I, Britain and France did not want to fall into the quagmire of Poland at all. Their calculation is to let Germany open up a new front on the French side and avoid falling into trench warfare in Poland in World War I. So for more than seven months, there was no major war in Western Europe. This history is now called "fake war" (English: PhoneyWar) and "strange war" (French: Dr? Le de guerre) or "sit still" (German: Sitzkrieg).
Posters often used by the British Department of Homeland Security during the fake war.
However, this situation was finally broken in Norway.
In fact, after the outbreak of World War II, Norway mobilized some army, navy and air force to prepare for the battle. Norway doesn't want to do anything. It is a neutral country and just wants to keep the country neutral. But who paid attention when the war broke out? First, the German navy submarine sank a British ship in Norwegian waters, and then planes from Britain and Germany began to invade Norwegian airspace, and Norway's neutrality became a dead letter (who made you important and weak). After the war, Britain pressured Norway to return it.
The Norwegian government had no choice but to finally agree to provide 150 oil tanker and ships with a gross tonnage of 450,000 tons. The Norwegian government is worried that if it does not compromise with Britain, Norway's maritime transport supply line may be cut off. No way, people have to bow their heads under the eaves, although they are very wronged.
In addition to the British, the Germans are not prepared to let Norway go. At that time, Germany imported a lot of iron ore from Sweden, mainly exported it through Norway's Narvik. When the Baltic Sea is frozen in winter, this route is irreplaceable. Erich raeder, a German naval general, pointed out in 1939 that once Britain had the upper hand in Norway, it could seize the whole Scandinavia (Sweden, Norway and Finland). Of course, Hitler could not tolerate this situation, and neither could Britain.
The occupation of Norway is an important part of Germany's Atlantic strategy, and this strategy is aimed at Britain, because if Norway cannot be controlled, Germany's air and sea blockade of Britain will be without Norway. With the use of Norwegian ports and airports, the attack range of German naval and air forces will be greatly increased, which will enable Germany to attack the allied forces more effectively.
1939 12 14 Hitler ordered the wehrmacht high command to draw up a plan to invade Norway, but at that time it was estimated that only 1 division would be invested. From 65438+1October 14 to 19, the German navy developed an enhanced version and decided to use sneak attack and use warships to transport troops instead of slower merchant ships. Of course, the number of troops has greatly increased.
Norway is struggling to support neutrality, but it is simply unable to resist the two big names of Britain and Germany doing things in its own territory. On February 16, the British destroyer HMSCossack blatantly violated Norway's neutrality, boarded the German transport ship Altmark, which also violated Norway's neutrality, and rescued about 300 British prisoners of war. Hitler thought Britain wanted to attack Norway, so
1940 On April 9, at 4: 00 local time, the Germans attacked Norway and Denmark, claiming to protect the neutrality of the two countries from Britain and France (this reason is really embarrassing). This is the Wesson movement.
The Germans attacked Denmark.
Denmark soon surrendered. After controlling Denmark, the Germans quickly dispatched and landed at various ports in Norway. The Norwegians resisted tenaciously. At 0500 hours, the blucher, the first ship of the German Fifth Battle Group, was named after the 280mm fortress gun of the Norwegian garrison when it approached the Osbourg fortress at the narrowest part of the fjord. After that, the warship room was hit by two torpedoes made 40 years ago and lost control. At 6: 23, the blucher capsized.
Other transport ships of the fleet mistakenly thought that the blucher had struck a mine, so they quickly let the troops land ahead of time, so that Oslo (the Norwegian capital) was not attacked in the early hours of the morning.
The accident delayed the German advance, but all German ships landed as scheduled except Oslo and kristiansand. However, the Norwegian royal family and parliament mistakenly thought that they had enough time to move in with their belongings, so Norway never surrendered to Germany.
However, Oslo was later occupied in a very dramatic way. The Germans sent a small number of airborne troops to the airport in Funibu and then entered the city in a cunning way. Norwegians dare not resist. With the cooperation of the Norwegian "Fifth Column", a German battalion occupied Oslo with a population of 300,000.
Norwegian royal family and officials quickly packed their bags and ran to Hamar, 80 miles north of Oslo, to repel the German pursuit. The Norwegian royal family then went into exile in Britain.
The Germans landed in Norway
Of course, the allies can't tolerate Germany's behavior. On April 14, European reinforcements began to arrive in various parts of Norway. However, because the main ports are controlled by the Germans, it is difficult for the allies to transport heavy weapons and a large amount of materials, so the reinforcements have limited combat power. But the Allies succeeded in laying the main goal of Narvik and completely destroyed the port (making it difficult for Germany to transport iron ore here later).
But that's all. The overall situation of Germany controlling Norway cannot be changed.
On June 7th, King Haakon of Norway and the National Assembly established the British government in exile. On June 9th, the Allies finally withdrew from Narvik, and the next day Norway completely fell.
The Battle of Norway on the 62 nd was the first time that the Germans used the three-dimensional tactics of land, sea and air in World War II. In fact, the losses of the Germans were quite large, with 1, 3 17 people killed on land. 2375 people were missing in the naval battle; 1, 604 people were injured. On the allied side, 65,438+0,869 British soldiers were killed or missing on land; About 2500 people are missing at sea; 533 people were killed by the Franco-Polish Coalition forces; More than 1700 people were killed, injured or missing in Norway.
After the war, Norway was occupied by the Germans, but patriotic organizations were still fighting. The most famous Norwegian resistance fighter is Max manus, who sank many German ships in the harbor with homemade magnetic lightning and was later made into a movie.