On April 9, 1940, German troops invaded the country and quickly occupied Oslo, Bergen, Trondheim, and Narvik. In, "The Vikings raided Africa and then took slaves back to Ireland | Smash Company", "History: The Viking Adventure In Morocco", "Heimskringla: Saga of Olaf Haraldson: Part I", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_wars_involving_Norway&oldid=1163389819. World War II - The Royal House of Norway - Monarchy of Norway Renown engaged the two battlecruisers off the Lofoten Archipelago, and during the short battle Renown scored several hits on the German vessels, forcing them to flee north. Weeks after the end of the Norwegian Campaign the Germans pressured the presidency of the Norwegian parliament to issue a request that Haakon VII abdicate. The remaining Norwegian naval vessels were sunk in action, scuttled by their own crews, or captured by the Germans. The same day that the 1st Division began crossing into Sweden, the two battalions of Infantry Regiment no. The German invasion began on 3 April 1940, when covert supply vessels began to head out in advance of the main force. On the Norwegian side there were around 1,700 casualties, of whom 860 were killed. MASTERPIECEs Atlantic Crossing covers some surprising and little-known history involving U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Norways Crown Princess Martha. The German forces used in the campaign were some 120,000 troops in seven divisions and one Fallschirmjger battalion, as well as panzer and artillery units. On 21 and 22 April Steinkjer was bombed by the Luftwaffe, leaving four-fifths of the town in ruins and more than 2,000 people homeless. 2023, A&E Television Networks, LLC. Gubbins, with the acting rank of colonel, assumed command of the brigade. 263 Squadron RAF fighter squadron set up base on the frozen lake Lesjaskogsvatnet on 24 April to challenge German air supremacy, but many of the squadron's aircraft were destroyed by German bombing on 25 April. With it becoming more evident that the German fleet had slipped out of Norwegian waters, the Home Fleet continued north to Narvik in the hope of catching the remaining destroyers. The first German air attacks on Harstad began on 16 April, but anti-aircraft defences prevented serious damage until a raid on 20 May destroyed oil tanks and civilian houses and another raid on 23 May hit Allied shipping in the harbour. After a meeting on 7 June at which the decision to carry on the fight abroad was made, King Haakon VII, Crown Prince Olav and the Norwegian cabinet left Norway on the British cruiser Devonshire and went into exile in the United Kingdom. [18], It was agreed to utilize Churchill's naval mining plan, Operation Wilfred, designed to remove the sanctuary of the Leads[clarification needed] and force transport ships into international waters, where the Royal Navy could engage and destroy them. The domination of this strait would prevent the Royal Navy from interfering with the main supply lines of the invasion forces. German paratroops also captured Aalborg Airport. Under the code name ' Operation Weserbung ', Nazi Germany attacked Denmark and Norway on 9 April 1940. [35] The Danish public was taken completely by surprise by the occupation, and was instructed by the government to cooperate with the German authorities. The Norwegian government then went into exile in London. [71] With no help forthcoming from either allied or Norwegian forces, on 1 May 1940, Steffens ordered his troops to disband. However, the bleakness of the situation prompted them to agree to continued negotiations with the Germans, set for the following day. We are never going to give back these countries, Hitler brazenly told one of his deputies. By occupying Norway, Hitler had ensured the protection of Germanys supply of iron ore from Sweden and had obtained naval and air bases with which to strike at Britain if necessary. Number of Somali pirate attacks have been reduced dramatically, This page was last edited on 6 June 2023, at 02:44. The attack never commenced though, as Luftwaffe bombers launched an assault of their own against the Home Fleet first. For the Allies, in particular the French, this was based on a desire to avoid repeating the trench warfare of the First World War, which had occurred on the Franco-German border. The boarding action led to the freeing of 299 Allied prisoners of war held on the German ship. [27] Discovered amongst the wreckage were uniformed German soldiers and military supplies. [2], During this time both sides wished to open secondary fronts. From Arabic (Moorish) and Spanish Sources". The region surrounding the Oslofjord was defended by the 1st Division, commanded by Major General Carl Johan Erichsen. [73] Another two aircraft flew to the United Kingdom to undergo service. Hitler garrisoned Norway with about 300,000 troops for the rest of the war. As a precaution Colonel Otto Ruge, Inspector General of the Norwegian Infantry, set up a roadblock about 110km (68mi) north of Oslo, at Midtskogen. This is a list of wars involving the Kingdom of Norway in some capacity, both the modern polity and its predecessor states. On the 9th April, 1940, the German forces invaded Norway and Denmark. This occupation was obviously necessary for the safety of their communications with Norway. This route was especially important during the winter months when much of the Baltic Sea was frozen over. This reinforced the notion that the Germans were indeed intending a breakout, and the Home Fleet changed direction from northeast to northwest to again try to intercept. Norway - Neutrality, Resistance, Reconstruction, and Government Pension The Avalon Project : Judgement : The Invasion of Denmark and Norway The fortifications were surrendered soon after, when Luftwaffe units arrived. Following the German invasion General Fleischer assumed the position of commander-in-chief of all Norwegian forces in northern Norway. 1,604 were listed as wounded. News & gossip column: Osasuna removed from Europa Conference League He also ordered Repulse, along with another cruiser and a few destroyers, to head north and join Renown. The ships were manned by around 7,000 crew members. The Germans only broke through the Norwegian lines at Haugsbygd the next day after employing panzers for the first time in Norway. [4], Norway, although neutral, was considered strategically important for both sides for several reasons. Defeat of Taliban forces briefly before Taliban retook the region in 2021. However, nationalistic aspirations were frustrated by Sweden's victory in a brief war. General Volume I, Torpedo Crisis of the U-Boats During Norwegian Campaign, Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Norwegian_campaign&oldid=1159763653, Articles with unsourced statements from May 2022, Wikipedia articles needing clarification from January 2023, Articles needing additional references from April 2013, All articles needing additional references, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 4.0, The invasion and the following occupation are depicted in the, Kelly, Bernard. On learning of this, Oslo was declared an open city and soon fully surrendered. With both sides unaware of the magnitude of the situation, they proceeded as planned. It was instead decided to send in the battleship Warspite and a powerful escort force, to be commanded by Whitworth. Insider email newsletter. Shortly after the encounter the British submarine HMSClyde intercepted the German ships and torpedoed Gneisenau, causing severe damage. [123], The Allies achieved a partial success at Narvik. Although antiquated, the two coastal defence ships were quite capable of taking on the much more lightly armed and armoured destroyers. Aside from locating two of the German destroyers, the scouting aircraft also sank the U-64, the first submarine kill by an aircraft. 46 Squadron RAF with Hawker Hurricanes. The countries shared a . The campaign was fought until 10 June 1940 and saw the escape of King Haakon VII and Crown Prince Olav to the United Kingdom. Second World War campaign fought in Norway, This article is about the World War II campaign. The German destroyers were low on fuel and ammunition, allowing Hostile and Havock to come back to aid the retreat of Hotspur. It had moderate success but made a rapid strategic retreat after the Battle of France began on 14 May. On 11 April, after receiving reinforcements in Oslo, General Falkenhorst's offensive began; its goal was to link up Germany's scattered forces before the Norwegians could effectively mobilize or any major Allied intervention could take place. The rest of the region was covered by the 2nd Division, commanded by Major General Jacob Hvinden Haug. A well placed shot by Admiral Hipper severed the power cables for the searchlights and rendered the guns ineffective. This led the Royal Navy to send one light cruiser and five destroyers that were patrolling nearby. Allied troops began to land at Narvik on April 14. Norway in World War 2: Get the Facts [with Timeline] It was to be presented as an armed protection of Norway's neutrality. On 2 May, four of these companies were formed into "Scissorsforce", under Gubbins, and dispatched to forestall the Germans at Bod, Mo i Rana and Mosjen. Thirteen months later, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and Hitlers subsequent declaration of war on the U.S. brought America into World War II. The commanding officer of the Scots Guards, Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Byrnand Trappes-Lomax, continued to retreat despite orders to hold successive positions which, with the delayed arrival of the rest of the brigade, left Gubbins no time to prepare a defensive position at Storjord. [43] The Norwegian authorities were only informed of the decision on 1 June. Sign up now to learn about This Day in History straight from your inbox. The focus of the remaining forces in western Norway became to prevent the Germans from advancing from the areas around Bergen. The force landed on 14 April and managed to block the rail and road network in Central Norway for five days before being forced to surrender to the Norwegian Army on 19 April. During Franklin Roosevelts second term as president, he began to make plans for his impending retirement. That night, after learning of numerous sightings of German ships south of Norway, Charles Forbes began to doubt the validity of the breakout idea, and he ordered the Home Fleet to head south to the Skagerrak. (Reynaud had come into office on the surge of the French publics demand for a more aggressive military policy and quicker offensive action against Germany.) [12] This policy caused a rise in anti-German sentiment throughout Scandinavia, since it was commonly believed that the Germans were allied with the Soviets. [111], Aside from the regular Norwegian forces, the main armed resistance movement in Norway, the exile government-controlled Milorg, fielded some 40,000 combatants at the end of the war. The Nortraship fleet consisted of some 85% of the pre-war Norwegian merchant fleet, the remaining 15% having been in Norway when the Germans invaded and been unable to escape. However, the Royal Family, the Government and most members of the Storting were able to flee before the occupying forces reached Oslo. [55] To achieve this aim the 4th Division had a total mobilized force of 6,361 soldiers and 554 horses. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. A reinforced company from the Scotland-based Norwegian Army participated in the liberation of Finnmark during the winter of 194445. As a fallback, Norways leaders were confident that Great Britain would quickly repulse a German invasion, should it come. Though ten German destroyers had originally taken Narvik, only five remained in the harbour, with three others moving North and the remaining two going west. Already in low-priority planning for months, Operation Weserbung[note 1] found a new sense of urgency after the Altmark incident. At the end of the war some 2,700 personnel served in the RNoAF. The German Wehrmacht crossed the Danish border around 05:15 on 9 April. As HMS Cossack entered the fjord at 22:20 local time, the Norwegian vessels did not intervene when the British boarded Altmark in the late hours of 16 February. Most who emigrated from Norway to the United States were farmers, taking advantage of the Homestead Act, which gave 160 acres of land to anyone who would work the parcel for at least five years. A British, French and Polish expeditionary force of 38,000 troops landed in the north. Denmark is preparing for a war with Norway; Young prince Hamlet is unhappy with his mother hastily marrying Claudius; Ophelia is told by her father and brother not to fall in love with Hamlet; The ghost tells Hamlet that the king was murdered and asks him to take revenge. News & gossip column: Osasuna removed from Europa Conference League over historical match-fixing Find out about new shows, get updates on your favorite dramas and mysteries, enjoy exclusive content and more! During intense fighting with heavy casualties on both sides, troops of the Norwegian Infantry Regiment 6 blunted the German advance at the village of Haugsbygd on 15 April. Because of a strict enforcement of radio silence, the bombers were not able to report this until 17:30. Several of the smaller German ships then broke off in order to capture the bypassed fortifications along with Horten. [84], Sickleforce managed to return to ndalsnes and escape by 2 May at 02:00, only a few hours before the German 196th Division captured the port. On April 9, 1940, the major Norwegian ports from Oslo northward to Narvik (1,200 miles away from Germanys naval bases) were occupied by advance detachments of German troops. While most of Gruppe 4 was engaged at Kristiansand, the torpedo boat Greif captured Arendal without any opposition. [29] With the Germans in control of the largest cities, ports and airfields, as well as most of the arms depots and communication networks, repulsing them outright would be impossible. [7], On 14 December 1939, Raeder introduced Adolf Hitler to Vidkun Quisling, a pro-Nazi former defence minister of Norway. Principality of Transylvania, Sweden The planners hoped that the operation would not provoke the Norwegians to resist the Allies with armed force. When the Soviet Union launched its attack against Finland on 30 November 1939, the Allies found themselves aligned with Norway and Sweden in support of Finland against the much larger aggressor. [91] As the German forces moved northwards, they also gained control of the basic facilities at Hattfjelldal Airfield to support their bomber operations. M. Falco: The aggressive war against Poland was but the beginning. [16], The Altmark incident occurred in the late hours of 16 February 1940 when the Royal Navy destroyer HMSCossack entered Norwegian territorial waters, intercepting and boarding the German auxiliary ship Altmark in the Jssingfjord. According to Rosenman, it was not until April 1940, when the Nazis invaded Denmark and then Norway, that Roosevelt changed his mind. The ranks of the Navy and Air Force were swollen by a steady trickle of refugees making their way out of occupied Norway, and their equipment brought up to standard by British and American aircraft and ships. In 1380 Norway and Denmark were merged under a single monarch, but Norway was given a subordinate role in the union and came increasingly under Danish control. The captured Vrnes Air Station near Trondheim was rapidly expanded and improved to provide the Luftwaffe with a base from which to support the Narvik sector. The four Gladiators that survived to be evacuated to Setnesmoen army base near ndalsnes were out of operation by the end of 26 April. [49], On 28 and 29 April the undefended port town of Kristiansund had been heavily bombed by the Luftwaffe, as was the nearby port of Molde, which functioned as the headquarters of the Norwegian government and King. The Norwegian Army Air Service's Jagevingen fighter flight based at Fornebu Airport resisted with their Gloster Gladiator biplane fighters until ammunition ran out and then flew off to whatever secondary airfields were available. The Quisling coup government remained in place until 15 April, when the Administrative Council was appointed by the Supreme Court of Norway to deal with the civilian administration of the occupied areas of Norway, and Quisling resigned. During mid-April the 6,000-strong Norwegian 4th Division, responsible for the defence of western Norway, was mobilized around the town of Voss in Hordaland. The aggression of Nazi Germany quickly spread from country to country. In point of time the first two countries to suffer were Denmark and Norway. But an accelerating German offensive in France led Britain to transfer thousand of soldiers from Norway to France, resulting ultimately in a German victory. Germany's Invasion of Norway and Denmark | CODOH Enter a date in the format M/D (e.g., 1/1), https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/germany-invades-norway-and-denmark. [117], The combined total loss of merchants ships and transports for the Allies and Norwegians was around 70 ships. Peace agreement, mutual recognition and withdrawal, British fleet repelled with Norwegian aid, Strategical defeat of the Danish-Norwegian fleet, Fall of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, This page was last edited on 4 July 2023, at 16:07. Tank-Nielsen was overruled by his superior, Commanding Admiral Henry Diesen, and she was escorted through. In a second meeting on 18 December, Quisling and Hitler discussed the threat of an Allied invasion of Norway. Roosevelt saw no reason to break the tradition, so he directed aide Sam Rosenman to acquire a piece of property adjoining the familys Hyde Park estate in New York, where a presidential library would be built. Gruppe 5 continued into the Oslofjord and cleared the outer batteries without incident. King Christian, having consulted with Prime Minister Thorvald Stauning, Foreign Minister P. Munch and the commanders of the army and the navy, decided to capitulate, believing that further resistance would only result in a useless loss of Danish lives. This flotilla, under the command of Captain Bernard Warburton-Lee, had already detached from Renown during her pursuit of Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, being ordered to guard the entrance to the Vestfjord. Habsburg supremacy curtailed. This initially involved a 1939 plan to penetrate the Baltic with a naval force. [78][79] French troops arrived at Namsos late on 19 April. In November 1944 the Royal Norwegian Naval Air Service and the Norwegian Army Air Service, having been under a unified command since March 1941, were amalgamated to form the RNoAF. [20] Because of this delay, Operation Wilfred, originally scheduled for 5 April, was delayed until 8 April when the British agreed to undertake the Norwegian operations separately from those on the continent.[11]. In 1468, the daughter of King Christian I of Norway and Denmark was betrothed to King James III of Scotland. The case for Orkney nationalism - Yahoo Another great problem for Mauriceforce was the lack of air support and effective anti-aircraft defences, something of which the Luftwaffe took full advantage. [76] The main force began landing at Harstad, a port town on the island of Hinnya, on 14 April. "Drifting Towards War: The British Chiefs of Staff, the USSR and the Winter War, November 1939March 1940,", This page was last edited on 12 June 2023, at 11:17. Ibn-Adhari, translated in Stefansson, Jon, "The Vikings in Spain. EXPLAINED: How Denmark could be impacted by Russia's invasion of [69] He set up his own headquarters at Frde and prepared for the further defence of Sogn og Fjordane. [17] Altmark had spent the prior months as a fleet oiler turned prison ship for the German cruiser Admiral Graf Spee while the latter was acting as a commerce raider in the South Atlantic. For Gruppe 6 at Egersund and the paratroops at Stavanger, there was no significant opposition and they quickly captured their objectives. The German invasions for the most part achieved their goal of simultaneous assault and caught the Norwegian forces off guard, a situation not aided by the Norwegian government's order for only a partial mobilization. As long as the Allies did not enter Norwegian waters, there would be safe passage for merchant vessels transporting ore via Norwegian coastal waters to Germany. [21], Operation Alphabet, the general Allied retreat from Norway, had been approved on 24 May. [70] On 30 April a message from General Otto Ruge was communicated, telling of the evacuation of all allied troops and also of the King and Army command, from southern Norway. At the same time the Germans moved to secure the areas surrounding Kristiansand. The postponement was catastrophic. Unescorted troopships would transport soldiers to capture the Danish High Command in Copenhagen. She was not able to complete her transmission though, and all the Admiralty knew was that Glowworm had been confronted by a large German ship, shots were fired, and contact with the destroyer could not be re-established. Hardy was severely damaged and beached, and Warburton-Lee was killed. While the British supported this operation, the French vetoed it for three months since they also depended on the Rhine and feared German air raids on their aircraft and munitions factories. By Dominic Sandbrook. [19], The Allies disagreed over the additional Operation Royal Marine, where mines would also be placed in the Rhine River. This led the commander in Bergen, Admiral Carsten Tank-Nielsen, to deny Altmark access to the restricted-access harbour zone. Articles with the HISTORY.com Editors byline have been written or edited by the HISTORY.com editors, including Amanda Onion, Missy Sullivan, Matt Mullen and Christian Zapata. Though neither side inflicted notable damage, the German ships were running low on ammunition and were gradually pushed back to the harbour. Only one destroyer received a hit during the landing. On 21 February, General Nikolaus von Falkenhorst was placed in charge of its planning and in command of the land-based forces. Dutch Republic Norway stayed neutral during World War I, which ended in 1918. On 7 April, bad weather began to develop in the region, blanketing the area with thick fog and causing rough seas, making travel difficult. On learning of the German movement, the Admiralty came to the conclusion that the Germans were attempting to break the blockade that the Allies had placed on Germany and use their fleet to disrupt Atlantic trade routes. The main objective at Arendal was the undersea telegraph cable to the United Kingdom. The brigade withdrew under heavy pressure across Skjerstad Fjord on 25 May, covered by a rearguard from the 1st Irish Guards and several of the Independent Companies under Lieutenant Colonel Hugh Stockwell. Nuremberg Trials Judgement - The Invasion of Denmark and Norway The members of the cabinet failed to understand that the partial mobilization they had ordered would, according to the regulations in place, be carried out in secret and without public declaration. Kalmar War | Denmark-Sweden | Britannica German troops invaded Norway on 9 April 1940, planning to capture the King and the Government in order to force the country to surrender. [26][105], The official German casualties for the Norwegian Campaign totalled 5,296. Better luck was had in the south when HMSSpearfish severely damaged the heavy cruiser Ltzow at midnight on 11 April, putting the German ship out of commission for a year. While the Danish royal family was taken prisoner Because of Anglo-French arguments, the date of the mining was postponed from April 5 to April 8. The request was soon answered by Admiral Hipper, which quickly crippled Glowworm. The Viking war on woke. At that time the mobilization had been limited to two field battalions in stfold, further delaying the larger-scale call-up of troops. [1] The goals of the invasion were to secure the port of Narvik and the Leads for ore transport, and to control the country to prevent collaboration with the Allies. DenmarkNorway (1643-1645), Napoleonic ItalyKingdom of Naples Duchy of WarsawDenmarkNorwayConfederation of the Rhine, Islamic State of Iraq [74], The original plans for the campaign in Central Norway called for a three pronged attack against Trondheim by Allied forces while the Norwegians contained the German forces to the south. Admiral Sir Charles Forbes, Commander-in-Chief of the British Home Fleet, was notified of this and set out to intercept them at 20:15. In Norway, the German plan called for the capture of six primary targets by amphibious landings: Oslo, Kristiansand, Egersund, Bergen, Trondheim and Narvik. Hostile and Havock meanwhile had raced ahead, but turned about and came back to aid the retreat of Hotspur. Though Orze reported the incident to the Admiralty, they were too concerned by the situation with Glowworm and the presumed German breakout to give it much thought and did not pass the information on. It was decided to send troops to both locations as a compromise.

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