Oliver Hayes - The Fall of Denmark (1940)

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Bretwalda Battles

The Second World War

The Fall of Denmark 1940

by

Oliver Hayes

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Published by Bretwalda Books

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First Published 2012

Copyright Bretwalda Books 2012

ISBN 978-1-909099-13-5

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Contents

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The Second World War

When war broke out in Europe in 1939 only four nations were involved: Poland, Britain and France were at war with Germany. At the time it seemed likely that the war would remain confined to those countries. Indeed, after the swift conquest of Poland by Germany many neutral observers thought that Britain and France would soon conclude a peace deal of some kind with Germany.

When that did not happen it became clear that the war would involve a major campaign in Western Europe between Germany on the one hand and Britain and France on the other. There was much speculation as to the form that campaign would take. Would Germany invade France directly as in 1870 or by way of Belgium as had happened in 1914? Or would France and Britain strike first by invading Germany. Whatever was going to happen, most observers were agreed that nothing much was going to happen during the winter, the big offensive would occur in the spring of 1940.

German dictator Adolf Hitler ordered the invasion of Poland in September 1939, thus starting the war that would lead some months later to the German invasion of Denmark.

Meanwhile, Britain and Germany became locked in a struggle for control of the shipping lanes. Indirectly, that naval campaign would lead to the German invasion of Denmark in 1940.

Germany was predominantly a land-based power. It was able to produce much of its wealth and in particular military equipment using raw materials found in Germany itself or in nearby neutral countries. So when Britain imposed a naval blockade on Germany, shutting off the Third Reich from resources outside Europe, the German government of Adolf Hitler was not much worried.

The only resource that came to Germany by sea was Swedish iron ore. In winter, when the Baltic Sea was frozen, that ore was taken overland to the Norwegian port of Narvik, then shipped down the North Sea to German ports. Even when the British Royal Navy closed the North Sea the trade could continue for the ore ships steamed south inside Norwegian territorial waters where they were safe from the Royal Navy.

Meanwhile the German navy led by Admiral Erich Raeder attempted to block supplies reaching Britain by sea. Britain imported far more of her food and industrial war materials than did Germany and so would have been much more vulnerable to such a move. Of course, the British knew this well and for that reason had spent centuries building up the strength of the Royal Navy to protect convoys of merchant ships heading to Britain.

To sink British merchant shipping, Raeder had two main weapons. His U-boat submarines could patrol the North Atlantic to attack convoys heading for Britain. Although highly effective, U-boats had a limited range and were vulnerable to British naval ships escorting the convoys. Much more powerful were the smaller number of German pocket battleships. These could steam the oceans of the world seeking victims and, if one came across a convoy, had the firepower to utterly destroy it, escorts and all.

One such ship was the Graf Spee which in a voyage around the Indian and South Atlantic Oceans lasting more than two months sank numerous British merchant ships and disrupted the convoy system. She was caught by the Royal Navy in the Battle of the River Plate on 13 December and badly damaged. Her captain later scuttled her rather than surrender.

Meanwhile, the Graf Spee's supply ship, Altmark, with dozens of captured British seamen on board, was heading back to Germany. The Altmark was spotted by HMS Cossack in the North Sea and a chase began. As she was being overtaken the Altmark put into Jossingfjord in Norwegian territorial waters, believing the British warship would not flout Norway's neutrality by following her in. However, the Cossack's captain, Philip Vian, received radio instructions from the head of the Royal Navy, Winston Churchill, to do exactly that.

The British destroyer, HMS Cossack, that broke Norwegian neutrality and so began the chain of events that would lead to the Fall of Denmark.

HMS Cossack went in on 16 February, closed on the Altmark and Royal Navy sailors boarded the German ship armed with pistols and cutlasses - the last time these traditional naval weapons were used in anger. The British prisoners were released and HMS Cossack left Norwegian waters to return to Britain in triumph.

The incident convinced Hitler both that Britain was going to breach Norwegian neutrality to block the iron ore ships sailing in Norwegian waters, and that the Norwegian government was complicit in the affair. Hitler had already received requests from the Norwegian Nazi, Vidkun Quisling, that German troops should invade Norway to install him in power as a loyal German ally. Hitler had initially turned that idea down, but now he looked at the idea again.

On 1 March Hitler ordered his senior military commanders to draw up a plan for invading Norway. He chose as the commander General Nikolaus von Falkenhorst, who had spent some time in Norway. Falkenhorst came back with his outline plan the next day and with more detailed schemes on 14 March. Among other things the plans recommended that Denmark should be invaded as well so as to secure the sea lanes from Germany to Norway and to give the German air force, the Luftwaffe, bases within operating range of Norway.

When Hitler got the plans he studied them, then put them to one side. He and his generals were concentrating on the problem of the imminent invasion of France. They did not want to waste time, men and supplies on a sideshow in Scandinavia.

Meanwhile, the British and French had indeed been thinking about blocking the routes of the iron ore ships. After much discussion, and the making and changing of plans, it had been agreed on 28 March that the Royal Navy would lay mines along the Norwegian coast inside Norwegian territorial waters. Moreover a combined force of British and French troops would be landed at Narvik to seize the docks and railway used to handle the iron ore. The operation was due to begin on 8 April and to take several days to complete.

The Norwegian government was fully aware of the importance of the iron ore route through her waters to both sides in the war. They suspected that the British might seek to mine Norwegian waters and that the German navy and air force might seek to intervene to stop this happening. Faced with the prospect of major naval and air battles being fought close to its coast, Norway's army ordered that leave should be cancelled, that the coastal garrisons should be increased and that Norwegian troops, ships and aircraft should be permitted to open fire without warning and without seeking permission from the high command on any foreign military ships or aircraft that breached Norwegian airspace or territorial waters.

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