Greene Jack - Hitler strikes north : the Nazi invasion of Norway and Denmark, 9 April 1940

D anish army, Lieutenant General W. W. Prior commanding. The majority of the army was conscripted, but only a small percentage was inducted each year and training lasted for only a few weeks. In peacetime the Life Guards consisted of two battalions with a third battalion in reserveall tall volunteers. NOTE: this represents the mobilised army, but this was not the case on 9 April 1940. Only a very small portion of this order of battle was available on that day.

General Command (headquarters at Copenhagen)

air defence Regiment (minus the 13th and 14th AA Battalion)
Eleven artillery batteries (four horse, four light, three heavy)
Three motorised AA batteries (four guns each)
Engineer Regiment (minus 1st and 2nd Pioneer battalion)
Signal battalion

Sjaelland Division (headquarters at Copenhagen)

Life Guards Regiment

1st, 4th and 5th Infantry Regiments

• Four battalions each
  • Five companies each
• (Attached) heavy weapons company

Guards Hussars Regiment ( Garde Hussar Regimentet )

• Two battalions, each with three squadronstwo horse-mounted and one bicycle but one horse-mounted company was to convert to Swedish supplied armoured cars just before the war
• Attached were one motorcycle squadron and one heavy weapons squadron

1st and 2nd artillery Regiments

• The 1st consisted of three battalions of twelve guns each. One battalion had motorised 75mm field guns and the other two were of 150mm guns which were scheduled to be motorised that summer. They were the heavy artillery of the Danish army and were attached to the division
• The 2nd had four battalions of three batteries each. Each battalion had two batteries of old Krupp 75mm and one of new French Schneider 105mm howitzers. They were in the process of having the 75mm guns replaced. A battery consisted of four guns

13th AA battalion (three batteries deployed at Copenhagen)

1st Pioneer battalion (four engineer companies)

Jylland Division (headquarters at Viborgnorthern Jutland)

2nd, 3rd, 6th, and 7th Infantry Regiments four battalions each

• The 6th had two battalions of bicycle troopsthe 4th and 5th. The former had been sent down to the border for training prior to the invasion, while the latter began to mobilise on the night of 8 April

Jylland Dragoon Regiment (two battalions, each with three squadronsone horse mounted and two bicycle, and one with three armoured cars. Six more were on order)

• Attached were one motorcycle squadron and one heavy weapons squadron

Pioneer Fodfoldsregimentet or Frontier Guards was attached to the Jutland Division and was the best-equipped and most motorised of any Danish unit. The two battalions consisted of one mortar and three machine-gun companies each.

3rd artillery Regiment (equipped similarly as the 2nd Artillery Regiment above)

14th motorised AA battalion of three batteries at rhus

2nd Pioneer Battalion (two engineer companies and an infantry pioneer unit of regimental strength with two battalions having a battalion HQ and four companies. Their primary duty was to lay mines on the Danish border)

Independent forces

10th AA Artillery Regiment (three batteries) assigned to Copenhagen

One battalion of Signal troops attached to the engineer regiment

Bornholm Guard for the defence of Bornholm Island. One under strength regiment, due to leave and lack of funding on 9 April; it had thirty men under arms. At full strength:

• Four battalions of infantry
• One bicycle squadron
• Four 75mm guns
• Heavy weapons company

The Danish army had tested a few armoured vehicles for evaluation purposes including the Italian Fiat 3000B, French Renault Nc2 (Nc.31) and British Vickers-Armstrong Carden-Loyd Patrol Mk.IV of 1931 design. The latter were light tanks armed with machine-guns and Denmark bought three but they were worn out by 1940. She had ordered eighteen Swedish Landsverk Lynx (L185) armoured cars but only three had arrived at the time of war and were assigned to the Jutland Division. One of those three was probably an earlier and similar model, but with lighter armour, a L181.

Motorcycles were of the Nimbus Model C, built in Copenhagen by Fisker & Nielsen. Thousands were produced after the war, while approximately 300 were used in Europe during the war. Denmark had experimented in the 1930s on an armoured Harley-davidson (which was too heavy and was a failure) but did arm some Nimbus motorcycles with a 20mm Madsen machine-gun which could not be used while the motorcycle was in motion.

When fully mobilised there were a reserve division, additional fortress troops and a minor home guard.

Danish Navy

Commanded by Vice Admiral Hjalmar Rechnitzer
at Frederikshavn and mobilised was the coastal defence ship Peder Skram (3,785
tons and launched in 1908). Also torpedo-boats Dragen , Hvalen and Laxen (290
tons and launched in 192930)

at rhus was the submarine tender Henrik Gerner and submarines Havfruen , Havmanden and Havkalen (320 tons and launched in 19378. A fourth would be completed after the invasion)

In Great Belt area there were 180 mines, Glenten and Hgen torpedo-boats (290 tons and launched in 1933), one minelayer, three minesweepers and five patrol craft

In Little Belt area were 264 mines, one patrol craft and one guardship

In Grnsund area were a few mines and two patrol craft

at Nyborg was the rnen torpedo-boat (290 tons and launched in 1934)

at Copenhagen was the flagship, the coastal defence ship Niels Iuel (4,100 tons and launched in 1918refitting). Also submarines Daphne and Dryaden (308 tons and launched in 19256) and Rota , Flora and Bellona (301 tons and launched in 191820), two minesweepers and two guardships

Elsewhere, including two patrol ships at Greenland, were seven patrol ships, two minelayers, one seaplane tender and one guardship

The German and Danish order of battles are included as the Allied and Norwegian ones are easily taken from Leo Niehorsters site and from Geirr Haarrs two volumes on the Norwegian campaign. The Danish, due to their short resistance, is difficult to come by and the German army order of battle is usually built upon incorrect assumptions. The Germans were not at full strength when they were committed to the Scandinavian campaign.