The Battle For Norway
...mans, at their current standing in the war, tried to wage an attack on Britain, it would prove to be impossible. Ships need refueling, planes need servicing and men need supplies. To attack a country that is a long distance away, supplies are used, and the need to re-supply becomes vital. Such bases as these are necessary to win a war. To further convince Hitler to invade Norway was the fact that Germany got most of its steel imports from Sweden, which is a neighboring country to Norway. Ships carrying the steel would sail through the Gulf of Bothnia. During the winter, the Gulf of Bothnia would freeze over. In light of this, the steel would then be sent by railway to the Norwegian port of Narvik, where it would be sailed down the coast to Germany. If the Allies were to occupy Norway first, this would spell disaster for Germany’s steel. It would also allow them to easily attack Berlin. Occupying Norway would allow them to guard their steel imports more closely, and allow them more leverage over Sweden for other imports because they would be in such close proximity. If Germany was to invade Norway, they would have help from the inside, a man named Vidkun Quisling. He was the leader of the National Socialism Party in Norway, and was also a former war minister for Norway. He had long been in contact with the Nazi regime in Germany, and gave them tactical information on the German objectives. Quisling would not stay in power long after the invasion. His reputation would be destroyed, and the name Quisling would become synonymous with Traitor. Another factor in the decision to invade Norway was the “Altmark Incident”. The Altmark was a German supply ship, which had 300 British sailors on board. The crew of the British Destroyer Cossack would board the ship and free all the prisoners. This let Hitler know that his ships around the Baltic were vulnerable and would factor into Hitler’s decision to invade Norway. Britain, through intelligence, had heard that Germany was planning an invasion of Norway. Britain had put pressure on Norway to take a favorable stance with them, but to no avail. In late March, Britain had placed mines around the harbor of Narvik. These were some of the only preparations taken if such an invasion would occur. On April 6th, German Navy ships were loaded with infantry, most of them not knowing where they were going. Mountaineers were added to this number, as they would have an advantage of experience with fighting in mountainous regions. They would set sail for Norway and on April 7th, the fighting would commence. The main targets would be the capital of Norway, Oslo, and the port cities of Trondheim and Narvik. The battle cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau would escort ten destroyers to Narvik. This would be a force of about two thousand soldiers. A heavy cruiser Hipper would escort four destroyers, a force of about seventeen hundred soldiers, to Trondheim. And the heavy cruiser Blucher, a pocket cruiser Lutzow and a light cruiser Emden would seize Oslo with a force of about two thousand troops. The German Air Force, known as the Luftwaffe, would send paratroopers to take over the airfields around Oslo and Trondheim. Oslo would not be defeated easily. Forts protecting the city would not let the Blucher pass, and after the ship didn’t stop, the fort would fire artillery upon the ship and sink it. This would only delay Oslo’s occupation, as the fleet moved back and released troops further down shore. In a short period of time, paratroopers had seized the airfield at Oslo, which would lead to infantry moving to Oslo. The capital had been taken, although the government had escaped. Trondheim and Narvik would be taken with little or no resistance. In one day, the German Navy had accomplished all of its objectives. Britain would put together an invasion force to counterstrike the Germans. It would be a hasty operation, as they wanted to get to Norway before the Germans got a good stronghold. The first major face-off of the war would take place at Narvik. Five German destroyers were in the harbor and more were a couple of miles away. The British came with five destroyers and sank three German destroyers. The British withdrew, but came back the next day with the battleship Warspite and finished off the rest of the German ships . This would essentially be a great naval victory, for a total of ten German destroyers would be sunk, which was nearly half of the entire German Navy. Although this was fortunate, German forces still held the town of Narvik. British and French soldiers began landing at various points along the coast, but found they were ill equipped for combat in a semi-arctic and mou...