Timeline April 1940
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TIMELINE APRIL 1940 There are varying opinions as to when the Phoney War came to an end. Some say it was in April 1940 with the invasion of Norway and the first really significant and direct engagement on land between Ger- man and British forces. Others say that it was in May with the invasion of the low countries and France, and, of course, Dunkirk. Wherever you stand on this point there can be no doubt that the battle for Norway marked the point of no return – any slim hopes of securing a peace settlement were effectively blown sky high. April 1940 is ALL about the battle for Norway, and I make no apologies for the fact that I am going to talk mostly about that as we work through our timeline for the month. I’m going to start by clarifying the status of the Scandinavian countries in the run-up to the battle – and by that I mean Denmark, Norway and Sweden, leaving Finland to one side for the moment - and by briefly taking you back to events that we have already covered as they set the scene, or perhaps lit the fuse, for what was to come. SCANDINAVIA 1939 At the outbreak of war all three of these Scandinavian countries were neutral, and it would have served German strategic interests for all of them to have remained neutral throughout the war. But this attitude changed in the Spring of 1940 largely as a result of actual or feared allied actions to either draw the Scandinavian countries into the war, or to gain control of Scandinavian territory. It was not in Germany’s interest to invade and occupy Sweden. Sweden’s value to Germany was her resources, not her geography. Norway and Denmark, on the other hand, and especially Norway, had a strategic military value which Sweden did not. Norway’s long coastline would be vital in the battle for control of the North Sea and easing the passage of German warships and submarines into the Atlantic. But most significantly, at the start of the war Germany imported millions of tons of iron ore from Sweden which was crucial to the German war effort. And most of this ore came from north Sweden via the port of Lulea. But this port was frozen over for the winter months whereas the Norwegian port of Narvik was not. So, control of Narvik was vital to the Germans. The Germans initially wanted to rely on Norway remaining neutral, and the Allies respecting this neutrality. But as we have already learned in previous months, Churchill in particular was not averse to riding somewhat roughshod over Norwegian sensibilities, and there had already been British incursions into Norwegian territorial waters. The Altmark incident in February 1940, authorised by Churchill - in which forces of the Royal Navy seized the German steamer, Altmark, in a Norwegian fjord and freed 299 prisoners of war – upset the Norwegians and infuriated Hitler, and a few days later he authorised Operation Weserubung, the invasion of Norway. Churchill had wanted a more resolute policy towards Norway since the early days of the war. He recognised the importance of Narvik to the Germans, and told the Cabinet led by Chamberlain that the transportation of iron ore had to be stopped. He proposed the mining of waters around Narvik but the Cabinet did not agree. Churchill persisted, and as we heard in March he eventually secured agreement to Operation Wilfred, the mining of the channel between Norway and her offshore islands. On the 2nd of April Hitler signed the order for Operation Weserubung – the invasion of Denmark and Norway. A day later the British Cabinet somewhat reluctantly approved Operation Wilfred, which included plans for Anglo-French landings in Norway to forestall a German invasion there which British intelligence believed was imminent. They advised of a German military build-up in northern German ports, suggesting that an invasion somewhere in Scandinavia was going to happen in the near future. Also on 2nd April the troops of the Netherlands were put on full alert along the German border. So everyone it seems was getting a bit twitchy. So, where was Sweden in all of this? Within the scheme of things there was no clear need for Germany to invade or occupy Sweden. There was no possible Allied access to Sweden as long as the Germans controlled Norway and Denmark. And if the Germans had invaded Sweden this would have attracted Allied bombing raids on mining sites, and naval action against Swedish ports – all too risky from a German perspective. Also, the Swedish armed forces were strong enough to mount a powerful defence, and this would have overstretched the Germans, especially the navy. So long as Sweden was willing to provide Germany with all the iron ore she required she would be left in peace. So, Sweden was able to maintain her stance of neutrality, Germany got the iron ore she needed and permission to transport troops through Sweden, and Sweden made some money. Not a bad deal. In fairness though, Sweden ultimately traded and gave benefits to both sides during the war. For example, she helped the Allies with information, took in Jews from occupied countries, as well as Norwegian resistance fighters and other escapees such as PoW’s. On 5th April the British began to implement Operation Wilfred by mining Norwegian waters. That same day the Norwegian Ambassador in Berlin warned both Oslo and Copenhagen of a possible German invasion, as did the British. Elsewhere, on or around the 5th of April the Katyn Massacre began. Over a period of about a month Sovi- et forces conducted a mass execution of Polish prisoners in various locations, but in particular the Katyn Forest near Smolensk in Russia. Estimates of the number of Polish citizens executed range from some 14,540 through 21,857 to 28,000. Most of those killed were Polish reserve officers taken prisoner during September 1939, but the dead also included many civilians who had been arrested for being "intelligence agents and gendarmes, spies and saboteurs, former landowners, factory owners, and officials”. Since Poland's conscription system required every un-exempted university graduate to become a reserve officer, the Soviets were thus able to round up much of the Polish, Jewish, Ukrainian, Georgian, and Belarusian intelligentsias of Polish citizenship. Following the invasion of Soviet territory by the Germans in 1941 questions were raised about the disappearance of the Polish prisoners, but it was June 1943 before the mass graves were discovered. Then the Soviets sought to blame the Germans for the deaths, suggesting they had killed the prisoners during their invasion. The Soviets continued to deny responsibility until 1990. On 7th April British reconnaissance aircraft spotted a large German naval force heading northwards. RAF bombers were despatched to attack the group but this attack was not successful. Sea conditions were stormy at the time, making it difficult for the British to track them. The following day Norway protested the British naval mining of its territorial waters. That same day the British destroyer, Glowworm, was sunk by the German cruiser, Admiral Hipper, in the Norwegian Sea. Despite being hopelessly outgunned, the Glowworm managed to ram the Admiral Hipper causing considerable damage. The Captain of the Glowworm, Gerard Broadmead Roope, earned the first Victoria Cross of the war for his conduct. The VC was awarded posthumously – Captain Roope, who was just 35 years old, died with the majority of his crew although the Captain of the Hipper went to considerable lengths to try and save as many as possible. And the VC was not bestowed until after the war when the Admiral Hippers’ log describing the battle was read by the Royal Navy. On 9th April the battle for Norway began. As dawn was breaking the German envoys in Oslo and Copenhagen presented the Norwegian and Danish governments with an ultimatum demanding that they immediately accept the protection of the Reich. Denmark capitulated to avoid mass bloodshed at the hands of the Germans and the country was invaded within six hours. The Norwegians were defiant, and both the King and the Norwegian government fled the capital that morning for the mountains in the north. The Norwegian navy and coastal defences also put up a fight, and had some success, but the losses on the Norwegian side were considerable. In the early morning nine Royal Navy ships and two Germany battleships, the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, engaged in what became known as the Action off Lofoten. Although they exchanged fire, more damage was done to ships on both sides by the stormy sea conditions. It was a slight tactical victory for the British but it failed to delay the invasion at Narvik. Elsewhere along the coast there were other engagements between British and Germany vessels resulting in losses on both sides. Scharnhorst Gneisenau The German forces quickly took control of the ports of Narvik, Trondheim, Bergen, Stavenger and Oslo. They were able to slip through the few mines the British had laid around the ports, and local garrisons were ordered by a Norwegian commander loyal to Norway’s pro-fascist former foreign minister, Vidkun Quisling, to allow the Germans to land troops unopposed – we’ll come back to Quisling in a minute. Plan R 4 was put into action. This had been developed by the British and French as a contingency plan alongside Operation Wilfred in the event of Germany violating the territorial integrity of Norway, but ultimately it was not carried out as designed. Now Vikund Quisling, was as I mentioned, the former foreign minister of Norway.