The German Occupation of Norway
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AUTHOR NAVY DEPARTMENT TTEThe Gr Ocuato of Norway. DCLASSIFIED BY; 11tL- DECLASSIFY ON: N_ MAND AND GENERAL STAFF SCHOOL LIBRARY M 9405-E4-D.481 bo0................. .................... Number........... .9.9...... ........ 19 4 r } ~ r ilh COMMAND AND GENERAL STAFF SCHOOL Fort Leavenworth, Kansas LIBRARY REGULATIONS 1. Books, pamphlets, and periodicals must be charged at the loandesk (signature on book-loan card) before being taken from the Library. 2. Any item drawn from the Library must be returned within one month. Exceptions to this regulation are as follows: (1) Material issued to classes as a whole. (2) Material issued to instructors for pro- fessional use. (3) New books which are in demand must be returned within one week. (4) Books required for faculty use are subject to recall at any time. (5) All persons having library material in their possession will return same before leaving the post permanently. (6) Books loaned outside the S:chool must be returned within two weeks. 3. Reference books and current periodicals will not be removed from the Library. 425-C&GS S-11-15-39-5M UNiLASSIFlED t _ __ Vol. XVIII, No. 3 INFORMATION BULLETIN OFFICE OF THE CHIEF OF NAVAL OPERATIONS NAVAL INTELLIGENCE SEPTEMBER 1940 THE GERMAN OCCUPATION OF NORWAY SRESTRI !944 by auhorit E. S. JOHNSTON Colonel, Infantry CSaTODIAIT .SCLASSIFIEDBY: ; DECLASSIFY ON: o ,$o UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON . 1940 SEP 9'44 UICLASS FfED UtCLASSHHIE INFORMATION BULLETIN OFFICE OF THE CHIEF OF NAVAL OPERATIONS- NAVAL INTELLIGENCE 1. The INFORMATION BULLETIN, is published by the Chief of Naval Operations, Intelligence Division, for the purpose of disseminating information of general interest to the naval service. 2. The BULLETIN is a confidential publication which shall be han- dled and transported as required by article 76, United States Navy Regulations 1920, except as noted below: (a) It is not a registered publication, nor is it assigned a short title. (b) No accounting reports are required except the post-card receipt enclosed with the initial distribution. (c) It is assigned class C stowage. 3. Each command should make provision so that a wide circu- lation to its officers may be effected. 4. In each command copies of the BULLETIN, after circulation, shall be collected and burned, excepting such copies as a command may desire to retain for reference purposes. Individuals who receive copies of the BULLETIN shall burn them after they have been read or within reasonable time after receipt. Destruction reports are not required. 5. While some of the information is public property in the country of origin, it is at once apparent that the information, opinions, and statements contained herein are of such a confidential nature that they must be safeguarded. 6. Officers are requested to forward for publication in the BULLETIN reports on subjects of timely interest, and, in particular, material which is not for general publication. 7. Suggestions and .criticisms of the BULLETIN, particularly of a constructive nature, are requested from all officers. (III) s- fl r UNCLASSIFIED FOREWORD 1. This volume of the BULLETIN has been compiled from the nu- merous sources of information available to the Division of Naval Intelligence. As is customary, presumption and surmise have been avoided. 2. It is undoubtedly too early to draw definite conclusions from the Norwegian campaign but it is believed that the Naval Service should be furnished with as complete a record of the operations as could be compiled from the material now available. 3. Inasmuch as certain of the information used herein was obtained from confidential sources, it is directed that the entire contents be so considered. W. S. ANDERSON, Rear Admiral, U. S. Navy, Director of Namval Intelligence. U(V)CLASSIIED UNCLASSIFIED CONTENTS Introduction_____----------------------------------------------------- Ix Chapter I. German Operations During the 3 to 5 Years Preceding the Occupation of Norway on April 9, 1940------------------------------ 1 Chapter II. Events Immediately Before the Occupation----------------- 10 Chapter III. German Memorandum to Norway-German Proclamation to Norway--Early Morning Events ------------------------------------ 19 Chapter IV. Operations on April 9, 1940------------------------------ 31 Chapter V. German Plans of Occupation ------------ 59 Chapter VI. Transportation and Protection of Troop Convoys-Use of Parachute Troops -------------------------------------------------- 63 Chapter VII. Method of German Advances-Why Rapid Progress Was Made--- ---------------------------------------------------- Chapter VIII. German and Allied Operations in Norway --------------- 72 Chapter IX. German Pacification of Norway---------------------------102 Chapter X. The Armed Forces in Norway-----------------------------111 Chapter XI. Casualties in the Norwegian Campaign---------------------116 Chapter XII. Lessons from the Occupation of Norway ------------------ 121 Appendix I. Established Airplane Types and Air Units ----------------- 125 Appendix II. 1. Characteristics of German Armored Cars --------------- 129 2. Characteristics of German Tanks ---------------------- 130 Appendix III. Report from Capt. Edvard Veths------------------------ 137 Appendix IV. Capt. Menken's Notes----------------------------------- 140 (VII) INTRODUCTION Norway, on April 9, 1940, became the victim of the war between the Allies and Germany. Her neutrality, which had survived through World War I and 7 months of World War II, collapsed as the Germans overran the nation and pushed the economic war of blockade and counterblockade into an active military and naval phase. Norway had been free for many years from the menace of invasion. After wars with her northern neighbors in the Middle Ages, her only external troubles were dynastic squabbles which involved union with and separatioi from Sweden and Denmark. In 1905, Norway sepa- rated from Sweden through peaceful negotiations and, after a plebis- cite, Prince Charles of Denmark was elected King and ascended the throne as Haakon VII. He reigns as a constitutional nonarch. Norway preserved her neutrality throughout the 1914-18 war, al- though she lost, chiefly due to German mines and submarines, about 1,200,000 tons of her merchant marine and nearly 2,000 seamen. This huge merchant marine, which was quickly rebuilt after the war, has always been Norway's pride. It was the fourth largest in the world at the commencement of World War II, and consisted of 4,308 vessels of 4,756,000 gross tons. Up to May 1, 1940, Norway had lost 54 ships totaling 120,000 tons and 392 sailors. Norway's only "Lebensraum" is the sea, and until the German invasion it was profiting from the war trade and the national income was rising rapidly. The chief Norwegian exports to England have been wood pulp, iron, steel, and iron ore, fish, paper, and cardboard. For Germany, the all- important consideration has been iron ore and steel, from both Norway and Sweden, and exported through the Norwegian port of Narvik. Germany has also taken fish, furs, hides, and cod-liver oil. Shipment of Swedish iron ore from Narvik was te issue on which Norwegian neutrality finally floundered. This port annually shipped nearly 8,000,000 tons of ore to Geriany and other countries, nost of it going to Germany. Germany also uses the Swedish port of Lulea in the Gulf of Bothnia but, as this port is blocked by ice for 4 months in the year, doubts have been expressed that alone it could handle a sufficient volume to meet Germany's war time needs. Iron ore and its transportation, which was the source of one of Norway's largest peacetime profits, became, in the end, the main reason for her occupation. A land of fjords, with a 12,000-mile coast line, and surrounded on three sides by the sea, Norway is the most sparsely populated country in Europe, with an area of 124,556 square miles and a population, of 2,907,000. Culturally, idealogically, and economically, her destiny is bound to the rest of Scandinavia. Descendants of the earliest Teutons and Vikings, the nen and women of Scandinavia have a, common heritage and for centuries have worked together. (IX) Three-fourths of Norway is unproductive. It is a barren, moun- tainous land, with an average elevation of 500 meters. There are more women than men in Norway because of the emigration of males and the high mortality in the dangerous business of seafaring. Norway's principal city is Oslo, with a population of 250,000, plus an additional 150,000 in the suburbs. Thirty percent of the population of Norway is dependent on agriculture, 28 percent on industry, 10 percent on transportation, 7 percent on whaling, and the rest on public adminis- tration and the professions. There are more than 250,000 farms in Norway, and about 90 percent of them are owned by the men and women who work them. One of the chief sources of wealth is the vast forests covering 29,455 square miles of Norway, 70 percent of which is, under pine trees. Norway's most important mineral products are pyrites and iron ore (1,048,300 tons and 1,075,588 tons, respectively, in 1937). Her fisheries were valued at 81,307,000 kroner ($20,000,000) in 1936 when 1,120,210 metric tons of fish were caught, mostly herring and cod. In 1937, 1,192,000 barrels of whale oil were produced. Legislative power in Norway is vested in the Storting, or Parlia- ment, which, meets once a year. The 150 members, elected every three years by direct vote, sit sometimes in two sections, but the country actually has a single chamber government, with few checks and bal- ances. The King may veto a bill twice, but it becomes a law if passed a third time. Prime Minister John Nygaardsvold has been in office since 1935. He is a former common laborer who was once a lumberjack in Can- ada. Of all the Scandinavian nations, Norway has probably veered furthest toward the Left, in her government, although the Labor Party, at present in power, has abandoned much of its radicalism in the last few years.