Northern European Overture to War, 1939–1941 History of Warfare Editors Kelly DeVries Loyola University Maryland John France University of Wales, Swansea Michael S. Neiberg United States Army War College, Pennsylvania Frederick Schneid High Point University, North Carolina VOLUME 87 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/hw Northern European Overture to War, 1939–1941 From Memel to Barbarossa Edited by Michael H. Clemmesen Marcus S. Faulkner LEIDEN • BOSTON 2013 Cover illustration: David Low cartoon on the Nazi-Soviet alliance published in Picture Post, 21 Oct 1939. Courtesy of Solo Syndication and the British Cartoon Archive. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Northern European overture to war, 1939–1941 : from Memel to Barbarossa / edited by Michael H. Clemmesen, Marcus S. Faulkner. pages cm. -- (History of warfare, ISSN 1385–7827 ; volume 87) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-90-04-24908-0 (hardback : acid-free paper) -- ISBN 978-90-04-24909-7 (e-book) 1. World War, 1939–1945--Campaigns--Europe, Northern. 2. World War, 1939–1945--Campaigns--Scandinavia. 3. World War, 1939–1945--Naval operations. 4. Baltic Sea--History, Naval--20th century. 5. World War, 1939–1945--Diplomatic history. 6. Europe, Northern--Strategic aspects. 7. Scandinavia--Strategic aspects. 8. Baltic Sea Region--Strategic aspects. I. Clemmesen, Michael Hesselholt, 1944- II. Faulkner, Marcus. D756.3.N67 2013 940.54’21--dc23 2013002994 This publication has been typeset in the multilingual “Brill” typeface. With over 5,100 characters covering Latin, IPA, Greek, and Cyrillic, this typeface is especially suitable for use in the humanities. For more information, please see www.brill.com/brill-typeface. ISSN 1385-7827 ISBN 978 90 04 24908 0 (hardback) ISBN 978 90 04 24909 7 (e-book) Copyright 2013 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Global Oriental, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers and Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. This book is printed on acid-free paper. CONTENTS List of Illustrations ...................................................................................................ix List of Contributors ..................................................................................................xi Introduction ................................................................................................................1 Michael H. Clemmesen and Marcus S. Faulkner PART I THE GREAT POWERS AND THEIR APPROACHES TO THE REGION Containment and Cold War before the Nuclear Age: The Phoney War as Allied Strategy According to Liddell Hart ........................................................................................................9 Azar Gat Responding with Kindness or in Kind? On Conceptions of War and the Democracies’ Responses to Military Threats .............................. 23 Jeppe Plenge Trautner The Only British Advantage: Sea Power and Strategy, September 1939–June 1940 ................................................................................................. 45 Andrew Lambert The Soviet Policy towards the Baltic States in 1939–41 .............................. 75 Boris Vadimovich Sokolov Soviet Naval Perceptions of the Baltic Sea, 1938–41 .................................... 91 Gunnar Åselius The Long and Winding Road to Weserübung ................................................115 Michael Epkenhans Slipping into the War: German Naval Strategy between 1920 and 1940.............................................................................................................129 Jörg Hillmann <UN> vi contents PART II THE FOURTH PARTITION OF POLAND-LITHUANIA AND OTHER EFFECTS OF THE MOLOTOV-RIBBENTROP PACT The Lithuanian Reaction to the Loss of Klaipėda and the Combined Gift of Soviet “Security Assistance” and Vilnius .................167 Česlovas Laurinavičius Polish Perceptions of the Strategic Situation on the Eve of the Second World War ...............................................................................189 Sławomir Dębski Government and Public Reaction in Estonia to Soviet Pressure and the Events of September–December 1939 .......................................209 Magnus Ilmjärv Responses During the First Months of the Second World War: The Latvian Government, Army, Society and the Finnish Winter War ........................................................................................................229 Valters Ščerbinskis PART III SCANDINAVIA AND WESERÜBUNG Norway and the Withering League of Nations..............................................249 Karl Erik Haug A German Menace to Norway: The Evolution of Threat Perceptions and Strategy between the Wars ....................................................................271 Tom Kristiansen The Strategic Considerations and Actions of the Danish Commanding Admiral in the Years before the German Occupation in 1940 ........................................................................................295 Hans Christian Bjerg The Armoured Commerce Raider: The Concept that Guided German Naval Lobbying for Control of Norway ......................................307 Michael H. Clemmesen <UN> <UN> contents vii Unternehmen Weserübung April 1940: The German and Allied Strategy and Operational Approaches in Northern Europe 1939–40 .............................................................................................................331 Werner Rahn (in cooperation with Milan Vego) British Operational Responses to German Control of Denmark and Norway, April 1940–June 1941............................................................361 Marcus S. Faulkner The Two Norways, 1940–41 ...............................................................................383 Ole Kristian Grimnes PART IV THE FINAL MONTHS OF SOVIET GEOSTRATEGIC PREPARATIONS Soviet Military Preparations in Estonia during the Year before Barbarossa .........................................................................................................405 Toomas Hiio Swedish Responses to Soviet Moves East of the Baltic Sea: The Baltic States in Swedish Military Planning, 1939–41 ....................433 Lars Ericson Wolke PART V THE HISTORIOGRAPHY Weserübung in German and Norwegian Historiography ...........................449 Rolf Hobson Conspiracy, Guilt and Rationality: The Memory and History of the German Military Occupation of Denmark on 9 April 1940 .................................................................................................465 Palle Roslyng-Jensen Problems of Baltic Historiography, 1939–41 ................................................491 Alfred Erich Senn Index of Names......................................................................................................511 <UN> <UN> LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Trautner 2.1. Figure showing war concept dimensions ...............................................25 2.2. Figure showing six war concepts ............................................................. 26 2.3. A German staff note dated 26 February 1940 in which “der Nordspitze Jütlands” is impetuously changed to “Dä.” for “Dänemark” illustrating how inconsequential this change was for the German war planners ............................................ 40 Åselius 5.1. The Soviet Navy had to create a buffer by offensive operations. A planning sketch showing the routes of amphibious and air attack July 1940 ..............................................106 Epkenhans 6.1. Map showing the outline plan for Weserübung ................................116 Laurinavičius 8.1. Map of the south-eastern Baltic Sea area in 1939 ...........................168 Kristiansen 13.1. Map showing areas that were regarded by the armed forces as exposed to German infringements in conflicts involving Germany, Britain and the Soviet Union .............................................285 Rahn 16.1. Map showing the outline plan for taking Denmark to facilitate operations in Norway ........................................................343 16.2. Map showing the actual operations in and off Norway .................350 <UN> x list of illustrations Hiio 19.1. Map showing Soviet, Estonian and Finnish coastal artillery batteries in 1939-1940 ...........................................................408 19.2. Map showing locations of Estonian military units and border guard troops and the Soviet troops beginning with October 1939 and before 17 June 1940 ...................................414 19.3. Map showing final military occupation of Estonia by the Soviet Red Army ..........................................................................422 Roslyng-Jensen 22.1. Photo of Copenhagen harbour on 9 April 1940. One German army battalion arrived in Copenhagen and the Army Headquarters, “Kastellet”, were taken without resistance. Some Copenhageners biked to the harbour the same morning and gazed at the occupiers with curiosity or deep surprise ......................................................................467