Operation WESER : the German invasion of NORWAY,1940
THE SITUATION :
The C-in-C (commander in chief) ADMIRAL Raeder believed that there was " a good chance of settling the British question conclusively by 1944 but in 1939, the German Navy had neither
sufficient surface ships nor the U-boats to challenge the British Naval supremacy. The German
Naval High Command initiated a new project that caught Hitler’s imagination. Searching for a
means of increasing the Navy’s power of attack against British trading routes, Reader hit upon
the idea of securing bases in Norway, and on 10th October ,1939 he made the suggestion to Hitler in one of the Feuhrer’s Naval conferences. Hitler buried the idea for the time being till it was revived in mid-December. The German War industry depended heavily on the iron ore from Sweden.
When the Russians invaded Finland in Dec 1939,the British govt’s policy was to help the Finns and for this they even considered a Naval landing at Norway. The most vulnerable link in the German War economy was the supply of ! iron ore.By occupying Norway, the western powers could not only interfere with this vital traffic, but also block the movement of German ships into the North sea and the Atlantic. With Norway lost, the war could very well be considered as lost For a long time,Raeder had been warning Hitler of the strategic importance of Norway. If Norway fell into German hands, they could very well secure the Swedish iron ore supplies. This would also solve the problems of securing bases for the German Navy ,now largely confined to the Baltic , for operating in the Atlantic. The bases along the Norwegian coast would provide an excellent bases from which the Navy could engage in Submarine warfare against the British .Securing Norway would serve the LUFTWAFFE (The German AirForce) as well by providing the airfeilds for tactical operations against Britain.
With all the above factors in view, Hitler decided to accede to Raeder’s demand and directed his
armed forces to prepare for an invasion of Norway.(code named operation WESER).
THE PLAN :
The Nazis had the help of Vidkum Quisling,the leader of the Party of national unity, ( and a
supporter of Hitler).Their idea was to plan a coup through Quisling While the Germans planned a military invasion, the British cabinet authorized the Royal Navy to mine the Norwegian waters.
Hitler assigned the task of planning the invasion to General Niklaus von Falkenhorst, who had
served in Norway in 1918.Quisling’s part now reduced to insignificance. Raeder cautioned Hitler
that attempting such an undertaking without the command of the sea was contrary to all principles of Naval warfare. Secrecy was absolutely necessary. The German troop activities along the Baltic coast passed unnoticed, and Hitler gave nothing away.
THE EXECUTION :
The tactics proved brilliantly successful. Oslo, Trondheim and Narvik were captured in a single
blow. Quisling’s coup was a miserable failure; the Norwegian king and the government escaped and six weeks of hard fighting lay ahead before the allied troops, now hurriedly landed, were driven out. The tactics of German General Dietel were instrumental in clearing Norway of the allied troops. Hitler promoted him to Field Marshal. None the less, the British were completely
outmaneuvered, outrun and outwitted by the Germans.
The British Navy inflicted a heavy blow on the German Navy, but lesser than Raeder had
anticipated and they were but a small price to pay for securing the Baltic and breaking out into
the Atlantic, with whole of the Norwegian coast at the disposal of the German Navy and the
AirForce.
NORWAY proved to be an exceptional success for the Germans. Hitler could now think of striking in the west and the Battle of FRANCE was soon to follow…..
