Vezeryubung vs. Wilfred
There were other considerations. Hitler still considered the warriors to have significantly changed from the time of the Viking era, as Hitler he considered potential great warriors and was afraid of big losses in battles with local berserkers (which he still found, but in 1941 in another country). In addition, the terrain in Norway was extremely convenient for defense. Therefore, Hitler was afraid to meet serious resistance and “get bogged down”, which in the conditions of a “strange” but still war with Great Britain and France was completely inappropriate. However, there was one factor that caused serious concern both in the General Staff and in the German Ministry of Economy. This factor is a constant fear of losing supplies of high-quality iron ore from Swedish mines in Gallivar (Ellewar). The Swedes on trade with Germany earned very well in the First and Second World Wars. Moreover, they sold the Reich not only iron ore (to which 1939 million tons were supplied in 1945-58), but also cellulose, wood, bearings, machine tools and even anti-aircraft guns from Switzerland and chocolate. So on their part there was no threat of termination of supplies. But there was a danger of seizing these mines strategically important for Germany by the countries of the warring bloc. To do this, it was necessary to violate the sovereignty of neutral Sweden, but, as we will soon see, neither Britain nor France was in any way embarrassed. One could go the other way, making Swedish supplies impossible: to seize Narvik, violating the sovereignty of neutral Norway. Given the UK’s powerful fleetThe second way seemed simpler and preferable.
The fears of the German industrialists and generals were by no means groundless. Such plans in the UK really developed - since the times of World War I. In 1918, they were not implemented only because they were opposed by the commander-in-chief of the navy, Lord Beatty, who said:
Not surprisingly, in the 1939 year, the French and the British immediately remembered the "Achilles heel" of the German military industry, and returned to the discussion of the possibility of occupying part of Norwegian territory. Only the Ministry of Foreign Affairs spoke against it. Stung Churchill recalled:
However, the British government did everything to discredit the Norwegian neutrality in the eyes of Germany. So, 5 September 1939 was published an extensive list of goods that are now qualified as military smuggling. British warships received the right to inspect the merchant ships of other countries. If Norway agreed to recognize these demands, it would lose some of its sovereignty, it would be possible to forget about neutral status, and foreign trade would actually be lost. Therefore, the government refused to comply with the pressure from this side, but was forced to agree with Britain chartering most of its merchant fleet - the British could now use Norwegian vessels with a total gross tonnage 2 450 000 (of which 1 650 000 was for tankers). Germany, of course, did not like it very much.
The beginning of military preparations
19 September 1939 of the year W. Churchill insisted on taking a decision on the development of a minefield project in the Norwegian territorial waters and "blocking the transport of Swedish iron ore from Narvik". This time even the foreign minister, Lord Halifax, voted in favor.
In Germany, according to the captured documents, the first mention of Norway dates back to the beginning of October 1939. Naval Commander-in-Chief Admiral Erich Raeder tells Hitler about his fears that the Norwegians might open their ports to the British. He also notes that for the actions of German submarines it would be advantageous to get bases on the coast of Norway, for example in Trondheim. Hitler rejects this proposal.
Immediately I draw attention: the matter is not in the peace-loving or the sentimentality of Hitler - he is still realistically assessing the state of affairs, and restraining the “appetites” of his military and industrialists. It is in this direction that he does not need war now. He would have agreed with Great Britain (which he always speaks of with respect, and even with admiration) - not as a junior partner, but as equals. However, the trouble is, do not take it seriously yet proud British, do not consider it as an equal. And the French still do not understand, and are trying to be arrogant. But the British and French have not yet refused to use Germany and Hitler for their own purposes, so they do not want to fight in the main theater of hostilities: building plans to seize strategically important mines, they hope to make Hitler more compliant by directing his aggression in the right direction. Then the ore can be allowed to Sweden to sell it - in controlled amounts, keeping Germany on a short leash.
In the meantime, the Soviet-Finnish war began, which in Great Britain decided to use as a reason "legally" (under the guise of sending expeditionary forces to Finland) to take control of the strategically important part of the territory of Norway. In a note from 16 in December, Churchill frankly admitted that this could push Hitler to occupy all of Scandinavia - because "if you shoot at the enemy, he will fire back."
In Norway, many were not thrilled with such prospects, including Vidkun Quisling, the former Minister of Defense of this country, and now the leader of the National Unity party.
It is curious that, despite his nationalist convictions, Quisling had close ties with Russia: he was the Norwegian military attache in Soviet Petrograd, collaborated with the Nansen committee in assisting the starving, and participated in the League of Nations humanitarian mission in Kharkov in 1921. And even twice married Russian women.
During a meeting in Berlin with Admiral E. Raeder, Quisling tried to convince him that in the near future Britain would occupy his country. Therefore, he proposed to Germany to hurry, considering the German occupation as a lesser evil. These arguments and the general situation seemed so serious to Raeder that he arranged for Quisling two meetings with Hitler (16 and 18 took place in November). In conversations with the Führer, Quisling, who had supporters in the military leadership of Norway, asked for help in the implementation of the coup d'état, promising to give Narvik to Germany in exchange. He failed to convince Hitler, the Fuhrer declared that he "does not want to expand the theater of military operations", and therefore "would prefer to see Norway (like other Scandinavian countries) neutral."
This position of Hitler remained unchanged for quite some time. More 13 January 1940 was recorded in the combat log of the headquarters of the German Navy that "the most favorable solution would be to preserve the neutrality of Norway." At the same time, it is noted with alarm that "England intends to occupy Norway with the tacit consent of the Norwegian government."
And in Britain, Churchill, really, as they say, went right through. In Oslo, the phrase he said during one of the receptions caused a lot of concern:
Ordinary British imperial cynicism, which Churchill himself did not hide in his memoirs and which he never hesitated.
Not too far behind the French allies of the British. For example, the commander-in-chief of the French army, General Gamelin 15, on January 1940 sent to Prime Minister Daladier a plan to open the front in Scandinavia, which included landing in Petsamo (northern Finland), “seizing ports and airfields on the west coast of Norway”, the occupation of the mines in Gallivare. " Actually, in France, they stubbornly did not want to fight in France, but, as we see, they very much wanted to make war with the neutral Scandinavian countries. Moreover, 19 in January 1940, Daladier ordered General Gamelin and Admiral Darlan to prepare a plan of attack on the Baku oil fields - well, the French really wanted to make war with anyone other than Germany. The British thought more widely: March 8 1940 prepared a report according to which, besides Baku, Batumi, Tuapse, Grozny, Arkhangelsk and Murmansk were considered as promising targets for a possible attack against the USSR.
But back in Germany, the British and French agents who did not receive any money, and in the General Staff were not fools. The Anglo-French plans for Norway could not be kept secret, and 27 in January 1940. Hitler ordered the development of a plan of military operations in Norway in the event of its occupation by Great Britain and France. And in Paris on the same day, the Allies (Great Britain was represented by Chamberlain and Churchill) agreed to send British and French "volunteers" in the 3-4 division to Finland. But then the allies disagreed on the point of landing of these troops. Daladier insisted on Petsamo, while Chamberlain suggested not to take the small things and immediately seize Narvik, as well as "to gain control over the iron ore deposits in Gällivare" - so that 2 would not go.
Fatal Incident with Altmark Transport Ship
14 February 1940 an event occurred that served as a catalyst for further military preparations on both sides. The German transport ship "Altmark", on which the Englishman's 292 was stationed from British ships, sunk by the Admiral Spee's pocket battleship, called at the Norwegian port of Trondheim, intending to continue to follow the skerry fairway to Germany. February 17 British squadron (the cruiser "Arethusa" and five destroyers) discovered the "Altmark" in the Norwegian territorial waters and tried to take the ship to board the ship. The captain of the German ship ordered to send it to the rocks, the crew - to land on the shore. Pursued by the Altmark, the British destroyer Kossak opened fire, which killed 4 and injured 5 of German sailors. The captains of the two Norwegian gunboats, who were nearby, did not like the British arbitrariness. The Norwegians did not enter the battle, but at their request the English destroyer was forced to withdraw. The Norwegian government sent Britain a formal protest against the actions of its warships, which was arrogantly rejected by London. From these events, Hitler concluded that Britain does not take seriously the neutral status of Norway, and Norway in the case of the landing of the British will not defend their sovereignty. On February 20, he instructed General von Falkenhorst to begin forming an army for possible actions in Norway, telling him:
The plan of military operations in Norway was called "Vezeryubung" - "Teaching on the Weser".
The French, too, were eager to fight. February 21 President Daladier suggested using the Altmark incident as a pretext for the "immediate capture" of the Norwegian ports by an "unexpected hit."
Now Norway was actually doomed, and only a miracle could save it from invasion. The question was only about which of the opposing sides would have time to complete the preparations for the occupation of the first.
Preparing for the invasion: who is first?
4 March 1940. Hitler issues a directive on the completion of preparations for the invasion.
8 March of the same year, Churchill at a meeting of the military cabinet of Great Britain presents a plan for the immediate landing of Narvik’s British airborne forces with a view to “show strength in order to avoid the need for its use” (a remarkable formulation, isn't it?).
12 March The British government decides "to return to the landing plans in Trondheim, Stavanger, Bergen, and also in Narvik." Four squadrons of British cruisers, four fleets of destroyer squadrons, the number of expeditionary corps reached 14 thousand people were to go on a military campaign. Moreover, the detachment landed in Narvik, was to immediately move to the iron ore deposits in Gallivare. The date of commencement of this operation was scheduled for March 20. All these aggressive actions against Norway and Sweden were justified by the help of those who were defeated in the war with the USSR Finland. March 13 English submarines advanced to the south coast of Norway. And on the same day Finland capitulated! The “most beautiful” reason for the Anglo-French occupation of Scandinavia was lost, and it must be assumed that the British and French general headquarters expressed that day exclusively with foul language. Churchill, to calm his nerves, probably had to drink a double portion of brandy. In France, the Daladier government was forced to resign. The new head of this country, Jean-Paul Raynaud, was determined to bring the matter to the end and still occupy Norway. William Churchill became his ally in the implementation of these plans. 28 March The 1940 meeting in London hosted a meeting of the Allied Supreme Military Council, at which Chamberlain agreed with the requirements of Raynaud and Churchill, and from himself suggested mining the Rhine and other German rivers from the air. Here, Raynaud and his military advisers somewhat strained: it’s one thing to fight in distant and neutral Norway, and another to get an answer from the pissed “Teutons” on their front, where the military of both sides congratulated each other on religious holidays and played football in the neutral zone. Therefore, it was decided not to touch the German rivers. The invasion plan for Norway, codenamed Wilfred, proposed to mine Norwegian territorial waters (April 5) and landings to Narvik, Trondheim, Bergen and Stavanger (April 8).
War in norway
31 March 1940 The British cruiser Birmingham, the destroyers Firless and Hostail set sail for the Norwegian shores in order to intercept all German ships (even fishing trawlers) and to cover the British ships setting mines. But those came only April 8. While waiting for them, the British seized three German trawlers.
At this time, the Wilfred plan was somewhat corrected and divided into two: R-4 — Narvik’s seizure was set for April 10, and Stretford — the seizure of Stavanger, Bergen and Trondheim 6 – 9 April.
1 April, Hitler was informed that the Norwegian anti-aircraft and coastal batteries were given permission to open fire without waiting for an order from the high command. This order was directed against Britain and France, but Hitler, fearing to lose the element of surprise, makes the final decision, setting the invasion of Norway and Denmark on April 5. However, as is usually the case, it was not possible to prepare for the deadline.
On April 5, 1940, England and France handed over notes to Norway and Sweden stating that the Soviet Union was planning to attack Finland again and create bases on its Norwegian coast for its navy. Also, "on a blue eye" was reported on the planned actions of the Allies in Norwegian territorial waters with the aim of "protecting Scandinavian freedom and democracy from the threat from Germany." It should be said right away that they did not know anything about Hitler’s plans, and they did not even consider the possibility of real German aggression against Norway. As a result, the military clash with Germany came as a big surprise to them. Even detection aviation the German fleet, moving towards Norway (April 7, 13) was disregarded. Churchill will write in his memoirs:
But let's not get ahead.
6 on April 1940 in London approved directives to the command of the expedition teams in Norway and Northern Sweden.
Meanwhile, even the Swedes suffering from the hardest Russophobia began to realize that the Western World of "freedom and democracy" is much more dangerous for their country than the "totalitarian" USSR. On April 7, the official Stockholm rejected the Anglo-French demarche, saying that Sweden would resist violation of its neutrality. But in London and Paris, the opinion of the Swedish government no longer interested anyone.
7 – 8 April, the British fleet begins to advance to the shores of Norway.
On April 8, twelve British destroyers under the cover of the cruiser Rigown begin mining the territorial waters of Norway from Narvik. The Norwegian government protests, but does not dare to order its fleet to resist these illegal actions.
On the night of April 9, a mobilization order was issued in Norway - this country is going to fight with Britain and France.
April 9 reports appear in British newspapers that on the eve of the ships of the naval forces of England and France entered the Norwegian waters and set up minefields there, "to block the way to these waters to the ships of the countries trading with Germany." Ordinary Englishmen are delighted and fully support the actions of their government.
Meanwhile, in Germany, the implementation of the Weserubing plan has begun. 9 April 1940 The first German assault troops seize the main ports in Norway, including Oslo and Narvik. German commanders declare to local authorities that Germany is taking Norway under protection from the invasion of the French and British - which, in general, was completely true. A member of the military office, Lord Hankey, admitted later:
Another thing is that Norway did not appeal to Germany for protection.
The German invasion forces were significantly smaller than the Anglo-French: 2 battleships, pocket battleship, 7 cruisers, 14 destroyers, 28 submarines, auxiliary vessels, infantry formations of about 10 thousands of people. And this is the whole coast of Norway! As a result, the maximum number of paratroopers attacking in one direction was no more than 2 thousand people.
The Norwegian campaign of the German army is interesting because during it, for the first time in the world, parachute units were used that captured the airfields in Oslo and Stavanger. The landing of the parachute assault in Oslo was an improvisation, since the main forces of the invasion were delayed due to the torpedo strike from Fort Oskarborg on the Blucher cruiser (which eventually sank).
It was necessary to spend some time on airstrikes on Oskarborg (after which the fortress capitulated), and to send skydivers to Oslo. Five companies of German paratroopers landed on the airfield, got into the confiscated buses and trucks, and calmly, like tourists, rode onto them to seize the capital, which they surrendered to them - without a fight. But the parachutists decided to do everything “beautifully” - to walk along the streets of the city with a parade. If it were not for this German love for parades, they could have arrested the king, the government and the country's top military leaders, who miraculously managed to escape.
The cities of Bergen, Stavanger, Trondheim, Egersund, Arendal, Kristiansand surrendered without resistance. On the approaches to Narvik, two ships of the Norwegian coastal defense tried to engage the German destroyers, and were sunk. Narvik himself surrendered without resistance.
9 April 1940. Quisling delivered a radio address announcing the creation of a new government, demanding the immediate cessation of mobilization and peace with Germany.
The news of the German invasion of Norway plunged the British military command into a state of shock. All further actions of the British - it is in its pure form a hysterical fit of a child who rolls on the floor in protest against the actions of his mother, who did not give him the shown candy. The cruisers of Narvik hastily landed four amphibious battalions, forgetting to unload the weapons attached to them, and went into the sea (weapon these parts were delivered only 5 days). Escort ships that were supposed to lead ships with troops to Trondheim were recalled to Scapa Flow - precious time is running out, the Germans take up positions and organize defense. The British, instead of opposing the German invasion forces on land, are trying to defeat Germany at sea. Already after the landing of the German landing force, the British destroyers attacked the Germans at Narvik, but did not succeed. Only 13 of April, after the arrival of the new squad led by the battleship Worspite, the German ships were able to sink - as a result, the crews of these ships joined the German ground forces, significantly strengthening them.
The weakest positions of the Germans were in central Norway. The only German units in Trondheim were few, the English fleet blocked the bay, two narrow passages in the mountains separated this part of the country from Oslo, where help could come from. The British landed landings north and south of Trondheim, but the extremely effective and practically unpunished actions of German aviation demoralized the British. British paratroopers first went on the defensive, and then were evacuated - 1 and 2 in May 1940.
For the strategically important port of Narvik, the British decided to fight. By 14, the number of their troops near this city reached 20 000 people. They were opposed by the 2 000 of the Austrian Alpine Riflemen and about the same number of sailors from the drowned German destroyers. Against the overwhelming forces of the British, Austrian soldiers fought like lions, and in this connection I recall the anecdote popular in post-war Germany - two great achievements of the Austrians who managed to convince the whole world that Mozart was Austrian, and Hitler was German. The battles of Narvik went to 27 in May of 1940, when the new British Prime Minister William Churchill decided to evacuate these units, which are now necessary for the defense of the coast of England itself. 7 June, the last British soldiers left Norway. If it were not for Quisling, who created his own government, King of Norway Hakon VII might have agreed to an agreement with the Germans, like his Danish "colleague" - Christian X. Now, being deprived of power and opportunity, he has to offer at least something to Hitler was humbly going to bow to London.
The remnants of the Norwegian army capitulated on June 12.
Danish Blitzkrieg
With the seizure of Denmark, Germany had no problems. An hour after the start of the war, the king of Denmark and the government of the country informed Hitler about the surrender, the rigsdag approved this decision the same day. On April 12, the commander-in-chief of the armed forces of Denmark, on the radio, thanked his subordinates - "for inaction on the German troops entering the country"! A Danish king Christian X congratulated the commander of the German army with "brilliantly done work." The Germans did not deprive him of the throne. During the war, this pitiful king regularly supervised the country's enterprises in the task of supplying Germany with food and industrial goods.
Nazi "Source of life" in Norway and the USSR
Let us return to Norway captured by Germany. This country did not suffer any special "horrors of occupation". But the very notorious program "Lebensbern" ("Source of Life") began to act on the "production of racially full-fledged children", which it was supposed to be transferred to German families for upbringing. In Norway, 10 points of this “Aryan factory” were opened (in which “racially valuable” unmarried women could give birth and leave a child), while in another Scandinavian country - Denmark, only 2, in France and the Netherlands - one by one. In a speech from 4 in October 1943, Mr. Himmler stated:
And this was probably the main crime of the Nazi regime in Germany, because it was not industrial goods, not food and art that were stolen from the conquered peoples, but the future. Moreover, it was the Nazis who had to kidnap children, mainly in Eastern and Southern Europe. According to the testimony of the head of Lebensborn - Standarfenführer M. Zollman, given by him at the Nuremberg Tribunal, many children suitable for the program were found in the occupied regions of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Of course, there were no open Lebensborn points on the temporarily seized territory of the USSR - blond and blue-eyed children aged from several months to three years were simply taken from their parents and sent to Germany. After four months of treatment in special boarding schools, those who did not remember (or forgotten) who they were, the children ended up in German families, in which they believed that they were raising German orphans. 28 April 1945, the archives of Lebensborn were burned, so the exact number of Soviet children abducted by the Nazis is unknown. Given that 1944 children from the Vitebsk region were taken out only in April 2500 in Germany, their total number can be about 50 000 people. In Norway, everything was different, the program was supervised by Heinrich Himmler, relations between German men and Norwegian women were encouraged, and no violence was applied to them. The current Norwegians can tell as much as they like how desperately they “resisted” the German occupation, bravely attaching the notorious clips to the lapels of their jackets. This does not negate the fact that even at the end of the war, in the 1945 year, every seventh marriage in Norway was registered between Norwegian and German. But the marriages of Norwegians with Germans are only 22 registered - because in the German army there were a lot of men and few women. It ended very sad.
Norway after the war: shameful revenge on women and children
Immediately after the end of World War II, the “stern Norwegian men,” who, under the Germans, were polite and obedient share-boys, decided to recoup women and children. The Provisional Government suddenly recalled Norway’s “humiliation” and adopted an amendment, according to which marriage with the Germans was declared a “highly unworthy act”, meaning “breaking civil ties with Norway”. Parliament approved the amendment. As a result, 14 thousands of women who had children from German soldiers and officers were arrested (they were officially called "tyskertøs" - German girls), many of them were deported to Germany, 5 thousands were sent to specially created filtration camps for a year and a half. All "tyskertøs" were deprived of Norwegian citizenship (only some of them were returned to 1950).
- the Norwegian newspapers quietly wrote about this, calling at the same time to inform the “neighbors” in order to wash away the “racial shame” from the nation. With children from the Germans, who were called "tyskerunge" or "German bastards" (not yet born - "Nazi caviar"), also did not stand on ceremony. These children were officially declared "persons of limited ability and asocial psychopaths".
Eugenic laws are now remembered only when speaking of Nazi Germany. Meanwhile, in Norway, the same were taken in 1934 - simultaneously with the same Germany and Sweden. Of course, later than in the US (1895 - Connecticut, 1917 - already 20 states), in Switzerland (1928) or in Denmark (1929). But earlier than in Finland and Danzig (1935), and in Estonia (1936). So talk of the danger of the "Nazi genes" of the children of German soldiers and the threat that these children bear to the sovereign Norwegian democracy did not arouse anyone’s surprise. Around 12, thousands of “German bastards” taken from their mothers were sent to shelters for the mentally retarded or to psychiatric hospitals.
Preserved memories of some of them. So, for example, Paul Hansen said: "I told them: I am not crazy, let me out of here. But no one listened to me."
From the mental hospital, he was discharged only in 22 year.
Harriet von Nickel recalled:
There are numerous reports of extremely abusive treatment of these children in "medical facilities". Beatings were common, but rape was also practiced, not only for girls, but also for boys. Thor Branaher, another victim of the Norwegian “democracy,” reports:
Norwegian lawyer Randy Spidewold, who later represented these children in court, argued that some of them were tested for drugs and chemicals, in particular, LSD and Meskalin. These "studies" were attended by Norwegian military doctors, representatives of the CIA, and even doctors of the University of Oslo.
One of the "tyskerunge" was Anni-Fried, born 15 in November 1945, at the age of eighteen, Sunni Lyngstad from the German soldier Alfred Haase. The girl was lucky: rescuing her daughter from the distraught post-war Norwegian democracy, Sunni managed to send her and her mother to the Swedish city of Torschell. At present, Anni-Fried Lyngstad is known to the world as the “dark ABBA group.” In 1977, Bravo magazine didn’t know why it made her happy by finding her father — in fact, an absolutely alien person — the forced communication was painful for both of them ( which, in general, was to be expected).
"Tyskerunge", remaining in a free and democratic Norway, could only dream of Anni-Frid’s fate. They were able to get out of mental hospitals and boarding schools only in the 60 of the twentieth century, while remaining virtually all despised outcasts. Until the middle of 1980. The problem of "German children" was a topic in Norway that was not open to discussion. Liberalization of Norwegian society was leaps and bounds, "success" was evident, but they concerned anyone, but not children from Norwegian marriages and Germans. In 1993, the Islamic Council was created in the country, the purpose of which was "activities aimed at allowing Muslims to live in Norwegian society in accordance with Islamic teachings." In 1994, the first mosque was opened. But even in 1998, the Norwegian parliament refused to create a special commission to study the issue of discrimination "tyskerunge". Only in 2000, the Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg decided to apologize for the “excesses” of the past years. This was done, as it were, by the way, during the traditional New Year's address to the citizens of the country.
It was only in 2005 that the surviving victims of these repressions managed to get the Ministry of Justice to pay 200 thousands of crowns (about 23,6 thousands of euros) compensation - but only to those who can provide documents "about particularly serious harassment."
159 of the former "tyskerunge" considered this amount insufficient and appealed to the Strasbourg Court of Human Rights, which in 2007 decided to refuse to consider their cases, arguing this decision by the expiration of the statute of limitations.
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