46 GERMANY TRIUMPHANT 1939–1941
Luftwaffe air attacksBritish positionsBritish and French troop landingsSOUTHERN NORWAY FALLS TO GERMANY
APRIL 9–MAY 3, 1940British and French troops landed at Åndalsnes, Molde, and Namsos and linked up with Norwegians to launch a counterattack at Trondheim. However, the Allies found themselves attacked by the Luftwaffe; without adequate air defenses, Allied troops evacuated from Åndalsnes (April 30–May 1) and Namsos (May 2–3). By early May, German forces had pushed inland from Oslo, Bergen, and Trondheim and secured southern Norway.4
TWO NAVAL BATTLES AT NARVIK
APRIL 10–13, 1940 A day after the German landings, five destroyers of the Royal Navy’s 2nd Destroyer Flotilla entered Ofotfjord (the inlet on which Narvik lies), sank two German destroyers, and damaged five more. Two British ships were lost. The British battleship HMSWarspiteand thecarrier HMSFuriouslater arrived with nine destroyers,seeking any remaining German ships. On April 13, eight German destroyers and a U-boat were sunk or scuttled. Narvik harbor was then blockaded.3
German ships sunk at Narvik on April 10German ships sunk at Narvik on April 13 Feb16–17Sailors from the British HMSCossackboard theGerman shipAltmarkin Jøssingfjord.Apr 10An attack by 16 BlackburnSkua dive-bombers from the BritishFleet Air Arm sinks the German light cruiserKönigsbergat Bergen.Apr 8The British destroyerGlowwormunexpectedly encountersGerman ships. Hit by gunfire fromthe heavy cruiserAdmiral Hipper,Glowwormrams and damagesAdmiral Hipperbefore sinking.Jun 8The British carrierHMSGloriousis interceptedand sunk byScharnhorst
andGneisenau.May 27–31German air attacks devastate central Bodø, where a British force was landed a month earlier. The British evacuate on May 31.Jun 7King Haakon VII of Norway leaves
Tromsø aboard British heavy cruiserHMSDevonshirealong with leadingofficials to form a government-in-exilein England.
Apr 9TheGerman heavy cruiserBlücherissunk by gunfire in Oslofjord.△German losses at sea
The crew of one of the German destroyers sunk at the Battle of Narvik pose for a photograph alongside the saved insignia of their ship.German paratroop dropsRAPID STRIKES ON NORWAY APRIL 9, 1940Reports of warship movements from German ports had reached Allied commanders, and Royal Navy units arrived in the Norwegian Sea on April 7. Norway was unprepared for the scale of the invasion as six German attack groups (designated 1–6) assaulted Norway’s coastal cities from Narvik in the north to Oslo in the south, landing thousands of troops. Paratroopers also secured the airports at Stavanger and Oslo. By noon on April 9, German forces controlled Narvik, Trondheim, Bergen, Stavanger, Egersund, and Kristiansand.2
German advanceDENMARK FALLS APRIL 9, 1940German vessels and troops tasked with the capture
of Denmark were organized into five attack groups (designated 7–11). At about 4:15am, a German shipentered Copenhagen harbor; units of German paratroopers (Fallschirmjäger) made airborne drops tosecure landing areas, including Aalborg airport. Hours after the German transport ships had disgorged their troops, the Danish government ordered a cease-fire. By the end of the day, Germany controlled Denmark.1
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