War years

I have been searching the internet for scandanavian involvement during the time WW2.
Their is little information available.
I am a British citizen and both my grandfathers served, and both very much in the thick of the fighting!
I must state implicitlly,!!! that I do not wish to cause any offence!
I will doubtless have some vicking blood in me.
But could someone tell me why none (TO MY KNOWLEDGE) of the scandananavian forces resisted hitler?
I have only found sketchey info on Denmarks surrender, and if this info is true (wikipiedia), it is dissapionting. My nation was bombed repeatedly.
Why would scandinavia not resist Hitler, bearing in mind the first nation to declare war upon Germany was, tiny Canada!

Norway was attacked April 9th 1940. The military forces was badly trained. The entire army consisted of conscripts. After more than two months of fighting, Norway had to surrender. The King and governemnt travelled to UK. They succeded in gathering the entire Norwegian Merchant fleet under their command. The Norwegian Merchant fleet was the third largest in the world. An American Admiral once stated that the Norwegian Merchant Fleet was more worth than a million trained soldiers. During the two first years of war, England would never been able to keep up the fitght without Norwegian ships bringing oil or other commodities to England. Norway trained pilots in Cannada. For several months the Norwegian squadrons was the most successfull in shooting down German planes. The Norwegians succeded in destroying the German plans for an atomic bomb.

...I'd say the sinking of the German heavy cruiser Blücher serves as solid proof that Norway would not go down quietly. Another thing I feel I must mention is Operation Dynamo which had British forces bottled up in Dunkerque and then evacuated back home to the UK after attempting to counter the German occupation of France. And in Norway too British and French forces were forced back to sea. All of this happened simultaneously in the May-June months of 1940 and I find it neccessary to point out that at this stage of the war not even British forces were able to halt the Germans. Keep in mind that while Operation Seelöwe never was executed, Weserübung was.

Some of the first casualties, excluding the airborne troops, during the landings in Normandy on D-Day were Norwegian and British. Check Wikipedia for the Norwegian destroyer HnoMS Svenner. During the battle of the North Cape, the sinking of the Scharnhorst in December 1943, a Norwegian destroyer was part of the Allied force. Check Wikipedia for the Norwegian destroyer HnoMS Stord. Reports of the breakout of the German battleship Bismarck through Norwegian waters in May 1941 were transmitted to the UK via Norwegian resistance agents. One of these, Edvard K. Barth, even snapped a photo of the German battleship while passing outside Kristiansand. Continuous intelligence on the Tirpitz while she lay at anchor in Kaafjord, Alta, was provided to the UK via the Norwegian resistance group Venus. The previous post mentioned Operation Gunnerside and the Norwegian Merchant Fleet. The presence of the German raider Deutschland in the North Atlantic in October 1939 was actually reported to the UK by a Norwegian tanker bound for Denmark.

If you type the search words Telavaag Tragedy at Wikipedia, you could read about the fatal consequences that could be suffered when Norwegians attempted to resist the Germans on occupied soil.

Hello!
Canada declared war Dec 10, 1939, and was not the first country to declare so.
About the German invasion of Norway, there is quite a lot of info in this site.

Welcome to the Forum anyway!

B

Here's some more facts from Denmark. A bit better than Wikipedia.
http://www.milhist.dk/start/uk_occupation.htm
http://www.chakoten.dk/cgi-bin/fm.cgi?n=591
http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/categories/c54647/

It was a politically and ideologically split country in my opinion and most of all
(with very good reason) afraid of the very big brother south of the border.

The resistance which was put up against the Germans was also divided and not
only due to Danish plans or choice. The Communist/Socialist resistance would not or could not
(In part due to SOE involvement) work with the "Military" Liberal/Conservative
resistance in the country. Supplies were not always fairly distributed.

Hope the mentioned links helps you broaden your opinion of the Danish during WWII.


waleed