Falkenhorst, made plans on maps from a stationary store

Falkenhorst.

Fought in Finland 1918-19

In 1939 he commanded the Twenty First Army Corps during the Invasion of Poland, and was promoted to General of Infantry.

Falkenhorst was charged with the military planning of Operation Weserübung in 1940. Operation Weserübung was the codename for Nazi Germany 's assault on Denmark and Norway during World War II and the opening operation This invasion of Norway was top-secret, and Falkenhorst was not even given military access to German military charts or maps in formulating the invasion plan. he planned the operation in a hotel room from maps and charts purchased at a stationary store in Berlin.

http://www.citizendia.org/Nikolaus_von_Falkenhorst



What's interesting is both the British Admiralty & German Army considered it undoable.

When the Chief of Staff, Naval Staff, broached the question to the Chief of Staff, Army, he was told that difficult terrain, poor communications, and long supply lines placed almost insurmountable obstacles in the way of a military operation to secure the bases and that, if it was attempted, the entire war industry would have to be devoted to Army requirements. This would bring the submarine program to a halt, thereby making it impossible to exploit the bases. [6] The Army, having just
had what it considered to be a narrow escape in Poland, was trying to talk Hitler out of opening an offensive against the Allies in France, and it was in no mood to contemplate additional adventures in Scandinavia. This timorousness, as Hitler saw it, caused him to lose confidence in the Army leadership and later to exclude the Army High Command almost entirely from the planning for the operation in Norway.
http://www.history.army.mil/books/70-7_02.htm








As late as March 1940, British chiefs-of-staff believed that a German invasion of Norway via the sea would not work.
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/invasion_of_norway_1940.htm

The British even jugded the route from Northern Trøndelag til Mosjøen as unpassable at winter. No need for troops to guard the area between N.Trøndelag and Narvik.

British navy wasn't all that effective in ship interdiction circa 1940, Hood didn't get Radar til 1941. Coastal Command even worse.



From the purely statistical angle, anti-shipping operations during 1942 thus showed disappointing results. Over the whole year 42 ships (61,028 tons) were assessed as sunk by the three home Commands. All these sinkings--and three more--have since been confirmed. The total cost was 251 aircraft. These figures are unimpressive,

http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/UN/UK/UK-RAF-II/UK-RAF-II-6.html






British ASV radar was too big for Skuas & Fairy Battles. Could only fit in 4 engined Catalinas or Sunderlands. By the end of 1940 Coastal command had sunk 0 U-boats.

http://www.exreps.com/Trojan/Developmen ... c%2006.pdf

As an asides, there are those, ( writers & chatroom armchair warriors), that take the view that Norway was not worth it for the Germans & tied down too many troops needed elsewhere. I can't concur with that view. They point out the Destroyers Germany lost & such yet quickly forget the British lost about the same number of warships for no gain. Germany's destroyer force was rebuilt/replaced in 41.

But the bigger gain was not just the flow of Swedish Ore, but also 20% of said Ore came from Norway. Aluminum also. Fish oil used to make explosives, (among other uses), another gain. 1/2 billion barrels of fuel yet another gain. Add to that easier access to the Atlantic, & air bases & U-boat bases to harrass England with & I read somewhere that 10.000 horses were taken from Norway & sent to the east front. Taken collectively, Norway was a huge gain.

We haven't even covered lumber, captured ships, heavy water & safe haven for larger Germans ships & the bases to hit convoys to Russia. And Molybdenum.



Molybdenum
A hard, silvery-white metallic element used to toughen alloy steels and soften tungsten alloy. http://www.answers.com/topic/molybdenum








Crews returning from the long run to Norway said they bombed in perfect visibility and encountered comparatively light anti-aircraft and fighter opposition.
Bombardiers whose target was the molybdenum mines at Knaben, 50 miles southeast of Stavanger and some 40 miles inland from Norway's southern coast
http://www.stelzriede.com/ms/html/mshwm11.htm

The comoddities from Norway could be bought easier than an invasion.

It was no use for Germany to have a rebuilt fleet in 41. In May 1940 when the British army had lost most of their heavy weapons, they had not the Naval capasity to safeguard a channel crossing.

I am working on an article about Falkenhorst and even got in touch with his son.

Here is the link to the UNIFINISHED article: http://www.nuav.net/falkenhorst.html

His sone made a big fuzz of the roadmap and was really proud of his father planning the at least parts of the invasion along with some random waffen-ss soldiers in a pub.

I have to disagree on bought comodities, 1.2 bilion barrels of fuel oil would have cost a lot more than getting it for free. Not to mention with the British & French in control of Norway, or parts of it, Germany could get nothing from Norway.

As to channel crossing, most take the view the RN plus RAF was too much for German invasion craft to overcome. Myself, I remain neutral on Sealion & BOB.

Thanks for sharing Falkenhorst article admin, something you can't get elsewhere.

Is there more data on his time in Finland?

Whenever there is something about von Falkenhorst, bear in mind that he was a war criminal:

http://www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/WCC/falkenhorst.htm

Well noone ever mentioned that he was innocent?
However, he was not remembered as a notorious war criminal, not even by the Norwegians.
Kurt

My wife was hinting about what she wanted for our upcoming anniversary.
She said, "I want something shiny that goes from 0 to 150 in about 3 seconds."
I bought her a bathroom scale.


And then the fight started......


One year, I decided to buy my mother-in-law a cemetery
plot as a Christmas gift... The next year, I didn't buy her
a gift. When she asked me why, I replied,"Well, you still
haven't used the gift I bought you last year!"
And that's how the fight started.....