Adolph Hitler ascended to the leadership of Weimar Germany in 1933. Within six years, he reoccupied the Rhineland, illegally marched into Austria, seized Czechoslovakia through bluff and posturing, and helped Mussolini conquer Ethiopia and Franco Spain respectively. By September 1939, his armies stood on the Polish border menacingly. Even final threat of war did not stop this man as he conquered Poland in a month. In April 1940, the seemingly unstoppable Nazi War machine stood ready to seize the young country of Norway.
The Setting of the Invasion of Norway
The total active strength of the Norwegian Army was 13,000. Conscripts were drafted into the infantry were given the shortest amount of training (72-days) of any country in Europe. The country’s air force held an inventory of 62 planes, of which only 9 Gloster Gladiator biplanes could be referred to as modern. The 5200-man Norwegian Navy only had four modern destroyers on its naval list of ancient ships. A strong series of Coastal forts were laid out along the immense coastline, however they were materially neglected and some batteries had not fired a round since the 1890s. These were arrayed against arguably the most modern military machine in the world at the time. Hitler would detail some 7 divisions including 2 of elite Mountain Infantry (Gebirgsjäger), supported by the vast majority of the Kriegsmarine and some 1,000 planes of the Luftwaffe to strike in 6 task forces across the length of the Nordic country without a declaration of war.
Review of Hitler’s Pre-Emptive War
Mr. Henrik O Lunde has written Hitler’s Pre-emptive War; The Battle for Norway, 1940 that chronicles this invasion and the Norwegian-Allied response. This subject is an almost unknown story in English speaking military annuals. Past works have often concentrated solely on the British and French efforts with a few paragraphs mentioning the Norwegian forces. Too often, these paragraphs were used to detail who and what a Quisling was. This is where Lunde has shattered he mold for English coverage of this campaign. In 590-pages, he details the Norwegian peacetime situation of defensive neutrality, the shocking state of military neglect, and the delicate political tightrope its politicians walked in 1940.
The work goes on to explain the British and German invasion plans in minute detail, the attack and the Norwegian defensive efforts. These engagements are elaborated and dissected sometimes down to the platoon and squad level to most exhaustively illustrate the tactical and overall strategic situation. Particular time and attention is spent on the pivotal Narvik campaign, to which nearly one-half of the book is devoted. Narvik was of course the amazing complex series of three naval battles and a two-month land campaign between Norwegian, French, British, and Free Polish troops against Austrian mountain troops, shipwrecked Kriegsmarine sailors and German paratroopers.
Lunde also details the naval campaigns, the battles in the South, the Allied offensive operations and the final evacuation and armistice. It should be remembered that the Norwegians, with Allied help, withstood the Nazi onslaught for 60-days before the final evacuation of Narvik. When you consider that Hitler’s war machine had crushed Denmark and Luxembourg in half a day, Holland in a week, Belgium in two, Yugoslavia in 11-days, Poland in 36-days, and even the vaunted legions of France in only 45 days, the Norwegian efforts are quantified.
Overall Hitler’s Pre-Emptive War is an ideal and well-done work on the subject of the Battle for Norway in 1940. It is accented with 33 photographs and an amazing array of no less than 15-detailed tactical-level maps, seldom seen in an edition of military history only covering a single campaign.
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