The German 1st Airborne Regiment captured Oslo in less than half a day, and in other areas of operations, the troops involved in the operation also carried out rapid attacks that stunned the world. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

In the central Norwegian port of Trondheim, the commander of the 5th Division, who commanded the garrison, was a loyal confidant of Quisling back then, and was originally inclined to face south and surrender. At this time, when the pocket patrol equipped with 283 mm cannons appeared on the sea, it had no will to resist and surrendered to the Germans this deep-water harbor for the heaviest warships. The 5th Fleet, which was responsible for capturing Stavanger, also managed to break into the harbor under the cover of early morning mist, and laid down the first batch of 800 soldiers who landed with lightning speed. The sporadic resistance of the Norwegian army was quickly crushed by the guns of the light cruiser "Emden", and the Germans successfully occupied the important position.

At Bergen and Kristiansand, the vigilant Norwegian shore artillery defenders did not allow the German fleet to sneak up. As the K-class heavy cruiser and the destroyer prepared to charge, the 208mm L44 guns on the shore landed and spat out a dazzling wave of light at these uninvited guests. The German heavy cruisers attempted to return fire, but were quickly overwhelmed by shore artillery, which had an absolute superiority in accuracy and defense; Among them, the "Karlsruhe", which attacked Bergen, was hit by three shells, and the seaplanes and catapults in the middle of the hull were all turned into twisted scrap metal. The coastal fortifications built by the Norwegians more than thirty years ago finally proved their worth, posing a considerable threat to the German fleet from the sea. You must know that the small destroyers of the German fleet are full of landing soldiers, and once damaged and sunk, the overboard soldiers will definitely not survive 10 minutes in the icy waters of January!

However, these shore forts were built a generation earlier and were designed without the challenge from the air in mind. The German naval fleet was frustrated, and swarms of shore-based bombers flew in from the south. The Norwegian defenders did not know how to hide their firepower, and fired heavily at the retreating German fleet, completely exposing the position of the battery to the Stukas.

With a series of earth-shattering explosions, several Norwegian batteries were blown up, German destroyers swarmed up, and two ports fell in the middle of the day. Through a number of exercises in advance, the coordination of the German naval and air forces has begun to emerge, and in this brand-new cross-sea landing operation, the landing has achieved excellent results far beyond the expectations of the high command.

Of the entire Weser exercise program, the most difficult foundation was the capture of Narvik in the north. Because in order to achieve the suddenness of the operation against Oslo and other places, the attack had to be launched in the early morning when it was twilight, and the latitude of Narvik was too high, and it was still an endless night at dawn in Oslo. Under these circumstances, the German attack on Narvik had to be delayed by three hours, which resulted in no suddenness.

If the local garrison had been mobilized and prepared for battle as soon as they had been alerted, the 10 destroyers of the German 1st Fleet would have had to retreat and then summon the aircraft carriers or battleships supporting the fleet to wash the floor, depending on the weather conditions.

Quisling, who was dedicated to the new Lord, gave a proper solution to this problem. Sundelo, commander of the garrison of the port of Narvik, was a comrade-in-arms and comrade of Quisling, who had long been looking forward to the Germanic royal division of Central Europe in the south, and the 300,000 marks after surrendering. After receiving the alarm from the capital, he directly ignored it, and did not notify the shore defense batteries and the warships in the harbor at all. In the end, two old 4,100-ton coastal defense ships that had hastily resisted were torpedoed and sunk by German destroyers, and nearly 300 officers and men on duty were all killed. And Sun Deluo also led the defenders of Hong Kong to surrender after the collapse of this force that he could not control.

At the same time as the seizure of Norway's major port cities, the German war machine also swept through the country of Denmark.

In the early morning, when the sky was slightly bright, dozens of transport planes roared over Copenhagen and dropped a battalion of heavily armed paratroopers. Dramatically, the commander of the airborne battalion, Major Biele, had infiltrated Copenhagen three weeks in advance, posing as a tourist. He is familiar with the layout of the roads and buildings in the entire city by stepping on the points. Thus, although there was no Gisling like the one leading the way in Denmark, the German paratroopers still walked through their own backyards; In just one hour, the paratroopers had already appeared in front of key buildings such as the royal palace and government buildings, and disarmed all the Danish military and police they encountered along the way.

Faced with the German army that appeared on his doorstep overnight, King Christian X of Denmark had no choice but to bow his head and give in.

At this time, in addition to these paratroopers, the Germans had tens of thousands of troops attacking from the south, while the entire regular army of Denmark combined was less than one brigade, and it was not enough to put the Germans in the flat land of Jutland. It is precisely for this reason that in the first half of 1939, when Britain and France were busy making up for their losses and successively giving security guarantees to Poland, Romania, Yugoslavia, Belgium, the Netherlands and other small countries, they did not mention Denmark. Even the toughest Churchill had to claim that Britain and France could not save Denmark's fate no matter what they did, and could only give it the most sincere sympathy with a heavy heart!

However, the old king, who had a rigid personality, did not become a subject of the Third Reich. Before the surrender, Christian X gave another order: all the sea forces of Denmark, including merchant ships and sailors, were to surrender to the British and French. In addition, Danish overseas territories were opened to the British. The order allowed Britain to add 1.2 million tons of merchant ships and 50,000 trained seamen, and to build Iceland, which holds the Danish Channel and the northern part of the Faro Channel, into an important air and sea base. The German navy will have to make great efforts to wipe out these Danish forces again.

"The Germans landed on all fronts in Norway!"

At about 9 o'clock in the morning of January 16, the British ambassador to Norway sent an urgent telegram to London in a hurry. In a moment, the top military and political leaders headed by Chamberlain seemed to have been hit on the head, and they were so shocked that they did not speak for a long time. Since the beginning of December last year, Britain has been intensively preparing for the occupation of Norway, and even did not hesitate to give up France as cannon fodder in order to rush time; Yet even so, the Germans were one step ahead of their schedule, attacking three days ahead of their schedule!

In the spacious cabinet room, Churchill's knuckles turned pale from the hard grip on the armrests of his chair, and when he learned that the Germans had launched an attack in Oslo, he knew everything in an instant. Hitler not only did not be helpless because of the change of his merchant ships, but he struck Britain's fate directly because of the situation: the reason why the German Navy did not act in the Atlantic Ocean for more than a month was originally all about preparing for today's arrival!

Thinking that Germany had quietly accomplished such a big move, without letting its own intelligence department detect any clues in advance, Churchill could not help but be awe-struck, and at the same time regretted it unspeakably. The most vulnerable part of the Germans' cross-sea landing operation was the intermediate transportation link; If they can get an early warning, then even if the North Sea has become a paradise for German S-boats, they can let British torpedo boats and submarines take the initiative to attack and seek to sink the opponent's transport ships. By this time, this dangerous period for the Germans had passed, and it would be almost exponentially more difficult for the British to annihilate these landed troops.

Churchill's greatest concern now was not the German occupation of Norway, a strategic location, but the movement of the main German fleet. There can be no doubt that the German expedition against Norway will be accompanied by a naval fleet; The ultimate goal of the German fleet was not limited to Norway, and they would certainly seek an opportunity to go on another safari in the North Atlantic. In the latter case, Churchill knew what the consequences would be: the moment the Germans' fleet forces were steadily projected into the North Atlantic, the little trick he had made to change the flag would collapse in an instant like morning dew in the sun!

Churchill's gaze gradually became resolute and determined, and his fat face was full of tenacity and majesty, and he said in a deep voice: "We have no way back now. After the Germans gained a foothold in Norway, the next step was to send a fleet into the Atlantic, and even if we mastered Iceland, we would not be able to stop their actions at all. Now there is only one option left for Britain, and that is to reclaim from the Germans those Norwegian lands that we were originally prepared to control! ”

"The Royal Navy needs to immediately regain supremacy in the Norwegian Sea, and then send in a land force for a counter-landing. With every hour of our delay, the Germans became more powerful in Norway, so that any form of hesitation would completely destroy Britain's chances of victory in the war. Churchill looked solemn and continued, "Due to the previous preparations, the home fleet can be dispatched now. Norway today is no longer the Poland of four months ago that can be sacrificed and abandoned by us, and gentlemen can't make up your minds? ”

"If the storm can't be dodged, then head the bow of the ship against it." Chamberlain, who was on the throne, broke the heavy atmosphere in the conference room and slowly uttered a proverb that had been passed down throughout England during the Age of Discovery. Several wartime cabinet ministers were moved and immediately stood up to the prime minister in approval. They are by no means fools who do not know the times, and when the stakes are clarified, no matter how difficult it is, they must stubbornly advance and charge towards that ultimate goal!

Ten minutes later, the corresponding telegram was received by the new base of the home fleet in Port Eyre, Scotland, across a distance of several hundred kilometers. In an instant, the sound of a terrible siren sounded throughout the harbor, and all the sailors on the shore were returning to the warship as fast as they could, and the Royal Navy was about to embark on its first large-scale operation since the outbreak of war. (To be continued.) )