Chapter 549: World War II Breaks Out
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When Hitler learned of this, he was overjoyed to understand that heavy water could be used as a coolant to control the chain of nuclear reactions, and thus the German nuclear reactor technology was a big step forward. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info╔╗
Whenever he thought of the Chinese Empire's installation of a nuclear reactor device of almost unlimited energy on the Guanghua Emperor, Hitler was envious and jealous. Now that Heisenberg has proved that the chain nuclear reaction can be controlled, then Hitler is ambitious to install nuclear reactor devices on several subsequent Hindenburg-class battleships, he is very good-looking, and he does not want to be compared to the Chinese Empire.
However, the first issue before Hitler was the production of heavy water. Although German scientists themselves are studying how to achieve industrial production of heavy water, there is a lack of first-hand technical information. The Norwegian government refused to transfer the technology to Germany under political pressure from the Chinese Empire, which had actually known how to produce heavy water for many years.
Hitler thought that the Chinese Empire had huge reserves of heavy water and could build quite a lot of nuclear reactors, and Hitler still thought that the Chinese Empire was so afraid of Germany that it would use heavy water to develop nuclear weapons. Obviously, both Hitler and Heisenberg thought so, which led to Germany being misled by the Chinese Empire in the development of nuclear weapons, which seriously slowed down the progress of Germany's nuclear weapons development. Let the Germans suffer a lot.
Hitler was annoyed by the Chinese Empire's efforts to prevent Germany from obtaining heavy water from Norway and the technology for its production.
In particular, the occurrence of the Hydro incident directly caused billions of marks in monetary losses to Germany, which made Hitler grit his teeth. But at this time, he didn't dare to really tear his face with the Chinese Empire, so he had to endure it.
But Hitler and the Nazi Party were not a tolerable group, and as Hitler followed Roosevelt's New Deal, he implemented economic reforms in Germany. By 1937, Germany was largely emerging from the economic crisis. Germany, which had grown in strength, was instigated by Hitler and the Nazi Party to look at the weakening Entente camp. The smell of the Great War in Europe is getting stronger.
However, Hitler's greatest concern at this time was not the strength of the Entente camp. It was the attitude of the Chinese Empire. Originally, Hitler believed that as long as the Allied bloc led by Germany launched a war against the Entente, the Chinese Empire would remain as neutral as it had been during World War I. However, as Hitler vigorously built up the German naval power, he launched a signal to challenge the imperial Chinese navy. ╔╗The army and air force were also vigorously developed, which gradually changed the attitude of the Chinese Empire towards Germany. After Hitler announced the establishment of the Nuclear Physics Project and called for the development of the atomic bomb, the Chinese Empire's attitude towards Germany was even more drastic, which can be seen from the Chinese Empire's all-out efforts to prevent Germany from obtaining heavy water from Norway and heavy water production technology.
Therefore. Under these circumstances, Hitler could not figure out the attitude of the Chinese Empire, if the Chinese Empire abandoned its neutrality and directly joined the Entente camp to fight against the Central Powers. Then for Germany, a formidable enemy was undoubtedly erected. Hitler, despite his strategic contempt for the Chinese Empire. But tactically it had to pay attention to the Chinese Empire, so without finding out the true attitude of the Chinese Empire. Hitler did not dare to openly provoke the Second World War with the Entente.
But Hitler was not reconciled, and he now firmly believed that heavy water was the key material for the construction of nuclear reactors and the development of nuclear weapons, especially nuclear weapons, and Hitler dreamed of possessing such weapons, so that he would be qualified to compete militarily with the Chinese Empire.
After consulting with Rudolf and other high-ranking members of the Nazi Party, Hitler decided that heavy water and heavy water technology could no longer be obtained by normal means. Although OKW had been assuring that it would soon be able to defeat the CIA's power in Northern Europe and seize Norway's heavy water technology, Hitler was getting impatient.
Therefore, Hitler decided to invade Norway by force, firstly, to directly occupy Norway to obtain heavy water production equipment, and secondly, to test the attitude of the Chinese Empire and the Entente by attacking Norway. If the Chinese Empire and the Entente continued to pursue a policy of appeasement, it would naturally allow Hitler to take advantage of it. If there is a strong backlash, it is better to take measures to deal with the aftermath depending on the situation.
However, to be on the safe side, Hitler sent an envoy to the Soviet Union to meet Stalin. Tell Stalin that Germany is ready to secretly form a paramilitary alliance with the Soviet Union, intending to use the Soviet Union as a pawn to contain the Chinese Empire.
Although Stalin was wary of Hitler, he always believed that Britain and France were the ones Hitler wanted most, so Stalin was very positive about forming a paramilitary alliance.
In September 1937, representatives of Germany and the Soviet Union secretly signed the Soviet-German Treaty on the Mutual Defense of the Baltic Sea in St. Petersburg, that is, the Soviet-German paramilitary alliance was formed.
According to the provisions of the Soviet-German Treaty on the Mutual Defense of the Baltic Sea, the Soviet and German navies both believed that the Finnish and Norwegian navies posed a threat to the Soviet Union and Germany, so it was decided that the Soviet Union and Finland would solve the security problem in the northern Baltic Sea, and Germany and Norway would solve the security problem in the southern Baltic Sea. In fact, this is the military plan of the Soviet Union and Germany to prepare to send troops at the same time to divide Finland and Norway among themselves. ╔╗
The Soviet Union had been prying on Finland for a long time and wanted to annex Finland for a long time. However, he was always under the military pressure of Germany and the Entente and did not take action. Now that the Soviet Union and Germany have formed a paramilitary alliance, Germany's attack on Norway will definitely be opposed by the Entente countries Britain and France, and a world war may break out, and the Soviet Union will have no worries about sending troops to Finland at this time. Similarly, Hitler formed an alliance with Stalin, firstly, he wanted to use the Soviet-German paramilitary alliance to deter the Chinese Empire, and secondly, Hitler was not worried about the Soviet Union, and when Germany sent troops to Norway, the Soviet Union had to fight with Finland, so that Hitler would have no worries.
It can be said that both Hitler and Stalin had their own evil intentions, but they never imagined that the attack on Norway and Finland would cause great trouble for both countries. The fuse of World War II was laid.
In addition to pacifying the Soviet Union, in order to maintain military pressure on the Chinese Empire, Hitler formally invited Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini, Spanish Führer Franco, and US President Roosevelt to meet in Berlin.
Meeting. Hitler proposed a military alliance between the four powers. Mussolini and Franco had no objection to this, but Roosevelt had reservations. After all, the United States as a whole was still more pro-British and French, and although Roosevelt and his Nazi Party had many things in common with Hitler and his Nazi Party, Roosevelt did not dare to take sides directly with the Allies and the Entente. However, Roosevelt hoped to obtain advanced technology from Germany, especially after the Mexican-American War, the U.S. military was very interested in German armaments, and Roosevelt hoped to maintain military cooperation with Germany in order to help the U.S. military rise. Thus escaping the fate of being controlled by the Chinese Empire.
As a result, the conflicted Roosevelt finally proposed that the four countries form the "League of Industry and International" under the banner of Industry International, so that the United States could continue to maintain neutrality between the Entente and the Central Powers. Obtain the necessary economic support and military assistance from Britain, France, Germany and Italy.
Hitler didn't think he could really pull the United States over. At this time, the United States was no longer a powerful country before World War I, and after being beaten by the Chinese Empire, the United States' national strength suffered a great loss, even if the United States continued to join the Entente camp, Hitler was not afraid. Hitler's aim was to use the United States as another card to contain the Chinese Empire. Until Germany was able to deal with the military power of the Chinese Empire, Hitler hoped that the Soviet Union and the United States would be able to contain the Chinese Empire as much as possible.
Thus, at the end of December 1937, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United States signed the Agreement of the International Federation of Industry. Under the banner of the four countries, they are in fact engaged in close political, economic, and military cooperation. Germany, Italy, and Spain secretly signed a military alliance agreement for mutual defense. Turkey, Bulgaria and other countries also joined, and a new alliance group emerged.
A series of actions in Germany, Italy, Spain, the United States, Turkey and other countries. ╔╗ The whole world was nervous, and the public opinion circles were full of calls for the imminent outbreak of World War II. The Chinese Empire was also very cautious about this, because it had offended too many countries before, and at this time it did not know what kind of organization Germany, Italy, Spain, the United States, Turkey, Bulgaria and other countries were, so the Chinese Empire chose to wait and see what happened.
But for the Entente countries such as Britain and France, it was clear that the threat to them was great from the new Central Powers. Britain and France actively responded to the situation, and the original policy of appeasement was violently criticized by domestic public opinion, causing both governments to believe that a major war was imminent and that they must be prepared.
Previously, the Chinese Empire repeatedly informed France that the direction of the German invasion of France would not be the Maginot Line, so that France paid attention to the defense of the Ardennes, which France did not pay attention to at first, but as Germany became the largest country in Europe, its military strength surged. The French then set up heavy defenses in the Ardennes and other areas where the Maginot Line could not be cared for, in response to a possible military invasion by Germany and the Allies. At the same time, Britain also strengthened its alliance with Norway, Denmark, Finland and other countries, and sent British troops into France, and the British and French forces jointly resisted the military threat of the Central Powers.
Already after the end of the Polish campaign, both Germany and the Soviet Union turned their attention to the north. In the north, Denmark, Norway and Sweden were silenced by the devastation of Poland, and they felt the sadness of the cold of their lips and teeth. Denmark and Norway, in particular, are close to Germany and bear the brunt of the attack, but their own forces are very limited. Denmark had only 5 small divisions and 1 very small fleet; Norway has 6 divisions with a total of 15,500 men, as well as 4 shore defense ships, 30 small destroyers, 9 small submarines, 11 minelayers and 190 old aircraft.
Norway is located in the northwest of the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe, bordering Sweden to the east, Finland and Russia to the northeast, and the Norwegian Sea to the west. Since Germany had no direct outlet to the Atlantic, it was only possible to enter the Atlantic Ocean via the North Sea, bypassing the British mainland.
Although the British Navy was heavily damaged by Germany in the Battle of Jutland, after all, Britain was a traditional naval power, and Britain quickly rebuilt a powerful British Navy after the war, and launched a-for-tat large-scale naval arms race with the German Navy, which has always been a problem for the German Navy.
During World War I, Britain used its naval superiority to lay out a tight blockade net across the narrow North Sea from the Shetland Islands to the coast of Norway. For quite a long time, the German fleet was trapped in its home harbor and did nothing. At this time, in view of historical experience and geographical facts, the German Navy believed that the British Navy to deal with would completely defeat the British Navy and seize sea supremacy in the North Sea and the Atlantic. Germany had to manage to get a base in Norway so that it could break through the British blockade in the North Sea and gain unhindered access to the Atlantic. ╔╗
It can be said that in addition to the heavy water resources, Norway's strategic location is also coveted by Germany. And Scandinavia's iron needs
Stone is also a strategic material that Germany urgently needs. Alsace and Lorraine in Germany were close to the French border, and there was no guarantee that they would not lose if they went to war. Once lost, Germany's iron lifeline was cut off. Therefore, Germany prepared for both. Every year, 11 million tonnes of iron stone are imported from Sweden and Norway. In the summer, the stones are shipped from Swedish ports to Germany via Baltic. In winter, when the Baltic Sea freezes (the Baltic Sea has a low salinity), it is transported from the northern Norwegian port of Narvik to Germany via the Norwegian waterways. The iron supply line in Northern Europe can almost be said to be the second lifeline of the German war machine, if the iron supply in Northern Europe is cut off. Once the Lorraine area was bombed by the French Air Force, the German arms industry would be left without rice.
Therefore, Germany was preparing to launch a Nordic military operation, hoping to preemptively control Scandinavia. But Britain and France are not fools either, and Britain knows it very well. Once Germany took control of Norway, it would be easier for the German Navy to enter the Atlantic. Remembering the devastating blow inflicted on Britain by the German Navy during World War I, Britain was heartbroken, and so on December 28, 1937. The Supreme Military Council of the British and French allies decided to send an expeditionary force to lay mines in Norwegian territorial waters. At the same time, the British Foreign Minister announced to the ambassadors of Norway and Sweden that the allies would ban the shipment of iron stones to Germany. The French Prime Minister also advocated a march into Norway as soon as possible. in order to contain German expansion. And for Norway, the sensitive nose already smells gunpowder from Germany. Therefore, they agreed to the British and French demands in full.
But this gave the German an excuse to invade Norway.
However, if the Germans wanted to invade Norway, they had to take into account the Danish obstacles. Since Denmark was also a small country, Hitler decided to go the other way.
As early as March 1, 1938, Hitler signed an operational plan for the invasion of Denmark and Norway, codenamed "Exercise Weser". Subsequently, the German Navy General Headquarters quickly formed five battle groups for the "Weser River Exercise", mobilized 13 battleships, 12 heavy cruisers, 15 light cruisers, 121 destroyers, 42 torpedo boats, and 28,000 soldiers, and prepared for a full-scale attack on Narvik, Trondheim, Bergen, Kristiansand, Arendal, and Oslo in Norway. The plan to invade Denmark was mainly carried out by the Luftwaffe, sending two armored brigades on the ground to cross the border and advance to northern Denmark, and at the same time sending small teams of airborne troops to occupy bridges and communication arteries in the Danish archipelago, coupled with intensive aerial bombardment, to intimidate the Danish government and people.
At 4:15 a.m. on April 9, 1938, the German army sent two armored brigades to invade the Danish border without declaring war. ╔╗ At 4:20 a.m., German Minister Lund? Fink visited the home of Danish Foreign Minister Munch and handed over a memorandum calling for Denmark's surrender. At 5 o'clock, the Danish king convened a special meeting of the Imperial Palace, and at 6 o'clock made the decision to surrender to the German army, calling on the people to "make no resistance". At 8 o'clock in the morning, the terrified Danes heard a German official read out a copy of Hitler's appeal on the radio: Germany would guarantee the territorial integrity of Denmark and that the Danish economy would be fully integrated with Germany for "friendly cooperation." That night, the Danish parliament unanimously endorsed the government's decision to surrender, with Prime Minister Stoning declaring: "May there be peace and order in our country." We expect our citizens to be safe. ”
The German invasion of Denmark was over within four hours, and only occasional military clashes occurred in a few places, and the Germans were only 2 killed and 10 wounded.
The Germans blitzed Denmark, and Britain and France finally couldn't sit still. On the morning of the same day, Britain issued an ultimatum to Germany, demanding that Germany withdraw its troops from Denmark, otherwise it would be regarded as a declaration of war on Britain and the Allies. At noon on the same day, France issued the same ultimatum to Germany.
After reading the ultimatum of Britain and France, Hitler did not take it to heart at all, and like the last time Germany invaded Poland, Britain and France were just putting on a show.
But Hitler miserted this time, just when he was rejoicing at the German occupation of Denmark in one day. Britain formally declared war on Germany at nine o'clock in the morning on April 10, and at one o'clock in the afternoon, France declared war on Germany, and World War II broke out.
On the same day that the Germans invaded Denmark. At 4:30 a.m. on 9 April, the German minister delivered an ultimatum to the Norwegian government to surrender immediately, but the Norwegian government firmly opposed it.
At 5:50, the Germans landed at the main ports along the Norwegian coast, and at the same time dispatched 1,800 combat planes and 350 transport planes to press Norway from the air. The Norwegian army was not yet fully mobilized and put up a hasty resistance. In Narvik. When 40 German destroyers approached the harbor, two old Norwegian armored ships in the harbor, "Edersfeld" and "Noch", signaled to the German ships to identify themselves. The Germans directly sent people to surrender to the Norwegian ship by motorboat, but the Norwegian Navy opposed it. And resolutely resisted. The German ships then attacked, and two Norwegian battleships were torpedoed and sunk, killing all 300 Norwegian sailors.
By 8 a.m., Narvik was occupied by the Germans. At Trondheim, the commander of the 5th Norwegian Division, which was guarding the port, followed Quisling's orders. Without any resistance, the harbor was surrendered. In Bergen, Norway's second-largest port, coastal batteries opened fire on approaching German ships, inflicting heavy damage on the German light cruiser "Gönigsberg" and one auxiliary ship.
Soon, the 18-inch guns of the two Bismarck-class battleships of the German Navy roared. Huge shells leveled the harbor in an instant, and the flames raged. Thick smoke obscured the sky.
Soon, the soldiers on the landing ship of the German Navy began to land. With the support and cover of the guns of the German Navy, the port was occupied before noon.
The 20 British bombers that came in for emergency reinforcements did not dare to approach the Bismarck and other German ships with strong anti-aircraft firepower, so they dropped all their bombs on the "Gönigsberg", which was immediately sunk by British bombers. Stavanger on the southwest coast and the nearby Sula airfield also fell to the Germans at noon, giving the Germans a front-line air base in Norway and air supremacy over southern and central Norway. The Christianine coastal batteries on the southern coast twice repelled the attacks of the German fleet led by the German battleship Tirpitz. But the batteries were quickly blown up by 18-inch naval guns and Luftwaffe bombs, and the harbor fell around 3 p.m.
However, what the German Navy never expected was that when the German Navy light cruiser "Karlsluhe" left the port that night, it was torpedoed by a British submarine that rushed to support, and was seriously damaged, and finally sank. Originally, the submarines of the German Navy did not play any role, but let the British submarine sink the German battleship, which made the German Navy very faceless.
The German attack on the east side of Norway was well underway, but the Germans encountered unexpected difficulties in attacking the Norwegian capital Oslo on the other side. On the cold night of 8 April, the German fleet had planned to arrive in Oslo that night, and the German embassy sent people to wait all night on the pier to meet them, but the German fleet never arrived. At the entrance to the 50-mile-long Oslo Fjord, they were met by the Norwegian minelayer "Olaf? Trig Ferson", 1 German torpedo boat was sunk, and the light cruiser "Emden" was damaged. Then, about 15 miles south of Oslo, it was bombarded by shore artillery and torpedoes, and the heavy cruiser "Blucher", the flagship of the German Fourth Fleet, was hit by a bullet and caught fire, detonating the ship's ammunition, shattering the hull, and finally sank, losing 1,600 officers and men. Rear Admiral Koonmoc fell overboard and was captured. The German Fourth Detachment suffered a heavy blow and was forced to temporarily retreat.
But in the end, Oslo was conquered by the German Airborne Forces. At noon on April 10, about five companies of German airborne troops landed at Fornabu airfield near Oslo and occupied Oslo with the cooperation of Guisling's "fifth column".
The Norwegian royal family, government and members of parliament withdrew to the Imperial Chinese Embassy in the Norwegian capital with 20 trucks carrying Norges Bank gold and three secret documents from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to seek refuge.
The Imperial Chinese Embassy in Norway urgently called the Imperial Chinese Cabinet and obtained the approval of the Cabinet, so it made clear the position of the Imperial Chinese Empire to Lieutenant Colonel Kane, a German officer who came to the door and wanted to arrest people, and the two sides were in a stalemate for nearly an hour. In the end, King Haakon VII of Norway and the queen consulted and married their youngest daughter Mary Xu to Zhao Wang Guoliang, the seventeenth prince of the Chinese Empire, as the princess of Zhao, and the mother of the Chinese Emperor Wang Chenhao and the seventeenth prince Qiao Yuying were also very satisfied after seeing the photos of Princess Mary, so in order to save the Norwegian royal family, they agreed to this marriage, which is known as the fastest in the world.
As a result, the Chinese ambassador to Norway prevented the Germans from arresting the Germans on the pretext of protecting the future of the empire, Princess Zhao and her family. After another hour of stalemate, the Germans confirmed the betrothal of the 17th Prince of the Chinese Empire to the Norwegian princess Mary, and Kane finally received a special order from Hitler to abandon the arrest of the Norwegian royal family.
Although the Chinese Empire protected the Norwegian crown, it did not save Norway from German occupation.
On the afternoon of April 10, the first day of the German landing, that is, after Britain declared war on Germany, the main British fleet appeared near Bergen, and the Germans quickly dispatched a large number of bombers, sinking one British destroyer, wounding one battleship and two heavy cruisers. The British fleet suffered a setback in the initial battle and withdrew to the Shetland Islands area.
After that, since the Germans had air supremacy in southern and central Norway, the British High Command decided to use only submarines and aircraft in the waters of the southern Norwegian Sea. On the evening of the same day, 24 British bombers attacked Bergen and sank the seriously damaged German light cruiser Gönigsberg. In Narvik, northern Norway, the German fleet and landing force were severely hit by British aircraft due to the limited combat radius of the aircraft, which did not receive air support. On 10 and 13 April, the British attacked Narvik with a large number of bombers, sinking 10 German destroyers. On 14 and 16 April, Anglo-French forces landed near Narvik in northern Norway and Trondheim in central Norway. The Anglo-French forces landing in the center launched an attack on Trondheim on 19 April, but due to the lack of air support, they suffered heavy losses under the heavy bombardment of German aircraft, and withdrew from Norway by 2 May.
In the battle for Narvik, the Anglo-French forces were supported by fleets and air forces and had a huge advantage. However, the German landing force in this area, despite the lack of air and sea support, fought a stubborn battle against the British and French forces, repelling many attacks by the British and French forces. The battle continued until 28 May, when the Germans abandoned Narvik and retreated along the railway to the Swedish border.
On May 10, the German army launched a large-scale offensive against France on the Western Front, and Britain and France were too busy to take care of themselves, and withdrew all their troops from Norway by June 7, and the Norwegian government was also in exile in Britain, and the royal family was in exile in China, hoping to get the help of the Chinese Empire to help restore the country. The Germans occupied all of Norway on 10 June. Under the protection of the Germans, Quisling formed a puppet government.
With the Norwegian Campaign, Germany secured the vital Iron Necessity Route, strengthened its defenses on the northern flank, and gained a number of important strategic positions. The occupation of Norway by the Germans and the presence of troops on the Swedish border brought neutral Sweden diplomatically to Germany and allowed Germany to transport troops and supplies through its territory of the Šrvik region and northern Finland. (To be continued.) If you like this work, you are welcome to come to the starting point. Voting for recommendation votes, monthly passes, your support is my biggest motivation