Britain and France are trying to control Norwegian waters, thereby openly undermining Norway's neutrality. Shortly after the New Year, the British Government sent a note to the Norwegian Government declaring that the Royal Navy would never tolerate the free navigation of German merchant ships in Norwegian waters. According to intelligence, the Norwegian government has reached certain secret agreements with Britain to allow British and French troops to "station" in Norway to protect "Norwegian neutrality". Due to the urgency of the situation, the Kaiser instructed the General Staff to draw up a plan for the full occupation of Denmark and Norway, for which the German Army and Navy Staff formed a special group to draw up an invasion plan codenamed "Exercise Weser".

Among the Nordic countries, Sweden pursued its usual pro-German course, Finland struggled to remain neutral due to fear of Russian pressure before the war, the Danes tried to find a balance between Britain and Germany, and the Norwegian government favored the British.

However, there are also quite a few pro-German forces in the Norwegian government, and the National League, headed by Defense Minister Gilins, has always taken a pro-German stance. After the Norwegian government reached a tacit agreement with Britain to allow Britain to send troops, Gillins revealed the contents of the secret Anglo-Norwegian agreement to the military attache at the German embassy.

The German General Staff decided to launch an offensive in early March.

According to the plan, in order to quickly achieve the objectives of the campaign, the German participating forces include the three main fleets of the German Navy's Rapid Fleet, the North Sea Fleet, and the West Baltic Fleet, six army aviation divisions and two airborne divisions, and a total of seven infantry divisions of the Army's 21st Army and the 31st Army.

Due to the fact that four King-class battleships were being modernized at the shipyard and five Bavaria-class battleships were damaged in the Far East and were being "treated", only five of the fourteen battleships of the German Navy before the war were able to fight. At the same time as drawing up the operational plan for the "Weser exercise," the commander-in-chief of the German Navy, Field Marshal Raeder, ordered to speed up the outfitting and testing of the five newly built "Deutschland" class battleships, but at the same time, he ordered the naval shipbuilding department to complete the design plan for converting the hulls of the five "Scharnhorst" class battleships into aircraft carriers.

At present, three of the five new super-battleships of the "Deutschland" class, "Deutschland", "Marshal Ludendorff" and "Admiral Hipper", have completed outfitting and are being tested intensively, barely able to catch up with the operations expected in three months, while the "Admiral Tirpitz" and "Marshal Hindenburg" will be difficult to join the naval sequence even if they are in a hurry to build them. Even if the captain completes the work, the shipbuilding department will never allow a battleship that has not been tested at sea to join the fleet.

Due to the need to simultaneously project troops along the long coast of more than 1,000 nautical miles in Norwegian waters, Marshal Raeder built warships instead of transport ships to transport troops to land at Trondheim and Narvik farther away. According to the entire campaign plan, Vice Admiral Wilhelm Marshall commanded the 1st Battle Group, consisting mainly of the battleships "Admiral Spee", the battleships "Mackensen" and the aircraft carrier "Blucher", to Narvik; Rear Admiral Erich Bey led the 2nd Battle Group, consisting of the heavy cruiser "Lützov", two light cruisers and four destroyers, to Trondheim. Vice Admiral Gunther Lukins commanded the 3rd Battle Group and the 3rd Battle Group, which consisted mainly of the battleships "Prince William" and "Prince Frederick" and the aircraft carrier "York", to Bergen; Vice Admiral Hubert Somond led the 4th Battle Group, consisting of the aircraft carrier "Prince Albert", the heavy cruisers "Von der Tann" and "Moltke", the light cruisers "Cologne" and "Königsberg", and 4 destroyers, to Stavanger; Vice Admiral Oskarkumetz led the 5th battle group, consisting of the aircraft carrier "Lune", the battleship "Marquis Bismarck", the battleship "Deutschland", and the heavy cruisers "Seydlitz" and "De Flinger", to Oslo; Vice Admiral Theodor Krakay led the 6th Battle Group, consisting of the battleships "Marshal Ludendorff" and "Admiral Hipper", to support the land forces and the occupation of Denmark.

According to the plan, the Danish campaign and the Norwegian campaign would be fought simultaneously, and the Germans would land at six landing sites on the Norwegian coast from north to south on March 16. The Navy needed to secure supply lines at sea while blocking the Skagrak Strait. To secure the sea supply lines, the army must also occupy the Danish peninsula of Jutland, while the navy and airborne forces are responsible for seizing the port of Copenhagen and the Great Belt Strait.

In the following days, the German Navy began to carry out the testing and modification of the "Deutschland" class battleships and installed a new type of ranging radar for the new battleships, and the comprehensive test work was finally completed in mid-February. Vice Admiral Oscar Kumets was responsible for the training of the three newly commissioned battleships.

On 23 February, Vice Admiral Kumetz led the "Deutschland" and other three battleships to conduct their first training trip to sea after entering service, during the training, the three "Deutschland" class battleships actually ran a speed of 31.5 knots when fully loaded, while the lightly loaded "Admiral Hipper" ran at a high speed of 33.5 knots, which means that this class of cutting-edge battleships can have a speed comparable to that of heavy cruisers in this era.

In February, the Gulf of Pomerania was still bitterly cold, the sea was clear, and three large German warships were training at sea, accompanied by six destroyers. From time to time, the fighters taking off from Rügen whizzed over the warship's head in battle formation, and the sailors on the battleship were busy maneuvering the ship's anti-aircraft guns, aiming and conducting anti-aircraft training on these fighters.

In this era, the main guns of battleships rarely had a chance to fire, but air defense became the main task of these expensive sea fortresses.

On the bridge of the "Deutschland", Vice Admiral Kumetz, dressed in a brand-new dark blue woolen coat, shook his head as he watched the training on the warship. With less than half a month to go before the start of the "Weser exercise," the artillery training of the three "Deutsch" class battleships was still unsatisfactory. So he ordered the fleet to remain at sea and continue to conduct shooting training, and did not return to the harbor for rest and replenishment until a week before the start of the battle.

Although this gives people the feeling of sharpening their guns in battle, the generals who are well aware of the dangers of battle still hope that their subordinates can do more training.

Four "Queen Elizabeth", five "Revenge", three "Hood", two "Prestige" and two "Nelson", the British Navy at least on the surface looked quite numerous and powerful, but in fact the German Navy was not afraid of them. However, the battle line of Norway was too long, and the scattered German fleet could hardly withstand the full force of the opponent's blow, and it was certain that the British would not sit idly by and watch the total fall of Norway.

Therefore, in the campaign plan, after completing the task of protecting the landing, each naval battle group should quickly concentrate in the Norwegian Sea and the North Sea to form two large naval battle groups and wait for an opportunity to engage in a decisive battle with the British fleet. R1152