In the silent Danish offshore, a battleship appeared on the sea level, followed by a second, a third. The first large-scale support operation of the German High Seas Fleet was aimed at protecting the land and landing forces from Denmark.

With an order, the 40 carrier-based Stuka bombers that took off from the four German aircraft carriers took off one by one, formed a formation in the sky, and flew rapidly towards the pre-selected target.

On the bridge of the USS Reich, Lütjans and his chief of staff and adjutant stared at the charts to analyze the follow-up progress of the operation. In order to capture Denmark and connect Germany's two outlets to the sea, this offensive plan has been carefully studied by the German military for a long, long time.

"This group of aircraft will destroy the anti-aircraft guns laid out on the shore, as well as the Danish Air Force airfield near Copenhagen. We have paratrooper landings here and here, so we need our planes to support these areas and destroy the resistance of the Danish defenders. The chief of staff pointed to the map and said, "The second group of planes will cruise here to cover the bombing of Copenhagen by the air force and force the Danish defenders to surrender." ”

"What about the sea alert? I think everybody knows why we're here. Lytjans pointed to the periphery of his fleet, drew a sea area with his hand, and said, "We analyze that the British Navy will come out of the nest this time and start a decisive battle with us here. That's why our fleet was sent here, mainly to imitate the British Navy and join forces with Denmark. ”

"General. The chief of staff pointed to a few red dots on the map and said: "According to your instructions, at 4:21 a.m. today, we sent out four destroyers equipped with new radars, and guard posts were deployed here, here, here, and here. ”

The liaison officer of the carrier-based aircraft force on the side also pointed to some areas on the map, and said to Ruetyans: "General, the air force is patrolling these areas, and the perimeter is almost foolproof, and if the British Navy appears, we have at least 100 nautical miles and more than half an hour to react." ”

"Send a signal to the destroyers and cruisers on alert around and get them to pay attention to sonar surveillance. I don't want the British to take advantage of it. Lytjans finally nodded and commanded.

Lütjans is really very cautious, and he can be said to cherish this opportunity to lead the army alone to carry out the mission. Admiral Raeder had behaved in several naval battles, and was arranged by Accardo to be the "Chief of Naval Staff" in Berlin, who had no real power, while he commanded the High Seas Fleet in Denmark as a fleet commander.

This was Accardo's reward for his victory in the battle off the coast of the Netherlands, and a bold attempt to find a qualified commander of the aircraft carrier fleet. Because if he is wrong, then there will be no chance to go back to Berlin as a staff officer.

The main force of the German offensive this time was part of Army Group H under the command of General Weix, with a total strength of about 7 divisions. Although these units are newly formed group armies, most of their skeletons are veterans who have participated in the Wehrmacht, so their combat capability should be much stronger than that of the Danish troops.

However, compared to the main German forces in France, this force still lacked heavy weaponry - most of them were light infantry divisions, and only a small number of regimental artillery were equipped with No. 3 assault guns. But the use of this force against the Danish defenders is already a sword.

This force is coordinated by all the main forces of the Navy's High Seas Fleet and 200 fighters and 110 bombers of the Air Force. Of course, these forces were not prepared to deal with Denmark, but prepared for the invasion of Norway while guarding against the intervention of the British navy.

Accardo and many German generals and merchants took a fancy to Norway's high-quality iron ore, and Accardo hoped to invade Norway and obtain this iron ore to build his armored forces cheaper and more efficiently. On the other hand, his air force and navy are looking forward to the increase in weapons production brought by Norwegian metal, and at least Raeder is salivating over the expansion of the naval fleet to eight aircraft carriers.

Taking Denmark was only the first step towards the capture of Norway, and the first step towards expanding the navy. By taking Denmark, the German Navy's Kiel military port would be able to echo Wilhelm's military port without restrictions, and gain safe access to the entire Baltic Sea.

And if Norway is further conquered, it will create a good situation in which the naval ports are connected. Norway has many ports facing the Atlantic Ocean that are difficult to blockade by the British, and has a long coastline for naval covert attacks, enough to threaten more than half of Britain's domestic shipping lines.

Strategically, Denmark was relatively unimportant, and apart from being a staging area for the war against Norway, it was left with the use of a German Baltic port as an outlet to the sea.

Of course, as a country bordering Germany, Accardo felt that Denmark had to be subject to some control. Denmark, on the other hand, was a small and relatively flat country, making it an ideal location for the German Army to fight, and compared to the large German army, the Danish army had little chance of successfully resisting.

In fact, it was exactly as Accardo had predicted. The Germans launched an attack on the Danish Army in the morning, with only a few Danish units engaged the Germans on the border, and the rest of the troops surrendered. After a fierce battle, the Danish defenders lost 77 men and the Germans lost only 19 men - and then the Germans crossed the border and entered Danish territory.

Under the cover of German destroyers, 1000 German troops landed directly from the port of Copenhagen. A Danish royal guard stationed in the harbor engaged the landing German troops, and the Danish defenders had already controlled the situation, but they did not expect the German support to come so quickly.

After more than ten minutes of fighting, 20 Luftwaffe D0-217 bombers roared through the sky. Faced with the intimidation of the Luftwaffe's apparent intention to bomb the civilian population of Copenhagen, the aged king surrendered almost immediately, accepting all the conditions offered to him by Accardo, even the German administration of Danish internal affairs.

Just a few minutes after the Danish king's surrender, the naval bombers flew to their attack position, but before they could start dropping bombs, they were summoned back by orders from the carriers.

"What? surrendered?" Lütjens couldn't believe that Denmark would surrender so simply, he thought that there would be at least some local fighting before he could finally take all of Denmark, but he did receive a call from Captain H Weyx, claiming that Denmark had surrendered.

Nearly 30,000 soldiers waited for Denmark to enter Denmark, thinking that it would be another great battle, but it turned out to be a reception ceremony. Paratrooper Lieutenant Platoon Commander Borol was airdropped to the edge of a Danish airfield, where he gathered his troops and stormed into the airfield to make a big fight, only to find white flags hanging at the entrance of the defenders, and the Danish defenders drinking tea in the barracks......

The scene was very eerie, Borol was holding an MP-44 assault rifle, Balu behind him was holding a grenade in his hand, and the two of them were just standing in the doorway, frightened by the scene in the room and not knowing what to do.

The Danish officer in the room had a coffee cup in his hand, and the strong tea in it was still steaming. Some of the other soldiers were lying in their beds reading books, and some were gathering to feed their pet dogs.

This awkward atmosphere lasted for a long time, and was not broken until the Danish officer spoke. The officer walked to the door, handed the coffee cup in his hand to Borol, and said with a smile: "We have surrendered, if you think you can, let's have a cup of tea together?"

The invasion carefully prepared by the German army happened to collide with Denmark's complete surrender, so Germany took Denmark almost bloodlessly, achieving the war myth of destroying a country in one day. Of course, the main reason for Denmark's surrender without hesitation was that the British Royal Navy temporarily lost its naval supremacy, and Denmark itself could not independently resist the German attack.

This is like punching cotton, and it's like practicing martial arts for ten years before you find out that the enemy has died of old age. After seeing the report of Denmark's surrender, Accardo couldn't help but laugh and wanted to say an Internet buzzword in another time and space: "I even took off my pants, so you can show me this?"

Next, the German Northern Corps, several of the main mountain divisions of Army Group H, set their offensive target on Norway. Of course, the plan to invade Norway this time is no different from the plan in another time and space, both of which are to have naval transport troops invade Norway and occupy this iron ore producing country in one fell swoop.

However, unlike Hitler in another time and space, Accardo has more trump cards in his hand this time, so there will be no fiasco in the Battle of Narvik that year. Historically, the British Royal Navy carried out a fierce attack on the German destroyer fleet at Narvik, and achieved amazing results.

In another time and space, five British destroyers sank two German destroyers in one fell swoop, and sent almost all of the German transports underwater. But now these British Royal Navy fleets, which were supposed to make meritorious contributions, were not in Norwegian waters, but in the North Atlantic, chasing German submarines.

Of course, the German heavy cruiser Blucher, which was sunk here, does not exist in Accardo's naval sequence, and the other sunken cruiser, the Königsberg, is now sailing with the Reich aircraft carrier, and it is unlikely that it will be sunk offshore.

Therefore, the Battle of Narvik, which cost Germany half of its fleet, would not have happened, Accardo's aircraft carrier fleet was unstoppable in the Danish and Norwegian waters, and those shore artillery units could not make any decent results against the German aircraft carriers.

So in such a war of great disparity, the German army and the Norwegian resistance began a new battle for Norway.