1940: Norway

Norway grimly began the year 1940 in fear of a Soviet drive westward to obtain a 'window on the Atlantic,' and ended the year as unwilling host to a German army of occupation. On Jan. 5, the first contingent of Norwegian volunteers left to fight against Russia in the Finnish war. The following day Foreign Minister Halvdan Koht replied to a Soviet protest against Norwegian aid to the Finns by saying that while the Norwegian Government had permitted no munitions to pass through its territory en route to Finland, it was not strange 'that there should be a strong feeling of sympathy with Finland in this country, not only because she is our neighbor . . . but also because we look on any policy of violence as unjustifiable.' Despite the obvious Norwegian sympathy for Finland, the Norwegian Government continued its scrupulous adherence to neutrality — a policy made doubly necessary by Norway's buffer position between Great Britain and Germany, and the conflicting interests of these two powers with regard to the Soviet-Finnish war.

Being essentially a commercial nation, Norway suffered heavily from Anglo-German naval warfare. Although the war brought a marked increase in exports of Norwegian paper, wood pulp and fish, imports advanced even more sharply to produce a decidedly unfavorable balance of trade. The country's plight was aggravated by the loss of normal receipts from its merchant marine, fourth largest in the world. By April 9, when German troops overran the country, 55 Norwegian ships had been sunk, and 404 Norwegian seamen drowned, as a result of belligerent activities.

The Altmark Incident.

Norway's difficult situation between two powerful belligerents was forcefully illustrated by the Altmark incident in mid-February. The Altmark, an auxiliary vessel of the German pocket battleship Graf Spee, entered Norwegian coastal waters en route to Germany. On Feb. 14, a Norwegian torpedo boat, on neutrality patrol, stopped the Altmark twice for questioning; when halted a third time, the vessel's captain refused to permit search by the Norwegian authorities, on the ground that as a German naval auxiliary the ship was not liable to detention. On Feb. 16, the British destroyer Cossack attacked the Altmark in Jössing Fjord, near Stavanger, and after a brief battle rescued 299 British seamen who had been taken from 7 British ships by the Graf Spee and confined aboard the Altmark. Norway immediately protested against Britain's action. On Feb. 17, however, the German Government charged that Norway had not accorded sufficient protection for the Altmark while in Norwegian waters, demanded that Norway restore the vessel to its original condition, and warned that unless all possible measures were taken against the British 'the most severe consequences might follow.' Prime Minister Chamberlain responded on Feb. 20 with a British protest alleging that Norway had acted contrary to international law by permitting prisoners to be carried through its territorial waters. Norwegian Foreign Minister Koht answered both charges with a detailed statement of Norway's action, and asserted that this action was in full accord with the rules of international law. Although the press and publicists continued discussion of the incident for several weeks, official notice of the affair ended in a few days as all three governments appeared content to accept the situation as an accomplished fact.

Mining of Norwegian Waters.

Throughout the winter months, while northern Baltic harbors were frozen solid, Germany imported vital requirements of high-grade iron ore from Sweden via the ice-free Norwegian port of Narvik, connected by rail with the Swedish mines at Kiruna and Gellivare. In order to stop this traffic, Allied naval forces sowed three large mine fields extending into Norwegian territorial waters near Narvik, Aandalnes and Stad. On April 8, Britain and France formally notified the Norwegian Government that the mine fields were being laid. Norway immediately protested the violation of its neutrality, and declared that if the Allies did not remove the mines Norwegian authorities would do so. The following day, with the mining of Norwegian waters as a pretext, German troops invaded Norway. On April 27, Nazi Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop stated Germany's official case in an address before invited members of the diplomatic corps and press correspondents in Berlin. Although the avowed object of mining Norwegian territorial waters was to stop German shipping, he asserted, its real purpose was to insure the safety of an Allied expeditionary force to Scandinavia. He maintained that German troops had invaded Norway in order to prevent British occupation of the country, which would have endangered the Reich. Despite Germany's publication of a series of alleged British and Norwegian documents to support von Ribbentrop's contentions, military authorities generally recognized that the vast scale of the German attack and the effective rapidity of its execution revealed long and careful Nazi preparations.

Invasion by Germany.

The first troops entered Norway in the early morning hours of April 9, and before the day was over they had occupied Oslo, Kristiansand, Stavanger, Bergen, Trondheim and Narvik. King Haakon and the Norwegian Government fled from Oslo to Hamar, from there to Elverum, and subsequently to Molde on the northwestern coast. Meanwhile, German planes bombed Norwegian cities, and covered the landing of additional Nazi troops in every leading Norwegian seaport. German forces advanced northward in pursuit of the Norwegian Government, along the country's two most important railroads in the Gudbrans and Oester Valleys. The Norwegian forces were greatly outnumbered, but they stolidly resisted the Nazi drive. When the invasion began on April 9, they sank the German battleship Gneisenan and the cruisers Emden and Blücher in the Oslofjord, and battled the German troops in southern and central Norway for well over a week before Allied assistance arrived. The first British troops landed in Norway on April 16, at Harstad, 37 miles north of Narvik, and a few French troops entered the country two days later. Not until after April 18, however, did Allied forces land at the railroad terminals of Aandalnes and Namsos. Seriously handicapped by lack of protection against the Nazi Air Force, Allied and Norwegian troops steadily yielded ground. By April 21 the Germans had moved up the Gudbransdal to Lillehammer, and were in full command of southern Norway. Other German troops drove southward from Trondheim, and with their capture of Dombaas on April 30 the Nazis established rail communications between Oslo and Trondheim. On May 3 British and French forces were evacuated from central Norway, leaving only a few troops in the far north. Although the Allies achieved a modest victory by seizing Narvik from the Germans on May 29, this city was soon evacuated by British and French troops as the situation in France became critical. On June 7, the 35th anniversary of Norway's full independence, a British warship rescued King Haakon and his Government from Tromsö, their last refugee capital in Norway. The Norwegian Government in Exile was set up in London, while the Norwegian Merchant Marine and Norwegian Air Force joined with Britain to continue the struggle against Germany.

Internal Developments.

Germany's invasion of Norway was expedited by German spies and a few pro-Nazi Norwegians such as Major Vidkun Quisling (Leader of the Norwegian Nazi political party, Nasjonal Samling) and Colonel Sundlo (commander of Norway's defenses at Narvik). Reports of widespread treachery in the Norwegian army and among the civilian population, however, were greatly exaggerated. After the occupation of Oslo, Quisling proclaimed himself Norwegian Prime Minister on April 10 and issued an appeal to the people to stop resisting the Germans. The next day Berlin announced that it no longer recognized the Government of Prime Minister Johan Nygaardsvold, and would henceforth deal only with Major Quisling as the legitimate head of the Norwegian Government. Quisling's complete ineffectiveness with the Norwegian people, however, led the Germans to acknowledge Ingolf Christensen, a loyal Norwegian appointed by the Supreme Court of Norway on April 15, as head of a Council of Administration. On April 24 the Reich despaired of enlisting the support of native administrators, declared war on Norway, and appointed Josef Terboven (Nazi Gauleiter of Essen, Germany) to supervise the civil administration of occupied areas. In June the German Government tried to force the abdication of King Haakon through an intense campaign in the Nazi-controlled Norwegian press. Failing in this attempt, the Reich compelled the Norwegian administrative commission to set up a National Council composed of Nazi sympathizers. Members of this group promptly asked King Haakon to renounce his throne, but on July 3 the King rejected their petition. Unable to create a Norwegian Government with any pretense of legality, German Commissioner Terboven on Sept. 25 dissolved all Norwegian political parties except Major Quisling's Nasjonal Samling, announced the dethronement of King Haakon, and established a new Nazi-dominated State Council with supreme power.

The comparative freedom which the Nazis had permitted the Norwegians, under German occupation, ended suddenly with the creation of the State Council. All civil liberties were drastically curtailed, anti-Semitic measures enforced, secret meetings banned, and Norwegian trade unions seriously restricted. During the next months, the Norwegian judicial system was so undermined that on Dec. 12 all the justices of the Supreme Court resigned as a gesture of protest. German press and propaganda methods were copied by the new Norwegian régime. Quislingist Storm Troopers (Hirdmen) were organized, and an association for Quislingist youths (Unghirden) was formed. The first week in December the régime admitted the existence of Norwegian concentration camps. Despite these oppressions under the 'New Order' in Norway, the Norwegian people showed their firm determination to be free. Anti-Nazi demonstrations, riots, physical violence to Quislingists, and acts of sabotage became ever more frequent. As the year ended, Germany still found more difficulty in attempting to rule the Norwegians than it had encountered in conquering them. (See FINLAND; SWEDEN; DENMARK.)