Other Norwegian troops were pushing the Germans back towards the Swedish border near Bjrnfjell. 331 and 332 squadrons had 180 confirmed enemy planes shot down plus 35 probable. Throughout the war, Norwegian resistance activities were supported by the Shetland Bus operation. The village of Veblungsnes and the area around ndalsnes train station suffered particularly heavy damage. On 3 July Haakon VII turned down the request, and on 8 July gave a speech on BBC Radio proclaiming his answer. This led the commander in Bergen, Admiral Carsten Tank-Nielsen, to deny Altmark access to the restricted-access harbour zone. A few more days of his struggling went (worth another story) before he met the Norwegian Resistance group members (he was the youngest member of his group), he lernt language and fought nazies up to end of WWII, when he returned back to Ukraine. We have family in Oslo and visit very often from our home in the USA. How many Albertans died in ww2? - ruggedthuglife.com I would love to read it! The damaged cruiser was sunk by a salvo of antiquated, 40-year-old torpedoes launched from land-based torpedo tubes. Trade agreements secured with Germany and Great Britain in early 1940 was thought to be additional protection against invaders, as was Norways military presence on the nations borders, and the close proximity of Britains impressive naval power. The proposed Allied deployments never occurred, after protests from both Norway and Sweden, when the issue of transfers of troops through their territory was suggested. Several of the units facing the German advance were led by officers especially selected by Ruge to replace commanders who had failed to show sufficient initiative and aggression in the early days of the campaign. Between 1940 and 1945, thousands of young Norwegians fought in Norway's Resistance movement against the occupying Nazis. Following protracted negotiations between 25 September and 20 November 1939, the Norwegians agreed to charter 150 tankers, as well as other ships with a tonnage of 450,000 gross tons. Almost instantly after the invasion, resistance movements sprang up across the country. [108][119] Some 50 captured Norwegian naval ships were over time pressed into service by the Kriegsmarine. [76][78][79] During the trip the force had been transferred to destroyers instead of bulky transport ships due to the narrow waters of the fjord leading to Namsos; in the confusion of the transfer a great deal of their supplies and even the brigade commander were misplaced. And what impact did the war have on the country and the people there? Most of the victims were ill, elderly men, women, and children. [101] By 8 June, after destroying rail lines and port facilities, all Allied troops had been evacuated. The same day that the 1st Division began crossing into Sweden, the two battalions of Infantry Regiment no. Four British destroyers continued to chase the German ships up through the Rombaksfjord, Eskimo was soon damaged by the waiting opposition. On 20 April German aircraft bombed Namsos, destroying most of the houses in the town centre, and large portions of the supply storage for allied troops, leaving de Wiart without a base. [103] The 62-day campaign made Norway the country to withstand a German invasion for the longest period of time, aside from the Soviet Union. NOVA | Hitler's Sunken Secret | Norwegian Resistance Coup | PBS They apologized and advised that they felt this wrong should be made right. During the fight Glowworm had broken radio silence and informed the Admiralty of her situation. The Norwegian position was soon attacked by a small detachment of German troops, led by Eberhard Spiller, the air attach for the German Embassy, who were racing north in an attempt to capture King Haakon VII. [123], The Allies achieved a partial success at Narvik. Their accounts helped to form my historical novel, The Jssing Affair, set in a fictional fishing village south of Trondheim. My mother didnt talk about it a lot but my grandmother Jolle Schoyen owned a home in Bergen and had her two young daughters My mother Jofrid and her sister my aunt Lisbeth. [55] To achieve this aim the 4th Division had a total mobilized force of 6,361 soldiers and 554 horses. The Nazis would destroy whole towns as the were leaving, conducted scortched earth campaigns when they had gotten defeated by Norwegian citizens resistance fighters, soldiers from UK, USSR, and France I read. The man in charge of the invasion strategy was General Nikolaus von Falkenhorst. This led the Royal Navy to send one light cruiser and five destroyers that were patrolling nearby. Supposedly my uncle was a translator in the American Army stationed in Britain during this time translating radio messages from this resistance movement. Groadmiral Erich Raeder, however, argued for an invasion. The German military requisitioned homes, businesses, and property, schools, all while spreading Nazi symbolism and ideologies. Jacob Backer my grandfather was a great leader, and was nearly kilked two times from Uboats in the Atlantic. Tank-Nielsen was overruled by his superior, Commanding Admiral Henry Diesen, and she was escorted through. The captured Vrnes Air Station near Trondheim was rapidly expanded and improved to provide the Luftwaffe with a base from which to support the Narvik sector. [34] Likewise, when German panzers were employed the Norwegians had no regular countermeasures. As HMS Cossack entered the fjord at 22:20 local time, the Norwegian vessels did not intervene when the British boarded Altmark in the late hours of 16 February. Weeks after the end of the Norwegian Campaign the Germans pressured the presidency of the Norwegian parliament to issue a request that Haakon VII abdicate. Regardless, the airfield was not heavily defended and the German soldiers who did arrive captured it promptly. [76] The main force began landing at Harstad, a port town on the island of Hinnya, on 14 April. In order to secure the Skagerrak strait between Norway and Denmark, the air bases in Denmark had to be seized. The naval 330 Squadron and 333 Squadron flew Northrop N-3PB patrol bombers, Consolidated PBY Catalina and Short Sunderland flying boats and de Havilland Mosquito fighter bombers. [7] Control of Norwegian air bases would allow German reconnaissance aircraft to operate far into the North Atlantic, while German U-boats and surface ships operating out of Norwegian naval bases would be able to break the British blockade line across the North Sea and attack convoys heading to Great Britain.[2][8]. He wiuld pass a Russian worker prisoners camp and try to help the starving men by throwing some food he had oner the fence when guards werent looking. The first such violations were the sinkings in Norwegian territorial waters of several British ships by German U-boats. Hatledal had approached Ljungberg on 5, 6 and 8 April, asking the defence minister to request the cabinet issue orders for mobilization. She was shot dead. Although the soldiers were ordered to behave properly towards the civilian population in Norway, they had the authority to control and the right to arrest people they thought to be suspicious. Of all the many interesting sites weve seen and experienced in Oslo, among our favorites is the Norwegian Resistance Museum (Norges Hjemmefrontmuseum) next to Akershus Fortress. Both Hitler and the Allied forces wanted to seize control of the iron ore supply line from Sweden to prevent it falling into enemy hands. My grandmother from Vesteralen told me of this story years ago. In Norway itself, 23 Jews died at the hands of the Nazis. Is it possible that someone knows what RAF Squadron did the drops and is there a picture somewhere of the canister that was used? How many Norwegians died in ww2? From a force of 15 ships in June 1940, the Royal Norwegian Navy had expanded to 58 warships by the end of the Second World War in Europe. Please return him to Germany for the rest of the war, or they would have him stay as their own child. At 10:45, the remaining eight destroyers of the minelaying force were ordered to join them as well. [49] Although the regular Norwegian armed forces in mainland Norway laid down their arms in June 1940, there was a fairly prominent resistance movement, which proved increasingly efficient during the later years of occupation. Student Resources / Research Starters / Research Starters: Worldwide Deaths in Research Starters: Worldwide Deaths in World War II WWII History Deaths by Country Worldwide Casualties* *Worldwide casualty estimates vary widely in several sources. The remaining Norwegian naval vessels were sunk in action, scuttled by their own crews, or captured by the Germans. Casualties of World War II | History of Western Civilization II And, abandoned by allies. Per Norwegian neutrality regulations, government ships operated by the warring countries were forbidden from such strategically important Norwegian ports. You neglected to mention the 15,000 who joined the SS and German Wehrmacht. I am trying to arrange a visit to pay my respects as the first member of his family to visit Norway. [1][114] Two torpedo boats and 15 light naval units were also lost during the campaign. Because some forces were needed for both invasions, Weserbung could not occur at the same time as Gelb, and because the nights, which provided vital cover for the naval forces, were shortening as spring approached, it therefore had to be sooner. While the British supported this operation, the French vetoed it for three months since they also depended on the Rhine and feared German air raids on their aircraft and munitions factories. Our children and grand children need to hear these stories. The following German naval forces used to invade Denmark were as organized: The Germans hoped they could avoid armed confrontation with the residents of both countries, and their troops were instructed to fire only if fired upon. At least 6 million Jewish men, women, and children, and millions of others, died in Hitler's extermination camps. Do you know if they had access to rice? Why is the Holocaust Unique? [124], The German occupation of Norway was to prove a thorn in the side of the Allies during the next few years. My grandfathers 6 years at sea too, would be nice to have the full story of each allied mission, his capt logs, and to honor all we lost and who survived, but paid fully. By 08:43 Denmark had capitulated. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Soviet soldiers killed during the Toropets-Kholm Offensive, January 1942. Prior to 1940, there were few such volunteers, but after the invasion, their numbers increased dramatically totaling around 50,000 by wars end. While most of Gruppe 4 was engaged at Kristiansand, the torpedo boat Greif captured Arendal without any opposition. British 700,000 military casualitits and 60,000 civilian deaths. In July 1945, the Pacific War had been moving very slowly. [33] Norwegian attempts to mount a counter-attack were half-hearted and effectively came to nothing. She was joined later in the fjord by a second Kjell and the patrol boat Firern. Shelters and blackout curtains became a part of everyday life. Cork eventually conceded to Mackesy's viewpoint. World War II was the most destructive war in history. "Drifting Towards War: The British Chiefs of Staff, the USSR and the Winter War, November 1939March 1940,", This page was last edited on 12 June 2023, at 11:17. [4], Norway, although neutral, was considered strategically important for both sides for several reasons. In total the Royal Norwegian Navy fielded some 1718 warships and five to six aircraft in western Norway following the German capture of Bergen. How many Norwegians died in World War 2? - Answers [95], In the evening of 27 May Bod was bombed and strafed by the Luftwaffe. This left the navy weakened during the summer months when Hitler was pursuing plans for an invasion of Britain. When Laake's call for mobilization was finally accepted sometime between 03:30 and 04:00 on 9 April, Laake assumed, like Defence Minister Ljungberg, that the cabinet knew that they were issuing a partial and silent mobilization. However, the Royal Family, the Government and most members of the Storting were able to flee before the occupying forces reached Oslo. In 1945 around 1,300 "police troops" took part in the Liberation of Finnmark. A little over one thousand Norwegians were killed or wounded, the British suffered nearly two thousand killed or wounded and five hundred French and Polish troops were killed or wounded. [36], In a pre-emptive move to prevent a German invasion, British forces occupied the Faroe Islands on 12 April 1940, then a Danish amt (county). This distance delayed the arrival of the main German invasion force for Oslo by over 24 hours, though the Norwegian capital would still be captured less than 12 hours after the loss of Blcher by troops flown into Fornebu Airport near the city. We all saw it in the whole family, the Nazis were brutal, and made them all suffer trauma they were never the same. The broadcast does not sugar coat the Nazi sympathies of the Swedish king, her own uncle. Fifty Jews who had family in Sweden were taken in by the Swedish consul, Claes Adolf Hjalmar Westring, and were sent to Sweden in February 1943. Its one weak area in the whole campaign was that many German troops had to be landed by sea and the control of the sea around Norway's coast was vital. [1][21][49][91] Shortly after the 28 May Allied recapture of Narvik, the city was bombed and heavily damaged by the Luftwaffe. I am studying nutrition. [77] By the time the Germans arrived, some 80% of ndalsnes lay in ruins. On interrogation the survivors disclosed that they were assigned to protect Bergen from the Allies. After the end of the Winter War, the Norwegian aid continued and was shifted to reconstruction. North of Hnefoss the Germans began meeting Norwegian resistance, first delaying actions and later units fighting organized defensive actions. Surprise was almost complete, particularly in Denmark. [26][108], Norwegian squadrons flew with the RAF Fighter and Coastal Commands. Human and material cost Learn about Allied and Axis leaders, the Allied invasion of Normandy, and the dropping of atomic bombs See all videos for this article There can be no real statistical measurement of the human and material cost of World War II. As the number of casualties from the strike in Pervomaysky rises, photos of the damage have emerged. Also she was dealing with it alone, and scared. Similar rumours led to mass panic in Egersund and other occupied coastal cities. Despite the hardships of the occupation many Norwegian military and civilian personnel continued to fight for their freedom. King Haakon of Norway was put on a boat with his family and other members of the Norwegian government on 7 June heading towards the United Kingdom and other allied countries. In all 118 warships had been under Norwegian command at one time or another during the war years. [86][87] The force consisted of the 24th Guards Brigade, led by Brigadier William Fraser, and French and Polish units led by Brigadier Antoine Bthouart. The same day 11 Luftwaffe bombers also attacked the town of Nybergsund, in an attempt at killing the Norwegian King, Crown Prince Olav and cabinet. King Christian, having consulted with Prime Minister Thorvald Stauning, Foreign Minister P. Munch and the commanders of the army and the navy, decided to capitulate, believing that further resistance would only result in a useless loss of Danish lives. The occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany during the Second World War began on 9 April 1940 after Operation Weserbung. [1], In order to block the expected allied landings the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht ordered a Fallschirmjger company to make a combat drop on the railway junction of Dombs in the north of the Gudbrandsdal valley. [44], On 11 April, the day after the German-Norwegian negotiations had broken down, 19 German bombers attacked Elverum. Citizens of Norway also held collections for food, supplies, and money to aid Finnish refugees and communities that were devastated by the conflict. [26][52][55], With the calling off of the Allied plans for recapturing Trondheim, British forces which had been landed at ndalsnes moved into eastern Norway. [69] He set up his own headquarters at Frde and prepared for the further defence of Sogn og Fjordane. It stopped the German advance into the Soviet Union and marked . The first direct contact between the two sides occurred the next morning without either side's intention. [46][56][83] The town of lesund had also suffered heavily from German bombing during the last days of April. It took her 40 years to get her Norwegian citizenship back. Before the British warships were sunk, however, the destroyer Acasta torpedoed and damaged Scharnhorst. [26][105], The official German casualties for the Norwegian Campaign totalled 5,296. As Altmark was nearing Bergen harbour on 14 February, the Norwegian naval authorities demanded an inspection of her cargo. - Answers Subjects > Humanities > History How many Norwegians died in World War 2? How many Norwegians were killed? - Axis History Forum Each year we get the gift of the Christmas tree at Trafalgar Square in London for what we did and tried to do and it is much appreciated. The soldier who had shot her was taken by German officers to the girls parents home.