“SIDEBAR” 1:

Norway during World War II

Despite proclaiming its neutrality, tiny Norway -- then a country of three million people -- was occupied
by Nazi Germany for five years during the war, from April 9, 1940 until May 8, 1945.

At dawn on April 9, 1940, German began its massive air, sea and land invasion of Norway. Airborne Nazi
forces secured the airport at the capital, Oslo. At the same time, Nazi soldiers secured the main cities of
Kristiansand, Stavanger, Bergen and Trondheim in southern and western Norway.

Caught unaware, the Norwegians were unable to mobilise their small army fully. Their soldiers retreated
to the mountains of northern Norway, where they joined British and French troops to continue the fight
against the Nazis. The United Kingdom and France had come to Norway's aid with an expeditionary
force.

But German troops were rapidly reinforced and the Luftwaffe proved to be superior, forcing British and
French troops to withdraw. On June 7, the Norwegian king and government were forced to flee to
England aboard a British cruiser. Before leaving, they vowed to fight on from abroad until Norway was
free again.

By occupying Norway, Hitler gained naval and air bases from which to strike at Allied sea-lanes. From the
Norwegian harbours and fjords it occupied, German submarines struck throughout the north Atlantic.
From its new bases in northern Norway, the Nazi air force sent bombing and torpedo squadrons against
Allied convoys carrying supplies to Murmansk in the Soviet Union.

Invading Norway also ensured for the Germans the safety of vital shipping lanes down from northern
Narvik, a major outlet of iron ore from neutral Sweden. They needed this iron ore for their war effort.
Meanwhile, the German invasion also pre-empted the Allied forces from achieving the same purposes,
while reinforcing the propaganda of a “Germanic empire.”

Although the Norwegian government was forced to escape, the 62 days of fighting – later called the
Norwegian Campaign -- made Norway known as the nation that withstood a German invasion for the
second longest period, after the Soviet Union.

Nazification
Civil rule was assumed by the Reichskommissariat Norwegen (Reich Commissariat of Norway) under
Nazi rule and 55,000 people joined the National Unity Party, which became the only legal party. But the
Supreme Court resigned and both organised sports and bishops boycotted the new regime – and the
nazification process failed.

The German occupation resulted in a brutalisation of society; 30,000 people were imprisoned.

Like other occupied countries, the Norwegian population suffered the severe economic consequences of
war: The moment it was occupied, Norway lost all its major trading partners and Germany became the
main trading partner, but it could not make up for the lost import and export business. While production
capacity largely remained intact, the German authorities confiscated a very large part of the output. This
left Norway with only 43% of its production being freely available. Combined with a general drop in
productivity, this caused shortages of food and other basic commodities.
To keep famine away, most Norwegians started growing their own crops and keeping their own
livestock. In the cities, residents grew potatoes, cabbage and other hardy vegetables in city parks.
People kept pigs, rabbits, chicken and other poultry in their houses and outbuildings. Fishing and
hunting became more widespread. The black market provided for fuel to coffee, tea, and tobacco.

Jewish Persecution
At the start of the occupation, there were about 2,000 Jews in Norway. At least 775 of these were
arrested, detained and deported. About 700 died; they were executed or died in concentration camps.
Some Jews survived by fleeing the country, mostly to Sweden, but some also to the United Kingdom.

Norwegian Resistance
From day one of the German occupation, Norwegians fought back with both civil disobedience and
armed resistance. A Norwegian resistance movement thrived during the five years of German
occupation. Throughout the war, young Norwegian men escaped to neutral Sweden or across the North
Sea in small fishing boats to Scotland and England.

In England, they set up Company Linje, a special forces unit which sent many Norwegians back to the
homeland to establish wireless radio contacts and sabotage German installations, transportation and
shipping, in cooperation with the local Norwegian secret military called Milorg. Many young Norwegians
lost their lives during these operations.

Apart from Milorg, many independent, mostly communist, resistance groups operated in occupied
Norway, attacking German targets without coordinating with the exiled Norwegian authorities.
One of its major successes of the resistance movement was the destruction of Norsk Hydro’s heavy
water plant and the stockpile of heavy water at Vemork. This crippled the German nuclear programme.
The resistance movement also contributed to the Allied cause throughout the war.

The Royal Norwegian Navy and Royal Norwegian Air Force were re-established in Britain from the
remnants of forces saved from the Norwegian Campaign. With a steady trickle of refugees making their
way out of occupied Norway, the ranks of the Navy and Air Force were soon swollen. British and
American aircraft and ships boosted the capacity of the fighting forces.

By the end of World War II the Royal Norwegian Navy had expanded to 58 warships from a force of 15
ships in June 1940. The ships were manned by around 7,000 crewmembers. Overall, 118 warships had
been under Norwegian command at one time or another during the war years, all seeing extensive
combat in the convoy-battles of the North Atlantic and in the air-war over Europe.

SOURCES:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/ff2_norwaycampaign.shtml
Klemann, Hein A.M. and Sergei Kudryashov (2011). Occupied Economies: An Economic History of Nazi-
Occupied Europe, 1939-1945. Berg, p. 403. As cited by Wikipedia in “German Occupation of Norway”

TAGS:
German occupation of Norway, Norway in World War II, Norwegian Campaign, Norwegian resistance in
World War II, Company Linje, Milorg, Royal Norwegian Navy, Royal Norwegian Air Force

PHOTOS: Photo of Norwegian Campaign