The Germans lost two armoured cars and three motorcycles, while the Danes suffered one dead and one wounded.Īnother German column reached Hokkerup a few kilometers east of Lundtoftbjerg at 05:30. About 1.5 km (1 mile) to the north, a bicycle platoon prepared a defence of a railway bridge, but fire from the armoured cars and strafing fighter aircraft forced them to retreat, and a third of them were captured. ![]() Eventually the anti-tank platoon was forced to withdraw to Aabenraa (Åbenrå). ![]() A fire started in a nearby barn, filling the air with smoke and hindering the German advance. A German column appeared at 04:50, and the 20mm cannons opened fire on the armoured cars while the machine gun took aim at the motorcyclists. The first clash between the Danish Army and the invading forces occurred at Lundtoftbjerg, where a Danish anti-tank platoon armed with two 20 mm guns and a light machine gun had taken up positions covering the road. Eastern flank ĭanish bicycle infantry on 9 April 1940 Lundtoftbjerg The alarm was sounded at 04:17, and the first Danish troops were dispatched at 04:35. With the Kriegsmarine simultaneously landing troops at Lillebælt, Danish troops at the border were cut off at the beginning of the fighting. The Danish border was breached at Sæd, Rens, Padborg, and Krusaa (Kruså) at 04:15 on the 9th. Believing the attack was imminent, the troops were placed on full alert at 13:30 on 8 April. Only small and scattered units of the frontier guard and elements of the Jutland (Jylland) division were available to meet the land invasion. Skirmishes Īlthough the Royal Danish Army was warned of the attack, it was denied permission to deploy or prepare defensive positions as the Danish government did not want to give the Germans any provocation for their actions. On 4 April, Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, chief of the Abwehr and involved in the German resistance to Nazism, warned the Danes of an imminent invasion. It included an airborne assault on the Aalborg (Ålborg) airfields, a surprise landing of infantry from naval auxiliaries at Copenhagen (København), and a simultaneous ground assault across the Jutland (Jylland) peninsula. The German High Command planned a combined assault on Denmark to overrun the country as swiftly as possible. The Germans presented the invasion as an act of protection against a supposed imminent attack by the United Kingdom. Norway's fjords also provided excellent bases for German submarines in the North Atlantic. The Kriegsmarine high command approved of occupying Denmark to extend the German sea-defence network northward, making it harder for British ships to outflank it from the north when attacking ships in the Atlantic. To capture Norway, the Germans had to control the port outside Aalborg (Ålborg) in northern Jutland (Jylland). Its main purpose was to secure the iron ore that shipped from Narvik. The attack on Denmark was part of Operation Weserübung Süd, Germany's plan for the invasion of Norway. ![]() Lasting approximately six hours, the German ground campaign against Denmark was one of the shortest military operations of the Second World War. Due to communication difficulties, some Danish forces continued to fight, but after a further two hours, all opposition had stopped. After less than two hours of struggle, Danish Prime Minister Thorvald Stauning ended the opposition to the German attack, for fear that the Germans would bomb Copenhagen (København), as they had done with Warsaw during the invasion of Poland in September 1939. The initial plan was to push Denmark to accept that German land, naval and air forces could use Danish bases, but Adolf Hitler subsequently demanded that both Norway and Denmark be invaded.ĭenmark's military forces were inferior in numbers and equipment, and after a short battle were forced to surrender. The attack on Denmark was a breach of the non-aggression pact Denmark had signed with Germany less than a year earlier. An extensive network of radar systems was built in Denmark to detect British bombers bound for Germany. The invasion's primary purpose was to use Denmark as a staging ground for operations against Norway, and to secure supply lines to the forces about to be deployed there. The attack was a prelude to the invasion of Norway ( German: Weserübung Nord, 9 April – 10 June 1940).ĭenmark's strategic importance for Germany was limited. The German invasion of Denmark ( German: Operation Weserübung – Süd), was the German attack on Denmark on 9 April 1940, during the Second World War. ![]() (Zealand, Jutland divisions, & Bornholm garrison) To prevent German expansion, the United Kingdom invades and occupies both the Faroe Islands and Iceland while Greenland remained unoccupied under the possibility of seizure by the United Kingdom, United States or Canada
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |