Operation Weserübung

By Alex Camai, Emily Sullivan, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Buk

Lau, and Shrek

THESISOperation Weserübung was a battle over Norway for British and

German interests, leading to a British defeat and a loss of confidence in English naval power, making it even more difficult

to unify to attack Nazi Germany.

MAP

MAP

Basically, Germany and the Allies (Shreks) are fighting over the rights to Norway along with other north European/Scandinavian countries like Denmark and Sweden, who claimed their neutrality. Germany wants its ports to launch Uboats and navy, and England has a mining operation there. The Danish capitulated immediately but the Norwegians announced their will to fight.

Basic Diagram of Operation

No Norway is me swampe, not yers!

Git out me swampe!

Pls don’t hurt me

The Norwegian Navy was unprepared for the German offensive. The forces consisted of the following:

The Panserskipsdivisjon (say that five times fast)2 Coastal defense ships, the Eidsvold and Norge2 Older Coastal Defense Ships (the Germans later turned these into anti-aircraft ships for themselves)

Dated BEFORE 1920 (Old)15 Torpedo boats4 Destroyers

Dated From 1858 (REALLY OLD)9 Submarines and warships

Norway’s Squad

Germany would have the jump on Norway because the Norwegians were more concerned about the Allies and their naval offensive.

German Advantage

The Norwegian ship Eidsvold was from a class of obsolete ships including the Norge that had insufficient technology (such as lack of bottom torpedo defense) and outdated weaponry.

Eidsv-OLD

U jelly Norway?

In a sense, trying to fight German U-Boats with the Eidsvold was like playing Airsoft with a Nerf gun.

Continued

Captain Off and the Eidsvold were wrecked by Germany at Narvik along with the Norge.

Germany was able to get a head start against England because their ships were already at sea.

But England had something up their sleeve...SURPRISE ATTACK!

Norway resists

Oops.

This was England after the surprise attack.

They used a unique strategy to attack German ships unexpectedly, under a snowstorm, with a fleet of battleships.

Summary cont.

LOL! Scrub didn’t even think I would attack them during a snowstorm. Ha, I’m so MLG, aren’t I, Germany?

This was Germany after England surprise attacked them ->

Summary Cont.

Germany got England back later. While the English fleet was withdrawing, German ships attacked them back. They ended up beaching the Hardy, damaging the Hotspur, and sinking the Hunter.

MOAR SUMMARYZ

LOL England revenge is sweet

After Norway and Denmark were invaded by Germany, the US troops went to Iceland to protect it. As many as 40,000 troops flew over and set up in Iceland.

AMERICA! FUDGE YEAH!!!

A successful campaign by Germany against France and the Low Countries furthered the operation.Eventually, France and England withdrew from Norway.

The End?

England and France

Hey Norway, how’s it going? Wanna let me occupy your ports?

-April 4, 1940: Hitler decided to start the operation...in five days. #procrastination-April 8, 1940: British begin their mining operation in Norwegian waters. German units were already at sea and got a march on the British.-April 9, 1940 (FIVE DAYS LATER): Operation begins-German destroyers intercepted by Eidsvold commanded by Captain Off. German ships demanded surrender, but when the Captain rejected, German torpedoes rekked the Norweigian ship, losing all but 8 of its crew of 193. The Germans then proceeded to sink the Norge, losing 101 of its crew. German KDR was 286-0

-British ships intercepted German transports under the cover of a snowstorm, rekking two and heavily damaging one.German ships killjoy the withdrawing British and attack them. Hardy was hit several times and was beached. The Hunter

sunk, and the Hotspur was damaged. -May 10, 1940: Germans launch successful campaign against France and the Low Countries-June 5-8, 1940: British and French get wrecked and withdraw from Norway-June 10, 1940: Norwegian armed forces get wrecked and surrender

-June 4-9: Operation JUNO: German relief forces link up at Narvik and attack enemy shipments/protect German shipments-June 8: German ships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau encounter the British aircraft carrier Glorious and it gets wrecked by

the Germans

TIMELINE

Who can tell me what this says? ^-The Royal Navy lost a fleet carrier, two light cruisers, and 9 destroyers.-The German Navy lost its heavy cruiser Blücher, 2 light cruisers many more smaller ships.-The operation revealed errors in the chain of command, resulting in the replacement of the second fleet commander: Wilhelm Marschall (Germany).-Hitler considered Norway as the “zone of destiny” (CUE CHOIR MUSIC)-The heaviest fighting occurred near Narvik-Casualties and resource costs were minor compared to the other battles later. 5,296 injured and dead for Germany. The British, French, and Poles had 4,899 wounded and dead. Norwegian forces suffered 1,335 deaths.-The German Navy got major wreckage. Their strength was diminished to a degree that it affected the war.-However, the navy still managed to occupy Norway, and Hitler even said that it was “one of the sauciest undertakings in the history of modern warfare.”

Apres de la bataille: Fun facts and outcome

The Blücher sinking V

Pictures

● Goals of operationo German forces wanted to seize control of Norway’s ports, which would become a

useful base of operations to launch their U-boat attacks.● Lead up to Operation:

o Raeder, German navy commander, was frustrated by Hitler’s restrictions on naval operations not allowing him to seize the initiative and achieve early success.

o 1939, Britain was planning on invading Norway● Operation Weserübung

o Raeder planned this operation of Norway and Denmarko Was going to be the big moment for the Navy in the war for Germanyo Secured important port facilities for surface raiders and U-boats in Norway and a

shipping route for iron from Swedeno substantial losses

● (German Navy: World War II)

DESCRIPTION

A wild enemy soldier appears! What do you do?A)Throw potatoesB)Answer the following quiz questionsC)ScreamD)Die

Oh noes

Why did the Germans want to take Norway?A)They wanted to live thereB)For the social securityC)To use as a front to launch H-BoatsD)To use as a front to launch U-Boats

Question 1

What was the British aircraft carrier ironically named who was sunk by German ships?A)No FriendsB)GloryC)FALCON PAAAAAAAAAAUUUNNNCHD)Glorious

Question 2

How many destroyers did the Royal Navy lose?A)3.1415926B)(cos(180)+1) x tan(45)+3^2C)sec540 x tan80+csc(tan(59))D)cot(45.23)log(56 x tan(45))B)9

Question 3

The Germans did not lose a substantial amount of ships.A)True, they lost the heavy cruiserB)False, the Germans only lost one shipC)PotatoD)2.71 millimeters

True or False?

German relief forces linked up with the existing force in Operation-A)JUNOB)1C)SUND)GUNE)KIM JONG UUNION

Question 5

June 5-8: Who got rekked?A)Britain and BelgiumB)Iraq and the United StatesC)Britain and FranceD)420 and Blazin

Question 6

Which town was roughly in the center of the battle?A)MiddelfartB)SeattleC)FartkontrolD)Barcelona

BONUS

What is “speed bump” in Norwegian?A)FARTB)NOLFC)FARTSDUMPD)POOPSDIARRHEA

BONUS TWO

What is this? ---> AA)The letter AB)The color blackC)The first letter of the alphabetD)A 90 degree rotated unfinished drawing of Pacman eating a tic-tac

ULTIMATE BONUS

YUO ARE NAO MLG PRO

CONGLAJURATIONS

Bird, Keith W. "WESERÜBUNG, Operation (April 1940)." World War II at Sea: An Encyclopedia. Ed. Spencer C. Tucker. Vol. 2. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2012. 797-800. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 12 Mar. 2015.Bird, Keith W. "German Navy: World War II." World at War: Understanding Conflict and Society. ABC-CLIO, 2015. Web. 12 Mar. 2015. MacDonald, Britton W., and Spencer C. Tucker. "Narvik, Naval Battles of (April 10 and 13, 1940)." World War II at Sea:An Encyclopedia. Ed. Spencer C. Tucker. Vol. 2. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2012. 532-534. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 13 Mar. 2015."Operation Weserübung – Denmark and Norway – Maps and Resources." Historical Resources About The Second World War. WordPress, 1 Sept. 2008. Web. 16 Mar. 2015.Greene, Jack. "Norway, Navy." World War II at Sea: An Encyclopedia. Ed. Spencer C. Tucker. Vol. 2. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2012. 568-570. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 17 Mar. 2015.http://www.history.army.mil/books/70-7_02.htm"Operation Weserübung - Denmark and Norway - Maps and Resources."Historical Resources About The Second World War. N.p., 01 Sept. 2008. Web. 18 Mar. 2015.

WORKS CITED