Historical
Germany invaded Denmark & Norway. Denmark surrendered after offering some resistance when the Germans threatened to bomb Copenhagen. The legal position was unclear as Denmark was technically still neutral and Germany had claimed the invasion was to protect Denmark.
German warships landed troops at Narvik, Trondheim, Bergen and Oslo. At Narvik, German destroyers sank the Norwegian coastal cruisers Eidsvold and Norge. Trondheim was captured easily as the coastal batteries believed the German ships were British. At Bergen, the batteries at the Kvarven fort damaged the cruiser Königsberg and the minelayer Bremse. The Oscarsborg Fortress batteries sank the cruiser Blücher in the Oslofjord. The Norwegian destroyer Æger was attacked and sunk off Stavanger by German bombers. Stavanger and Sola Airfields were taken by German paratroops. Oslo was captured later in the day by German troops airlifted into Fornebu Airport, but Norway’s Royal Family and government escaped with the country’s gold reserves.
At dawn the British cruiser HMS Renown spotted the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau heading west after landing Marine Gruppe 1 at Narvik. Renown scored three hits on Gneisenau, taking two hits in return before the German ships used their superior speed to escape. The westward course of the German battleships further convinced the Admiralty that the Kriegsmarine was attempting to break out into the Atlantic Ocean.
The Luftwaffe located the British Home Fleet and 1st Cruiser Squadron that were still searching for the Kriegsmarine’s Atlantic breakout. Ju88s and He111s bombed the battleship HMS Rodney and the destroyer HMS Gurkha off Bergen. Rodney was damaged by a 500 kg bomb that penetrated her deck. HMS Gurkha was sunk. Four Ju88s were shot down.
The British submarine HMS Truant, patrolling in the Skagerrak, torpedoed the German cruiser Karlsruhe. The French submarine Sybille left Harwich to patrol the North Sea west of Denmark.
Vidkun Quisling spoke on Norwegian radio and ordered his countrymen not to resist the Nazis.
Game day 222. USA
The USA collected 28 Industrial Resource points.
The convoy of battleships and cargo vessels docked at the Carolines en route for the USA.
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Later today I will watch the Danish film “April 9th”, following a Danish bicycle infantry platoon on the day of the German invasion.
General Whiskers' semi-historical wanderings 