1940: Denmark fought to the bitter end

Righteous Nations

Only 3 countries in Europe not counting neutrals did not hand over their

jews to the SS and only Denmark has completely clean hands on this

matter. Bulgaria refused to hand over THEIR jews but this was on

nationalist, not humanitarian grounds, and the Bulgarians themselves

rounded up the jews of northern Greece, Macedonia, southern Romania,

and the 50,000 refugees IN Bulgaria not of bulgarian descent. The Nazis

gave Bulgaria an ultimatum to surrender their jews or be occupied but

the Red Army got to Sofia first. Makes for a nasty contrast with Denmark

doesn't it?:mad: Also, Himmler went to the Finnish Foreign Minister in

Helsinki in 1942 to try to get his mitts on Finland's 2000 jews and he

was virtually thrown out of the building.:D:D:D But, Finland was still a full

Axis Ally:mad:

The SS only got their hands on about 400 mostly elderly Danish Jews

and because of pressure by the Danes Himmler was forced to send them

to Theresienstadt, where less than 60 died of more or less natural causes

before liberation. Not bad, not bad at all:)
 
Custerian Thinking

Custer might have thought he could defend Denmark, but who else?:p
Some nations have one, some, or all of their borders that are
impossible to defend of grounds of terrain, position, and the opposition
they could face. Denmark is a perfect example of this.

You could come up with a number of scenarios where a naval invader
would have to do a major effort to take Denmark, but as earlier people
have written WHAT could Denmark do to defend THEMSELVES for the
good of THEIR country?:confused: From the north, east, or west, they're
good:D But Denmark from the south is an open door. Russia from the
East:eek: France from the North:eek: The USA from the east if there were
an enemy with naval supremacy:eek: Poland from the East:eek: Mexico
from the North:eek:
And is anyone aware of the fact that if Denmark HAD been mobilized for
conflict Soviet military strategy was to bypass it?

I really do think the Danes knew what they were doing. But they were
also very lucky. I could be wrong and welcome being corrected if so but
didn't in 1942 the Nazis' policies towards Denmark change to make it a
more "Germanic" state to the point of doing away with the Danish Army
and government and putting in a Reich Governor and Gauleiters:eek:
 
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Custer might have thought he could defend Denmark, but who else?:p

I really do think the Danes knew what they were doing. But they were
also very lucky. I could be wrong and welcome being corrected if so but
didn't in 1942 the Nazis' policies towards Denmark change to make it a
more "Germanic" state to the point of doing away with the Danish Army
and government and putting in a Reich Governor and Gauleiters:eek:

If defences start at making the right political and military decisions Denmark just might have been defended OTL.

It is presumed today that had the men called up for service at the outbreak of war not been dismissed within a forthnight to a month; had the military leadership done their homework i.e. evaluated the threat and the possible objectives of the attacker AND made the necessary contingency planning; had the politicians opted for another political strategy and poured the necessary funds into defences then its just possible the Germans would not have invaded due to a simple cost benefit analysis.

But in the context of 1940 I'm actually sure the politicians DID the right thing even if I too actually despise their decisions.
They were certain they did the right thing but they hadn't counted on German ruthlessness in persuing objectives.
The really bad thing is that the military leadership failed utterly. They actually percieved German intentions and objectives but didn't make contingency planning and didn't communicate their observations to the politicians partly it seems out of contempt of Socialdemocratic and Radical Liberal ruling parties!
And the navy commander failed to raise the level of readiness to a level that would enable commanders on the spot to make crucial decisions as well as alert crucial coastal fortresses.
 
Isn't a significant chunk of Denmark consist of islands?

The Germans might be able to overrun the continental portions quickly, but the island portions might be more defensible, particularly with the help of the RN.
 
Logistics

Isn't a significant chunk of Denmark consist of islands?

The Germans might be able to overrun the continental portions quickly, but the island portions might be more defensible, particularly with the help of the RN.
The RN would have a long way to go while facing extraordinary air to
sea interdiction from the Luftwaffe, while getting no real help from the
RAF.
 
Isn't a significant chunk of Denmark consist of islands?

The Germans might be able to overrun the continental portions quickly, but the island portions might be more defensible, particularly with the help of the RN.

Quite but those islands are on the wrong side of Jutland. And the sounds/belts quite narrow and shallow water.
 
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