Uff Da the optimist
Donor
Your challenge, should you accept it, is to make Norway resist harder to the german invasion during ww2 with a POD after 1934.
Your challenge, should you accept it, is to make Norway resist harder to the german invasion during ww2 with a POD after 1934.
Golly, they sank a heavy cruiser and embarrased the entire Germany navy. I think they did pretty well as it was
There were 2 BC and a few CA, not too much and a lot less after the Norway campaign was finishedI don't think in 1940 there was much of a German navy to embarrass.
Your challenge, should you accept it, is to make Norway resist harder to the german invasion during ww2 with a POD after 1934.
April 8
Gruppe 1, with Scharnhorst, Gneisenau and 10 destroyers are heading north towards Narvik, carrying 2000 troops of the 3 Mountain Division. North of their position is the battlecruiser Renown and her escorts, sailing south to intercept.
Further south lies a British group of 2 cruisers and 15 destroyers, and, separated from these, the destroyer Glowworm, originally part of Renown's escort, but which had been unable to keep up.
South still is Gruppe 2, with Admiral Hipper and 4 destroyers, carrying 1700 mountain troops bound for Trondheim, with the British Home Fleet in hot pursuit.
Shortly after dawn on the 8th, the Glowworm encounters 2 German destroyers and then the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper. Unable to escape, she ineffectually launches all torpedoes at the German ship before ramming her, causing heavy damage. The Glowworm itself is sunk by Hippers guns.
Forbes orders the Renown to head south to Glowworms last known position, putting it on a collision course with Gruppe 1
POD - April 8, 14.00 hours
A British Sunderland flying boat is on a recon mission in the North Sea in conditions of heavy rain. With the crew distracted by a joke told by the navigator, they fail to spot the German fleet heading for Trondheim and Narvik through the narrow opening in the clouds
Admiral Forbes does not conclude that the Germans are trying to break out and all ships maintain course.
The first to make contact are Gruppe 2 and the British force of 2 cruisers and 15 destroyers. 1 German destroyer is damaged and Gruppe 2 heads south to evade destruction. The damaged destroyer however fails to keep up and is sunk. Heading south, they encounter the Home fleet. The damaged Admiral Hipper and her 3 destroyers are all sent to the bottom.
To the north, the Renown clashes with the Gneisenau and Scharnhorst. Gneisenau's fir-control systems are damaged and 1 German destroyer is sunk with the British also loosing 1 destroyer. Gruppe 1 attempts to head north-west, but the Renown successfully follows them.
Hours later, Gruppe 2 is intercepted by the british cruiser and destroyer group, now also accompanied by the Repulse. With the Germans sandwiched between the two fleets, they loose the Gneisenau and two further destroyers, with the rest scattering westward.
The Norwegian cabinet meets to discuss the situation (5 hours earlier than OTL). During the meeting, the decision is initially taken to enact partial mobilization. However, when asked how this would take place, defence minister Birtger Ljungberg explains that it would be carried out according to regulations in secret and by post. With this information, the cabinet decides to issue and immediate full mobilization, since it would be the only option that could be carried out in time, much to Ljungbers opposition.
April 9
- German forces begin to occupy Denmark
- With the general alarm raised, Norwegian forces manage to repel the German Fallschirmjager forces landing at the airbase at Sola near Stavanger. Instrumental to this was the only finished concrete bunker with a machine gun, which scored dozens of kills, as well as covering fire from Norwegian infantry, who managed to prevent one daring German paratrooper from hurdling a grenade into the bunker. Despite Me109 cover, the paratroopers soon found themselves in an untenable position and surrendered.
- Scharnhorst and 5 destroyers switch course and head for Bergen, but encounter the remainder of the Home fleet, also sailing south. 1 German destroyer is sunk, but the Scharnhorst escapes any damage
- With the British being just a few miles away, Gruppe 3 abandon their position west of Bergen and sail south hours before their attack on the harbor was to be launched
- German transport Roda sunk by the Norwegian destroyer Sleipner off Stavanger
With the landing forces bound for Narvik and Trondheim almost totally destroyed, the one for Bergen forced to abandon and the ones at Kristiansand and Oslo apparently unable to make any headway, Hitler feared the worst, namely that should the Wehrmacht be seen as having lost in Norway, morale could suffer strong enough to prevent a successful invasion of France. If, however, it was all seen as a series of small naval battles, then the impact would be minimal. Plus, once France fell, victory would be his. No need to risk that with a futile attempt to take small towns and fjords he’d never heard about. So, at the last moment, Hitler cancels the invasion. The paratroopers at Oslo airport, still engaged in fighting, are ordered south to rendezvous with the forces there and then sail back to Germany, or, failing to do that, head for Sweden. Everyone else receives a general order to retreat back to base.
- Blucher sunk by the Oscarsborg Fortress at 5:30 AM, with heavy loss of life. Deutschland damaged.
- Luftwaffe attacks the Oscarsborg Fortress
- Gruppe 5 unloads its troops in Sonsbukten, 19 km south of Oscarsborg
- At 9.45, paratroopers still battle Norwegian infantry in the Oslo airport, although by now they are gaining the upper hand, with the Norwegians being mostly freshly mobilized recruits
- Luftwaffe fails to spot the RN, now in a different position
- At Kristiansand, coastal batteries damage the Karlsruhe and twice repulse the landing attempts by 10 AM (OTL Gruppe 4 finally managed to force a landing at 11 AM, only here it doesn't get the chance)
If Norway mobilized and started yelling at the Brits and the Germans the Germans wouldn't invade. The whole point was to keep the brits out. The brits may still invade but that would put Norway in the Axis camp and set a different tone for the war as the Brits would be the first to invade a neutral country and not Germany. Plus Norway may turn into a meat grinder for the Brits and chew up the BEF before France. Let the butterflies commence flapping...
More importantly for the war, almost the entire Norwegian Merchant Marine sailed to England. This was one of the largest fleets in the world and formed a very large proportion of the shipping carrying supplies in convoys during the Battle of the Atlantic. Without those ships the convoy war may well have been lost.They also managed to evacuate the Royal Family and the cabinet to England.
[FONT="]Going from memory didn't the Norwegians start to mobilise, reconsider and stop, and then finally start it up again but issue the call up by post so that the German invasion had already started before it could be effectively implemented? The two easiest changes that I can think of is that the Norwegian government issues the orders for full mobilisation as soon as the head of the military asks for it doing it via radio whilst loudly and publically stating that it's a purely defensive action to defend against Allied or Nazi pressure, and that they also issues orders to the coastal forts and artillery to assume that any non-Norwegian ships trying to enter their waters are hostile and should be sunk after the first warning.