WI: Danish army fights delaying action in WW2

[Saphroneth]

This came about from reading Blunted Sickle, where it's pointed out that the German plans for op. Weserubung involved taking the airfields in north Jutland and then putting them into action the same day to fly troops into Norway.

So, as the title says - what if the two-division Danish army resisted the German invasion for a day or two? Would that be sufficient to make the wheels come off Weserubung, or at least to let the Brits do a lot more damage to the invasion?

 

[Saphroneth]

Thinking about this a little further, this question has two sections to it:

1) How long could or would the Danes hold out, and how long after that does Aalbog airfield become usable? (With good demolitions the answer should be days or weeks!)

And

2) Without the ability to use the Danish airfields, how much would the timetable for Weserubung be delayed? Would it be possible for the Norwegians (with British and French reinforcement) to actually retain control of the country?

 

[Driftless]

The airfields at Aalborg were used to stage flights of both the Bf-110's an for the Ju-52's. If the flight schedule is interrupted for more than a few hours, that creates problems with seizing the Norwegians airports near Oslo & Stavanger - at least on the first day.

It's very possible the Germans adapt to the loss of initiative, but it would have been costly and time consuming for them. They didn't have much wiggle room for loss of many Ju-52's and certainly they didn't have a lot of time to spare for the Norwegian campaign.

Delay in seizing the Fornebu & Sola also directly helps the Allies activities. The Norwegians get more time to mobilize, the British and French can make their own landings with less interference, and less Lutftwaffe presence should help the RN.

 

[riggerrob]

Are you suggesting that Danish AAA crews shoot as straight as Dutch AAA?

 

[Driftless]

If the Dane's prevent the German parachute troops from seizing Aalborg immediately, the Germans almost certainly send armored cars and tanks north to take the fields from the ground, rather than above. I don't know how long the Dane's could resist that form of attack. I believe the instructions from the Danish command was for their soldiers to cease fire - to avoid the Luftwaffe bombing Copenhagen.

I realize Denmark is not a huge country, but I could see a possibility where efficient German sappers disrupt the lines of communication to the country, leaving an enterprising local Danish commander to make his own defense of the north....

 

[Gudestein]

Well if we imagine a POD that could do that it would require making the Danish soldiers getting orders to fight.
Its tricky what could achieve that, but it could be a center right governent. The social democrats were trying to keep Peace by appeasement, whereas the right was more nationalistic and militaristic. The social democrats were quite popular at the time.
The simpler alternative would be that the Danish military realized that Denmark was a Stepping stone to Norway. While the Danish politicians had no illusions they could not keep Germany at bay for long, deserting a Fellow Nordic country would be politically unacceptable.

Then defending behind The Limfjord and the isles makes a lot of sense, and likely the level of alertness would be much higher.

Clearly, the Germans could not move 300 km in a day and then walk right over the defenders.

It would take a couple. 2-3? of days for a concerted attack (not what they did OTL) to beat the defenders and more if they start off with a fast, but insufficient force.

Weserubung as we know it would very likely fail,

 

[Christopher Marcus]

I just read that Denmark had around 10 submarines in 1940. I don't know how servicable they were, but if they were lying in wait in our narrow Belts they might conceivably get a German troop transport or two - before German destroyers chased them down. This could change a lot since Weser is on such a fragile time table to begin with. Remember Blücher approaching Oslo ...

Related question: Could ferociously resisting Danish army/navy bog down the Germans for long enough so Anglo-French force could play a role in the defense, if only naval? My hunch is that it's not plausible they would be able, or even willing to, commit land troops before the Danes were beaten decisively.

I suppose the invasion of Norway could in principle go ahead once Germany secures the airfields and clear the Belts, after which it is just a matter of mopping up any Danish units still resisting inland and probably give Copenhagen the Rotterdam-treatment :-/

 

[Fearless Leader]

Don't forget the backlog of Ju-52 planes and pilots will affect the invasion of the Low Countries as well.

Furthermore, if Denmark fights a delaying action it could give the Norwegians more of a kick in the pants with regards to mobilizing and in some cases, some additional time. IMHO I think this might be enough to allow the Allies to hold on around Naarvik if enough goes their way.

Furthermore, perhaps the Danish navy manages to escape and help garrison the Faroe Islands and Iceland thereby freeing up Allied troops later on?

 

[wtw]

This came about from reading Blunted Sickle, where it's pointed out that the German plans for op. Weserubung involved taking the airfields in north Jutland and then putting them into action the same day to fly troops into Norway.

So, as the title says - what if the two-division Danish army resisted the German invasion for a day or two? Would that be sufficient to make the wheels come off Weserubung, or at least to let the Brits do a lot more damage to the invasion?

Massacre. The Danish military would have been crushed and the nation would have been punished for resisting, they were to small to stand alone against the whermacht, sorry

 

[Saphroneth]

Massacre. The Danish military would have been crushed and the nation would have been punished for resisting, they were to small to stand alone against the whermacht, sorry

I'm sure they'd be defeated quite quickly - but part of my point was that even "quite quickly" could cause quite substantial problems for the Wehrmacht operational timeline into Norway, especially if they destroy Aalborg's runways before being overcome, and as has been noted there could be some fairly hefty results for the Battle of France (specifically, the Netherlands might just hold!)

Oddly, though, if Norway holds but France falls, this is probably a net negative for the Allies! (OTL a lot of German troops were stationed in Norway, and as out of the fight as if they'd been shot through the head. Better convoy to the USSR does not, I think, compensate for that much more German manpower.)

 

[wtw]

I'm sure they'd be defeated quite quickly - but part of my point was that even "quite quickly" could cause quite substantial problems for the Wehrmacht operational timeline into Norway, especially if they destroy Aalborg's runways before being overcome, and as has been noted there could be some fairly hefty results for the Battle of France (specifically, the Netherlands might just hold!)

Oddly, though, if Norway holds but France falls, this is probably a net negative for the Allies! (OTL a lot of German troops were stationed in Norway, and as out of the fight as if they'd been shot through the head. Better convoy to the USSR does not, I think, compensate for that much more German manpower.)

I think the question is whether or not airborne forces are involved, if the Nazis use them, there will be no chance to resist at all. They would be all around them. Now I don't know if they did that, but it needs to be understood that would happen and that the Nazis had great intelligence and would have known Danish plans in advance. The Nazis would have also punished the Danes for resisting and the Danish knew this.

 

[Driftless]

Massacre. The Danish military would have been crushed and the nation would have been punished for resisting, they were to small to stand alone against the whermacht, sorry

To the OP's original point about the airfields at Aalborg, those were taken by a small force of parachute troops. Even a "speedbump" delay would have consequences for the Norway portion of Op. Weserubung.

 

[Saphroneth]

I think the question is whether or not airborne forces are involved, if the Nazis use them, there will be no chance to resist at all. They would be all around them. Now I don't know if they did that, but it needs to be understood that would happen and that the Nazis had great intelligence and would have known Danish plans in advance. The Nazis would have also punished the Danes for resisting and the Danish knew this.

Here's where the idea came up in ABS:


https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/a-blunted-sickle.287285/page-297#post-10334355


It doesn't seem like it would take a huge amount of skill for a division of formed Danish infantry to prevent German troops advancing the 75 miles from the then-border to Aalborg (it would take 2-3 days to contact march it), or for a battalion of dug in/prepared infantry to lock down Aalborg from enemy paratroopers - paras are the lightest of light infantry - or just to hold onto the place for long enough to demolish it.

 

[Saphroneth]

As to the idea of the Nazis punishing Denmark, I don't really think that would be much in the way of punishment - Denmark OTL resisted perhaps the least of any Nazi conquest, for understandable reasons, but fighting for a few days is hardly something deserving of huge punishment, e.g. Belgium did a lot more.

 

[Whiteshore]

Maybe the Nazi "punishment" of Denmark involves ruling Denmark through domestic fascists as opposed to leaving the democratic government alone as long as it collaborated?

 

[Evan]

Maybe the Nazi "punishment" of Denmark involves ruling Denmark through domestic fascists as opposed to leaving the democratic government alone as long as it collaborated?

That seems likely; what consequences would that have? I imagine the OTL government stymied some Nazi schemes, but they also discouraged resistance - the Danish underground limited itself to merely conveying information and helping people escape until the 1943 dissolution of the government.

 

[Carl Schwamberger]

Thinking about this a little further, this question has two sections to it:

1) How long could or would the Danes hold out, and how long after that does Aalbog airfield become usable? (With good demolitions the answer should be days or weeks!)

And

2) Without the ability to use the Danish airfields, how much would the timetable for Weserubung be delayed? Would it be possible for the Norwegians (with British and French reinforcement) to actually retain control of the country?

Take a close look at the battles in the first 48-72 hours. Many were near run things. Give the Norweigians 6-12 hours to get mobilization started & the German situation deteriorates badly.

 

[Gudestein]

I just read that Denmark had around 10 submarines in 1940. I don't know how servicable they were, but if they were lying in wait in our narrow Belts they might conceivably get a German troop transport or two - before German destroyers chased them down. This could change a lot since Weser is on such a fragile time table to begin with. Remember Blücher approaching Oslo ...

Related question: Could ferociously resisting Danish army/navy bog down the Germans for long enough so Anglo-French force could play a role in the defense, if only naval? My hunch is that it's not plausible they would be able, or even willing to, commit land troops before the Danes were beaten decisively.

I suppose the invasion of Norway could in principle go ahead once Germany secures the airfields and clear the Belts, after which it is just a matter of mopping up any Danish units still resisting inland and probably give Copenhagen the Rotterdam-treatment :-/

Committing land forces in Denmark was off the table. In fact, the Danish government has asked before the invasion if help could be expected and the answer was no (a pod here?).
Landing a BEF in Denmark would mean lising/evacuating them.

Massacre. The Danish military would have been crushed and the nation would have been punished for resisting, they were to small to stand alone against the whermacht, sorry

They would indeed be crushed, but the initial OTL German commitment was small. It could take days, maybe a weak before the Germans mobilized enough to crush a comitted defence they correctly didn't expect IOTL.

 

[Gudestein]

Here's where the idea came up in ABS:


https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/a-blunted-sickle.287285/page-297#post-10334355


It doesn't seem like it would take a huge amount of skill for a division of formed Danish infantry to prevent German troops advancing the 75 miles from the then-border to Aalborg (it would take 2-3 days to contact march it), or for a battalion of dug in/prepared infantry to lock down Aalborg from enemy paratroopers - paras are the lightest of light infantry - or just to hold onto the place for long enough to demolish it.

The bordets were as today. Its 293 km from Flensborg to Ålborg. The country is not THAT small

 

[Christopher Marcus]

Committing land forces in Denmark was off the table. In fact, the Danish government has asked before the invasion if help could be expected and the answer was no (a pod here?).
Landing a BEF in Denmark would mean lising/evacuating them.

What about naval interference then? I don't recall if there were any British ships near The Skagerrak on 9 April. But I suppose if the Germans have Aalborg there'd be a significant threat from Axis land-based airpower that may balance any threat some quick-reacting RN units can pose to the German invasion force.

I mentioned the Danish subs before ... come to think of it, the best wrench the British could throw into the German wheel given any significant (2-3 day) delay in Denmark would probably be to direct available subs to go into The Skagerrak and take potshots at the troop transports?