WI: Nazi invasion of Sweden?

After finishing the conquest of Denmark and Norway, Hitler decides to go after Sweden. Would it be apart of Weserubung or would it be separate? How would it end?
 
Not an expert. But that would cost the Germans a lot of troops and equipment. All that they need desperately for other, more important campaigns.

Undoubtedly they would do it seperately, as they can't afford to move more armies around whilst France still needs to be beaten, they were heavily preparing for Case Yellow. So it would probably happen instead or alongside the invasion of Yugoslavia, early 1941?

The chance of winning is good though, i don't think Sweden was prepared to face an invasion. However, troop deployment by Germany in Norway(which they need to do as a naval invasion is suicide) would prompt the Swedes to start preparing defenses and their army and defenses were more formidable than the Norwegians. And like all other nations facing the nazis, they will defend fiercly. Their ability to defend concerning terrain is very positive and the Germans will have a hell of a time breaking it, costing them a lot of men and material. All that they need for Barbarossa.

Don't know the position of Finland in this suitation though. They might join in?
 

Anaxagoras

Banned
Why bother? Sweden was happy to export its iron ore to Germany as long as it looked like it was winning the war. What other purpose would an invasion have served?
 
Why bother? Sweden was happy to export its iron ore to Germany as long as it looked like it was winning the war. What other purpose would an invasion have served?

Indeed. Also the iron ore from Sweden made up for almost half of all iron Nazi Germany used. During any invasion and until the mines are running again Nazi Germany's steel production will be severely hampered, even if said invasion would go fast (and if they actually manage to quickly win control of the mountainous/forestry northern Sweden remains questionable)
Not to mention that in case of an invasion Sweden might blow up their mines just out of spite (to further prolong the time until the mines can be used again).

That much said unless Sweden actually stops exporting iron to Germany on its own accords the Nazis don't have any reason to invade (not that they would need much reasons but still)
 
Indeed. Also the iron ore from Sweden made up for almost half of all iron Nazi Germany used. During any invasion and until the mines are running again Nazi Germany's steel production will be severely hampered, even if said invasion would go fast (and if they actually manage to quickly win control of the mountainous/forestry northern Sweden remains questionable)
Not to mention that in case of an invasion Sweden might blow up their mines just out of spite (to further prolong the time until the mines can be used again).

That much said unless Sweden actually stops exporting iron to Germany on its own accords the Nazis don't have any reason to invade (not that they would need much reasons but still)

That was their plan, wasn't it? The mines of Sweden were to be flooded or otherwise destroyed to prevent the Nazis from using them What the Nazis would gain from an invasion of Sweden is questionable, since considering the Swedish strategy with the mines and the Allied forces all around, I doubt they'd gain much of note.
 
Everything to lose and nothing to gain. Even if it is quick, the Swedes do no sabotage etc it eats resources the Germans need elsewhere, and a Sweden forced to provide ore and other resources will be LESS efficient doing so than one that is trading voluntarily. IMHO I doubt Finland would join in, in fact this would alienate the Finns whose only desire was to reclaim what they had lost to the Russians +/- taking some ethnically Finnish areas along the border. Of course if the Swedes choose to sabotage the mines, and perhaps conduct some industrial sabotage in factories producing goods for Germany now the invasion makes things worse for Germany...

When Germany wins the war they can develop a plan to either conquer Sweden or absorb it in to the Reich. At least for a while the existence of neutrals like Sweden and Switzerland that are having to be very cozy with the Reich but NOT actually part of it can be quite useful.
 
Don't know the position of Finland in this suitation though. They might join in?
IMHO I doubt Finland would join in, in fact this would alienate the Finns whose only desire was to reclaim what they had lost to the Russians +/- taking some ethnically Finnish areas along the border.

Finland wouldn’t join any attacks against Sweden before 1941. If Germany decided to invade after the Operation Barbarossa started, Finland wouldn’t join the attack willingly and would probably do intensive diplomatic work so that the role of German forces located Finland would be as limited as possible (preferably non-existent) during the invasion. While there would be pressure from Germany to do something, I think that the Finnish role in the Operation Barbarossa would shield Finland from the worst as it did often IOTL.

Any Finnish participation in the attack would be also highly unpopular. Except for some far-right nationalists, there didn’t exist any particular interest towards Finnish-speaking regions in Northern Sweden in Finland. I could very well imagine that there would be quite few people in the Finnish military, Foreign Ministry and government itself who would be leaking information about German plans to Swedes if they got their hands on them. From the government’s perspective, the war against Sweden would also completely destroy the argument that the war Finland was fighting was a “separate war” from the one German was waging and put Finland together with other German allies. (Yeah, it sounds very strange but this was the official policy at the time and even the Allies seemed to accept this to some extent.) Finland, which had joined Germany in their attack to Sweden, would have been handled very differently after the war had ended.

In addition, there are also practical issues. Finland was already one of the most mobilized societies in the world during the WW2. A war against Sweden would be one commitment more at the time when the Finnish economy was already lacking workers and farmers but soldiers were still needed at the front.
 
It would be complicated. I highly doubt that Finland would have gotten involved with Sweden (either in support of Sweden or Germany) given how depleted their forces were after the winter war of 1939. The terrain in Sweden would make things complicated for German forces, especially if it drug on through winter. The Swedes would use a strong defensive strategy. Eventually though the Germans would be able to break through Swedish lines but it would be costly. And what would prevent the Swedes from blowing up any mining industries that the Germans would be seeking to take over from the invasion?
 
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