At 9:20 a.m., after Germany threatened to send air forces to bomb Copenhagen, the Danish government ordered a halt to resistance.

By the end of the day, the Germans had taken control of all of Denmark. The occupation of Denmark gave Germany a platform to advance into Norway and a base for the German navy to operate in the North Sea and the Atlantic, while also securing the flanks of Swedish steel through the Baltic Sea into Germany, an important supply line.

At dawn on the same day, German troops also launched attacks on the coastal areas of Oslo, the capital of Norway, the port city of Bergen in the southwest, the port city of Trondheim in the middle, and the port city of Narvik in the north. Narvik had always been Britain's maritime sphere of influence, more than 1,000 miles from the German mainland, and the presence of German troops here shocked the world.

German paratroopers captured the Sula airfield near Stavanger, followed by a successful airborne landing at the Forneb airfield near Oslo. At the same time, the German Navy also managed to transport army units across the Skagerrak and Kattegat Straits, albeit with some losses. The heavy cruiser "Blucher" and the light cruiser "Karlsruhe" were sunk, the former was sunk by the Norwegian coastal forces, and the latter was sunk by the British submarine "Lazy". The starboard bow of the heavy cruiser Admiral Hippel was knocked out of a 37-meter gap during a suicide attack by the British destroyer Firefly, for which the commander of the destroyer USS Firefly, Major Rupp, was posthumously awarded the first Victorian Cross of the war.

After an initial shock and panic, Norway made an admirable decision to meet the battle, and the Norwegian army independently engaged in various forms of resistance on land.

Still, in the battle for Narvik, the British Royal Navy provided some help. Walburton. Colonel Lee led 5 destroyers to throw the German warships parked in the harbor into disarray, sinking 2 German destroyers, but the British also lost 2 in the engagement.

On April 12, the old battleship "Warweary", in coordination with nine destroyers, engaged the Germans in a fierce battle in the Uvftfjord and completely annihilated the German Navy. However, in the south, the Germans had the advantage in both artillery and individual combat capabilities, and the Luftwaffe had complete air supremacy, which determined the ultimate success of the German army.

In just eight days, the German 163rd and 196th Divisions had advanced 290 kilometers and controlled the vital southern region. Eventually, the hastily organized British reinforcements landed and after rallying they moved into crude and simple defensive positions, but like the Norwegians, they were defeated by a well-trained, well-equipped, and well-coordinated German army. By 1 May, the two surviving units of the two British brigades that had landed at Andorra Sennis in mid-April had re-boarded and withdrawn from the battlefield, while the Norwegian forces in the center and south had finally given up resistance and surrendered to the Germans.

In the far north, however, the initial situation in Narvik was unfavorable for the German General Dieter and his 2,000-strong mountain troops. The combined Allied forces, consisting of the British Guards, the French Alpine Division, and the Polish Army, destroyed their ships and supplies and drove them out of Narvik.

By 28 May, Narvik was firmly in the hands of the Allies. At this time, however, the Allies had to order a rapid evacuation and return to their homeland, where these troops and equipment were more urgently needed.

At that time, the commander of the British Rescue Army in central Norway was Katun. Morality. Major-General Wiatt, who wrote a few years after the end of the war on the conduct of the Allied campaign in Norway, is perhaps the most revealing of all. In early April he went to Whitehall (in response to urgent inquiries from the War Department, he said: ...,

"I'm slowly coming to understand that this is Norway. I've never been there before and don't know anything about Norway. ”

If the Battle of Norway was a defeat for the British army, then it was a disaster for the British Prime Minister.

The House of Commons was packed, and everyone was depressed and extremely resentful. This anger was concentrated on Neville. Chamberlain's body. Chamberlain sat in the front bench where he often sits, his face very pale from extreme anger and shame. At the time, even Churchill felt sympathy for the weary elder at the sight of such a scene, despite the many painful arguments they had had over the past few years.

Parliament had hardly ever before in the memory of the Admiralty made such a harsh attack, mainly against the policy of appeasement that the government had adhered to for months, against the blind optimism shown by the Prime Minister in his pre-war dealings with Hitler and his attitude towards British defence after the outbreak of war, and in particular against Chamberlain's unfortunate statement that "Hitler did not catch the train" in his speech a month earlier!

The attack did not come entirely from one of Chamberlain's closest friends and political partner, Leo Chamberlain, an opposition member. Emory's speech brought the criticism of Chamberlain to a climax. He quoted Cromwell's harsh indictment of Hampden's military leaders, accusing the government of being "old and rotten soldiers." He also directly blamed Chamberlain and again quoted Cromwell: "You have sat in this seat for too long in terms of the contribution you have made," he declared, "Leave, I say, let's end our cooperation with you!" In God's name, go! ”

This was a huge blow to the Prime Minister's self-esteem, especially when he left Parliament with the rhythmic "Get out!" Get lost! Get lost! Roar. Later that day, the Prime Minister told Churchill that he believed that in times of war, he could no longer lead a one-party government, and that a national government should be formed, including members of all parties. However, it was unclear whether the Labour leaders supported his personal decision.

In fact, this was quickly confirmed in the talks and negotiations that took place in the following 48 hours. At 11 a.m. on May 10, Chamberlain decided to abdicate and summoned Lord Halifax and Winston. Winston Churchill believed that the choice of prime minister had to be between them.

Finally, Halifax broke the silence. He said that it was very difficult for him to command the wartime cabinet outside the lower house of parliament, because all major decisions had to be discussed in the lower house, and as a member of the upper house of parliament, he was not allowed to speak in the lower house. This is what happened before a nobleman renounced his power, and this should not be forgotten. After Halifax's speech, it became clear that Churchill was the only person recommended for prime minister, and the three of them chatted for a short time, and then ended the meeting. At 6 p.m. Churchill was summoned and brought before the King, to whom he was to be fully loyal in this crucial age.

"I don't think you know why I summoned you." The king asked with a smile on his face.

"Your Excellency, I really don't know." Churchill replied, with the same expression.

"I want you to form a new government."

Adolph. Hitler was one of the few figures who paid attention to this new appointment, and he always remembered Churchill's anti-Nazi actions in the thirties of the twentieth century. Hitler had been contacted by the Nazi Foreign Ministry official Ernst Fernandes. Burler invited Churchill to Germany for talks, but Churchill refused. At the time, the Germans thought that Churchill had no hope of victory in Britain, but now the biggest opponent of appeasement is the leader of Britain. Still, Germany saw Churchill as a mere mantis and was swept out of the game in the face of Germany's military might. …,

On the morning of Churchill's appointment, the Germans launched a major offensive against Belgium and the Netherlands, breaking the neutrality that had been maintained between the two countries. At the same time that the German Army and the SS vanguard crossed the border into the Low Countries, the Luftwaffe began bombing Rotterdam and paratroopers landed at key points along the carefully planned attack route. The era of "false wars" is finally gone.

Germany's initial military plan for an invasion of Western Europe was based on the open-ended offensive format of the First World War era, and its strategic ambitions were far less than those of the 1914 Schlieffen Plan.

The German generals intended only to occupy the industrial regions of Belgium and northern France, with no further extravagant hopes. They did not want to repeat the tragic fate of the march into Paris in 1914. Indeed, the German High Command also believed that the German offensive forces were not in line with the modern defensive forces of the Allies, and that the new objectives needed to be achieved in 1941 by launching further campaigns. German generals were not the only ones who held this view: the French and British generals shared the same view, drawing up a plan to advance the main mobile forces to Belgium at the beginning of hostilities.

Had the offensive on the Western Front been launched in the autumn of 1939, the war would undoubtedly have gone as planned by these generals.

Hitler, however, had other ideas, having fought in Belgium and in 1917, millions of British and German soldiers were killed in the shattered countryside around Yper. He knew the terrain here, and the massive shelling made the ground here as soft and muddy as a swamp. Numerous creeks and streams made it difficult for the invaders to march. Indeed, Hitler thought that if he attacked south, perhaps it would be more effective through the Ardennes forest.

However, the generals scoffed at this view.

By the spring of 1940, when this postponed offensive plan was ready to be put into action, Hitler found that at least some of his officers were beginning to agree with him.

Erich. Feng. General Manstein was the commander-in-chief of Army Group A on the Western Front. Chief of Staff of General Rundstedt, who had studied the terrain of the Ardennes region, came to the same conclusion as the Führer.

He shared this point of view with the most famous German tank expert, Heinz. General Guderian consulted

They agreed to a radical strategy: German Panzer Divisions would advance along the narrow forest path and advance into the undulating hills of northern France, and from the open areas of the area, the German Panzers would be able to penetrate the enemy before they were ready for defense.

It was difficult for these high-speed mobile units to carry enough artillery, and other German commanders believed that there would be a pause in the offensive when moving artillery forward, leading to World War I-like fighting along the Maas line.

Guderian and his tank forces were confident that they would be able to quickly crush the French defenses. Luftwaffe bombers, especially the formidable "Stuka" dive bombers, will replace artillery to provide close air support!