June 8, 1940 – World War II: Allied forces evacuate from Narvik, ending the Norwegian Campaign
On May 24, 1940, the Allied High Commanddecided to evacuate its forces from northern Norway,and the order for its implementation was sent to the Allied command in Norway, withinstructions to carry out the attack on Narvik as a cover for the Alliedwithdrawal. On June 7-8, 1940 underOperation Alphabet, British, French, and Polish forces were evacuated from Norway for Britain, together with King HaakonVII, the royal family, and Norwegian Cabinet. The Norwegian king had indicated his intention to remain in Norway, but was persuaded by the Britishambassador to depart for Britainto form a government-in-exile.
(Taken from Norwegian Campaign – Wars of the 20th Century – Twenty Wars in Europe – Vol. 6)
The Germans soon learned of the Alliedevacuation, and sent the battleships Scharnhorstand Gneisenau to intercept the Alliedconvoy. However, the German shipsencountered the British aircraft carrier HMSGlorious and her escort of two destroyers. In the ensuing battle, the German ships sank the HMS Glorious and the two destroyers, but Scharnhorst sustained heavy damage from a torpedo attack, and wasforced to retire to Trondheim. Another German attempt using the battleship Gneisenau, battle cruiser Admiral Hipper, and four destroyers tointercept the Allied ships was cancelled when the German ships detected thatthe Allied transport convoy was too heavily guarded.
On June 10, the Norwegian 6thArmy in northern Norwaysurrendered to the Germans. The 62-dayGerman campaign in Norwaywas over.
AftermathDuring World War II, Germany governed Norway under the newly formed Reichskommissariat Norwegen,a civilian administration led by ReichskommissarJosef Terboven. Terboven ruled harshlyand used the Gestapo (German secret police) to suppress all opposition, whichnot only alienated the local population, but also brought him into conflictwith General Nikolaus von Falkenhorst, the German military commander of Norway,who implemented a conciliatory policy to win over the Norwegians.
Quisling, the pro-Nazi politician whohad tried to take power in Osloduring the German invasion, was initially sidelined by the Germans because ofhis lack of popular support. But inFebruary 1942, he was allowed to form a civilian government, with himself asits “Minister President”, which had only limited administrative functions, andthe most important decisions remained with Terboven.
By May 1941, a Norwegian resistancemovement had emerged, with Milorg (Norwegian: Militær Organisasjon) being the largest among the armedmilitias. These partisans conductedraids, intelligence gathering, and sabotage operations; their most notableachievement was cooperating with he Allies in destroying the Telemark heavywater production facility in February 1943, which the Germans used in theirnuclear energy program to develop an atomic bomb.
The conquest of Norway brought positive and negative results to Germany. Iron-ore shipments to Germany increased significantly, and German airand naval bases in Norwaymade the British eastern coastal bases vulnerable to attack. From Norway,German surface and submarine fleets launched commerce-raiding attacks on Alliedmerchant ships in the Atlantic. With the German invasion of the Soviet Unionin June 1941, German ships also attacked the Allied Arctic convoys that broughtsupplies to the Russians through the ports of Murmansk and Archangelsk.
However, the campaignin Norwaycrippled the Germany Navy, which lost many ships and prevented the Germans fromlaunching another major naval operation of the same magnitude. Now suffering naval deficiency, Germany could not realistically launch across-channel invasion of Britain,which Hitler had planned after the fall of France. Moreover, for the remainder of the war, Germany was forced to allocate 400,000 troopsfor the defense of Norway,which became critical when the tide of war turned against Germany, as these troops were badlyneeded in the other fronts.
