Operation Weserübung - Do you think it was successful for the Germans, in terms of costs? What do you think the Allies could have done better? Be the commander of the Axis or Allied forces and discuss.
Sorry Oby, I'm not too hot on operation names. Which one was this? Kitty The Invasion of norway. I think that it was a well planned but it goes to prove the old saying, "A warplan is only good until the first contact". The damage done to the Luftwaffe in terms of planes and experienced aircrew was to last the entire war and could quite easily be said to have been a significant contribution to the Germans final downfall.
The Invasion of norway. I think that it was a well planned but it goes to prove the old saying, "A warplan is only good until the first contact". The damage done to the Luftwaffe in terms of planes and experienced aircrew was to last the entire war and could quite easily be said to have been a significant contribution to the Germans final downfall. Agree. Same thing could be said of the damage done to the Kriegsmarine.
To be honest, I think there was more damage done to the Surface Fleet of the Kriegsmarine than the Luftwaffe Morse. Remember that the Luftwaffe still had to take on the French and British Air Forces in France. The death knell of the Luftwaffe was the Battle of Britain.
To be honest, I think there was more damage done to the Surface Fleet of the Kriegsmarine than the Luftwaffe Morse. Remember that the Luftwaffe still had to take on the French and British Air Forces in France. The death knell of the Luftwaffe was the Battle of Britain. The Luftwaffe lost 527 aircraft mostly Ju 52s who were flown by instructors. This left a gap in their air-lift capability. The Luftwaffe air units in the B0fb were at times actually under strength because they could not provide replacement pilots at the same rate as the RAF.
Well, the Germans did what they set out to do, conquer Denmark and Norway, doing so with a good deal of effectiveness. They defeated British and Norwegian land forces south of Trondheim, but couldn't hold Narvik to an Anglo-Polish-French force. The Germans also took a fierce naval beating, losing at least 10 destroyers at Narvik, two light cruisers, a heavy cruiser, and taking serious damage to just about every large ship in the campaign. They did sink the British carrier Glorious, but that seems to have been because of that captain's ineptitude more than anything else. The Germans wound up with vast amounts of land to patrol and protect, but had a superb base from which to attack convoys to Russia. And Hitler declared Norway the "zone of destiny" in the war, and the battleships spent a lot of time at anchor up there, doing nothing but scaring British admirals. I think they won, but at a stiff price.
I think they won, but at a stiff price. On this one i agree. Norway was a bitch to take (excuse the language, please), and it was one hell of a hot potato to hold for the rest of the war. Just look at Operation Archery and Anklet on the Lofoten islands, and it's possible to see here that not the best soldiers were sent to the country.
To be honest, I think there was more damage done to the Surface Fleet of the Kriegsmarine than the Luftwaffe Morse. Remember that the Luftwaffe still had to take on the French and British Air Forces in France. The death knell of the Luftwaffe was the Battle of Britain. Agreed, The loss of Destroyers at Narvik, The Blücher, and Uboats as well as troops were a blow to the Wehrmacht. But the Snafu of the allies was paramount, especially with british Naval superiority
lets not forget its what prevented germany from getting into an english blockade like the one in ww1, it also limited english naval flexibility and prevented easy allied landing on the northern continent
I still think the operation was essential. Provided access to something like 11,800,000 tons of Ore Excellent protected harbors for surface vessels Control of the Baltic Steeping stone to the UK
When the Germans attacked Denmark & Norway, the "Phoney War" was still on. Without the hindsight that we have, the situation in France must have seemed like a re-run of WW1, with opposing forces largely static, often in the same areas as the WW1 fighting. Given that, should the British government have done nothing to try and save Norway? Even given our failings, it was the first time the Germans received a serious shock; it certainly changed the war up a gear. The Norwegians sunk the new heavy cruiser Blucher with shore gun & torpedo batteries, without any help from us. The light cruiser Konigsberg, sunk by Fleet Air Arm Skua dive bombers, was the first major warship to be sunk by air attack. (Excluding tests. Can any of you think of other candidates, e.g from the Spanish Civil War or Sino-Japanese War? In WW1 only merchant ships were sunk by air attack). Her sister Karlsruhe was sunk by the RN Submarine Truant the next day - the first such success by the British in the war. Kenneth Cross evacuated his squadron's Hurricanes onto Glorious without using arrester hooks, thereby proving that the Navy could have monoplane fighters. Glorious was lost partly by Captain D'Oyly Hugh's impatience in sailing without sufficient escort, but they were very unlucky to be spotted by Scharnhorst & Gniesenau. Adrian
I thought lack of effective British command and control communications and a significant logistics mishap on the part of the French were huge factors contributing to defeat. For their part, I thought the Norwegians faired well for lacking anything close to a modern military of that time.
I thought lack of effective British command and control communications and a significant logistics mishap on the part of the French were huge factors contributing to defeat. For their part, I thought the Norwegians faired well for lacking anything close to a modern military of that time. the british operation was mounted at very short notice and there was a lot of shortages of proper equipment for the forces.
Morse, The British Navy should have decimated the Germans meaning destruction of Scharnhorst and Gneisenau as well as Blücher and Lützow. They had an overwealming Naval superiority against the Kriegsmarine.
Morse, The British Navy should have decimated the Germans meaning destruction of Scharnhorst and Gneisenau as well as Blücher and Lützow. They had an overwealming Naval superiority against the Kriegsmarine. Yes! But what orders did they have concerning engaging the enemy? After all there were troop carrying convoys in the area.
Well the fleet left the troops up north at one point to Sortie out. They did a poor job using aircraft from Glorious to recce for the battlewagons.
'The Colonel' does get some support on 'Norway should have gone better' from Churchill, For the rest of the war he was obsessed with Raids on Norway and had to be constantly diverted by Allanbrooke and the other CIGS from a belief that it would be the best route back onto the continent, Churchill seemed to carry a great guilt about the whole business.
'The Colonel' does get some support on 'Norway should have gone better' from Churchill, For the rest of the war he was obsessed with Raids on Norway and had to be constantly diverted by Allanbrooke and the other CIGS from a belief that it would be the best route back onto the continent, Churchill seemed to carry a great guilt about the whole business. I suppose the debacle of the Dardenelles must have been playing on his mind, as this was the second time one of his big ideas went wrong.
