Video: 'The Invasion of Norway and Denmark - WW2 - 033 - April 13 1940' (Apr. 9, 1940, at 3:57)
(Tuesday, April 9, 1940, 5:15 a.m. Central European Time; during Operation Weserübung, part of World War II) — Nazi Germany occupied Denmark and invaded Norway early this morning, ostensibly as a preventive manoeuvre against a planned, and openly discussed, Franco-British occupation of Norway known as Plan R 4.
German envoys in Oslo and Copenhagen had presented the Norwegian and Danish governments with a German ultimatum demanding that they immediately accept the “protection of the Reich.”
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Denmark capitulated so as to not provoke mass bloodshed at the hands of the Germans, and the country was invaded in six hours.
Norwegian Foreign Affairs Minister Halvdan Koht, however, responded with the defiant words “Vi gir oss ikke frivillig, kampen er allerede i gang” (“We will not submit voluntarily; the struggle is already underway”).
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The entire Norwegian government including King Haakon VII fled the capital this morning for the mountains in the north.
