For five years during the war Norway was under the control of Nazi Germany, the outnumbered Norwegian army having been overwhelmed by the initial German assault. Attempts by the British to land troops in aid of the Norwegians was defeated by the Luftwaffe and withdrawn entirely when France was invaded.
The Germans sent a large occupying force and set up a puppet government under Quisling. Here's what you'll find if you look up "Quisling" on Google: "A quisling is a person who collaborates with an enemy occupying force. The word originates from the Norwegian war-time leader Vidkun Quisling, who headed a domestic Nazi collaborationist regime during the Second World War." The word Quisling is still in use to refer to a traitor.
The occupation was less harsh than in many other countries under Nazi rule. Fellow Aryans, perhaps. But many men escaped by boat to Britain, and others formed a resistance movement, beginning with independent cells and later forming a network. It was a comfortable place for German troops though, if only because it was so far away from the brutality of the Eastern front. I'd imagine that the blond girls were attractive resources too, not to mention the lutefisk at Christmas.
The usual political complications prevailed. The resistance movement did damage and provided information that helped sink the Bismark, but the punishment was severe and the primary victims were local civilians. The king, in England, thought the price of resistance was very high, and was reluctant to endorse the movement for fear they might set up an independent government after the war. And Norwegians were understandably miffed at the neutral Swedes who provided Germany with iron that was sent to a port in Norway. I understand it took some time for the animosity to dissipate.
The native resistance movement was gradually worn down by clever German tactics and infiltration, but the Norwegian army in exile in Britain were chiefly responsible for blowing up a plant the Germans were using to produce heavy water, an insulator in the manufacture of atomic weapons. Here, as elsewhere, the narration is blunt. The first attempt to land Norwegian commandos by glider "was a disaster." You can find a somewhat fictionalized version of this operation in a feature film, "The Heroes of Telemark", with Kirk Douglas acceptable as a Norwegian engineer.
Most of the war in Norway was, as Robert Powell tells us, "secret and unglamorous." Few pitched battles between uniformed troops. Yet more than a quarter of a million Germans were kept in Norway to guard against the invasion that finally took place in Normandy, and it was mainly thanks to the citizens themselves.
The Germans sent a large occupying force and set up a puppet government under Quisling. Here's what you'll find if you look up "Quisling" on Google: "A quisling is a person who collaborates with an enemy occupying force. The word originates from the Norwegian war-time leader Vidkun Quisling, who headed a domestic Nazi collaborationist regime during the Second World War." The word Quisling is still in use to refer to a traitor.
The occupation was less harsh than in many other countries under Nazi rule. Fellow Aryans, perhaps. But many men escaped by boat to Britain, and others formed a resistance movement, beginning with independent cells and later forming a network. It was a comfortable place for German troops though, if only because it was so far away from the brutality of the Eastern front. I'd imagine that the blond girls were attractive resources too, not to mention the lutefisk at Christmas.
The usual political complications prevailed. The resistance movement did damage and provided information that helped sink the Bismark, but the punishment was severe and the primary victims were local civilians. The king, in England, thought the price of resistance was very high, and was reluctant to endorse the movement for fear they might set up an independent government after the war. And Norwegians were understandably miffed at the neutral Swedes who provided Germany with iron that was sent to a port in Norway. I understand it took some time for the animosity to dissipate.
The native resistance movement was gradually worn down by clever German tactics and infiltration, but the Norwegian army in exile in Britain were chiefly responsible for blowing up a plant the Germans were using to produce heavy water, an insulator in the manufacture of atomic weapons. Here, as elsewhere, the narration is blunt. The first attempt to land Norwegian commandos by glider "was a disaster." You can find a somewhat fictionalized version of this operation in a feature film, "The Heroes of Telemark", with Kirk Douglas acceptable as a Norwegian engineer.
Most of the war in Norway was, as Robert Powell tells us, "secret and unglamorous." Few pitched battles between uniformed troops. Yet more than a quarter of a million Germans were kept in Norway to guard against the invasion that finally took place in Normandy, and it was mainly thanks to the citizens themselves.
