DEFEAT & OCCUPATION

Nazi victory in the north ushered in five years of occupation characterised by collaboration and brutal retribution

Hitler’s conquest of Western Europe began on 9 May 1940. In a few short weeks, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Belgium had all succumbed to his blitzkrieg. By 24 May, much of France was also in German hands and the British Expeditionary Force surrounded at Dunkirk faced annihilation. With France about to fall and the threat of a Nazi invasion growing, the British government decided to withdraw its troops from Norway. Despite Churchill’s reservations, orders were issued to draw up a plan. The evacuation was codenamed Operation Alphabet.

On 1 June, the Norwegian government was informed of the plan. A week later, on 7 June, King Haakon VII and the Norwegian cabinet boarded the heavy cruiser HMS Devonshire at Tromsø, 125 miles (200km) north of Narvik. After arriving in London shortly afterwards, they established the Norwegian government-in-exile – a beacon of hope that would inspire Norway’s oppressed citizens for the next five years.

On 8 June, after blowing up railway lines and destroying facilities in the region, the last of around 25,000 Allied troops boarded ships in northern Norway and were evacuated as Operation Alphabet was brought to a close.

The unsuspecting Nazi leadership had little idea that an evacuation was taking place but by then had already launched Operation Juno. This naval offensive saw a Kriegsmarine battle group, including the battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, steam into the Norwegian Sea. Commanded by Admiral Wilhelm Marschall, its aim was to assist the German Army heading north in driving the Allies out of Norway.