The Freedom Council
In September 1943, the 'Danish Freedom Council' was created to coordinate the fight for liberation. The Council set out to unify the many different groups that made up the Danish resistance movement and consisted of representatives from the Communists, Free Denmark, the Danish Unity Party and the Ring. Key members were Børge Houmann, Mogens Fog, Arne Sørensen, Frode Jakobsen, Erling Foss and Aage Schock. Directives from the British Special Operations Executive helped to unite the different groups.
In December the SOE sent orders that military groups should be organised, ready to attack the Germans in case of invasion. They were first organised by the Communists and the Danish Unity Party, and then increasingly by members of the Ring.
The resistance movement grew to over 20,000 and in the lead-up to D-Day acts of sabotage markedly increased. Though the D-Day landings were to be in Normandy, the SOE encouraged tying up German troops elsewhere in Europe so that the fewer would be present in northern France. If acts of sabotage were increased, more German troops would be tied up in Denmark.
The Danish Resistance used the country's proximity to Sweden to great effect. Stockholm became a base for the Danish Resistance. Here they were far safer than in Denmark — but they could easily get back to their country.
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Famous quotes containing the words freedom and/or council:
“To thee, fair Freedom! I retire
From flattery, cards, and dice, and din:
Nor art thou found in mansions higher
Than the low cot, or humble inn.
‘Tis here with boundless pow’r I reign;
And ev’ry health which I begin
Converts dull port to bright champagne;
Such Freedom crowns it, at an inn.”
—William Shenstone (1714–1763)
“There by some wrinkled stones round a leafless tree
With beards askew, their eyes dull and wild
Twelve ragged men, the council of charity
Wandering the face of the earth a fatherless child....”
—Allen Tate (1899–1979)