Initial Defense
Although some politicians across the political spectrum had advocated strengthening the country's defense capabilities, a longstanding policy of disarmament following World War I had left the Norwegian military underfunded and undertrained by the late 1930s. As a result, forces in Southern Norway were largely unprepared for the German invasion, and the invading German army met little initial resistance.
One notable exception was the sinking of the German heavy cruiser Blücher by the Oscarsborg Fortress at Drøbak sound, which delayed the capture of Oslo long enough for the government to escape the capital.
There was also spirited defense at other locations, including Midtskogen, Hegra and Narvik but these were largely the result of improvised missions by isolated military units and irregular volunteers. The battles slowed down the German advance by several days, allowing the Norwegian government to evade capture and conduct critical constitutional business.
The Allies, British and French began landing on Norwegian soil within a week of the German invasion.
Read more about this topic: Norwegian Resistance Movement
Famous quotes containing the words initial and/or defense:
“No punishment has ever possessed enough power of deterrence to prevent the commission of crimes. On the contrary, whatever the punishment, once a specific crime has appeared for the first time, its reappearance is more likely than its initial emergence could ever have been.”
—Hannah Arendt (1906–1975)
“He said, truly, that the reason why such greatly superior numbers quailed before him was, as one of his prisoners confessed, because they lacked a cause,—a kind of armor which he and his party never lacked. When the time came, few men were found willing to lay down their lives in defense of what they knew to be wrong; they did not like that this should be their last act in this world.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)