1940 in Norway - Events

Events

• 16 February - Altmark Incident: The British destroyer Cossack intercepts the German transport Altmark in Norwegian waters, recovering 299 British prisoners of war.
• 8 April - In Operation Wilfred the United Kingdom places fictitious and real naval mine fields off the coast of Norway. The aim was to provoke a German response.
• 9 April -
  • German invasion of Norway: Nazi Germany carries out Operation Weserübung, and invades Denmark and Norway. Norway is at war for the first time since 1814. German forces land in several Norwegian ports and take Oslo; The Norwegian Campaign lasts two months. The Allied campaign in Norway is simultaneously commenced.
  • German invasion of Norway: Stavanger Airport, Sola is attacked and captured by the Germans.
  • German invasion of Norway: German heavy cruiser Blücher is sunk by gunfire and torpedoes from the Norwegian coastal fortress Oscarsborg in the Oslofjord. Of the 2,202 German crew and troops on board, some 830 died (at least 320 of them crewmen). Most either drowned or burnt to death in the flaming oil slick surrounding the wreck.
  • German invasion of Norway: German air-landed soldiers land at and capture the airport at Fornebu near Oslo.
• 10 April - German invasion of Norway: Germans set up a Norwegian government under Vidkun Quisling, former minister of defence.
• 10 April - German invasion of Norway: The German cruiser Königsberg, damaged the previous day by Norwegian coastal artillery, is sunk by Fleet Air Arm dive bombers in Bergen harbour
• 11 April - Norwegian Campaign: First Battle of Narvik, British destroyers and aircraft successfully make a surprise attack against a larger German naval force. A second attack on 13 April will also be a British success.
• 13 April - Norwegian Campaign: British and French troops begin landing at Namsos and Harstad in Norway. The landings are aimed at recapturing Trondheim and Narvik, respectively.
• 14–19 April - Norwegian Campaign: Battle of Dombås: Norwegian Army units defeat German Fallschirmjäger attack.
• 24 April - German occupation of Norway: Adolf Hitler names Josef Terboven as Reichskommissar of Norway with power to invoke and enforce decrees.
• 27 April - Norwegian Campaign: British troops begin pull-out from southern and central parts of Norway.
• 1 May - Norwegian Campaign: Allies begin evacuating south-western and central-Norwegian ports.
• 5 May - Norwegian Campaign: Hegra Fortress capitulates after all other Norwegian forces in southern Norway have laid down their arms (see Battle of Hegra Fortress).
• 24 May - Norwegian Campaign: The British make a final decision to cease operations in Norway.
• 27 May - Norwegian Campaign: Most of Bodø was destroyed during a Luftwaffe attack. 6000 people were living in Bodø at that time, and 3500 people lost their homes in the attack.
• 28 May - Norwegian Campaign: Norwegian, French, Polish and British forces recapture the Norwegian harbour-city Narvik which was of great strategic importance to Germany. This is the first allied infantry victory of World War II.
• 7 June - Norwegian Campaign: The Norwegian Royal Family and the Norwegian Government was evacuated from Tromsø on board the British cruiser Devonshire which later on arrived safely in London where Haakon VII and his cabinet set up a Norwegian government in exile.
• 8 June - Norwegian Campaign: The last of the Allied troops leave Norway.
• 10 June - Norwegian Campaign: Mainland Norway surrenders to German forces.
• 16 August – The Communist Party of Norway is banned in German-occupied Norway.
• 28 September - Vidkun Quisling becomes head of the German-appointed provisional councillors of state in Norway.