It was April 1940.
Denmark spotted German ships on the horizon. Journalists reported the sound of German tanks in the distance. Truckers saw 30 miles of Nazi soldiers on the roads in the distance.
Unbeknownst to Denmark, several Nazi soldiers slipped across Denmark’s border posing as “tourists.”
They go about spying and collecting information on as much of Denmark as possible before Operation Weserubung – Hitler’s invasion of Denmark and Norway – was set to start.
The Enemy Within
The king of Denmark was warned of the clear and present signs of impending war but laughed them off.
He believed people were paranoid, and laughing, he rebuked his official and headed off to watch a Shakespeare play.
Germany Invades
On the night of April 9, 1940, Germany made their move into Denmark and Norway.
The king feared the Germans might attack the cities, and because of this, he surrendered only three hours after their invasion…making this one of the shortest wars ever fought.
Aside from the king’s decision to not take things seriously, Danish soldiers also made mistakes.
At one port, members of the Danish navy helped a Nazi boat to dock. One Danish garrison stayed in their beds, sleeping through the invasion.
A Swift Ending
The Nazis swept through the country, occupying key bridges and cutting Danish lines of communication.
As the Danes woke from their slumber the next morning, they were shocked to find their country had been handed over to the Nazis overnight.
The country would be reduced to a state of occupancy over the next several years. The Netherlands, another target of Nazi aggression, surrendered after only five days.
Millions worldwide would become acquainted with it through the diary of one of its murdered victims…a little girl named Anne Frank.
The Aftermath
In May 1945, British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery liberated most of Denmark, with Soviet forces liberating the easternmost island of Bornholm.
Although Denmark suffered relatively little under German occupation in comparison to other European countries, the damage was still very real.
The Denmark government would later officially apologize for their collaboration with the Germans.
This is a new style of article for Pew Pew Tactical, if you liked it — let us know in the comments! If you didn’t enjoy it…well phooey. To catch up on previous Pictures from History, click on over to our History Category.
13 Leave a Reply
Great article. More please.
Nice article. Thank you. Evil must always be confronted, not appeased.
Brief but very valuable. A portion of recent history that has received almost zero coverage, overshadowed by the vastness of WWII
Love the history lessons.Thanks for the effort.It’s important.People need to know.
History is always welcome.We need to be reminded of what can happen to an ill prepared society or country to a rogue nation or madman .Thank you for retelling and reminding all of us here in the freeU.S.A.
Very informative . Learned things I never knew of WWII
I find the story of the Danish resistance movement in WWII to be particularly fascinating, as it was started by teenage boys. I read about it in a book called "The boys who stood up to Hitler", which was written by the last living member of the original group of boys who called themselves the RAF club, then later the Churchill club. Their exploits are legendary, and should be taught to all kids in school. Fun read too.
Thanks for the tip
Thanks for the history which is being repeated as we speak. Biden & co-Marxists plan has been to allow thousands of CCP members to come across the southern what used to be border. They’ll be able to capture roads, bridges, take out the grid and all sorts of unbelievers like the King of Denmark and Biden will roll over and play dead. Then most of the citizenry who are living in their delusional Leftist bubble will also roll over and play dead, hoping that they won’t be eliminated. Then we’ll be in a decade long guerrilla war with those patriots who are left. The words of Jefferson are true. The true of Liberty must be watered in blood. This is as clear as daylight. The sad thing is that it didn’t have to happen. We are at fault for not being vigilant over the last 30 years as the Marxists invaded our schools and our churches.
Pretty sure that it was Trump that supported the Russians and the CCP during and after his presidency. Nevermind that Trump robbed as many 2A rights as Biden has so far.
It really must say something about Biden that he still manages to be 10x worse than Trump.
Truly the beginning of a tragedy. Nazi occupations indicate yet another good reason for citizens to privately own arms.
Biden and Company are doing their best to ban private gun ownership by US citizens, if and when that happens that'll be the beginning off this countries "Red Dawn."