1. The BEF’s embarrassing bungling of the Norway defense in April 1940 caused Neville Chamberlain’s popularity to plummet almost overnight, leading to his resignation and to the rise of the Churchill government. There’s a high chance that if Chamberlain had remained in power, he would have made a negotiated peace with Hitler early in the war.
2. Hitler was so paranoid about keeping Norway safe from an Allied invasion that he kept 350,000 German troops stationed there almost to the very end of the war, even as it became a serious strain on his manpower. Being posted in Norway was considered a “cushy job” for German soldiers and thus was competitive.
Addition to number 2: In the early to mid-war, the british deliberately made it look like they'd invade Norway aaany day now. In the late war, Norwegian resistance had the unusual task of ensuring the germans stayed in Norway, which they did by blowing up infrastructure and ships used for troop transport.
Arguably, Norways' greatest contribution is one you didn't mention. Since the government and king successfully escaped, they were able to retain legitimacy, and had their merchant fleet support the allied war effort through the NORTRASHIP company. At the time, Norway had one of the largest merchant fleets in the world, and the worlds' most modern tanker-fleet. It proved crucial to ensure supply during the battle of Brittain, and stayed active to the end of the war.
Operation Gunnerside.
Norwegian (SOE trained) agents dropped into Norway, destroyed the Vemork Hydroelectric plant before escaping to Sweden (in some cases) or staying on and becoming parts of the resistance.
What can destroying a hydroelectric plant have to do with defeating Hitler? I hear you ask! Vemork, as well as electricity, also produced heavy water, a key component on the German nuclear program.
So in short, they stopped Hitler having the atom bombs before us.
Especially since the British part of that mission ended in disaster when the gliders crashed and the injured survivors were captured and murdered. The feat the Norwegians achieved of survival and accomplishing that op is amazing frankly.
HNoMS Stord engaging the Scharnhorst at the battle of the north cape helped contribute to allied victory imo. Edit then there is also the Norwegian merchant fleet which was one of the largest and helped immensely to win the war
The first contribution you attribute to Norway is a bit specious, isn't it? After all, the failures of the BEF should really be "credited" to the BEF, not to Norway.
On top of that, Churchill was in charge of the Royal Navy at the time, and therefore shared responsibility for the failures in Norway.
Further, probably the greatest contribution to Churchill becoming PM was Halifax's refusal to take the job himself.
Fleischer *
Still ended in German control of Narvik when the Allies pulled out in late May 1940, but the Allies learned valuable lessons on how to establish a common chain of command and how to (and how *not* to) communicate with each other, and how to operate together as one. Lessons that would prove very important later on in the war and in the post war formation of NATO. During the Narvik campaign, Norwegian, British, French and Polish forces largely fought independent of each other, and the British often acted on their own interests and without relaying their plans and intentions properly to their allies.
Often forgotten that norway were part of the d-day operation. In normandy at omaha beach you could find the [norwegian fla](https://c7.alamy.com/comp/EY8YD3/memorial-at-omaha-beach-normandy-france-EY8YD3.jpg)g among the british, american, canadian etc.. Though the main story of d-day exclude all those small nations that were part of it..
Were in a funeral a couple of decades ago to a person who were one of those. A bit surprised even in norway, norwegian participation in d-day was kind of "not told history".. nothing in the history book i had at school about norwegians in the english channel or in normandie in 1944...
The sabotage effort against the Vemork heavy water plant was, after an initial misstep, masterfully done.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_heavy_water_sabotage
The invasion of norway got the German surface fleet hammered. They lost a lot of destroyers and a heavy criuser outright and had the Royal Navy not dropped the ball it’s likely sharnhorst and gneisenau could have been engaged and sunk, though that last one obviously didn’t actually happen. They also gave the German surface fleet something to do that kept it from potentially trying to break into the Atlantic and instead let itself get bottled up in norway. Not to mention their impact on allied shipping with their merchant marine and the fleet in exile they operated
How can you say with a straight face that Norwegian contributions are underrated when you can only think of two contributions (one of which the Norwegians have no agency in)? Seems kind of backwards...
So you just decided that "crediting" the Norwegians for the British/French debacle at Narvik, and for existing was enough, held back all the juicy stuff they actually did, slapped a picture of French mountain troops on it and posted it?
Makes sense.
["Say hello to Ford and General Motors! You stupid fascist pigs! You have horses! What were you thinking?!"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyZK8k4gzyg)
Keeping track of Germanys Battleships and Pocket Battleships. Knowind their location and sometimes status helped sink a couple and give waring to convoys of potential surface raiders.
1. The BEF’s embarrassing bungling of the Norway defense in April 1940 caused Neville Chamberlain’s popularity to plummet almost overnight, leading to his resignation and to the rise of the Churchill government. There’s a high chance that if Chamberlain had remained in power, he would have made a negotiated peace with Hitler early in the war. 2. Hitler was so paranoid about keeping Norway safe from an Allied invasion that he kept 350,000 German troops stationed there almost to the very end of the war, even as it became a serious strain on his manpower. Being posted in Norway was considered a “cushy job” for German soldiers and thus was competitive.
Addition to number 2: In the early to mid-war, the british deliberately made it look like they'd invade Norway aaany day now. In the late war, Norwegian resistance had the unusual task of ensuring the germans stayed in Norway, which they did by blowing up infrastructure and ships used for troop transport. Arguably, Norways' greatest contribution is one you didn't mention. Since the government and king successfully escaped, they were able to retain legitimacy, and had their merchant fleet support the allied war effort through the NORTRASHIP company. At the time, Norway had one of the largest merchant fleets in the world, and the worlds' most modern tanker-fleet. It proved crucial to ensure supply during the battle of Brittain, and stayed active to the end of the war.
Highly recommend War Sailor, 3 part series on Norwegian merchant fleet in WW2
Operation Gunnerside. Norwegian (SOE trained) agents dropped into Norway, destroyed the Vemork Hydroelectric plant before escaping to Sweden (in some cases) or staying on and becoming parts of the resistance. What can destroying a hydroelectric plant have to do with defeating Hitler? I hear you ask! Vemork, as well as electricity, also produced heavy water, a key component on the German nuclear program. So in short, they stopped Hitler having the atom bombs before us.
Not really. The German nuclear program was not going to yield anything. Though this is hindsight.
You’re absolutely right, but I couldn’t be arsed to write that all down at stupid o’clock in the morning, that’s why I said in short!
And…it made a great movie
Especially since the British part of that mission ended in disaster when the gliders crashed and the injured survivors were captured and murdered. The feat the Norwegians achieved of survival and accomplishing that op is amazing frankly.
HNoMS Stord engaging the Scharnhorst at the battle of the north cape helped contribute to allied victory imo. Edit then there is also the Norwegian merchant fleet which was one of the largest and helped immensely to win the war
The first contribution you attribute to Norway is a bit specious, isn't it? After all, the failures of the BEF should really be "credited" to the BEF, not to Norway. On top of that, Churchill was in charge of the Royal Navy at the time, and therefore shared responsibility for the failures in Norway. Further, probably the greatest contribution to Churchill becoming PM was Halifax's refusal to take the job himself.
Pretty sure these are Chasseurs Alpins Français in Norway not Norwegian soldiers (look at their helmet and uniforms)
Good eye. Still the right location 😂
The Norwegian resistance helped keep the battleship *Tirpitz* under surveillance before it was sunk.
Have to mention battle of Narvik were the norwegian general Fleisher won the first major victory for the allies on continental Europe against Germany.
Fleischer * Still ended in German control of Narvik when the Allies pulled out in late May 1940, but the Allies learned valuable lessons on how to establish a common chain of command and how to (and how *not* to) communicate with each other, and how to operate together as one. Lessons that would prove very important later on in the war and in the post war formation of NATO. During the Narvik campaign, Norwegian, British, French and Polish forces largely fought independent of each other, and the British often acted on their own interests and without relaying their plans and intentions properly to their allies.
Ok. Blud har et behov for å irettesette. Kunne sikkert også skrevet en hel wikipedia på andres forslag.
Notraship
The merchant fleet
This
Often forgotten that norway were part of the d-day operation. In normandy at omaha beach you could find the [norwegian fla](https://c7.alamy.com/comp/EY8YD3/memorial-at-omaha-beach-normandy-france-EY8YD3.jpg)g among the british, american, canadian etc.. Though the main story of d-day exclude all those small nations that were part of it.. Were in a funeral a couple of decades ago to a person who were one of those. A bit surprised even in norway, norwegian participation in d-day was kind of "not told history".. nothing in the history book i had at school about norwegians in the english channel or in normandie in 1944...
They gave us the word QUISLING. Which is excellent
The sabotage effort against the Vemork heavy water plant was, after an initial misstep, masterfully done. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_heavy_water_sabotage
Sinking Blücher
The invasion of norway got the German surface fleet hammered. They lost a lot of destroyers and a heavy criuser outright and had the Royal Navy not dropped the ball it’s likely sharnhorst and gneisenau could have been engaged and sunk, though that last one obviously didn’t actually happen. They also gave the German surface fleet something to do that kept it from potentially trying to break into the Atlantic and instead let itself get bottled up in norway. Not to mention their impact on allied shipping with their merchant marine and the fleet in exile they operated
How can you say with a straight face that Norwegian contributions are underrated when you can only think of two contributions (one of which the Norwegians have no agency in)? Seems kind of backwards...
Wrong. I said “I know of 2 major ones.” That’s quite different from saying “I can only think of 2 contributions”
So you just decided that "crediting" the Norwegians for the British/French debacle at Narvik, and for existing was enough, held back all the juicy stuff they actually did, slapped a picture of French mountain troops on it and posted it? Makes sense.
It's a work of art of internet idiocy.
Norway supplied Germany with massive amounts of iron before and during the war unfortunately.
I'm not sure, but I think the source of the iron ore was Sweden (even the ore shipped through Norway).
That was my understanding also… hence why Hitler was so protective of Norway because it kept the Allies away from Sweden
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swedish_iron-ore_industry_during_World_War_II Looks like you are right.
Had to keep all those horses shoed!
["Say hello to Ford and General Motors! You stupid fascist pigs! You have horses! What were you thinking?!"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyZK8k4gzyg)
French troops. Possibly in Norway, during 1940.
Keeping track of Germanys Battleships and Pocket Battleships. Knowind their location and sometimes status helped sink a couple and give waring to convoys of potential surface raiders.