-Cover of TIME Magizine
On January 20th, 1940, British and Turkish air forces staged a strategic bombing raid on the oil producing city of Baku in the Caucuses. In spite of this hostile act, some in the British government hoped this would bring a close to the conflict instead of escalating it. There was no official declaration of war, merely the British ultimatum and the Soviet’s silent response. After the bombing, the USSR further mobilized their military and began planning an invasion of Turkey, Iran, and the Middle East beyond. The United Kingdom likewise planned a counter-invasion of Iran.
“We had to march all the way down there, just to be shot at while we marched all the way back up. The original plan was were going to park it somewhere by this big lake and wait for the Germans to come to us, but the Swedes didn’t like it. They wanted to meet the Germans on the beaches and push them back into the Baltic. I can’t really blame them, of course. The Brass got together and decided to work it out.”
A compromise?
“Exactly. Means nobody’s happy. A lot of us were going to stay behind and fortify the line, while the rest of us headed south with the Swedes. We were never expected to beat the Germans when they came, we were just supposed to put on a show to prove we’d fight for the towns. It was even in the plans, stage a fighting retreat from the coast back to the line, just for the sake of saying we did it.”
-An Oral History of the Second World War
On February 5th, 1940, two divisions of German infantry attacked Denmark and the country quickly capitulated. A very small number of Danish troops managed to escape to Allied Sweden, but the military consequences were painfully minor for the invading Germans. In two weeks time the invasion of Sweden would begin.
“We never had enough. In war, you will often hear soldiers say that because we hate fair fights. We want to have more material, more men, more planes, more food, more everything because that just makes our job easier. In a way we got spoiled in Poland and Denmark, we were fighting countries that we simply outclassed on every level. The invincible feeling of the soldiers continued on to the Fuhrer himself. In reality though, we were unprepared. We did not have a lot of time to train properly. We were rushed. Word is that Hitler wanted to make the invasion a practice run for an invasion of England. After the Rostock bombing, it was decided that the invasion would be comprised of two separate groups that could act independently in case the other were destroyed. This led to confusion and organization problems. I don’t know if there was anybody of higher rank than Lieutenant on the beach when we got there. We might well have failed in that invasion if it weren’t for the Fallschrimjager. They were the only group that was fully ready for the attack. For the first few days, the Luftwaffe ran the army.”
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Postwar interview with German soldier
The invasion of Sweden was hastily assembled and organized, but the Germans managed to make a beachhead and push inland. British forces staged a fighting withdraw North to the Lakeline, but the Swedish army was less eager to abandon the most industrial sector of the country. The Luftwaffe enjoyed a numerical superiority, but their aircraft were flying out of Germany and could spend less time in combat before returning to base. When the Wermacht finally did hit the Lakeline, they were unable to break through the allied fortifications and the fronts would stabilize there. Back in Berlin, Adolf Hitler demanded his generals open a new front, one to knock his enemies out of the war once and for all.
