Adolf Hitler had high hopes for his conquest of Norway, which held
both great symbolic and great strategic value for the Fuhrer.
Despite early successes, however, his ambitious northern campaign
foundered and ultimately failed. Adam Claasen for the first time
reveals the full story of this neglected episode and shows how it
helped doom the Third Reich to defeat.
Hitler and Raeder, the chief of the German navy, were determined
to take and keep Norway. By doing so, they hoped to preempt Allied
attempts to outflank Germany, protect sea lanes for German ships,
access precious Scandinavian minerals for war production, and
provide a launchpad for Luftwaffe and naval operations against
Great Britain. Beyond those strategic objectives, Hitler also
envisioned Norway as part of a pan-Nordic stronghold--a centerpiece
of his new world order. But, as Claasen shows, Hitler's grand
expectations were never realized.
Gring's Luftwaffe was the vital spearhead in the invasion of
Norway, which marked a number of wartime firsts. Among other
things, it involved the first large-scale aerial operations over
sea rather than land, the first time operational objectives and
logistical needs were fulfilled by air power, and the first
deployment of paratroopers.
Although it got off to a promising start, the German effort,
particularly against British and arctic convoys, was greatly
hampered by flawed strategic thinking, interservice rivalries
between the Luftwaffe and navy, the failure to develop a long-range
heavy bomber, the diversion of planes and personnel to shore up the
German war effort elsewhere, and the northern theater's harsh
climate and terrain.
Claasen's study covers every aspect of this ill-fated campaign
from the 1940 invasion until war's end and shows how it was
eventually relegated to a backwater status as Germany fought to
survive in an increasingly unwinnable war. His compelling account
sharpens our picture of the German air force and widens our
understanding of the Third Reich's way of war.
General
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