Chapter 320: The Battle of Denmark

Off the quiet coast of Denmark, a warship appeared on the sea horizon, followed by a second, and a third. This was the German Navy’s High Seas Fleet’s first large-scale support operation, with the objective of protecting the army and landing forces in the complete capture of Denmark.

With a single command, 40 carrier-based Stuka bombers from the four German aircraft carriers took off in sequence. After forming up in the sky, they flew rapidly toward their pre-selected targets.

On the bridge of the carrier Imperator, Lütjens and his chief of staff and adjutant were staring at a sea chart, analyzing the subsequent progress of this operation. To capture Denmark and to link Germany’s two sea exits into one, this offensive plan had been carefully studied by the German military for a very long time.

“This batch of planes will destroy the anti-aircraft guns deployed on the coast, as well as the Danish air force’s airfields near Copenhagen. We have conducted parachute drops here and here, so the higher-ups need our planes to support these areas and to destroy the Danish defenders’ resistance,” the chief of staff said, pointing at the map. “The second batch of planes will patrol here, covering the air force units as they bomb Copenhagen to force the Danish defenders to surrender.”

“What about the sea watch? I think we all know why we are here,” Lütjens said, pointing to the perimeter of his own fleet and drawing a sea area with his hand. “We have analyzed that the British Navy will come out in full force this time and will engage in a decisive battle with us here. That is why our fleet has been dispatched here. The main purpose is to prevent the British Navy from joining forces with Denmark.”

“General,” the chief of staff said, pointing to several red dots on the map. “According to your instructions, at 4:21 this morning, we sent out four destroyers equipped with new radar and deployed security pickets in four places: here, here, here, and here.”

The carrier air group’s liaison officer on the side also pointed to some areas on the map and said to Lütjens, “General, the air units are currently patrolling these areas. The outer perimeter security is almost foolproof. If the British Navy appears, we will have at least 100 nautical miles of distance and more than half an hour of time to react.”

“Signal the surrounding escorting destroyers and cruisers and have them pay attention to their sonar monitoring. I don’t want to let the British slip through,” Lütjens said, finally nodding and giving the order.

Lütjens was being extremely cautious. It could be said that he was greatly cherishing this opportunity to lead an army independently on a mission. The Navy Commander, Raeder, had performed ordinarily in several naval battles and had been arranged by Akado to be the powerless “Chief of the Naval Staff” in Berlin, while he, as the fleet commander, was now commanding the High Seas Fleet in Denmark.

This was Akado’s reward for his victory in the battle off the coast of the Netherlands, and also a bold attempt to find a qualified aircraft carrier fleet commander. Lütjens could only carefully complete his established mission and did not dare to make the slightest mistake. Because if he were to be wrong, then he would not even have the chance to go back to Berlin to be a staff officer.

The main force of the German attack this time was a part of Army Group H, commanded by General von Weichs, with a total strength of about seven divisions. Although these units were from a newly formed army group, the backbone of most of them were old soldiers who had served in the Wehrmacht, so their combat capability should be much stronger than that of the Danish troops.

But compared to the main German forces in France, this force still lacked heavy weapons and equipment—most were light infantry divisions, with only a small number of regimental artillery units equipped with StuG IIIs. But this force was already overkill for dealing with the Danish defenders.

Coordinating with this force was the entire main force of the Navy’s High Seas Fleet, as well as 200 fighters and 110 bombers from the Air Force. Of course, these forces were not prepared to deal with Denmark, but were, on the one hand, guarding against British naval intervention, and on the other, were prepared for the invasion of Norway.

Akado and many of Germany’s generals and businessmen had their eyes on Norway’s high-quality iron ore. Akado hoped that by invading Norway, he could obtain this iron ore to build up his armored forces more cheaply and efficiently. On the other hand, his air force and navy were both looking forward to the increase in weapons production brought by Norway’s metal. At the very least, Raeder was salivating at the prospect of expanding the naval fleet to eight aircraft carriers.

Taking Denmark was just the first step in capturing Norway, and also the first step in expanding the navy. By taking Denmark, the German Navy’s port of Kiel could echo with the port of Wilhelmshaven without restriction and would gain a secure sea exit for the entire Baltic Sea.

And if they were to further occupy Norway, they could form a favorable situation where the naval ports were linked together. Norway has many ports that face the Atlantic and are difficult for Britain to blockade, and it has a long coastline that can be used by the navy to launch surprise attacks, which is enough to threaten more than half of Britain’s domestic shipping lines.

Strategically, Denmark was not that important by comparison. Apart from serving as a staging area for operations against Norway, its only other use was as a sea exit for Germany’s Baltic ports.

Of course, as a country bordering Germany, Akado still felt that Denmark had to be brought under some control. On the other hand, Denmark’s territory was small and relatively flat, making it an ideal place for German army operations. Compared to Germany’s massive army, Denmark’s weak army had little chance of successful resistance.

In fact, it was just as Akado had expected. The German army had launched an attack on the Danish army in the morning. Only a few Danish units had engaged the German army on the border; the rest of the troops had chosen to surrender. After a fierce battle, the Danish defenders had suffered 77 killed in action, while the German army had only lost 19 soldiers—and then the German army had crossed the border and had entered Danish territory.

Under the cover of German destroyers, 1,000 German army soldiers had landed directly at the port of Copenhagen. A Danish King’s Royal Guard unit stationed at the port had engaged the landing German troops. Originally, the Danish defenders had had the situation under control, but they had not expected the German reinforcements to arrive so quickly.

After the battle had been going on for a dozen or so minutes, 20 of the German Air Force’s Do-217 bombers had whistled through the sky. Faced with the German Air Force’s clear intention to intimidate by bombing the civilians of Copenhagen, the elderly king had surrendered almost immediately, accepting all the conditions that Akado had offered him, even including German management of Denmark’s internal affairs.

Just a few minutes after the King of Denmark had surrendered, the bombers that had taken off from the navy’s carriers had only just reached their attack positions. As a result, before they had even begun to drop their bombs, they had been recalled by a directive sent from the aircraft carriers.

“What? They’ve surrendered?” Lütjens couldn’t quite believe that Denmark would surrender so decisively. He felt that there would at least be some local engagements before the whole of Denmark would finally be taken. But he had indeed received a call from the commander of Army Group H, Weichs, declaring that Denmark had already surrendered.

Nearly 30,0_00 soldiers, armed to the teeth, had entered Denmark. They had originally thought it would be another epic battle, but it had turned into a reception ceremony. The paratrooper platoon leader, Second Lieutenant Borol, had been dropped on the edge of a Danish airfield. When he had gathered his troops and had charged into the airfield, wanting to fight a great battle, he had found a white flag hanging at the entrance of the garrison, and the Danish defenders were actually drinking tea in their barracks…

The scene was very bizarre. Borol held his MP-44 assault rifle. Behind him, Baru held a hand grenade in his hand. The two of them just stood there at the door, so scared by the scene in the room that they didn’t know what to do.

The Danish officer in the room was holding a coffee cup, the strong tea inside still steaming. Other soldiers were either lying on their bunks reading, or were gathered together, feeding their pet dog.

This awkward atmosphere lasted for a long time, until the Danish officer broke the silence. The officer walked to the door, handed the coffee cup in his hand to Borol, and said with a smile, “We have already surrendered. If you think it’s okay, would you like to have a cup of tea together?”

Germany’s meticulously prepared invasion had run right into Denmark’s complete and utter surrender. Thus, Germany had taken Denmark almost without firing a shot, creating a war myth of destroying a country in one day. Of course, the main reason that had prompted Denmark to surrender so unhesitatingly was because the British Royal Navy had temporarily lost command of the sea, and Denmark itself was unable to independently resist the German army’s attack.

This was like punching cotton. It was like having practiced martial arts for ten years, only to come out of the mountains and find that your enemy had already died of old age. After seeing the report of Denmark’s surrender, Akado was at a loss for whether to laugh or cry and really wanted to say a popular internet slang from another timeline: “I’ve already taken off my pants, and this is what you show me?”

Next, the German army’s northern corps, that is, several of the main mountain divisions of Army Group H, set their offensive target on Norway. Of course, the plan to invade Norway this time was not much different from the plan in the other timeline. It was all for the naval transport units to break into Norway and to occupy this iron ore-producing country in one go.

But, unlike Hitler in the other timeline, Akado had more trump cards in his hand this time, so the disastrous defeat of the Battle of Narvik would not occur. Historically, the British Royal Navy had launched a fierce attack on the German destroyer fleet at Narvik and had achieved a stunning combat result.

In the other timeline, five British destroyers had sunk two German destroyers here in one go and had also sent almost all of the German transport ships to the bottom of the water. But now, these British Royal Navy fleets, which should have achieved meritorious service, were not in the Norwegian Sea, but were in the North Atlantic, chasing German submarines.

Of course, the heavy cruiser Blücher, which had been sunk here, did not exist in Akado’s naval order of battle, and the other sunken cruiser, the Königsberg, was now sailing with the carrier Imperator and could not possibly be sunk in the coastal waters.

So this naval battle of Narvik, which had cost Germany half of its fleet, would not happen either. Akado’s aircraft carrier fleet was rampaging through the waters of Denmark and Norway, unstoppable. And the coastal artillery units, in the face of the German carrier-based aircraft, could not achieve any decent combat results at all.

Thus, in such a lopsided war, the German army and the Norwegian resistance forces began a new battle for Norway.

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