You want more nerdiness? Oh come on, you know you do.

So, the Norwegian Campaign. It took place from April until June 1940. Basically, Germany planned an invasion of Norway to conquer her and retrieve valuable iron ore resources for use in the war.

Britain, who had declared war the previous year in 1939 were liable to do something about it, but how successful were their ideas?

British Success at Norway.

• The British navy sailed in with their super superiority and damaged the German navy with ease. England 1, Germany 0.

And uh… that’s it.

British Failure at Norway.

• Lack of decisiveness at Norway delayed forceful action from Britain. This meant that both British and German operations went ahead at the same time. So effectively, Britain only made the campaign harder for themselves. Good one.

• Britain may have had the superior navy, but Germany had the better air force. This exposed Britain’s ant-aircraft guns as weak, making Britain look weaker and less scary by the minute. (Trust me, it’ll all get better at Dunkirk… Maybe.)

• Allied navy and infantry command was badly coordinated: they failed to work together effectively, costing them time and allowing the Germans to gain the upper hand.

• You know how Norway is all snowy and mountain-y and whatnot? Well, you’d think the British would know to wear snow shoes, wouldn’t you? Well, you’re wrong. Rather ridiculously, the Brits forgot to bring necessary footwear. To make things worse, the French brought their skis with them, but brought the wrong bloody bindings. Does it get any more ridiculous? Let’s hope not.

• Churchill egged on the navy to follow German ships. YAY! Finally, something good occurred as a result of British efforts. Oh, wait, incorrect. Sorry for getting your hopes up. The stupid idiots followed the boats but IN THE WRONG FUCKING DIRECTION. Looks like someone didn’t read ‘War for Dummies’.

• Narvik was taken within 6 weeks of German invasion. They occupied the country and gained control of the iron ore they wanted. So basically, Britain wasted their time, money and effort. Right?

Well…

Points that suggest Norway was of NEGATIVE significance for Britain.

• Eric Grove said “[Norway was] a huge strategic gamble”.

• Norwegian coastal waters were vital for Germany to transport their iron ore to their blast furnaces. Britain failed to blockade these effectively.

• Germany secured air bases in Norway as a result of their victory over its occupation. They could now ship to other countries, making them even more powerful. God dammit, Team GB!

• 7 British destroyers were lost. Sucks, because we were still re-arming and still didn’t have enough ships and planes to keep us going.
• The Norwegian Campaign was humiliating for Britain: it exposed Britain’s inability to contest command off shore due to lack of radar and high performance fighters. Why does this suck? Because Germany had radar and they had the skill to use it. And we didn’t. Go figure.

But was it all bad?

Points that suggest Norway was of POSITIVE significance for Britain.

• Norway was not the asset Germany hoped for: its resources and land was not as of much as use as they initially thought it would be.

• Norway’s defence tied down more German troops than we gave them credit for. Okay, this isn’t something that Britain did, but it could only lead to positives for Britain in the long run.

• Chamberlain resigned in May. This meant that he would soon be replaced with heroic war leader Winston Churchill, who was named by journalists as ‘just the man for the job’.

• By the end of the Norwegian Campaign, Germany only had 7 of its navy destroyers left. SUCKERS. We always knew our navy was better.

So not ALL was lost. But look at all the negatives and failures in comparison to the positives and successes.

Doesn’t really weigh up, does it?

One again, I have to say…

British Fail.