Invasion of Denmark and Norway
Germany was dependant on iron ore from sweden and worried, with justification, that the allies would attempt to disrupt those shipments, 90% of which originated from Narvik.
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Invasion lasted 6 hours/ was the shortest military campaign conducted by the Germans during the war
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Norway was important to germany for two primary reasons: as a base for naval units, including U-boats, to harass Allied shipping in the North Atlantic, and to secure shipments of iron-ore from swden through the port of Narvik.
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Strategically, Denmark's importance to Germany was as a staging area for operations in Norway and of course, as a border nation to Germany that would have to be controlled in some way. Given Denmarks positions in relation to the Baltic Seam the country was also important for the control of the naval and shipping access to major German and Soviet harbors.
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