The Bitter Years: The Invasion and Occupation of Denmark and Norway, April 1940-May 1945

by Richard Petrow

Rationale for Defeat
Scandanavian Neutrality
The Altmark Affair
Weseruebung
The Invasion of Denmark
The Attack on Norway
The Conquest of Norway
The Civilian Front in Norway
Resistance
Heavy Water & the Atomic Bomb
The Raid on Norsk Hydro
Occupied Denmark
August, 1943
The Problem of the Jews in Denmark
The Rescue of the Danish Jews
Toward Victory in Norway
The Threat of the Tirptitz
War in the North
Toward Victory in Denmark
In the Camps
The White Busses
Liberation
Acknowledgments
Bibliography
Index

Genres: History, World War II

413 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 1974

Reviews

[Caroljeanholmes · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a lot of information that I had not read before. Was a long read but very interesting for the people who study the WW 2 years.

[Ella Wilkinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.8 - comprehensive book on the invasion of Norway and Denmark, as stated in the title. I would've liked to have known more about the occupation part, and what the day-to-day looked like under the occupation. Otherwise, for being written about battles and written in the 70s, it was an engaging book that wasn't as dry as I thought it was going to be.

[Vernon Yarker · Rating 5 out of 5]

A first class historical well researchd book on the German occupation of Denmark and Norway in WW2. It is a long book of 379 pages in close print, so you have a long read ahead of you . just right for the long winter evenings. I am still half way through and I am learning from page to page of this little discussed aspect of WW2. It is a painstaking work that deserves all the credit that you can give

[Michael Arden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here is the full story of the German occupation of Denmark and Norway that began with an attack on both countries that commenced in the predawn hours of April 9, 1940 and lasted for over five years until Nazi Germany unconditionally surrendered to the Allies, thus ending World War II in Europe. The author researched the book for five years, and interviewed many individuals involved with resistance efforts in both countries. In doing so, Petrow dispels some myths about the occupation, including the widely held belief that Norway in particular robustly resisted the Nazis at great cost. In fact, while many brave Norwegians were executed or sent to languish in concentration camps when arrested by the Gestapo, overall both countries responded ambivalently to the German occupation. There were major differences between the experiences of the two countries, given that King Haakon of Norway and his government fled to London soon after the German invasion whereas Danish King Christian X and his government submitted to the occupation authorities, albeit with more autonomy than in any other Nazi-occupied nation. Also, throughout the war, the Germans maintained over 300,000 troops in Norway to fend off an expected Allied invasion that, in fact, never materialized. This was because Hitler was convinced that without a large Wehrmacht and naval presence, the British would try to cut off Germany on its northern flank. In contrast, the occupation forces in Denmark were small in number.

Reading the book, one realizes that, as always, great variations of responses revealing all aspects of human nature were on display throughout the ongoing crisis of enemy occupation. While some courageously resisted the Germans, many enjoyed good wages and decent living conditions building fortifications for the occupiers, or basically went about their lives without serious deprivation, quite in contrast to the harsh conditions in the Netherlands, for example. Both Nordic countries strongly identified with Germanic (but not Nazi) culture, which predisposed the majority of citizens in both nations to grudgingly cooperate with German authorities, particularly since they had overwhelmingly superior fighting forces, and nobody in either country wished to see their homeland devastated. Also, given neighboring Finland's valiant fight against the Soviet Union, the specter of international bolshevism frightened many ordinary citizens of both countries, and the German occupation undoubtedly was perceived as the lesser of two evils. This philosophy was embraced by the traitorous Norwegian wartime head of state, Vidkun Quisling, who was sentenced to death by firing squad for treason after the war.

Despite the overall compliance of both countries with the occupation, there were acts of courage resisting Nazi evils. The episode of the Norwegian saboteurs who knocked out the Norsk Hydro heavy water plant in Rjukan, Telemark, thus setting back Nazi plans to develop an atomic bomb by enough years to scrap them all together, is a stirring story. Even more remarkable is how the Danish people stood as one to save nearly all of its Jewish population late in 1943, when Hitler ordered all Danish Jews to be rounded up and deported to concentration camps in the East. The Jews were secretly warned two days before the planned action and spirited off to neutral Sweden, sometimes with the complicity of the Germans themselves, who did not wish to greatly upset the Danes. Some sea captains charged exorbitant fees to risk their lives and boats to transport the refugees, yet overall the rescue effort was a shining light in the tragic history of the Holocaust. Even if the story of King Christian X donning a yellow star in solidarity with the Jewish people is a myth, the Danish response to the crisis was a triumph of the human spirit. In fact, beginning with the Jewish rescue, the Danes increasingly turned against the Germans, and acts of both passive resistance and active sabotage significantly increased.

The book is aptly named because the years of occupation were indeed bitter, and people responded in different ways to the extended crisis, with the struggle for survival often trumping any other considerations. Highly recommended, particularly for those interested in World War II and Scandinavian history.

[Erik Graff · Rating 4 out of 5]

My parents are cousins, their parents having been separated after the suicide of their grandfather, Dr. Harald Graff, my Farfar having stayed with his mother in the States, my Morfar having been farmed back to relatives in Norway. Mom and Dad only met when Dad, a veteran of both theatres, two years after the war, arrived in Oslo to study at the university there.

While Dad was with the USAF, Mom, her two sisters and their parents were living under German occupation in Oslo. While I grew up, stories of that time abounded: The smuggling of the gold by gymnasium students in their parents' cars, Mother and her classmates distributing resistance fliers, a family friend executed, the German officers quartered in the family home etc. Feelings still ran high amongst that generation. During a visit there just before reading this book, one of my uncles explained that the people he knew wouldn't do business with families who had been collaborators those many years before.

The marriage didn't last. Both Mom and Dad remarried, then remarried again, her ending up with a Norwegian economist/lawyer, he ending up with a Dane who, like Mother, had come to the States as a young woman. Her stories of the occupation of Denmark, where her dad had been a policeman, added to the family trove.

This book, amazingly, was the first comprehensive study I'd ever read about WWII in Denmark and Norway. The rest had been memoirs of participants, like my relatives, covering just a narrow portion of the spectrum, or simply chapters in books of broader scope. As an overview, it covers the standard bases and the writer, a specialist on maritime affairs, writes quite adequately.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very informative book, but one thing in it has already been proven untrue: King Christian did not order all Danes to wear the Star of David in solidarity with the rest of the Jews.
http://www.snopes.com/history/govern/...

[Steve Herreid · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent account of the German occupation of Norway and Denmark during World War 2. I loved this book.

[Arthur Sylvester · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an enlightening book after living in Norway for a couple years.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Evenhanded account of the conquest, occupation, and liberation of both countries. Several chapters on more episodic, others focus on the larger picture.