This book reviews what is almost a forgotten army. Norway was
vitally important to the German war effort because it was a
source of key raw materials. It was also an important front
against the USSR. A very valuable addition to available knowledge
about campaigns which have been under reviewed, highly recommended.
NAME: Hitler's Arctic War, The German Campaigns in Norway, Finland and the USSR 1940-1945 FILE: R2410 AUTHOR: Chris Mann, Christer Jorgensen PUBLISHER: Pen & Sword BINDING: soft back PAGES: 224 PRICE: £14.99 GENRE: Non Fiction SUBJECT: WWII, World War 1I, World War Two, Second World War, German Army, winter warfare, mountain warfare, Scandinavia, raw materials, Alpine Troops, tanks, guns, survival ISBN: 1-47385-456-X IMAGE: B2410.jpg BUYNOW: http://tinyurl.com/zdu563s LINKS: Current Discount Offers http://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/sale DESCRIPTION: This book reviews what is almost a forgotten army. Norway was vitally important to the German war effort because it was a source of key raw materials. It was also an important front against the USSR. A very valuable addition to available knowledge about campaigns which have been under reviewed, highly recommended. The Germans had never spent any real effort considering warfare in Scandinavia and above the Arctic Circle, and neither had anyone else outside Scandinavia. Then in 1940, Germany was given no option but to invade Norway and then conduct operations in support of Finland and against the USSR. Norway was important to Germany as a source of important materials. When the Winter saw the Baltic freeze, high grade iron ore could only be brought out of Sweden by sending it by rail to Norway where the ports were still open. There was a general trade in food stuffs and other materials, but of critical importance to the German nuclear program was the heavy water produced by hydro-electric plants in Norway. Unlike the other campaigns German forces were involved in, the Arctic War was a war of small self-supporting units. Even the initial invasion had only required 20,000 men and the population of Norway was only three million. The Germans tried different tactics with the Norwegian population and attempted to use Quisling to head a puppet government. However, this was frustrated and a relatively large Norwegian underground was rapidly formed, with a regular 'taxi' service between Norway and the Shetlands, ferrying people in and out of Norway and supplying arms and equipment to the resistance. As this developed, aircraft were used to drop supplies to the Norwegians and both glider and paratroop insertion was employed to deliver commando units. Given the Norwegian will to resist, Norway became a disproportionate drain on German resources in return for remarkably little. Heavy German naval units used the Norwegian Fjords to hide from the Royal Navy and RAF with dubious success. They did pose a threat to the Allies that kept RN warships tied up ready to strike at any German warships that came out to threaten convoys, but the RN targeted these threats and sunk both the Tirpitz and the Scharnhorst. Before those losses, the Germans also had to tie up forces to guard the ships from sea and air attack. The most profitable operation in the Arctic was probably the Luftwaffe aircraft and U-boats that were able to use Norwegian bases to maintain continuous attacks on the important Russian convoys bringing supplies to the USSR and returning for a fresh cargo. The co-authors have produced a unique review of the Arctic Campaigns that deals with them comprehensively, adding much to the available knowledge of WWII.