Norway 1940 (World War II)
- Book Review,
by Francois Kersaudy
From Publishers Weekly
The German attack on April 9, 1940 came as a surprise to the small, unprepared armed forces of Norway. Kersaudy ( De Gaulle ) describes how King Haakon VII, the 70-year-old monarch, rallied the country to resist the invader while the British and French organized an expeditionary force. In London, meanwhile, opposition to Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's leadership escalated precipitiously after the Germans invaded Belgium and the Netherlands; stepping down, he was replaced by Winston Churchill, who decided that British troops were needed to defend England from an expected cross-Channel invasion. By June 9 the last Allied troops had been withdrawn from their ineffectual beachheads in Norway. What influence did this brief campaign have on subsequent developments in World War II? For Germany it meant air and naval bases closer to England; for England it meant the emergence of Churchill as war leader. This workmanlike account of one of the war's peripheral campaigns is of limited appeal. Photos. Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
The Allied campaign in Norway has had its detractors, but none with the satiric style of Kersaudy. Most of what he damns deserves condemnation--the blindness, refusal to pay heed to early warnings, the constant betrayal of the Norwegians, and the unpleasant mission, given to a lowly field commander, of informing the Norwegian commander-in-chief of the British and French withdrawal. After a brief introduction, the book plunges into the German attack. Oslo's occupation was delayed by the sinking of the German cruiser Blucher in Oslofjord. Otherwise, the Germans had no trouble rousting the poorly armed Norwegians or the British, who lacked artillery, anti-aircraft guns, and tanks. The only bright spot in the two-month campaign was provided by the French, who contributed excellent ski troops and Foreign Legionnaires in Narvik. Kersaudy writes well, and the translation is good; the bibliography, however, lacks important works. For large and general collections.- Raymond Lindgren, California State Univ., Long BeachCopyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Kirkus Reviews
A lively look at one of the sideshows of WW II--the Nazi invasion of Norway as Britain stood by--from Kersaudy (History/Sorbonne and Oxford). Although its scale and bloodletting were minuscule by comparison with what was to come, this Allied fiasco had an impact disproportionate to its inherent importance, for it confirmed all the worst fears about the direction of the British war effort and led to the replacement of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain by Winston Churchill. That outcome was preceded by a tale of unpreparedness, incompetence, and deceit unusual even in war. The Norwegian army, in theory 30,000 strong, in reality had only 7,000 men--who had never been on maneuvers together and had no machine guns, grenades, antiaircraft guns, or tanks; meanwhile, the Norwegian navy had not left its ports since 1918. Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty, and concerned about supplies of Swedish iron ore to Germany, produced a plan to take action against the Norwegian port of Narvik, but the direction of the attack was endlessly debated by the British and French cabinets and changed a half-dozen times in less than two weeks. Finally, the responsible commanders on the ground were not told what had been decided but were explicitly told to tell the Norwegians nothing. By contrast, Kersaudy explains, the German attack was short, sharp, and brutal, even though the Nazis had to rely on maps torn from old school- geography books. Only King Haakon VII, resolute while his cabinet drifted, and Churchill, resourceful and combative, emerge here with any great credit from the debacle. And in the debate that ensued, it became apparent that only Churchill could command the trust of the House of Commons. An ironic, biting account of an episode as deplorable for its deceit as for its incompetence. (Sixteen pages of photographs--not seen.) -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
From Book News, Inc.
The story of Norway's attempted resistance to the German invasion and her betrayal (by vacillation) by England and France--an episode that led to the downfall of Chamberlain as Prime Minister of England and may even have contributed to the subsequent invasion of France. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.
Language Notes
Text: English (translation)
Original Language: French
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