9 Apr 1940 | World War II Database

9 Apr 1940

German troops crossed into Denmark at 0500 hours, with landings near Copenhagen unopposed; the Danish government surrendered within the same day, and Germany completed the conquest Denmark with only 20 casualties. To the north in Norway, German troops attacked four locations. At Narvik, German destroyers sank Norwegian coastal cruisers Eidsvold and Norge, killing 276. At Trondheim, German warships pretended to be British ships and sailed by the coastal batteries without being hassled, thus the city was captured with relative ease. At Bergen, the coastal batteries at Fort Kvarven damaged German cruiser Königsberg and minelayer Bremse. Off Bergen, German Ju 88 and He 111 aircraft attacked British battleship HMS Rodney and destroyer HMS Gurkha at 1400 hours; Rodney was hit by a dud 500-kg bomb, and Gurkha sank at 1600 hours, killing 15; only four German Ju 88 aircraft were lost in this attack. Finally, at Oslo, the batteries at Oscarborg sank German cruiser Blücher in the Oslofjord, killing 830. Out at sea, British battlecruiser HMS Renown intercepted German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau after they had successfully escorted Marine Gruppe 1 to Narvik; Renown fired first, hitting Gneisenau three times, but received two hits before the German ships disengaged from the battle. Given the dire situation, the Norwegian royal family, the government, and the country's gold reserves (with over 48 tons of gold) departed from Oslo at 0830 hours. ww2dbase [Invasion of Denmark and Norway | CPC]
British submarine HMS Truant torpedoed and heavily damaged German cruiser Karlsruhe in the Skagerrak at 1957 hours. After the crew was rescued, German torpedo boat Grief scuttled Karlsruhe. ww2dbase [CPC]
Cruiser Köln participated in the invasion of Norway. ww2dbase [Köln | CPC]

Atlantic Ocean

French submarine Sybille, under British command, departed Harwich, England, United Kingdom to patrol the North Sea west of Denmark. ww2dbase [North Sea | CPC]

Norway

HMS Rodney was hit by a German aerial bomb off Karmøy, Norway; the bomb failed to detonate. ww2dbase [Rodney | Karmøy | CPC]
German merchant steamer Seattle was lost off Kristiansand, Norway when she was mistaken for a German Navy supply ship and was fatally damaged by Norwegian 15-millimeter guns of the Odderøya forgress. The surviving crew were taken as prisoners of war for about one day until their civilian identities were confirmed. The wreck of Seattle burned for several days before finally sinking. ww2dbase [Invasion of Denmark and Norway | CPC]
Emden transferred 350 of her 600 carried troops onto Räumboote minesweepers, which would act as landing ships for the Oslo, Norway invasion operation. At 1555 hours, Emden began firing on the Oscarborg fortress. ww2dbase [Invasion of Denmark and Norway | Emden | Oslo, Østlandet | CPC]
Seeadler arrived off Kristiansand, Agder, Norway, assisted in the capture of the fortress in the morning, and departed for Kiel, Germany at 1800 hours. ww2dbase [Invasion of Denmark and Norway | Seeadler | Kristiansand, Agder | CPC]
Albatros was hit by a shell from Norwegian minelayer Olav Tryggvason at Karljohansvern, Horten, Norway, killing two and wounding two. ww2dbase [Albatros | Invasion of Denmark and Norway | Horten, Vestfold | CPC]