WWII DOCUMENTARY FILM

are slow today the changing of the guard at the Royal Palace since 1848 home of Norwegian kings until nineteen forty these were years of peace tranquility and resolute neutrality then came Nazi aggression and for Norway's three million people a profound change in attitude the country's 60 year old constitutional monarch is Majesty King Olaf the fit result of our experiences during the war will then unprepared us for war and which was then up to nineteen forty a lucky 125 april nineteen forty has caused the fundamental change in the attitude of the Norwegian people they know now that neutrality peace-loving this in itself is not sufficient but that they must work actively towards bringing about peace and understanding between all the peoples of all countries and then therefore joined the NATO organization and organized their armed force in accordance with the theories of this organization to maintain peace and freedom throughout the world and between all nation in 1940 neutral Norway is coveted by Adolf Hitler 1,700 miles of jagged coastline for his ships and u-boats air bases near in prison and a port Narvik for high-grade iron ore shipped by rail from Sweden fence by ship to Germany's war factories Narvik is ice-free open year round on april eighth nineteen forty the Allies notify the Norwegians that mine yields have been laid in Norway's territorial waters to halt this German see traffic the crisis finds Norway utterly unprepared since 19 5 when she gained independence from sweet her King elected by the Norwegian people themselves has been hokan the seventh a towering Dane he has a ragtag army of 13,000 men no tanks practically no heavy guns his air force consists of 70 ancient planes and 125 pilots against them the german luftwaffe greatest air force in the world the German Navy the german army april 9th 1940 the first coordinated air seal and operation in history nazi germany strikes at neutral norway for four days the Norwegians have been warned the Nazis are on their way skeptical Norway has not mobilized its 200,000 reserves the Germans dropped six companies of airborne troops on oslo by noon oslo surrenders the king and government fleet within 12 hours the Germans have land at 8,000 men from warships hold every key position every major airport in Norway to the south Hitler has blitz Denmark in a day it will take longer in Norway we are a longer country comments one observer some of the invaders speak excellent Norwegian as children they were shelter here after world war now they return German commander general Niklaus von falkenhayn is here too he has been in a national hotel posing as a silk stocking salesman also here major bit concussed Lee Norwegian fascist who proclaims himself head of a new government and ex Bolshevik whose party has no political influence his reputation move far exceed his role April 10th 1940 d plus one Oslo rumors spread that the British fleet is counter-attack II will show the city a mass psychosis grips the people they tried desperately to flee the Norwegians call it our day of panic by nightfall the rumors and the exodus end in the countryside Norwegians try to mobilize their forces some of those who vow to fight have never used firearms before some troops guard the king and government to have fled North to elverum near the swedish frontier during this chaotic mobilization the king is being pursued by the German ambassador who once Hokan to appoint a new government under Quisling token will refuse all he will agree to do is to pass on German demands to his government the German ambassador dr. Kirk Brower will try to flatter hook that will fail he will try intimidation King Olaf then the Crown Prince tells what happened dr. Brown told my father that you must have remembered that you person will be responsible for the lives of all those young Norwegian we be laid down during the war that you will personally be responsible for the damage done to proper to the civilian population and to property during an armed conflict you and no other no one adds weight would you respond till my father would not give me everywhere with the cool and deadly precision perfected in Poland the Luftwaffe bombs stripes devastates elverum is smashed Nazi soldiers carry orders get pokin dead or alive refusing to seek asylum in Sweden the King hides in the woods with his government including minister of supplies trig Valley future secretary-general of the United Nations hastily mobilized ill-equipped Norwegian forces try to stem the Nazi tie against the vermox modern artillery they must fit obsolete ripens it is a hopeless battle courage is not enough thousands are forced to surrender yet other Norwegians fight on for a month in the south for two months in the North backed by the British fleet and by allied landings beginning in mid-april the Allies land in north penn central Norway at Narvik novices mope and andaz British French and polish forces sweep ashore in an attempt to establish beachheads against the German invaders they score modest successes destroying our Vic's vital port installations take prisoners liberate no regions but their attacks are limited the Nazi still dominate the sky air power is proving its supremacy over sea power in Norway allied command is often indecisive and faltering a muddy waddle forward and back Church Yoko's No whoa you the Allies are forced to withdraw the last leave Narvik on jun 8 the Nazis have struck at France the big war is on the Norwegian fiasco is tumbled Neville Chamberlain Winston Churchill is Britain's Prime Minister the Norwegians are in despair when I saw them with drawings as one officer I almost hated the Allies more than the Germans on jun 7th 1940 the king who has said he will abdicate rather than surrender leaves Trump's ax in North Norway with his ministers Hogan will establish a government in exile in Britain the battle for Norway n the battle against Nazi occupation and tyranny begins 1540 all Norway is in Nazi hands military unpreparedness has done it not Quisling and his fifth column a noisy not see one percent loathed by the norwegian feet thrown out of office six days after the invasion reappointed puppet minister president in 1942 pitkin Quisling is a posturing figurehead with no power the real power is at his side tough German Reich's commissar Yosef terrible didn't a norwegian bishop describes him he is something incomplete something which never ripened at first the Nazis try a velvet glove occupation we come as friends blood brothers chosen Nordics all they cannot grasp the depth of hatred among Norwegians by September 1940 the Iron Fist takes over not suffocation Gestapo Quisling stormtroopers search arrest concentration camps largest of the concentration camps as greeny near oslo its director a sadist name good sir quickly and produces Hitler's new order to 20,000 Norwegians hell here brutality torture and death many of Norway's 1,500 Jews will be incarcerated here many will not survive the war soon there will be ten thousand Gestapo in Norway one for every 300 citizens not enough to break the national will a resistance fighter during the war a man who will say all the Pacific on the raft contiki after the war major Knut hoaglin first of all the Germans would try to Nassif I the children they sent their orders to the teachers in the Metro two or three days between twelve and fourteen thousand teachers sent their personal letters to the German authorities and told them that they were not going to teach anything else then what was in accordance with the withered school law and their own personal conscience I knew what would happen it didn't take more than a couple of days then Lori's army lorries came to the schools all over the country and the Germans arrested every tenth of the teachers I do not think that the children ever will forget that day when the German soldiers took away their teachers the teachers were sent up in the Arctic on post labor they were sent to concentration camps in prison and then they never came back then the Germans wanted the priests priests to teach a new religion created by Adolf Hitler they didn't agree to that and the result was that the priests were kicked out of the churches but I do not think that the priests ever had such a big audience as I had after that in the woods and in secret places this went on during the whole occupation there is also increasing help from the outside commando raids on norwegian highlands lofoten islands in 1941 and 1943 but Sir and Malay islands in 1941 mounted in London in coordination with the Kings free government in exile the attacks are man by British commandos and Norwegian volunteer the aim is primarily economic destroy fish factory supplying glycerin formulations manufacturer destroys shipping industry oil tanks the tactic is to hit and hurt and run on all a the destruction is total barracks coastal guns every German installation botsa is also a thorough success the raids have other objectives to free Norwegians who wish to escape to England to unnerve Nazi occupation forces to capture German troops and local quislings political and psychological objectives well achieved only indirectly to the raid serve a military purpose they are not like DFA feeling out in testing before invasion a second front in Norway is never seriously contemplated there is other help from the free outside supplies for the Norwegian underground by 1945 this underground numbers 30,000 men and women and Norway is the only major country in Europe where the Communists plano important role in the resistance radio equipment is dropped in foot to instant use internally and to London the movements of the German warships Bismarck Tirpitz and Scharnhorst are reported continually all three are sucked by war's end 300 underground newspapers spring up sabotage of all kinds is plotted and executed names like Max Manas leader of the crack saboteurs known as the Oslo gang and yen's Christian Hogan lawyer turned homefront resistance had become legendary biggest oppo react swiftly hidden resistance cameras record the terror in the streets World War tues most important act of sabotage takes place in Norway at the norsk hydro electric plant a tree ucun producer of heavy water deuterium oxide a chemical vital to the pursuit of the atomic bomb the Allies are convinced Germans in Norway are experimenting with heavy water to produce atomic explosions an airdrop of 32 British commandos fails to reach the plant in February 1943 six Norwegians are given the job I was dropped in as a wireless operator in the first group after we had been up in the mountains several bounds and got all the information about the plant another group was brought in and the plant attacked the attack proved to be a complete success all the machinery in the plant was destroyed in November American bombers finish the job after the war British authorities say that if this plant had not been destroyed Nazi Germany might have had the atomic bomb before we do by 1944 Allied air power is shattering the German fleet hiding in Norwegian fuel the Luftwaffe is disintegrating Norwegian resistance is tying down half a million Germans desperately needed by Hitler in collapsing Europe the Russians have crossed into North Norway the tide has turned the end is in sight on may seven 1945 it is all over after five cruel occupation years Norwegian justice move swiftly 17,000 Quisling collaborators are arrested the German racks commissar Yosef tarbolton retrieval air-raid shelter flights a fuse attached to a ton of explosives and blows himself up arrested and tried for treason VidCon Quisling will be shot by a firing squad on October 24 1945 history will remember only his name synonym for traitor for those German troops trapped in Norway conquerors now confined treatment is correct but vigorous a greeny concentration camp where so many have suffered there is a final poignant mustard during the occupation 40,000 Norwegians have been arrested some 2,000 of them have died 336 innocent hostages have been executed in a vain attempt to stop the persistent sabotage now the liberated prisoners march into oslo there to join in a swirl of freedom their fellow citizens men of the resistance who need hide no more norwegian expeditionary forces return to their homeland and finally on to joyous days their crown prince and their king these days were anticipated in 1942 in words spoken by an american president franklin delano roosevelt if there is anyone who still wonders why this war is being fought let him look to norway if there is anyone who has any delusions that this war could have been averted let him look to norway and if there is anyone who doubts of the democratic will to win again i say let him look to norway