 Six years of hard training and actual battle experience in Spain and Poland had made the German Army look invincible. Not the British and French. First, let's take up the British. They started from scratch, but both at home and abroad, an army was growing. For not only Britain had declared war, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, the whole British Commonwealth of Nations was also determined on victory over Hitlerism and all it stands for. And Britain had one weapon that was ready, the Royal Navy. Shortly after war was declared, it had swept German shipping from the high seas, and units of the British fleet were deployed at Suez, Malta, Gibraltar, in the Channel, and in the North Sea, blockading Germany. No conquest was impossible without running smack up against the rock called Britain. How to strike at that little island? That was the question. Between Britain and Germany stood not only France, but the little countries of Luxembourg, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. The people of these small, neutral countries were peaceful, hardworking, and free. They knew they were in the middle and feared violation of their neutrality. Hitler knew this. He also knew that if they united with the Allies, they would form a solid democratic wall against Nazi aggression, and their conquest would be far more difficult. So before striking with his armies, he used another weapon, the propaganda barrage, to confuse, to make them lose faith, to divide and conquer. To lull the fears of the little neutrals, propaganda minister Goebbels told them Germany didn't want a war at all. It was Britain and France that caused all the trouble. Then it was Hitler's turn. In a speech on October 6, 1939, he made the more kinds of specific promises. To the Danes, he said, we have concluded a non-aggression pact with Denmark. To the Norwegians, he said, Germany never had any conflict with the northern states and has none today. To the Dutch, he said, the new Reich is endeavored to continue the traditional friendship with Holland. And to the Belgians, he announced, the Reich has put forth no claim which might in any way be regarded as a threat to Belgium. And while Hitler was making these promises, his generals were cold-bloodedly picking out the first victim, Norway. And why did they pick Norway? It's many steep inlets or fjords would make excellent U-boat bases, from which raiders could prey on British supply lines. Also, it would give the Nazis vital air bases. This is Stappaflo, British naval base, and this the blockade fleet. At this time, the German-based bombers couldn't reach them. Possession of bases on Norway's western shore would bring these vital British defenses under easy bomber attack. But he couldn't take Norway without also taking tiny Denmark, the springboard for his attack. So at dawn on April 9th, 1940, it was the neutral borders of little Denmark and in a matter of hours it occupied the entire country. By nightfall, Denmark is erased as a nation and the Danes go into slavery. Although only six months before, Hitler had announced, we have concluded an unaggression pact with Denmark. The Danes will not forget. Meanwhile in Norway, peaceful-looking German merchant ships like these had sneaked inside Norway's neutral waterway and tied up at all principal ports. That is, they looked like merchant ships. But if the Norwegians had had x-ray eyes, this is what they would have seen. The Trojan horse of ancient Greece brought up to date with new and deadlier weapons. At the precise moment that the Nazis overran Denmark, these quiet-looking ships sprang to life. At the same time, Nazi warships, discovered along the entire coastline, started steaming up the Norwegian fjords. Ships, transports, tanks, men, planes, all flung themselves simultaneously upon a defenseless country. Foreign infantry seized every strategic Norwegian airport. The whole job was made easier by treacherous fifth columnists, led by Major Quisling, who seized power and issued orders to suppress resistance. Nazi warships steamed past silent guns that could have blasted them out of the water. This was one of the most amazing acts of treachery the world has ever known. It brought Major Quisling international fame, making his very name synonymous with the word traitor. By the afternoon of April 9th, the Germans were in complete control of all seven ports where they had landed in the morning. First time in more than 200 years, the people of Norway saw an invading army parading through their cities. Many of these Nazi soldiers strutting as conquerors in 1940 had last seen Norway some 20 years earlier, when as refugee German children they had been raised and cared for by kind Norwegians. Now these same Germans were back to repay that kindness with terror and destruction. Once they had occupied the capital, the Nazis quickly fanned out in all directions. But loyal Norwegian troops stopped one German column between Heimar and Elverum. The Germans brought up their bombers. Norwegians were forced to flee to the north under constant and unopposed air attack. It was here that Captain Robert Lose, an American military attache was killed, the first American soldier to lose his life in this war. Meanwhile the Nazis had spread all over the country. Small patrols occupied every strategic village. Parachute troops landed high in the mountains. The Nazis and the Allies sent defenseless civilians fleeing in stark terror, done everything to avoid it. Hoping they could escape the Nazis' scourge, they had compromised and tragically failed to unite with the other democracies. And now they faced the scourge defenseless and alone. Before the Allies could come to their aid, the Germans were in control of all principal ports. Regardless of this, British, French and Polish contingents plunged in and made several landings along the Norwegian coast. They landed forces north and south of Trondheim and attempted an encircling movement on the city, under constant, heavy and almost entirely unopposed air attack. While the scene of action was out of range of British fighter planes. So they brought up aircraft carriers. But these are at a disadvantage when opposed by land-based planes. The Allies therefore were badly battered from the air, only suffering heavy losses they withdrew from a hopeless situation. Further to the north, at Narvik, they met with better success, inflicting heavy naval losses on the Nazis and held the town for nearly two months. First prisoners of the present war. Again the Nazis' overwhelming air superiority proved a deciding factor. They were forced to withdraw under terrific air bombardment. Our regions were left with their quizzes, their ruins, their dead. Even though six months before Hitler had said, Germany never had any conflict with the northern states and has none today. Our regions will not forget. And Hitler, Hitler had another victory. He had hijacked two more countries. The world wondered and sometimes marveled at this man's efficiency. And here was efficient too. How the nation throws away all regard for the laws of God and man, he is bound at first to be more efficient than his victims. Society had a police force to deal with the gangster, Deunger, but it had no police force to deal with gangster, Hitler. So he clubbed Norway into submission and got what he wanted, bases for use against Britain. Now he had the northern claw of an enormous pincer movement. A drive through France would give him the southern claw. Blockade by U-boats, coupled with mass bombing attacks, would weaken the British for final invasion. Then, with Britain gone, Germany could reach out in all directions for world conquest. His next move must obviously be through France to get his southern claw.