why would the Germans even care about Norway (being fooled into thinking D-Day was planned for there) at a point that late in the war? i've heard that it was all about "muh iron ore" and "muh u-boat pens" when logistics meant the ore didn't mean shit, and remaining u-boats were essentially floating targets (no, your slave-built schnorkels won't save you) carrying precious amounts of remaining oil. while they performed... fairly well, given the circumstances at normandy, that was mostly because of fucked up allied coordination & an all-or-nothing strategy of stopping it at the beaches. i am sorry, i'm quite stupid.
>>65166066Hard water
>>65166066Another coast to worry about.
>>65166066Also the invasion of Norway (1940) was when shit was still up in the air, way before they were losing hard (1944). Shit, they could still topple a country like Norway. Why wouldn't you conquer Norway? What are you, gay?
Iron ore from northern Sweden was suitable for weapons production due to its low impurity content. Furthermore, Petsamo had a nickel mine, which was extremely valuable within the German sphere of influence.
I'd rather be killed by a German than a asiatic.
>>65166066Sweden roughly covered 50% of Germany's iron imports, not to forget the Norwegian air- and naval bases from which the Allies could have further encircled Germany.And what did Norway cost them? 300.000 Soldiers, while significanty wouldnt have changed the outcome on either front because the vast majority were just garrison soldiers with rifles that would have been turned into minced meat by even the most amateurish Soviet division.
>>65166066Because of Hitler's retarted no retreat no surrender policy.
>>65166066>abandoning Norway would guarantee access to the Atlantic Ocean being completely cut-off as well as the loss of any remaining leverage against Sweden and Finland>number of troops who would be freed up from evacuating Norway (~350,000 or the equivalent the 6th Army at the start of Case Blue) wouldn't be enough to make a substantial difference on any front>Allied control of airspace and open water beyond the Denmark Strait meant that transferring troops back to Germany was itself hazardous and a decent number of them would wind up becoming fish foodReally, the bretards shouldn't have invaded Norway over the fucking Altmark incident in the first place, but then again, they shouldn't have started the war to begin with.
>>65166066As others noted in this thread:Iron ore supplies.Iron ore from northern Sweden could only be shipped to Germany from Narvik.British and French plans to invade Norway were underway, which would have threatened that ore supply.German presence there ensured Sweden would remain neutral, which was another big plus for Germany.It also forced the Royal Navy to stay further west, which allowed some German operations in the northern Atlantic.After Hitler invaded the Soviet Union, aircraft and subamrines stationed there could strike against the British and US convoys to northern Russian ports.Sadly, German forces there and in Finalnd were too weak to reach Murmansk.
>>65171643>Sadly, German forces there and in Finalnd were too weak to reach Murmansk.The Germans and Finns in that area fought really poorly by their then-usual standard, I wonder what it was, it couldn't have just been the terrain
Even Odessa, which was besieged in the early stages of Operation Barbarossa, became a meat grinder for the Eastern European Axis forces. The resistance based in cities with well-stocked supply lines was tenacious and not to be underestimated. They should have focused solely on cutting off the railway lines in the south, rather than being greedy and trying to capture Murmansk.
>>65172679>Even Odessa, which was besieged in the early stages of Operation Barbarossa, became a meat grinder for the Eastern European Axis forces.That's because it was the Romanians. Yes, their contribution was huge to the eastern front, but it was an extremely low quality contribution
>>65166066>why would the Germans even care about NorwayHitler didn't and wanted to stay out of there which is precisely why Churchill forced his hand by trying to invade it.He called it "expanding the front" or some shit like that. It also would have made Sweden vulnerable to another allied invasion.
>>65168259>we'll just "tactical withdraw" ourselves to victory Okay Manstein
>>65173779Churchill had an even worse disdain for neutrality than Hitler. Dude was riding such an insanely delusional wave. Biggest war monger of the 20th century, he just wanted his whole life to play the role of military hero when in reality he was essentially a pathetic neverserved who shoehorned his way into battle one time where he acquitted himself poorly
>>65166066Air and commando raids, access to Atlantic, proximity to East Front, Iron ore, nickel from Petsamo(around 70% of all nickel used by German industry from there, shipped down Norwegian coast) and Hitler's obsession
