This short newsreel comes from a series made for the home market and sold in German department stores during WWII. This particular newsreel focuses on the invasion of Denmark and Norway. At :17, a map shows the thrust of the German advance into both countries. At :22, horse drawn German supply wagons move North. At :45, Wehrmacht troops fire artillery as the advance continues; at :59 troops ford a river in a rubber assault boat. At 1:25 a massive artillery piece is fired. At 1:29 a mixed group of captured soldiers, possibly including some British, are seen marching under guard. At 1:50, anti-aircraft flak guns shoot at an enemy aircraft. At 2:13 a wrecked twin engine bomber is shown, probably a Vickers Wellington. At 2:29, German He-111 bombers make a raid into Norway. Their target appears to be a dam. There is also footage of Stuka dive bombers in action, raiding enemy shipping.

Operation Weserübung was the code name for Germany’s assault on Denmark and Norway during the Second World War and the opening operation of the Norwegian Campaign. The name comes from the German for Operation Weser-Exercise (Unternehmen Weserübung), the Weser being a German river.

In the early morning of 9 April 1940 (Wesertag; “Weser Day”), Germany invaded Denmark and Norway, ostensibly as a preventive man-oeuvre against a planned, and openly discussed, Franco-British occupation of Norway. After the invasions, envoys of the Germans informed the governments of Denmark and Norway that the Wehrmacht had come to protect the countries’ neutrality against Franco-British aggression. Significant differences in geography, location and climate between the two countries made the actual military operations very dissimilar.