- The Norwegians made a formal protest, stating that their neutrality had been violated against international law. The British Government responded by saying that Norway itself had violated international law by allowing the Germans to transport British prisoners-of-war through its waters and back to Germany. Germany, not to be ignored, demanded reparations from Norway as well, claiming that they had sided with the British and allowed the Altmark to be boarded, leading to the deaths of German sailors. (The Second World War, Martin Gilbert, p 42-43) (British Intelligence in the Second World War: Its influence on Strategy and Operations Vol 1, F.H. Hinsley, p 105-106) HistoryHit (https://www.historyhit.com/1940-altmark-incident/)
5. On March 15th, 1940, two British bombers flew across the North Sea, Denmark and the Baltic to reach Warsaw. Their mission was to drop somewhere between six and seven million propaganda leaflets on the former capital of Poland. After making their “bombing” run, both planes were low on fuel, which necessitated returning across Germany to land at airbases in France. One of the planes landed by accident in Germany when the pilot thought he had crossed over into France. In front of astonished peasants, he managed to take off again and land safely in France the following morning. On that same day, March 16th, the Germans aggressively attacked the British fleet at anchor in Scapa Flow. Fifteen German bombers dropped bombs on the port, killing three officers on the heavy cruiser Norfolk, and also killing a civilian who was standing at the door of his cottage, watching the raid. Two days later, Winston Churchill told the War Cabinet that, “There was considerable feeling in the country that while the Germans used bombs, we only dropped leaflets.” (The Second World War, Martin Gilbert, p 49)
6. The Spitfire’s Wooden Propellers. The early Mk I Spitfires were powered by a 1,030 hp Merlin Mk II engine. These engines had a ten-foot diameter two-blade wooden fixed propeller which weighed 83 lbs. But the two-blade propellers severely limited take-off distance and climb rate. And, as you can imagine, there are several reports of other issues with the wooden propellers. They were susceptible to dry rot, and on more than one occasion a propeller would snap during routine flight. In this book, one of the pilots experienced just that. However, from the 78th production airframe, the wooden propellers were replaced with three-bladed, two-position metal propellers, which improved take-off performance, maximum speed and service ceiling on the Spitfire, making it the only fighter capable of successfully competing with the German BF 109 at higher altitudes. To incorporate the new propeller on already existing MK I Spitfires, a kit was developed and teams went to the air bases to replace the propellers. By August 16th, 1940, every Spitfire had been modified with the new metal propellers.
- Interestingly, wooden propellers were to return by 1941, as the war caused a shortage of the duralumin metal used to produce the propellers. This led to the application of the Schwarz process, where “special machinery pressed a hard metal mesh coating and cellulose sheet” over propellers made from soft wood. This ended up producing very hard, composite wood blades which were used until the end of the war. These were the Rotol Propellers, which were contant-speed wood and metal blades. (Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum (https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/rotol-spitfire-propeller-blade-constant-speed-wood-and-metal/nasm_A19601413000) (Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supermarine_Spitfire_(early_Merlin-powered_variants)#cite_ref-32)(Key.Aero – Spitfire MK I, II and IIA’s Prop Fittings https://www.key.aero/forum/historic-aviation/89374-spitfire-mk-i-ii-and-iia-s-prop-fittings)
7. Vidkun Quisling. A Norwegian military officer and politician. In 1933, Quisling left the Farmers Party and founded the National Union, a fascist party. His party did achieve some popularity, but failed to win any seats in government and was still only active on the fringes in 1940. In 1934, he met Nazi ideologist and theorist Alfred Rosenberg. By 1936, Quisling had hardened his anti-Semitic stance. By 1939, he was delivering lectures entitled “The Jewish problem in Norway” and he openly supported Adolf Hitler in the growing European conflict. He sent Hitler a 50th birthday greeting thanking him for “saving Europe from Bolshevism and Jewish domination.” In the summer of 1939, he was invited to tour Germany and was well-received, with Germany promising funds to boost his party in Norway and help spread pro-Nazi sentiment. In December, he met Hitler, gaining a promise from the Fuhrer to respond to any British invasion of Norway pre-emptively with a German counter-invasion. On March 31st, he was summoned to Copenhagen to meet with Nazi intelligence officers, who asked for information on Norwegian defenses and defense protocols. He returned to Norway on April 6th, and Germany invaded on the 9th. That afternoon, Quisling was told by the German liaison that if he set up a new government in Norway, it would have Hitler’s personal approval. Quisling created a list of ministers and then accused the legitimate government of having fled. By 5:30pm, Oslo was occupied by the Germans, and Norwegian radio ceased broadcasting at the command of the Germans. With their support, Quisling entered the NRK studios in Oslo and broadcast a message. He announced the formation of a new government with himself as Prime Minister, and revoked the earlier order made by the King to the Norwegian army and civilians to fight the German invasion. Within 24 hours, Hitler officially recognized the new government under Quisling.
- Quisling’s success, however, was short-lived. On April 10th, Germany’s ambassador traveled to Elverum where the legitimate Norwegian government sat and demanded that King Haakon appoint Quisling head of a new government. In that way, they could secure a peaceful transition of power. King Haakon refused, saying that he would rather abdicate than appoint any government headed by Quisling. Upon hearing him take a stance, the Norwegian government unanimously voted to support the king, and urged the Norwegian people to continue their resistance. Germany retracted its support of Quisling’s government when it became clear that he did not have the backing of the country, choosing instead to build its own independent governing
