April 1940

April

• 03

  • Key eventThe Katyn massacreOn 3 April 1940 the first prisoners left Kozelsk for their deaths. By mid-May the NKVD had killed almost 22,000 Polish officers, policemen and prisoners.
  • Churchill heads the Military Coordination CommitteeOn 3 April 1940 Chamberlain accepted Lord Chatfield’s resignation and abolished his ministry. Churchill took the chair of the Military Co-ordination Committee.
• 09

  • Key eventGermany invades NorwayOn 9 April 1940 Germany landed troops in Norwegian ports and took Oslo from the air. The king, government and gold left the capital, and Norway fought on.
  • Germany occupies DenmarkOn 9 April 1940 the Wehrmacht invaded neutral Denmark. After skirmishes in Jutland and at Amalienborg the king and government ended resistance within hours.
  • The sinking of the Blücher in the Drøbak NarrowsOn 9 April 1940 the guns and torpedoes of Norway’s Oscarsborg fortress sank the cruiser Blücher. The delay let the king, government and gold leave Oslo.
• 10

  • King Haakon rejects German demandsOn 10 April 1940 Haakon VII refused to appoint Quisling prime minister and threatened to abdicate. The government backed him unanimously and Norway fought on.
  • The sinking of the KönigsbergOn 10 April 1940 Skua dive bombers from the Orkneys sank the German cruiser Königsberg at Bergen, damaged the day before by a Norwegian coastal battery.
  • The first Battle of NarvikAt dawn on 10 April 1940 five British destroyers surprised a German flotilla at Narvik. Each side lost two ships, and both commanders were killed.
• 12

  • The British occupy the Faroe IslandsOn 12 April 1940 British destroyers entered Tórshavn, and the next day Royal Marines landed from the cruiser Suffolk. The occupation lasted until 1945.
• 13

  • The second Battle of NarvikOn 13 April 1940 the battleship Warspite and nine destroyers entered the fjord at Narvik and destroyed the last eight German destroyers there.
  • Second deportation from the eastern landsOn 13 April 1940 the NKVD deported about 61,000 people to Kazakhstan, mainly families of imprisoned officers, policemen and officials killed in those weeks.
• 14

  • The Allies land at NamsosOn 14 April 1940 British sailors seized Namsos. The 146th Brigade and French Chasseurs Alpins followed, to strike at Trondheim from the north.
• 15

  • The British land at HarstadOn 15 April 1940 a British Guards brigade landed at Harstad near Narvik. A dispute between Lord Cork and General Mackesy over an assault delayed its recapture.
• 16

  • The fighting for TrondheimIn mid-April 1940 the Allies landed troops north and south of Trondheim. By 22 April their pincers had broken down at Steinkjer and Lillehammer.
• 27

  • The Allies withdraw from central NorwayOn 26–27 April 1940 London decided to evacuate its troops from around Trondheim. They sailed from Åndalsnes and Namsos in early May, leaving Norway alone.