Operation Stratford

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Operation Stratford was the code name for a planned British invasion of western Norway during World War II . The plans for this venture were given up on March 13, 1940.

Operation Stratford was one of a total of three undertakings planned during this period with similar objectives. The others were Operation Avonmouth to conquer Lapland and Operation Plymouth as an advance into southern Sweden to the Stockholm area . The basic plans for this were developed under the influence of the Soviet-Finnish conflicts from February 5, 1940 in the form of joint agreements between France and the United Kingdom . Faced with the impending defeat of Finland, Édouard Daladier planned to send strong French troops and 100 bomber planes to support the country in the winter war at the beginning of March 1940, initially without consulting the British ally . These considerations were taken up by the British side, which developed into the planning of a coordinated Allied enterprise under British leadership. The British cabinet decided on March 12th to use 50 British bombers as part of this operation . The support of Finland was only a pretext to land troops in Scandinavia . All Scandinavian countries affected strictly refused to allow British troops to land in order to maintain their neutrality . Churchill's aim was to build a second front against the Axis powers. In particular, however, the aim was to cut off the German Reich from the urgently needed supply of Swedish iron ore from the mines of Kiruna . Therefore, the occupation of the port cities of Narvik and Luleå were the primary target of the planned operation (endpoints of the ore railway).

In total, more than 150,000 British , Polish and French soldiers were scheduled for these operations . With the end of the Winter War these plans became obsolete and were canceled.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Winston Churchill : "The Second World War" , Alfred Scherz Verlag, Bern 1954, pages 237-238
  2. ↑ https://books.google.de/books?id=NdeVDgAAQBAJ&pg=PT34&lpg=PT34&dq=Operation+Stratford+norway&source=bl&ots=39ndRHthwe&sig=ACfU3U1oT_oHMBIuDWBNoaOACwN5EhI3vQ&hl=de&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjQ1P3d-8bmAhWRzaQKHf1rCMoQ6AEwBXoECAoQAQ#v=onepage&q=Operation%20Stratford%20norway&f = false% 7C Geirr H. Harr, The German Invasion of Norway 1940 (In English)

literature

  • Geirr H. Harr: "The German Invasion of Norway: April 1940" , Seaforth Publishing, Pen & Swords Books, Barnsley 2009