The British Army led by Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery liberated Copenhagen and much of Denmark from German occupation. By this time in the wider conflict of World War II, Nazi Germany was verging on total defeat with its armed forces totally spent; it would surrender unconditionally two days later, May 7.
Denmark, Germany’s neighbor to the north, was not initially considered within Adolf Hitler’s plans of conquest. However, in late 1939, with the British Navy increasing pressure along Norway’s western coastline to stop Swedish iron-ore shipments to Germany, Hitler ordered his military staff to draft plans for an invasion and occupation of Norway. Apart from protecting the vital sea lanes for the iron-ore shipments, the Germany Navy saw the strategic importance of Norway: bases could be established there to launch air reconnaissance missions on the North Atlantic Ocean, and German warships, particularly U-boats, could attack merchant vessels headed for Britain.
Denmark was included in the Norway operation only as an afterthought: German planners recognized that the Danish north airbase at Aalborg was vital for German control of the skies over the Skagerrak Straight between Denmark and Norway. Control of Denmark would also allow Germany to extend its air and naval power to the north, as well as protect the air defenses of the German homeland. Although some German officials preferred to use diplomatic pressure on Denmark to force it to agree to the German terms, in the end, Hitler decided on an invasion. On March 1, 1940, Hitler approved Operation Weserubung, the invasions of Denmark and Norway. On April 1, he set the invasion date for April 9.
Denmark was practically defenseless to fend off the German invasion: it had a small population and territory, its flat terrain was conducive to German mobile warfare, and the absence of mountains precluded any attempt to carry out a prolonged guerilla struggle. Denmark did consist of an archipelago of hundreds of islands, which included Funen, Lolland, and notably Zealand, where Copenhagen, the nation’s capital was located, but these islands’ geographical nearness to Germany allowed for easy access by German land, sea, and air forces.
The Danish military consisted only of two infantry divisions, a total of 10,000-14,000 troops many of whom were new draftees, had no tanks, and possessed only a small navy and air force that had obsolete naval vessels and aircraft, respectively. The Danish government received intelligence information of an imminent invasion, but so as not to provoke Germany, it rejected the recommendation of its military to mobilize the Danish Army (which was placed on high alert), and the Danish Navy was ordered not to resist German naval actions.
In the immediate aftermath of the invasion, Denmark was allowed to maintain much of its internal political and administrative duties, King Christian X remained as the nation’s head of state, and the legislature, police, and judiciary continued to function as before. The Danish people generally were displeased by the German occupation, but also accepted the reality of the situation, especially after France’s defeat only two months later, in June 1940.
By 1943, German-Danish relations had deteriorated, and Denmark’s “politics of cooperation” ended, and the Danish people became hostile toward the occupation forces. Then when a spate of strikes, civil unrest, and sabotages broke out, and an armed resistance movement began to emerge, German authorities dissolved the Danish government, declared martial law, and enforced anti-dissident measures, including press censorship, banning strikes and mass assemblies, and imposing the death penalty for saboteurs, as well as ordering the round up of all Jews for deportation.