It’s incredible to think about how an army mostly consisting of soldiers on bicycles took on the dauntingly large Nazi army. But the Danes did just that in the brief six hours it lasted before they had to surrender. Follow the German invasion and experience the battles through before and after pictures, including driving the invasion route and examining historical images from April 9, 1940. World War II had reached the Danes, and their story of facing overwhelming odds is incredibly inspiring and, therefore, should be remembered.
In the gray morning hours on April 99th 1940 Denmark was invaded by German troops they struck simultaneously across the entire Danish German border the German forces had been instructed to avoid combat but any potential resistance was to be ruthlessly crushed the Danish border guards patrolled throughout the night hearing the noise
Of tanks and infantry being prepared for Invasion however the Danish government chose not to confront the Germans by deploying forces at the border hoping that they would not attack Denmark and Germany had previously made a declaration that neither party would initiate aggression against the other on
April 9th at 4:15 in the morning the German soldiers rolled across the border where the Border guards only just managed to report that the Germans had crossed the border before being taken prisoner of war and it is here that we begin our journey where through before and after
Pictures we will travel back in time and experience the battles as they unfolded comparing the past with the present through images we start here at the Danish German border where the Border guards were taken captive and it is here in the building to the left that the Danish border guards would have reported
That German soldiers had crossed the border they looked out of these windows as we drive past just as the Germans did The Germans continued to the Danish town of Tander which was the first town they would have encountered the Danes had Barracks here with a few hundred soldiers but to the surprise of the Germans they encountered no Danish soldiers and it is here that we find our first picture from The Invasion however
The picture was not taken on that morning but later in the day when the German rear troops marched through the Town many Danes gave the Nazi salute as a significant part of the Southern Danish population was sympathetic to the Germans southern part of Denmark had in fact been German just 20 years earlier after losing the 1864 war against the Germans during which large parts of the southern part of Denmark were German
Until the end of World War I after the Germans had passed through the town they reached the Danish Barracks as we approach it by car to the Germans surprise they found no Danish soldiers here the barracks were empty and only a few soldiers and other Personnel were Present in fact the Danish troops had just left the barracks to take positions north of the Town due to the Danish government’s slow reaction to the German attack the Danes had no chance to meet the Germans with a defense in the city their only option was to head north and establish defensive positions
There the Danish forces were only a shadow of of their former selves after years of disarmament since they lost the war back in 1864 the Army consisted mainly of infantry units on bicycles and motorcycles equipped with light and heavy machine guns therefore resistance against the Germans seemed hopeless when
Compared to the German Army which included tanks infantry Vehicles Fighters bombers paratroopers and a Navy the Danish forces also had an Air Force and a Navy but they were insignificant when compared to the Germans we now continue North where the Danish Army had only just managed to set up a
Small defensive position in a town 5 km north of Tondere no pictures were taken during the battle here but we have footage that the Danish Army subsequently recorded after the war to show how they defended their country the small town we are in is called abild and the Danish forces engaged and disabled a single tank here
Before quickly having to break off and Retreat towards the next town further north called breedo the German forces were simply too strong with their tanks and numbers the fact that the Danish forces had no time to set up defensive positions didn’t help them either even the retreat was a
Hard thing to do because 95% of their forces were on bicycles which was both heavy and difficult to cycle while fully equipped as a soldier the Germans had tanks and Infantry Vehicles constantly positioned right behind the retreating Danish forces the only thing that could slow down the Germans was if the Danes
Could delay them even just a little so that troops could establish proper defensive lines further north however this was incredibly challenging as communication at that time was very limited and the Danish forces had to fight where they were on the spot without knowing the larger picture around them
We now leave the city of abild and continue North to the town of solad another very small town where the Danes took positions through the recordings made by the Danish Army after the war we can see a perfect example of the makeshift obstacles the Danes created to
Delay the enemy some discarded wood and horsedrawn wagons were all they could throw onto the road before the Germans caught up with them and the battle began only two pictures from the battle here in solad were taken from the small Inn in the town unfortunately this building
No longer exists the damage to the Inn occurred after the Germans used planes to bomb the Danish positions the fact that the Germans needed planes to combat the Danes here meant there was more time for the rear troops to set up defensive lines in the next town after the
Bombings the Danes withdrew again to the north to breedo which was a significantly larger town with a river and a bridge north of the the town that would be better to defend we take a left turn here as this was the only way North through the town
During the war there was no Road around the town as there is today and the only Road North was through the main street here the Danish Army had set up defensive lines and was better prepared than in the smaller towns before it but when I say better prepared we’re talking
About having 45 minutes to set up defensive line before the Germans caught up with them we drive up the Main Street where there are pictures of the Danish positions minutes before the Germans arrived and you really get the sense of the hopelessness the Danish soldiers must have felt when they were confronted
With the German forces in their tanks their Superior weapons and their numbers of soldiers and here you can see what a defensive line looked like for the Danes as described earlier it was really just horsedrawn wagons and discarded wood this picture was taken just a few minutes before the Germans Arrived and here is another picture of a Danish motorcycle Squad with a light machine gun mounted the soldiers here are looking East not South as the Germans had spotted the Danish positions on the Main Street the Germans therefore went East through one of the side streets to flank the Danes the Danes therefore withdrew over the bridge located on the Northern edge of the Town however after a Danish officer laid eyes on on the frighteningly large force of motorized infantry and tanks he realized that all was lost the Danes on their bicycles had no chance of reaching the next town to
The north without being defeated along the way the officer therefore made the difficult decision for the Danes to surrender here in breedo after the Danish forces surrendered in breedo German forces had also moved east of tonder therefore we will now follow the Germans route to the town of bre
Which was 15 km east of tonder this route went towards Abra and haderslev both larger cities to the east where there were considerably more Danish soldiers than they encountered to the west and it is also here that we will witness one of the larger battles on that day where bread became the
Battleground where two Danish soldiers died in their effort to defend their country but the Germans also incurred significant losses here three tanks were destroyed the exact number number of casualties was never released by the Germans but it is estimated that they lost around 50 soldiers throughout the invasion that Day German and danish soldiers arrived almost simultaneously at The crucial Road Junction in the town of bread the Danish unit managed to take positions at the road Junction and around half 7 they observed a long column of hostile tanks approaching from the West now it’s important to note that the time is half
7 because the Danish government surrendered at 6:00 a.m. however as mentioned earlier communication options for the Danish forces were not optimal and they only had the orders they received when they left their Barracks which were to defend the Country the enemy came to a halt and German soldiers ran out into the field when the enemy began to advance the Danes fired a warning shot and the fire was returned the first tank veered into the ditch to the right of the road as it was neutralized and it’s here we will see
The first picture of the destroyed leading tank Now another three tanks Advanced the first tank drove past the destroyed lead tank and didn’t get far before it too was damaged by the Danish forces hitting a tree near the In The next tank drove past and was also hit enough to render it inoperative ending up in the ditch The fourth tank came so close to the Danish machine gun position that its machine cannon couldn’t aim low enough to hit them however the Danish machine gun position fell shortly after and and two Danish soldiers lost their lives shortly after an entire company of German soldiers arrived from the south
And flanked the Danes at the intersection the Danes had to surrender but some managed to withdraw and head towards hlv the Germans now had such a numerical advantage that the Danes had to lay down their weapons and surrender several were wounded and two had died so the battle was lost at
Bread however it is still remarkable that the few Danish soldiers here managed to disable three tanks and kill an unknown number of German soldiers the odds against the Danish soldiers were overwhelmingly low but still they fought against the much larger German forces which truly commend their bravery and
Love for their country after the fighting German soldiers even took pictures in front of their destroyed tanks the battle was now lost for all the Western Danish for forces but the fight continued to the east where the Danes defended the cities of Aben ra and haderle in episode 2 we will follow the
German soldiers Invasion on the east coast and the brave Danish soldiers fight for their country they were all true Patriots and the Danish soldiers Against All Odds fought and deserve to be remembered here in bread a memorial stone has been erected for the Fallen Danish soldiers so they will never be
Forgotten they were courageous and despite the Danish State showing incompetence in their strategies the soldiers fought with great determination they should be remembered so stay tuned for episode 2 of the 6-hour War