Editing Norway (section)

=== Second World War ===
{{See also|German occupation of Norway|Reichskommissariat Norwegen|Quisling regime}}

[[File:Bombingen av Kristiansund, 1940, Riksarkivet, Arkivreferanse PA 1667U2 050.jpg|thumb|left|Bombing of [[Kristiansund]]. The German invasion resulted in 24 towns being bombed in the spring of 1940.]]

Norway once more proclaimed its neutrality during the [[World War II|Second World War]], but was [[Operation Weserübung|invaded by German forces]] on 9 April 1940. Although Norway was unprepared for the German surprise attack (see: [[Battle of Drøbak Sound]], [[Norwegian Campaign]], and [[Operation Weserübung|Invasion of Norway]]), military and naval resistance lasted for two months. Norwegian armed forces in the north launched an offensive against the German forces in the [[Battles of Narvik]], but were forced to surrender on 10 June after losing British support which had been diverted to France during the [[Battle of France|German invasion of France]].

King Haakon and the Norwegian government escaped to [[Rotherhithe]] in London. Throughout the war they sent radio speeches and supported clandestine military actions against the Germans. On the day of the invasion, the leader of the small National-Socialist party [[Nasjonal Samling]], [[Vidkun Quisling]], tried to seize power, but was forced by the German occupiers to step aside. Real power was wielded by the leader of the German occupation authority, [[Josef Terboven]]. Quisling, as ''minister president'', later formed a [[Quisling regime|collaborationist government under German control]]. Up to 15,000 Norwegians volunteered to fight in German units, including the [[Waffen-SS]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nuav.net/volunter.html |title=Norwegian volunteers in the Wehrmacht and SS |publisher=Nuav.net |date=9 April 1940 |access-date=5 April 2010 |archive-date=3 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181003202720/http://www.nuav.net/volunter.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
[[File:Albert Viljam Hagelin with Adolf Hitler and Vidkun Quisling, 13 February 1942.png|thumb|[[Adolf Hitler]] meets the Norwegian Prime Minister [[Vidkun Quisling]] and minister [[Albert Viljam Hagelin]], 13 February 1942]]
Many Norwegians and persons of Norwegian descent joined the Allied forces as well as the [[Free Norwegian Forces]]. In June 1940, a small group had left Norway following their king to Britain. This group included 13 ships, five aircraft, and 500 men from the Royal Norwegian Navy. By the end of the war, the force had grown to 58 ships and 7,500 men in service in the Royal Norwegian Navy, 5 squadrons of aircraft in the newly formed Norwegian Air Force, and land forces including the [[Norwegian Independent Company 1]] and 5 Troop as well as No. 10 [[British Commandos|Commandos]].{{citation needed|date=February 2017}}

During [[German occupation of Norway|German occupation]], Norwegians built a [[Norwegian resistance movement|resistance movement]] which incorporated civil disobedience and armed resistance including the destruction of [[Norsk Hydro]]'s [[heavy water]] plant and stockpile of heavy water at [[Vemork]], which [[Norwegian heavy water sabotage|crippled the German nuclear programme]]. More important to the [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] war effort, however, was the role of the Norwegian [[Merchant Navy|Merchant Marine]], the fourth-largest merchant marine fleet in the world. It was led by the Norwegian shipping company [[Nortraship]] under the Allies throughout the war and took part in every war operation from the [[Dunkirk evacuation|evacuation of Dunkirk]] to the [[Normandy landings]]. Every December Norway gives a [[Christmas tree]] to the United Kingdom as thanks for the British assistance during the war.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20111011171256/http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article2137248.ece PM to light London tree]. ''[[Aftenposten]]''. 5 December 2007</ref>

[[Svalbard]] was not occupied by German troops, but Germany secretly [[Operation Haudegen|established a meteorological station]] there in 1944.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.spiegel.de/einestages/kriegsende-in-der-arktis-a-946659.html|title=Kriegsende in der Arktis: Die vergessenen Haudegen|last=Frenzel|first=Eike|date=3 September 2010|work=Spiegel Online|access-date=4 November 2018|archive-date=25 November 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171125141157/http://www.spiegel.de/einestages/kriegsende-in-der-arktis-a-946659.html|url-status=live}}</ref>