WWII On This Day: April 9

April 9, 1940 · Occupation, Collaboration and Resistance in World War II

Germany occupies Denmark while Danish institutions remain

German forces invaded Denmark on 9 April 1940. After brief fighting, the Danish government accepted the occupation and remained in office; King Christian X stayed on the throne, and Danish ministries, courts and police continued to conduct domestic administration. Germany controlled the military situation and Danish foreign policy, but the surviving government negotiated over occupation demands and retained much more domestic authority than administrations in most occupied countries. Danish leaders justified cooperation as a way to limit German interference and protect the population, a policy that also drew growing criticism…

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April 9, 1940 · 04:15 · Operation Weserübung

Germany occupies Denmark

German forces crossed the Jutland frontier, landed troops near Copenhagen and seized bridges, ports and airfields during the opening hours of Weserübung. Danish soldiers fought at several border and guard positions while German aircraft demonstrated the threat to Copenhagen. The government ordered resistance to cease after several hours. Occupation of Denmark secured the southern air and sea approaches used to support the Norwegian campaign and placed Aalborg's airfields inside the Luftwaffe transport network.

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April 9, 1940 · 04:25 · Operation Weserübung

Oscarsborg opens fire on Blücher

The Oscarsborg watch journal recorded a German warship entering Drøbak Narrows at about 04:25. Colonel Birger Eriksen ordered the main battery to fire as Blücher led the Oslo invasion group north. Two 28 cm guns struck the cruiser, and the underground torpedo battery added two further hits as the burning ship passed the fortress. Blücher later capsized and sank with troops, sailors and members of the occupation administration aboard. The surviving Oslo group paused and shifted troops to landings farther south. The hours gained in the fjord allowed Norway's king,…

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April 9, 1940 · 06:00 · Operation Weserübung

Airborne and air-landed troops secure key airfields

German airborne and air-landed forces targeted Sola near Stavanger, Fornebu outside Oslo and Aalborg in Denmark during the opening operation. At Fornebu, transport aircraft arrived amid air combat and confusion around the runway. German infantry and air crews established a bridgehead that later received further troops and aircraft. The airfields linked widely separated landing forces to a common reinforcement system. Ju 52 transports could move men and supplies faster than the Norwegian road network could shift reserves between distant regions.

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April 9, 1940 · 07:15 · Operation Weserübung

The king, government and parliament leave Oslo

A special train left Oslo at 07:15 carrying King Haakon VII, the royal family, government leaders and members of parliament toward Hamar and the interior. The national gold reserve also moved away from the capital. These departures preserved the institutions and financial resources needed to direct resistance after German troops entered Oslo later that day. The movement created a mobile constitutional centre that continued through Hamar, Elverum and Nybergsund. German pressure on the Norwegian leadership therefore became a political pursuit as well as a military advance.

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April 9, 1940 · 12:00 · Operation Weserübung

German landing groups secure the principal ports

German naval groups entered Bergen, Trondheim, Narvik and other coastal objectives during the opening day and landed troops inside the port areas. At Narvik, ten destroyers delivered Eduard Dietl's 3rd Mountain Division troops and captured the town and railway terminus. The destroyers then faced a fuel problem that kept them inside Ofotfjord while British forces approached. The scattered port enclaves gave Germany a chain of footholds along the coast. Their survival depended increasingly on airfields, coastal shipping and the ability of German ground forces to connect the southern positions overland.

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April 9, 1940 · 19:30 · Operation Weserübung

Quisling announces a coup government

Vidkun Quisling used Norwegian radio on the evening of 9 April to proclaim a new government and order resistance to cease. The declaration surprised parts of the German diplomatic mission and created a political arrangement outside Norway's constitutional process. Hitler initially supported Quisling's attempt while German officials sought a settlement with King Haakon and the existing cabinet. The coup gave the invasion an immediate internal political dimension. German occupation authorities soon shifted to an administrative council as they consolidated control over southern Norway.

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April 9, 1941 · The Balkans and Crete

The Metaxas Line, and the flank

The Greek forts on the Bulgarian border held for three days against repeated assault and several were never taken. The German commander is said to have allowed the garrison to march out under arms. It did not matter. Yugoslav Macedonia collapsed within days and German armour came round the flank through Monastir, cutting the whole line off from behind.

April 9, 1941 · 08:00 · German Invasion of Greece, April 1941

German armour enters Salonika

At 08:00 on 9 April, the German 2nd Panzer Division entered Salonika after approaching through Yugoslav territory and the Vardar–Doiran corridor. The city was occupied without the kind of fortress battle still continuing farther east. Salonika was the principal northern port and a communications centre for the Greek forces fighting in Albania. Its loss cut the Eastern Macedonia Army Section from central Greece and placed German forces behind the Metaxas positions. The military question for Lieutenant General Konstantinos Bakopoulos was therefore no longer the condition of a single fort. His…

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April 9, 1941 · 12:00 · Invasion of Yugoslavia, April 1941

The German advance captures Niš

Lead elements of the 11th Panzer Division entered Niš on 9 April after the breakthrough from the Pirot sector. The city controlled the junction between routes from Bulgaria, the Morava valley to Belgrade and communications toward Macedonia. First Panzer Group needed to preserve momentum before Yugoslav Fifth Army could form a stable line farther north. Yugoslav units withdrawing through the region were already under pressure from broken communications and the loss of the southern corridor. The capture of Niš opened the more favourable Morava route toward Belgrade. Kleist’s columns continued…

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April 9, 1941 · 14:00 · German Invasion of Greece, April 1941

The Eastern Macedonia Army Section capitulates

At 14:00 Bakopoulos signed the capitulation of the Eastern Macedonia Army Section after receiving instructions to end a position that had been cut off by the German occupation of Salonika. A ceasefire was imposed later that afternoon, while orders reached individual fort garrisons unevenly. The terms allowed an orderly demobilisation. German accounts and Greek records both note that many soldiers were disarmed and released rather than retained as long-term prisoners. Some isolated forts learned of the regional decision only after they had continued fighting into the next day. The capitulation…

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April 9, 1941 · 18:00 · German Invasion of Greece, April 1941

Vevi becomes the western gateway battle

Australian, British, New Zealand and Greek troops occupied the Vevi–Klidi position on 9 April to close the narrow route south from the Monastir plain. Their task was to delay the German advance while Greek forces withdrew and a new line was prepared along the Aliakmon. German contact came on 10 April. The mixed Allied force held a broad, cold and incompletely prepared position while the reinforced Leibstandarte formation brought infantry, artillery and mobile units against the pass. Command links and the differing mobility of the defending units complicated any controlled…

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April 9, 1942 · 12:00 · The Fall of the Southern Empires

Bataan Surrenders

The forces on Bataan surrendered on 9 April after the April offensive broke the remaining defensive system. The U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command gives approximately 78,000 American and Filipino defenders surrendered, although exact totals vary with the categories counted. The capitulation ended organized resistance on the peninsula but left Corregidor and the other harbour forts still fighting. It also began the forced movement of prisoners away from Bataan under conditions of violence, exhaustion, hunger and disease. The military meaning was immediate: Japanese artillery and aircraft could now concentrate on…

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