During WW2, Danes served on both sides. Some fought for the Western Allies (sailing supplies, etc.), while others chose to fight for the Germans in the Waffen-SS. In these webpages I will try to tell their story.
The Danish Brigade in Sweden (Den danske brigade)
Danish soldiers in Allied service
Danish soldiers in German service
Denmark was occupied by German troops 9th of April 1940.
During the first years of the occupation the Danish government cooperated with the German occupation forces. But the relationship got strained due to the growing number of sabotage actions conducted by the Danish resistance and worse and worse relations between the Danes and their German occupiers. The election to the Danish parliament held in the spring 1943 showed that there was no popular support for the Danish Nationalsocialist Party.
There was a number of uprisings in Danish cities in the beginning of August 1943 with general strikes etc. Dr. Werner Best (the "Reichsbevollmächtiger" in Denmark - the political supreme commander of the German occupation of Denmark) went to Berlin and were by von Ribbentrop ordered to give the Danish government an ultimatium. This he did the 28th of August in the morning - the Danish government were to give their answer in 7 hours. The ultimatium could not be accepted by the Danish government.
Danish naval and army bases were attacked in the morning 29th of August (click on The Danish Army 1940-43 for further information). The supreme German military commander in Denmark general von Hannecken ordered martial law. There was now no Danish government in Denmark. After this Danish ships in Allied service were allowed to sail under the Danish flag from 25th of December 1943.
During the night between 1st and 2nd of October 1943 the German police tried to arrest the about 7684 Jews living in Denmark. But these has be warned so about 95 per cent escaped to Sweden (mostly sailed across by fishing boats). Before then C.F. Duckwitz (a German official serving in Copenhagen as a shipping consultant) went to Stockholm to warn the Swedish government about the planned arrests of the Danish Jews and their possible escape to Sweden. Furthermore Duckwitz warned some Danish politicians who warned the Jews, and he also arranged with the German naval commander of the harbour in Copenhagen that they would not conduct patrols during the night between 1st and 2nd October. Due to Duckwitz (he was 1955-58 ambassador for West Germany in Denmark) 7220 Jews escaped to Sweden, 464 were arrested.
Denmark was liberated when the German troops in Northwestern Europe surrendered to Fieldmarshal Montgomery on the Lüneburger Heide 4th of May 1945.
Denmark was not accepted as one of the Allied countries by the end of the war. USA and United Kingdom did however in August 1944 inform the Soviet government that if their forces crossed the Danish border they would regard Denmark as an Allied nation.
If you have any comments please mail me:
hclausen@vip.cybercity.dk