Strategically, Denmark's importance to Germany was as a staging area for operations in Norway, and of course as a border nation to Germany which would have to be controlled in some way. Given Denmark's position in the Baltic Sea the country was also important for the control of naval and shipping access to major German and Russian harbours.
Small and relatively flat, the country was ideal territory for German army operations, and Denmark's small army had little hope. Nevertheless, in the early morning hours, a few Danish troops engaged the German army, suffering losses of 16 dead and 20 wounded. Germany never gave any official number of losses, but these were probably heavier, with 12 armoured cars and several motorcycles and cars destroyed. Four German tanks were damaged and one Heinkel 111 shot down. Two German soldiers were temporarily captured by the Danes during the brief fighting.[1]
Just before the initial German invasion on 9 April 1940, the German ambassador to Denmark, Renthe-Fink, called the Danish Foreign Minister Munch and requested a meeting with him. When the two men met 20 minutes later Renthe-Fink declared that German troops were at that moment moving in to occupy Denmark to protect the country from Franco-British attack. The German ambassador demanded that Danish resistance cease immediately and contact be made between Danish authorities and the German armed forces. If the demands were not met, the Luftwaffe would bomb the capital, Copenhagen.[1]
As the German demands were communicated, the first German advances had already been made, with forces landing by ferry in Gedser at 04:15 and moving north. German Fallschirmjäger units had made unopposed landings and taken the Storstrøm Bridge as well as the fortress of Masnedø.[1]
At 04:20 local time, 1,000 German infantrymen landed in Copenhagen harbour from the minelayer Hansestadt Danzig, quickly capturing the Danish garrison at the Citadel without encountering resistance. From the harbour, the Germans moved towards Amalienborg Palace to capture the Danish royalty. By the time the invasion forces arrived at the king's residence, the King's Royal Guard had been alerted and other reinforcements were in their way to the palace. The first German attack on Amalienborg was repulsed, giving Christian X and his ministers time to confer with the Danish Army chief General Prior. As the discussions were ongoing, several formations of Heinkel 111 and Dornier 17 bombers roared over the city dropping the OPROP! leaflets. Faced with the explicit threat of the Luftwaffe bombing the civilian population of Copenhagen, and only General Prior in favour of continuing to fight, the Danish government capitulated in exchange for retaining political independence in domestic matters.[1]
At 05:45, two squadrons of German Bf 110s attacked Værløse airfield on Zealand and wiped out the Danish Army Air Service by strafing. Despite Danish anti-aircraft fire, the German fighters destroyed 11 Danish aircraft and seriously damaged another 14.[1]
The Danish capitulation resulted in the uniquely lenient Occupation of Denmark, particularly until the summer of 1943, and also in postponing the arrest and deportation of Danish Jews until nearly all of them were warned and on their way to refuge in Sweden.[6] In the end, 477 Danish Jews were deported, and 70 of them lost their lives, out of a pre-war total of Jews and half-Jews at a little over 8,000.[7]
Though Denmark had little immediate military significance, it had strategic and to some extent economic importance.
