WW2: Plan R 4: The British Plan to invade Norway and Sweden – My Comments

[Here is more about the Chess game at the start of WW2, and how the British and French in this case were moving in on Scandanavia because it was the source of Iron Ore for Hitler. Jan]

Plan R 4 was an unrealised British plan to invade Norway and Sweden in April 1940, during the Second World War. As a result of competing plans for Norway and a German invasion, it was not carried out as designed. Similar plans had been drawn up during the proposed Anglo-French intervention in the Winter War.

Contents

• 1 Background
• 2 The plan
• 3 See also
• 4 References

Background

Franco-British support was offered to Finland, which had been invaded by the Soviet Union, if it gave free passage through neutral Norway and Sweden, instead of taking the road from Petsamo. That was because of the wish to occupy the iron ore districts in Kiruna and Malmberget.
(Borders as of 1920 to 1940.)

Because of the danger of Allied or German occupation and of the war being waged on their territory, both the Swedes and the Norwegians refused the transit requests.[1]

The plan

Britain had two separate but parallel plans: Operation Wilfred and Plan R 4.

Operation Wilfred, set to commence on 5 April (but delayed to 8 April), was a British naval operation intending to place two mine fields inside Norwegian territorial waters. That would force ships carrying ore into international waters and become vulnerable to the British Royal Navy, which subsequently would be able to prevent the transport of Swedish iron ore to be used to sustain the German war effort. The Norwegian and Swedish governments were to be publicly informed some days beforehand, being accused of inability to uphold their neutrality.[1]

R 4 consisted of the main force (infantry brigade + AA) to occupy the area from Narvik to the Swedish border following the railway, with a raid to destroy the Sola airfield outside Stavanager and occupation of Bergen and Trondheim assigned another five battalions.[1]

The exact intentions with plan R 4 is a bit unclear. According to Ziemke, it was hoped that Op Wilfred would provoke a German reaction in form of either troop landings or threats thereof, and R 4 to be executed " the moment the Germans landed in Norway ‘or showed they intended to do so’", [2] with the first battalion transports to sail within a few hours after the mines had been laid.[1] Claasen on the other hand states the orders being "it is not intended that any Forces shall be landed in Norway until the Germans have violated Norwegian Territory, or there is clear evidence that they intend to do so".[3]

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plan_R_4