How did the Germans invade Denmark?

Answer 1

Denmark was invaded mainly because it provided an excellent staging ground for Invasion of Norway airbases and the use of Norway's Fjords allowed the following:

9million tonnes of Iron ore to be transported from Sweden via Narvik (in north Norway) safely

The Altmark' incident convinced Hitler that neutral shipping was not safe from the Royal Navy

Norway also provided airbases to control passage for German warships and submarines into the Atlantic to disrupt allied convoys.

Norwegian airfields also gave bases for the bombing of Britain during the Blitz.

Answer 2

On April 9, 1940, Germany invaded Denmark, but it did not treat this country as badly as it had other invaded countries. There were several reasons for this less severe treatment. Because its army and navy were so small, Denmark only to a limited degree fought the invasion; German leaders were pleased, and they decided to let the government of Denmark continue to function normally. Germany allowed Denmark to keep its king, its government, and its military. Denmark produced a lot food every year and the Germans needed food for their soldiers. German leaders wanted to stay on friendly terms with the Danes because they wanted them to supply food for the Nazi troops. If Germany acted too harshly towards Denmark, the Danes might refuse to give them the food they needed. Then Germany would have to send in more troops to take the food by force--something neither country wanted. The German losses in personnel as a result of the invasion has never been published, but they were probably much higher than the Danish losses. 12 armoured cars and several cars and motorcycles were damaged or destroyed.

Four tanks were damaged. Several German planes were hit by ground fire and one Heinkel He 111 bomber was shot down. 2 German soldiers were taken prisoners by Danish soldiers in this short war. The Danish losses were: 11 soldiers, 3 frontier guards and 2 airmen killed. 20 soldiers were wounded. A few civilian were killed or wounded The events on and around the 9th of April has been discussed to the present day and will probably be discussed for many years to come. But what remains is this basic fact: despite being heavily outnumbered, outgunned and lacking training the Danish soldiers took up the fight without hesitation and with great courage and determination.