Customer Reviews

Hitler's Preemptive War: The Battle for Norway, 1940 - History's First Special Operations Campaign

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Voltaire once said: "the secret of being a bore is to tell everything, " a quote that summarizes this title's main flaw. The narrative is frequently pedantic and artless. It tends to emphasize the ground fighting in Norway in 1940, with inadequate coverage of vital air and naval aspects of the campaign. The writer gives great detail to certain parts of the campaign and short shrift to others. He began writing a history of the Narvik campaign only, then expanded the effort to the entire campaign.

However, the emphasis remains on Narvik. For example, the naval battles of Narvik are explored in exhaustive detail, including a thoughtful review and comparison of the literature and records that recount the battle. Yet the author completely ignores important actions elsewhere, like the nearly disastrous effort by the cruiser HMS Suffolk to bombard the Sola airfield. In describing the fighting in central Norway, he rarely gives detail below the battalion level; yet around Narvik the emphasis is on companies and smaller units.

Mr. Lunde undoubtedly breaks new ground in this study, by comparing Norwegian, German, French and British sources on the Norway campaign more comprehensively than any other author has yet done. If the majority of English-language accounts of the Norway campaign published to date have a pro-British bias, Mr. Lunde's account veers in the other direction. Not without validity: as Francois Kersaudy pointed out in his much more readable Norway 1940, the British were instrumental in bringing the war to Norway, in defiance of Hitler's little-known desire to leave Scandinavia neutral. Once the fighting began, the British made grand promises of support, provided paltry and mostly second-rate forces instead, and then yanked the rug out from under their Norwegian allies time and again with quick withdrawals that left major bodies of Norwegian troops with no alternative but to surrender.

If you take this monster on, beware: you are in for a tough read. The narrative throws in unit numbers and obscure place names constantly, with more detail than anyone except an idiot-savant could possibly remember. The mapping is sadly inadequate. Several times I had to consult Mr. Kersaudy's shorter and less detailed history to get adequate maps to understand events. Names like Bjornefjell and Elvegardsmoen are hardly household words even in Norway; yet in the narrative these names are passed out casually and constantly, with inadequate mapping to help you find them. Several times the text refers to "the map on page xxx" but there is NO SUCH PAGE in the book. My guess is that a large map of the vital Narvik area was left out, and "p. xxx" was the author's place-holder to be typed in once the map was complete and the page number was known. It never happened, so dig out a very good atlas or keep Wikipedia up if you need to find out where things are. In other words, the publisher did a rush job.

If you need a detailed reference source on the naval and ground operations around Narvik, you may find this title useful. It probably gives a more detailed account of the Norwegian point of view than any other English-language source. But if you want a good read on the Norway campaign, refer to Norway 1940 by Francois Kersaudy, which has flaws of its own but is more cogent and compelling. While Mr. Lunde's research effort was thorough and he provides new information, the definitive English-language history of Norway 1940 has yet to be written.

Great book. An in depth look into the Norwegian Campaign. For the first time since declaring war to Germany after the invasion of Poland, British,French Forces and their allies are facing the German military.This book written by a retired US officer of Norwegian origins is a vivid account of how every single tool of modern warfare was used and tested in Norway: Air and Naval, Airborne, commando and specialized infantry, Armored and Artillery. The depiction of the French forces in action is my favorite...but what do I know? I am French and a retired Armor officer! Highly recommended reading!

This is a book that should be read by all 4.8 million Norwegians, and anyone else who is interested in the events and history of World War II.

The author, a Norwegian-American, who spent his illustrious career as an officer in the U.S. Army, including multiple combat tours as a highly decorated Airborne Ranger. Later, he served as Director, National and International Security Studies, U.S. Army War College. The reader benefits from the author's savvy insights and observations.

Norway, situated east of the British Isles, serves as the northern coastline on the Atlantic (North Sea and Norwegian Sea) below and above the Arctic Circle. It is strategically situated to control access to Sweden, the Baltic Sea, Finland and Russia.

The book details Hitler's battle plan for Germany to conquer Norway early and fast. The 62 day war was primarily fought against the Norwegians, British and French. Each battle of the war is described in detail from the vantage point of historical perspective. This book could well stand as the authoritative tome of Norway's early involvement (and conquest) in World War II.

The Norwegian soldier excelled in both marksmanship and the ability to fight from skies. Their professional and courageous performance is described along with the deficiencies in leadership of the higher ranks and those responsible for policy-making.

Readers learn of the reason that the conquest of Norway was so important to Germany, namely to safeguard the route to and through Sweden for its critical (especially for the German Navy) importation of high-grade Swedish iron ore. An alternative to the failed defensive strategy used (meet the enemy at fixed locations at the water edge) is suggested by the author. One that involved a more fluid, elusive defense utilizing the mountainous/fjord-laden terrain (go "high and wide" in the mountains) might have better suited the Norwegians, known for their mountain warrior abilities.

As the first combined operation of World War II, the attack upon Norway (and earlier Denmark) provides an early glimpse into the way the German war machine operated (including repeated use of airborne troops to secure airfields, the use of ships and aircraft) and how best to defend against such a combined attack.

The allies at times worked in harmony, and at times with self interest and even deception of fellow allies (e.g. the surprise - to the Norwegians - of the evacuation of Narvik by the allies).

The German war machine is recognized for its remarkable plans, attention to detail, close cooperation between the services even in the absence of a unified command structure, their display of imagination, innovation, taking of calculated risks to achieve successes through the use of boldness and skill in the execution. Coincidently, the author earned a similar reputation for his combat planning skills in the 1960's with the 1st Brigade, 101st Airborne in Vietnam.

A great deal of attention is given to the navies and the battles. Fascinating stuff. Ships with names such as Glowworm, Glorious, Acasta are representative of the naval heroism found in the Battle for Norway. Norway sacrificed their entire Navy (and Air Force) in defense of their country. We are told the story of British Lieutenant Commander Glasfurd of the Acasta last observed opening his cigarette case to light up as he prepared to go down with his ship. This was following the series of naval engagements by the Acasta, including its torpedoing of the German battleship Scharnhorst, that probably resulted in the saving the lives of some 20,000 troops.

It is impossible to adequately cover in a review the comprehensiveness of this book. The book that lays out the facts, good and bad, of what happened, and what maybe should have happened. Any student of war will gain a full education through the reading of this single "handbook" on the conduct of joint operations warfare, offensively and defensively.

Something that recently crossed my sights was the invasion of Norway. While I knew of it from a general perspective, I realized I didn't really "know" what happened. Because this and having a desire to expand my knowledge on the early happening in WWII, I picked this one up.

Mr. Lunde opens by describing the political environment leading to war in Scandinavia, looking at the three combatants both politically and militarily. Mr. Lunde is highly critical of Mr. Churchill and his aggressive stance against Germany in the Scandinavian region, bringing an interesting perspective. After describing the German and British plans (or lack thereof) and preparations for war, we go thru the opening naval maneuvers and combats and close with the land campaign. The naval actions are nicely done with good details about the combatants, particularly the quality of the leadership and ability of ships. Mr. Lunde provides excellent analysis of the combats, particularly the battle for Narvik (both the German capture and the Allied response). The land campaign was rather weakly done. Where details were provided in the naval campaign, they're lacking on land. Part of this is due to the lack of documentation from Norwegian forces (for the Southern portion of the campaign) but the major driver is that the maps provided rarely support Mr. Lunde's description of the battles. Complicating this, the publisher chose to place all the maps in the back portion of the book. Any time you want to "see" what Mr. Lunde is describing, turn to the back of the book and find a map that hasn't been referenced (rarely if ever was a map number or page referenced),and then attempt the identify the village/town the fighting is near (btw, rarely did the maps go down to the level of fidelity Mr. Lunde referenced).

Rating wise this one was complicated. Mr. Lunde does an excellent job telling the story of going to war and of the naval campaign but things just blew up when it came to the land campaign eventually making it so I dreaded reading this book. Maps are poorly done for the areas they identify; looking like someone used PowerPoint to mark up some weak maps. Unit sizes and positions are rarely marked and most of the maps are on a larger scale than Mr. Lunde talks about (I'm sorry, when an author is discussing the importance of a small village in defending an area and the position of the troops, you expect a nice map of that area, the position of the troops at the start, where the efforts were made and their final positions). If the maps were located with where the descriptions of the battle were and if they'd been of good quality I'd easily call this one a four star book. However, given the poor quality of the maps and the fact that they contributed to confusion and promoted a dread in reading the book, along with the poor editing (sorry, when I can find editorial problems fairly easily and regularly) and the price, I have to call this one a 2.5 star book that I'm rounding down to 2 stars. This is sad to me because Mr. Lunde does provide some great insight into the political and naval portions of the campaign.

This book is without doubt the most comprehensive and detailed account of the German invasion of Norway yet published. This history details the runup to war, the diplomatic maneuvering by all sides, the ensuing action on the ground and at sea. Vignettes of the personnel involved add interest. The author, Colonel Lunde, was born and raised in Norway. After coming to the United States, he chose a career as an Army officer. He served during the Vietnam War as a highly decorated battlefield commander. His combat experience uniquely qualified Colonel Lunde to write this book. Such professional military reviewers as Stone and Stone, as well as many others, recognizing this book as a masterpiece of military history, have labelled it "Very highly recommended" (Google on "stone and stone wwii books" and read their extensive review under Lunde).

The Norwegian-American Lunde has succeeded in writing a thorough, well-balanced account of the fighting around Narvik in 1940.
By using accounts from all sides, but not accepting even recent publications at face value, he has managed to tell the story with fresh eyes.

The title of the book is slightly misleading, however. It focuses strongly on the fighting around Narvik, and other actions in and around Norway are only included in order to put the Narvik campaign into context. This is not an oversight, the author himself states in the introduction that the book was initially to be exclusively about Narvik, but he later felt that he had to expand the coverage to include some info on the rest of the fighting.

The run-up to the war in Norway is covered in great detail, though, showing how Norway gradually but inevitably was drawn into what was to become a worldwide conflict. While not entirely new info, it is still somewhat uneasy to read in detail how political and military maneuvering in Britain blatantly disregarded Scandinavian neutrality in order to hinder the iron ore traffic, while simultaneously drawing Germany into a theatre where they believed they had the upper hand.
The Germans would have preferred a neutral Norway, but could not accept a situation where the country was either allied to or dominated by Great Britain.
Not surprisingly, many accounts from the participants are highly biased, but by frank comparison of sources and sound judgment, the impact of this is negated.

Ground ops are covered in great detail, undoubtedly the most comprehensive account in English, but also surpassing many Norwegian works. Norwegian, French and Polish forces are given more credit than usually afforded to them.
The author`s military background is evident throughout and is of great value, whether describing the strategic-tactical moves, or when relating combat on squad level.

It does have some flaws, one of which is quite serious. Maps!
There is a small map section at the end of the book, but the quality is very poor. Local geographical names and unit designations abound, but it is very hard to put the action into proper context with the provided maps. (And I have even served in the area for some years...)
The book should really have included a lot more maps, in much better detail. Personally I would also have preferred them to be spread throughout the text, rather than having them all in one section.
Some 16 pages of pictures are provided, but they are all well-known, and the emphasis is on the text itself.

To summarize it all, this is not a book for the casual reader, but for those interested in the fighting in and around Narvik, the Norwegian campaign in general or just combined ops, it is highly recommended.

Henrik Lunde's study of the battle for Norway, 1940, is a fine piece of military history, thorough in its coverage of events from all sides, Norwegian, Allies, and German. The main focus is, as it should be, on the ground war, and one could not ask for more; the narrative is clear, detailed as it should be, and his assessments are both fair and astute. Moreover, military actions are presented in a clear strategic context and the political dimensions of the combatants' decision-making explained. The naval dimension of the battle for Norway is rather unexpected (for an Army officer) unusually good, both descriptively and analytically. My only quibble is with some of the technical details of the warships mentioned which are not quite accurate, such as a description of the main armament of a Royal Navy destroyer as being 5" guns rather than 4.7", the standard caliber gun mounted on Britain's destroyers. Also Lunde describes HMS Warspite as a 1913 vintage ship, which, while technically accurate in terms of initial design is misleading since members of this class (Queen Elizabeth) were not launched until 1915-16 and considerable changes were made post-Jutland and in the modernizations of the 1920s and 1930s. Moreover, this class of battleships was outstanding, the best the Royal Navy ever produced, reasonably fast, well-protected, and very well armed, far superior to the Sharnhorst or Gneisenau, especially in armament for the British ships carried eight 15" guns and capable of firing a broadside of 15,360 lbs, compared to the markedly inferior nine 11" guns of the two German battleships involved in the Norway campaign, whose broadside weight amounted to no more than 6,548 lbs. Not only was Warspite's main armament powerful but her guns were quick firing and accurate: Warspite recorded for the longest ship-to-ship hit, 24,149 meters, in the history of naval warfare. My only other quibble is that the footnotes could helpfully contain more information, like archive source and class or series information so that all citations can be examined, if desired. But these minor points do not detract from what is an excellent military history book.

This book covers the Norway campaign, which contrasts the German's running an operation on a logistical shoestring with the Allies penchant for not following through once operations began. Here, the balance fell to the Germans. In North Africa and Russia, they would not be so fortunate.

The text of the book is will written, and the situation is compelling. As another reviewer noted, the maps are a weak point. The campaign consists of small actions scattered across a large, rugged country, with names not likely to be familiar to many. Maps showing the movement of every ship on both sides during the invasion are less important than a few giving orientation to the operations around Narvik, which are followed in the bulk of the book's pages.

But even so, this is an excellent book. Finding a few maps from other sources would help to give the overview of Narvik that is missing.

This book covers an era that most do not know the details of. I have read about the Naval War for Narvik. This book told me in more detail what happened in other areas like Northern Norway and the war in mid and South Norway. I never knew a lot of this before. The book is well researched, has pictures, and maps. The maps were all in one area of the book. I wish that they were in the chapters that were showing what was going on. Had to use a magnifing glass to read some of the locations on the maps. Could have had more maps. A very good book for those who want more information on the battles for Norway. You will be amazed at how both sides made major flubs.

A topic of enduring interest to me is WWII and the decade or so preceding its start in 1939. Although I was vaguely aware that Norway was an early WWII battleground, I knew little about the war there. This is not surprising because WWII histories usually treat the Battle of Norway in a few pages. Therefore, when I became aware that a new book had been published titled "Hitler's Pre-Emptive War: The Battle for Norway, 1940," and that it was a free download on Kindle, I seized this opportunity to fill in this gap in my knowledge. Although 600 pages in length according to Kindle, I thought I'd give it a try.

Military historian and author Henrik O. Lunde has produced an impressive work of military history. I doubt that any two soldiers fighting each other for five minutes in Norway during 1940, escaped his scholarship. Ultimately, the elaborate reporting did me in and I ended up reading 60% of the book, especially the beginning and ending 30%.

Lunde, in his introductory chapter, makes a good case for the importance of the war in Norway, but it is questionable whether this is a book for a general reader like me. What kept me involved for as long a time as I did read, was Lunde's fluid and easy writing style, no easy accomplishment when dealing with massive historical and military detail. Furthermore, Lunde did an excellent job of tying each military maneuver into the larger strategic and political picture, and perhaps that is this excellent book's greatest strength. Ultimately, I felt that the time spent reading "Hitler's Pre-Emptive War" was time well-spent, even though I skipped reading about many of this short war's skirmishes.