Narvik

And it was a debacle.

You know, they ended up, meaning they, the British and French, ended up putting a small expeditionary force up in Narvik.

And it got boxed in and eventually had to be evacuated.

They couldn't do anything to stop.

Oh, wow

... started in, uh, Stockholm, Sweden, went up to Narvik in Norway, and then bussed down to Oslo, Norway, down the coast.

And that was a private tour very similar to what TJ said with Globus.

And so that is-

This one, I love this area.

It's where kind of growing up as a kid, we have two beaches in my town, Narvik.

And this is one of them.

It's called Langstrøm, which means land.

And I want to know what was the worst trip you ever did where the down days were the worst? Because I can remember one that we were on that was pretty bad.

Oh, probably Narvik, Norway.

We were stuck up there.

It was late in May.

But if it wasn't, then you weren't.

But yeah, the down days.

Some of the places, like I brought up that Narvik, that was bad just because of

the rainy weather.

She's a big supporter here on here.

Hey, somebody is here from Narvik.

Holy cow, Narvik, Norway.

Ah, how did I not get up to Narvik last time I was in Norway? But, uh, i- if I'm out there, believe me, you gotta tell us what the best cafe is.

I love Norway.

That is a really nice place.

If the Germans were to defeat Britain, they would either have to choke off its supplies from without or else engage in an amphibious invasion of Britain itself.

Both of those approaches would require a naval war in the North Sea, one in which control of Norwegian ports like Bergen and Narvik would become very important.

Thus, while Norway would try to remain neutral in the Second World War, as it had in the first, Norwegian neutrality was under threat from the very inception of the war.

Norway's neutrality was not just under threat from Germany.

The plans for the invasion of Norway in particular were very well advanced, and Plan R4, the British codename for the takeover of Norway, was very nearly initiated in the spring of 1940.

However, before it could be launched, the Germans preempted the British.

On the night of the 8th of April 1940 and into the early hours of the 9th, German divisions strategically attacked key cities and ports in Norway, with a small fleet entering Oslo Fjord and both amphibious and airborne parachute units landing into Narvik, Bergen, Trondheim, and other locations.

The Norwegian government and military was completely unable to deal with even a minor invasion force, and Oslo fell to just 1,500 troops.