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What If German Ww2 Occupation Forces In Scandinavia Bombed The Training Camps Its Was Hosting In Its Country For Norwegian And Danish Resistance Forces?

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Brian-Ghilliotti | 15:02 Sun 16th Apr 2017 | History
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What if German WW2 occupation forces in Scandinavia bombed the training camps its was hosting in its country for Norwegian and Danish resistance forces?
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Here is my answer...what is yours?
This would have been quite possible, as the Swedes let German forces in Norway move through its territory toward the Eastern Front when it looked like Nazi Germany was winning in the early stages of the war, and when Soviet advances in Eastern Europe were menacing. Undoubtedly, German spies must have been very aware of these operations.

If this did happen, Sweden would have to make a choice. 1) Either close down the camps, and at best let the resistance forces "relocate" to another country (which would have been difficult) or declare disarmed refugee status, 2) continue to keep the camps open, or relocate them so they were less obvious to air attack and face continued German pressure, up to and including some sort of hostile contact with German land forces, or 3) completely sequester the Norwegian and Danish resistance forces hiding inside Sweden.

Sweden would have to consider the long term benefits of its official image as a politically neutral state, and the consequences of losing that traditional position. It would also have to consider the long term consequences of its actions in a post WW2 environment, with the goal of trying to alienate as few people as it can. if it moved against the Scandinavian resistance forces, at the very least Sweden would look weak. At the very worst, it would look traitorous. This is probably one of the reasons why Sweden permitted sanctuary training camps for Scandinavian resistance forces in its territory.

If, on the other hand, it decided to jump into war against Germany after such an attack on the resistance training camps in its country, the allies may have welcomed it, and it may have been able to pull it off without serious damage toward the end of the war. At best however, Sweden would have been a tie down of German military resources, which may have sped up the war. Which front would benefit the most if Sweden stepped is a matter of conjecture. If it benefitted the Soviets more than the armies fighting on the western front, it would not have benefitted Sweden's interests. Also, it would cost Sweden its neutrality label, which it probably saw as more politically valuable in the long run.

In conclusion, if German forces did bomb Scandinavian resistance forces training inside its country, I would guess Sweden would most likely publicly state that they were "unaware" of these facilities, and would have closed them down, offering the resistance forces a safe passage to England if they did not chose to "disarm" and declare refugee status. Getting them to England would have been the tricky part; it would most likely involve a risky submarine or even riskier airlift operation.

This article based on the following Wikipedia source:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_police_troops_in_Sweden_during_World_War_II

(gotta love it)

Brian Ghilliotti
I'm sure Zacs will be very interested in that

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