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The Reich Government declares to the Royal Danish Government that Germany has no intention through her measures now or in the future of touching upon the territorial integrity and political independence of the Kingdom of Denmark." When this note was slapped down by Germany on the desk of Danish Foreign Minister Peter Munch, Denmark's fate was sealed. Resistance was in fact impossible. In the early hours of the following morning the Nazis announced by radio that the German General Staff had "made contact" with the Danish General Staff— but not with arms. Soon the Copenhagen radio was issuing German bulletins and among the first an announcement that Danish newspapers would publish very little news, only dispatches from one news agency under German control.
Thus in a night Denmark passed under the German yoke for the duration of the war, perhaps for eternity if Germany wins.
Norway on the Spot. A note virtually identical with that served on Denmark was slapped by the German minister on the desk of Prime Minister Halvdan Koht of Norway. It had been a hard day for Minister Koht. At six that morning he had been wakened by delivery of a British note announcing that the laying of minefields in Norwegian waters had begun. He had been very angry and alarmed. The Prime Minister called a Cabinet meeting and sharp notes to Britain and France were sent, denouncing Britain's breach of Norwegian neutrality, demanding the removal of minefields.
For a few hours Norway may have been dangerously close to war with Britain—the British and French ministers actually asked Mrs. J. Borden Harriman, U. S. Minister, to assume the duties of protecting their interests in Norway. To come so close to war was enough to spoil any foreign minister's day. But he had not gone to bed by 4:30 the next morning when he was faced by a worse threat of war from the opposite side. It was almost too much. Professor Koht wearily, hopelessly told the Nazi Minister that Norway did not believe that the Allies had any intention of occupying Norway, as Germany asserted.
Then there was another Cabinet meeting. By that time King Haakon of Norway doubtless knew that his elder brother, King Christian of Denmark, had become a Nazi puppet. His ministers did not press him to accept the same fate. The Cabinet decided that Norway could not submit to the German demands. After German vessels tried to force Oslo Fjord Mrs. Harriman cabled the news to Washington: Norway was at war with Germany. The Norse had refused to kiss the hand that struck them.
Sweden's Grief. To old King Gustaf of Sweden, whose daughter Ingrid is married to Crown Prince Frederick of Denmark, whose niece Martha is married to Crown Prince Olav of Norway, Germany's Blitzkrieg presented a heartbreaking problem of statecraft and family ties. If Norway as well as Denmark fell into German hands his Kingdom would be encircled, become hardly less a pawn than Denmark. If Sweden were to remain even half free she had to fight, but with Norway already partly in German hands even fighting might do no good.
Perhaps it was already too late. Perhaps the old men who controlled the destinies of Scandinavia had hesitated too long to take decisive action. The old men of Sweden hesitated again.