Norway has always been a chore for me, mostly due to some very strange unit pathing, but it is even worse now [since NSB]. The Brits are making naval supremacy in the Baltic Straits very slow to reach fruition. I usually land an army [8 divisions] to land near Oslo [naval invasion - you would need to upgrade your transports to carry 8]. Simultaneously I parachute 3 airborne divisions at Bergen. Once I have a port, I send 3 more armies [totaling 21 more divisions] - probably more than I need, but, it is such a slog. It seems that the fall of Paris is connected to Norway's capitulation. Maybe not, but I rarely [if ever] have had Norway before Paris. Once Norway falls, I keep the initial 8 divisions to occupy the south and I send a mountain army to occupy the north. Everything else I send back to add to my Barbarosa force. It takes longer than it should, I would think, but this has been my experience. Make sure you have upgraded subs up along the west coast to [hopefully] minimize allied landings. I also have an air fleet overhead. A lot of manpower and equipment for this operation, but short of not invading Norway at all, it's the best I know to do. That said, I'm far from the best player in the world!

In the end it went surprisingly painlessly. I took Denmark quickly to close the Belts and then made two amphibious assaults in the south with one reinforcing wave and two paratrooper divisions dropped. Luckily Narvik wasn't required for the surrender so marching through the mountains didn't take forever.

Over 20 divisions sounds like a massive overkill!

You can use this plan at any times of warfare(1940.1.1~1941.6).

Prepare 4 Alpenjager divisions and plenty of airplanes, some fleets, 20 infantries.
after starting invasion of Scandinavia, take Denmark as soon as possible(take Jutland).
than use your fleet and airplanes on Danish sea, especially Support naval invasion mission. that mission securing your mountainers.

(important, use Ferdianand Schorner as commander)
Use 4 mountainers, amphibious assault on just left province of Ostlandet port(that province always empty), after landing, attack Ostlandet port with plenty of CAS and 4 mountainers. You can take that port. after capture of port, you can everything. thats all.

Sorry for my poor english.

Originally posted by pantsukki:

I've had one game as Germany which I abandoned in early 1940. However I did learn that the Allies are very aggressive with their fleets, even attacking my training units in the Baltic. This got me really worried about how to take Norway during the spring? Occupying Denmark should close the Danish Belts which would enable landings in Southern Norway. However I'm pretty certain that trying to land through the Norwegian Coast or even via Eastern North Sea would lead to total disaster due to Allied fleet activity. Paratroopers should help, but surely that won't be enough.

So how have you occupied Norway?

mix of airdrops and naval invasions, alternatively invade sweden and do a land assault

The biggest issue for me tends to be the british and french on the danish straits. You can try to rush denmark to flush them out before moving to norway, or naval bomb them out of the area. I usually dont try to fight them off as my naval strategy as germany depends of a defeated france and 2 more years of ship building.

For ground, i usuallly send a few mountain divisions with a single light armor as support, along side light infantry divisions and militias for port holding. I try to play historical, but usually norway resistis longer than france.

Placed Naval bombers and my entire fleet in the Danish Strait on naval invasion support.. Set up an invasion of standard infantry divisions for Oslo and the provinces surrounding it through the Danish Belts.

Oslo is pretty easy to take given the low number of garrison divisions on the port and conquering the rest of Norway is fairly simple once you have a foothold. The only extra limitation is that taking Trondheim might take a little more time due to supply issues.

Now invading the Soviet Union in this mod as Germany... That's a real challenge. Can reach Kiev through the use of Panzer divisions, but then the sheer number of Soviet divisions entering the winter of 1941, whilst trying to balance supply issues with the number of your own divisions and equipment shortages takes it's toll real fast and stops me in my tracks. Haven't found a way yet to make it work. I wonder if that's intentional.