The German navy entered the Second World War with two motives for an invasion of Norway. As early as 1934 Hitler had connected the planned expansion of the German navy with the need to protect the Scandinavian ore trade. Just over half of that iron ore was shipped to Germany from Narvik, in the far north of Norway. Although the naval war staff believed that Norwegian neutrality was the best protection for the ore trade, Admiral Raeder, the commander-in-chief of the navy, favoured a more aggressive stance. His second motive for intervening in Norway was to acquire naval bases that...