ABSTRACT
The whole available German naval strength was to be used in support of this bold operation, undertaken without command of the sea (except as regards the Kattegat and Skagerrak) in the face of very superior Allied naval forces ;2 the latter, it was rightly judged, could be largely neutralised by surprise in the first place and later by air forces operating from captured Norwegian airports. So far as the naval side of the operation was concerned, it was considered that the greatest difficulty and risk would lie in the return of the naval units to Germany after the landings were completed.
