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• Weather data for 20 Apr 1940

• Adolf Hitler authorized the creation of a joint Norwegian-Danish-German SS regiment. ww2dbase [CPC]
• The British 148th Brigade arrived at Lillehammer, Norway by train at 0250 hours and began to march south toward the front lines held by Norwegian troops on both sides of Lake Mjøsa. At Namsos, Norway, German aircraft destroyed large quantities of British supplies and equipment piled near the docks; the British could do little to fight back as they were short on anti-aircraft weapons; in an attempt to remedy this, the 263 Squadron RAF dispatched 18 Gladiator biplanes to Scapa Flow, where they would be ferried to Norway by HMS Glorious. In the United Kingdom, the British War Cabinet canceled the plans for direct landings at Trondheim, Norway (Operation Hammer) in fear of heavy casualties; a failure in communications meant that the British 146th Brigade remained in precarious positions near Trondheim. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• Keith Park took command of the 11 Group of the Royal Air Force Fighter Command. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• Werner Mölders shot down a French P-36 fighter near Saarbrücken, Germany. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Danish Army began to demobilize. ww2dbase [TH]

• German High Command issued a secret order to discharge servicemen with mixed Jewish heritage and servicemen who were married to Jewish women. ww2dbase [CPC]

20 Apr 1940 Interactive Map