Upon hearing the shots, King Christian ordered his adjutant to stop the fighting. Despite no official orders to do so, the guards placed at Amalienborg Castle, the home of the Danish royalty, fired several shots at the German attackers, losing two men.
The few who did notice ran to phones and police stations to alert the government of their invasion however, little active resistance could be made at the time, due to the fact that the government hadn't yet ordered to resist. Their cargo - more than 1,000 German soldiers - was noticed by few. In fact, the German Navy's way of getting forces into Denmark - through Denmark's capital, Copenhagen - was so discreet that the ships were steered through the minefields outside of Copenhagen by a Danish pilot, who only learned of their cargo later. Fearful of having their iron-ore and oils supplies from the Arctic cut off, much of Scandinavia was invaded. In the early hours of April 9th, 1940, after months of " sitzkrieg," the Germans made their move. But the plan was much worse than the name implied. The Weser is a river in Germany, and an exercise is a military training movement. In German, Weser ü bung means "Weser Exercise," a name sounding innocent enough.
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