An Allied Norway counterfactual: air range and Swedish iron

This is explicitly a counterfactual rather than a claim about the war that occurred. If the Allies had held Norway, attacks on German territory would probably have relied mainly on land-based RAF aircraft instead of a carrier raid against a Swedish port. Britain might also have bought as much Swedish iron ore as possible, giving Sweden an economic path to maintain neutrality while denying that material to Germany. Such purchases would matter only if British industry used the ore for ships and other war production rather than merely stockpiling it. Norwegian bases would greatly shorten the distance to northern German targets, showing how geography, neutral trade, and industrial capacity interact in strategic planning.