How an Allied Norway reshapes Germany's northern war

The defended-Norway scenario extends beyond submarines and the Kiel Canal. Allied fighters based in Norway would complicate German air operations and remove Norwegian airfields as a platform for attacks on northern Britain. Germany would also lose access to useful Norwegian oils and lubricants, while the Allies could compete for Swedish ore and disrupt its flow south. Finland would have an alternative source of outside support and less reason to depend on Germany. German forces in the Soviet Union could no longer use Norway, Sweden, and Finland in the same way for their northern supply routes. Control of Norway connected naval access with air power, strategic materials, diplomacy, and the eastern land war.