Quisling's attempted radio coup

Quisling's December 1939 visit to Hitler is linked here to German invasion planning and to Norway's value in the Battle of the Atlantic. On 9 April 1940, as German forces invaded, he entered the Norwegian broadcaster's studio and declared himself prime minister. He ordered resistance to stop and claimed that the cabinet had raised armed resistance before fleeing. The announcement posed a basic constitutional problem: broadcasting a claim supplied neither lawful authority nor institutional support. The coup's public claim far exceeded the power Quisling actually possessed.