Invasion Day

I have to say that I'm very impressed with this movie. I had always assumed that the Danes were German sympathizers and did not put up an effective response to the German Invasion. This is definitely not so! Our little Bicycle platoon of Brave Danish Warriors, definitely gave the Huns a run for their money.

In the movie, the Machine gunners are instructed to target the armored vehicles. I really couldn't understand why until I read this...

"The German high command tried to present the attack on Denmark as a peaceful invasion in an attempt to score propaganda points, so German losses were never released. They succeeded in this, and most of the world believed Denmark did not put up any resistance against the invasion.[37]

However, in 2005, the archives of the Danish weapons manufacturer DISA ('Danish Industrial Syndicate') were opened. DISA produced the Danish 20 mm cannon that took out (relatively) many German vehicles. The Germans were naturally very interested in this weapon and had forced the syndicate to export them to Germany. And in selling them to the German army, they got their best argument from the Germans themselves: they told the company that 203 soldiers had been killed or wounded by the guns in Jutland.[38]"

I don't get the so-so reviews. We found this an excellent portrayal of what actually happened, not the excitement of a Pearl Harbor or D-Day Landing. The Danes were so outgunned. Fighting tanks on bicycles?!

Watch this a get a feel for what it meant to be a country that's just a stepping stone for Germany to gain Norway.

Clearly made on a tight budget but well-crafted and acted. If it gets boring, uh, guess what a day of war is like...

This movie gives a very honest account of the situation in the morning hours of the 9th of April 1940. The Danish soldiers did their duty despite being in a hopeless situation abandoned by their generals and politicians.

It's a movie made by a Dane for the Danish audience and it captures the way Danish society and the Danish Army was at that time.

I loved it! It's a small piece of Danish history coming to life.

Just a note on some of the other reviews in here. Don't try putting Russian politics into this movie. There is no glorification of any Danish effort during the war here. And it is not looked upon as such in Denmark. Focus on good movies - not the old er new conflicts between East and West. This is not a propaganda movie in any way - maybe you seeing it that way tells more about your view on the world than on the essence of this small masterpiece of Danish filmmaking.

As other reviewers have said here, this movie deserves more than a 6+ rating.

As a war movie, it is fantastic in its depiction of the events in one of the shortest invasions in WW2. Good acting and generally good attention to details (equipment, uniforms, tactics, etc.), in addition to a taut, gripping narrative makes it an engaging historical drama.

The strengths of the movie lie in part on its focus on just one small unit and a couple of related engagements over a period of a few hours, instead of trying to tell a wider story that would have distracted and detracted from the experience.

If there is a weakness, it is that there was very little time for the audience to really get to care about the main characters. Perhaps just a few minutes spent on their backgrounds would have been worthwhile.

I would like to highlight the last scene at the end (NO SPOILER). For those who are familiar with the history of WW2, it brings on goosebumps knowing what is about to happen to the Jews in Europe. Fortunately, most of the Jewish population in Denmark were saved, thanks in large part to the Danish resistance and the Swedish government.

If you are looking for a bloody war movie, this is not it. But if you are looking for a brief glimpse into how men react when faced with impossible odds, then April 9th will not disappoint.

I am an Englishman who lives in Denmark with a great interest in military history generally. This film captures extremely well the first 6 hours of the German invasion. I found it accurate, well made and well acted. A simple, straightforward story well told.

The Danes surrendered after 6 hours.The Germans lost 101 men killed or wounded. The Danes lost 26 killed and 23 wounded. The Danes didn't have a chance. It is true that, during the war, the Germans recruited SS units from Denmark, these were chiefly from Southern Jutland which had been a part of Germany from 1864 until 1920 and had extremely strong German family connections and Germanic culture.