Danish resistance movement

Danish Resistance
Part of European theatre of World War II and Occupation of Denmark
Danish resistance fighters battling German soldiers 5 May 1945. Flakhaven, Odense (left), Danish SS soldiers disarmed by resistance fighters in Copenhagen, 1945 (right)
Date Nonviolent resistance: 9 April 1940 – 29 August 1943 Violent resistance: August 29, 1943 – 5 May 1945 Location Denmark Result German Surrender Liberation of Denmark Landing at Bornholm
Belligerents
Danish resistance groups  Denmark (from 1943)	Occupation Government (until 1943) Germany
Commanders and leaders
Povl Falk-Jensen Various Danish resistance leaders	Leonhard Kaupisch Werner Best Frits Clausen † Christian Frederik von Schalburg †
Units involved
Danish Brigade in Sweden	Schalburg Corps Heer soldiers Gestapo Kriegsmarine Waffen-SS Free Corps Denmark (until 1943)
Casualties and losses
about 380 resistance fighters
600 Danish civilians

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The Danish resistance movements (Danish: Den danske modstandsbevægelse) were an underground insurgency to resist the German occupation of Denmark during World War II. Due to the initially lenient arrangements, in which the Nazi occupation authority allowed the democratic government to stay in power, the resistance movement was slower to develop effective tactics on a wide scale than in some other countries.

Members of the Danish resistance movement were involved in underground activities, ranging from producing illegal publications to spying and sabotage. Major groups included the communist BOPA (Danish: Borgerlige Partisaner, Civil Partisans) and Holger Danske, both based in Copenhagen. Some small resistance groups such as the Samsing Group and the Churchill Club also contributed to the sabotage effort. Resistance agents killed an estimated 400 Danish Nazis, informers and collaborators until 1944. After that date, they also killed some German nationals.

In the postwar period, the Resistance was supported by politicians within Denmark and there was little effort to closely examine the killings. Studies in the late 20th and early 21st centuries revealed cases of improvised and contingent decision making about the targets, including morally ambiguous choices.^{[citation needed][clarification needed]} Several important books and films have been produced on this topic.