Nikolaus von Falkenhorst

Nikolaus von Falkenhorst was a German General in the Second World War. He planned and commanded the German invasion of Denmark and Norway in 1940, and was commander of German troops during the occupation of Norway from 1940 to 1944.

Falkenhorst was born in Breslau into an ancient Silesian military and noble family, the Jastrzembski of Bad KnigsdorffJastrzemb in Upper Silesia. In 1911 he voluntarily changed this Polishderived family name to the Germanized Falkenhorst . He joined the Imperial German army in 1903 and during the First World War was given various regimental and staff appointments, including a stint in Finland, which would later figure into his primary assignment in World War II. In 1919, after the end of the war, he served in the Freikorps, then transferred to the Reichswehr, and between 1925 and 1927 served in the operations division of the German War Ministry.

Source: Wikipedia