April 9th: An interesting film about the German invasion of Denmark in 1940

I recently bought an Amazon Fire TV Stick and have been watching some of the films that are available. One of these was APRIL 9th (originally made in 2015 and entitled 9.APRIL in Danish), and I thoroughly recommend it to anyone with an interest in the history of the early part of the Second World War.

The film tells the story of a group of Danish bicycle infantry who are sent to try to stem the German invasion of Denmark on 9th April 1940. In the last days of peace a Danish bicycle infantry company based in South Jutland prepares for the possibility of war. A motorcycle reconnaissance platoon arrives to support them, and together they are mobilised and sent southwards when a border post is overwhelmed by the German invader.

The motorcycle reconnaissance platoon speeds ahead of the bicycle infantry, ...

... but is soon forced back by the advancing German armoured and motorised troops. The bicycle infantry company makes a stand, ...

... but it too is overwhelmed, and only the remnants of a platoon manage to escape. After stopping for a while at a farm to rest and recover, they then set off to rejoin the motorcycle reconnaissance platoon, who have set up a roadblock. Their efforts are hampered by the crowds of civilians who have come out to watch events, ...

... but the latter soon disperse when the advancing Germans arrive and the defenders are forced to retreat yet again.

They eventually arrive at the town of Haderslev, where they join the defenders. A German atack is not long coming, and the platoon carries of fighting ...

... until it runs out of ammunition, at which point it surrenders, only to find out that the country's government had surrendered to the Germans some hours earlier.

The film has subtitles (something that not all viewers will like) but it seems to be well researched and the military equipment looks very authentic. For those who have a particular interest in weaponry there is one scene that shows a Madsen Light Machine Gun being fired from a rather complex looking tripod mount, and another where a German armoured vehicle is engaged by a 20mm Madsen Anti-tank Cannon that is mounted on the sidecar of a motorcycle combination.