Oslofjord

The Oslofjord (Oslofjorden) is a fjord located on the south-east of Norway, stretching from F?rder in the south to Oslo at the head. The fjord is separated into the inner (indre) and outer (ytre) Oslofjord at the point of the 17 km long and narrow Dr?baksundet.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Norwegian painter Edvard Munch had a cottage and studio in ?sg?rdstrand on the fjord and it appears in several of his paintings, including The Scream and "Girls on a Bridge".

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The fjord was the scene of a key event in the German invasion of Norway in 1940. The invasion, Operation Weser?bung, included a planned landing of 1000 troops transported by ship to Oslo. Colonel Eriksen, Commander of the Oscarsborg fortress near Dr?bak, mainly maintained for historical purposes, sank the German warship Bl?cher in the Dr?bak narrows.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The fortress resistance blocked the route to Oslo, thus delaying the rest of the group long enough for the royal family, the government and parliament to be evacuated, as well as the national treasury. The result was that Norway never surrendered to the Germans, leaving the Quisling government illegitimate and permitting Norway to participate as an ally in the war, rather than as a conquered nation.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Oslofjord is one of the nine venues of the Class 1 World Powerboat Championship.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Fjord: A fjord (sometimes written fiord, notably in New Zealand English) is a glacially overdeepened valley, usually narrow and steep-sided, extending below sea level and filled with salt water. In Norway, some fresh-water lakes which have formed in long glacially carved valleys with terminal moraines bloc...

Norway: The Kingdom of Norway is a Nordic country on the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, bordering Sweden, Finland and Russia, with territorial waters bordering Danish and British waters. It has a very elongated form and has an extensive coastline along the North Atlantic Ocean, where Norway'...

Oslo: :This article is about the capital of Norway. For other meanings of Oslo, see the disambiguation page...