southernmost city. They utilized the local ferry from Warnemünde, which they crammed with troops. Soldiers swarmed inland and cut telephone lines. Armour and motorcycles followed, and rapidly advanced to and captured the Storstrøm Bridge together with the paratroopers. Capture of Copenhagen (København) To secure Denmark's quick surrender, the capture of the capital city was considered essential. At 04:20 the 2,430 ton minelayer , with an escort of the icebreaker and two patrol boats, entered Copenhagen (København) harbour with battle flags flying. The harbour was covered by the coastal artillery guns of Fort Middelgrund. The newly appointed Danish commander ordered a warning shot to be fired, but the recently arrived recruits could not operate the gun. After landing a battalion of the 198th Infantry at 05:18, German forces captured the 70-strong garrison of the Citadel, the headquarters of the Danish Army, without a single shot. Their next target was Amalienborg Palace, residence of the Danish royal family. Amalienborg and capitulation When the German infantry arrived at Amalienborg, they were met with determined opposition from the on-duty company of the King's Royal Guard, which repulsed the initial attack but suffered three wounded. The fighting intensified as reinforcements hastily arrived from Rosenborg Barracks equipped with multiple Madsen machine gun. The German advance was stopped dead, as intense street fighting ensued around Amalienborg. The dogged resistance of the Royal Guard gave King Christian X and his ministers time to confer with the Danish commander-in-chief General Prior. During the discussions, several formations of Heinkel He 111 and Dornier Do 17 bombers from Kampfgeschwader 4 roared over the city dropping OPROP! leaflets. Faced with the explicit threat of Luftwaffe bombing Copenhagen's civilian population, all but General Prior favoured surrender. The argument for surrender was that Denmark's military position was untenable. Its land and population were too small to hold out against Germany for any sustained period, and its flat terrain would be easily overrun by German panzers. (Jutland (Jylland), for instance, was wide open to a panzer attack from Schleswig-Holstein to the south.) Unlike Norway, Denmark had no mountain ranges where a drawn-out resistance could be mounted. On the other hand, Denmark had significant water obstacles between the panzers and the capital city, Copenhagen (København), a long coastline, and a significant navy that could expect help from Great Britain and France. A third option, the government going into exile as the Czechoslovakian government had done, was