Near the beginning of World War II in late 1939, both the Allies and the Axis Powers feared their enemies gaining power in Scandinavia. Britain believed Germany was planning to invade and made counter plans for its own invasion. At the same time, Germany feared that Britain could gain bases in the area and claimed they suspected an outright invasion. In addition, Germany highly valued the Swedish iron ore they received through Norway and could not afford to lose it. They also desired Norway for its ice-free ports. This made it a primary target, with Denmark a secondary goal mainly needed for facilitating the Norwegian invasion. After planning for months, Germany invaded both Denmark and Norway the same day, 9 April 1940, days before Britain planned to invade.