One of the most crucial imports was iron ore, needed to manufacture the steel which was used to build the ships, tanks and aircraft for the German armed forces. The primary source of that commodity was via neutral Sweden, deliveries of which Winston Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty was intent on preventing to restrict Germany′s ability to fight. To do so, he developed a plan to mine the Norwegian Corridor, the sheltered sea lanes along Norway′s craggy western coast used by the German ships to transport the ore within neutral waters back to their home ports.