No your misunderstanding comes from the fact that there was no Allied operation to liberate Norway before the German instrument of surrender was signed on the eighth of May 1945.

So at the time that hostility ceased Norway was still under German occupation with over 300,000 troops in the country - some retreating there from Finland as a result of the Lapland war after access to Baltic Sea ports was cut off.

These troops were demobilised by the 1st Airborne Division (still recovering from heavy losses endured during market garden) which landed in Norway on the 9th of May. I can find no record of any combat, and the limited losses suffered by 1st Airborne are the result of landing accidents and clearing minefields.

Under their auspices and working with the Norwegian police & government in exile war criminals and collaborators such as Quisling were arrested.

The contribution of the Norwegians should not be understated over 50,000 fled to neutral Sweden to escape the occupation of these 15,000 trainee as policemen and assisted in the post war legal investigations. The Norwegian resistance made important contributions not just the raid on the Norsk hydro heavy water plant the resistance also provided intelligence to the allies such as the position of German naval assets.

During the invasion in 1940 while resistance to the invasion was disorganised and confused it did buy enough time for the government including the King & crown prince to escape who set up a government in exile in London. This body had full support of the allied powers and coordinated efforts of the resistance, made radio broadcasts and negotiated agreements such as the one I alluded to earlier with Sweden that allowed Norwegian policemen to be trained in camps.

What I’m trying to show with that last bit is that there was absolutely zero chance of Norway losing its independence at the end of the Second World War to anyone let alone Germany.

There was also a common view amongst the allied governments that blamed Germany for the war, they initially put Germany under occupation and dismantled its industrial base - halving steel production for instance. Germany only regained its independence only after denazification, under a constitution that promoted and protected democracy and as a result of the realisation that Germany would be required to aid the west in the emerging Cold War.

In 1945 there was no chance of Germany keeping any of its conquests - it lost a significant portion of its land mostly to Poland and the USSR but also Alsace-Lorraine in the west.