What about Norway's WW2 army?
Norway had a small army when the Germans invaded the country in April 1940.
But what about this army?
In this video you are gonna learn about the Norwegian Army of World War II.
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Norway seperated from Sweden in 1905.
Norway was a sparsely populated country with not that many resources and no naval tradition.
The country adopted a territorial army concept using trained reservists to fill the ranks.
Norwegian divisions were infantry formations with a staff, 2 or 3 infantry regiments and
either an artillery regiment or a mountain artillery battalion.
The had no armour or anti-tank weapons because of their own rugged terrain.
Infantry regiments had 3,750 men and were supported by machine-gun battalions.
Horse-mounted cavalry regiments or bicycle/ski scout companies were used for reconnaissance.
Howitzers were horse drawn.
On 8 April 1940 (one day before the German invasion) the Norwegian Army had 25,000 men
which in case of full mobilization could be expanded to 118,500 men.
The Army Commander was Major General Kristian Laake, on 11 April replaced by Otto Ruge.
There were basically two uniforms when 1940 came around.
The M1914 and the M1934.
The M1914 was a woolen greenish 'mountain-grey' uniform and had red piping.
It had a fly front and therefore the buttons were not visable.
Here you see the officer tunic.
In 1934 a new uniform was introduced.
This light grey uniform had visable buttons.
Both tunics had their greatcoat variants.
When 1940 came around some soldiers even wore the obsolete M1894 tunic which was dark blue.
Sometimes soldiers or officers wore regulation or privately purchased civilian wind jackets
over their tunics.
The soldiers wore piped trousers with black leather ankle boots.
Ski leggings were introduced in 1934.
Officers could wear breeches with long leather boots.
Ranks of officers were displayed on the collar.
For the rank-and-file soldier there was the M1914 'Finnmark' winter cap with earflaps
secured on top and a national cockade.
Officers wore a kepi with a black peak, leather strap and two cockades.
One with the Norwegian lion-and-axe motif.
As for helmets, in 1940 the Norwegian Army had two types of helmet.
The first one was adopted in 1916 – during the First World War – and was the British
M1915 'Brody' helmet.
The second one was adopted in the interwar period: the Swedish M1931 'Baltic' helmet.
In 1935 the Norwegian lion badge on a metal disc was added to all steel helmets.
Enlisted men had a brown belt with two leather ammunition pouches.
These had supporting straps.
Furthermore the men had the usual equipment like water bottle, breadbag, gasmask bag and
a rucksack.
Enlisted men had the M1894 Krag-Jørgensen rifle.
This weapon was designed by gunsmith Erik Jørgensen and officer Ole Herman Johannes
Krag in the late 19th century.
Interesting enough is that not only Norway used this weapon, but also Sweden, Denmark
ánd the United States.
A unique feature of the Krag–Jørgensen rifle was its magazine.
While many other rifles of that time made use of an integral box magazine loaded by
a charger or stripper clip, the magazine of the Krag–Jørgensen could be topped up without
opening the rifle's bolt.
The service rifle was provided with a bayonet.
There was also the M1922 Madsen light machine-gun.
This weapon came from Denmark and was adopted by and named after Colonel Vilhelm Herman
Oluf Madsen, the Danish Minister of War.
As heavy machine-gun the Norwegian Army made use of the American M/29 which replaced the
Hotchkiss M1914 machine gun.
Officers carried the so-called 'Kongsberg Colt' pistol.
Norway managed to stay neutral during the First World War.
But this was not to be when WW2 came around.
On 9 April 1940 Germany invaded both Denmark and Norway; Operation Weserübung had started.
Two thousand German troops had already embarked on ten destroyers, ready to sail north when
the order was given.
At Bergen, Kristiansand, Trondheim, as well as at Narvik, German troops came ashore during
the early hours of April 9.
Without much resistance the Germans captured the coastal places.
At Narvik the local commander was a supporting of Norwegian fascist Vikun Quisling who would
later head the collaborationist government.
Speaking of which.
Quisling announced a new government via the radio initially backed by Germany but it had
no popular support.
At Oslo the Norwegian coastal guns managed to sink the German heavy cruiser Blücher.
As German parachute troops landed at Oslo, the Norwegian Government left the capital
to a place 70 miles north.
Allied troops (British, French and Free Polish) landed at several places (Harstad, Samsos
and Andalsnes) and mauled the German navy at Narvik.
The Germans now began to expand from their bridgeheads.
Some Norwegians surrendered, others fled to Sweden.
A problem for the Norwegian defenders – apart from the fact that many men weren't fully mobilized,
and were inadequately equiped – was that many gun depots were now
in German controlled territory.
And the Allied troops weren't in their best shape either.
Their best units were stationed in France for the inpending German invasion.
Orders changed almost hourly and there was a lack of maps, transport, radios and other
necessary equipment.
The Germans had air superiority which wasn't always available due to the weather.
Yet, when the weather was favorable the German planes bombed the Allied positions mercilessly.
The Germans advance from the south and pushed back the Norwegian-British forces.
And since the Allies also didn't attack the German positions at Trondheim they also broke
out from there.
A few days before the end of April the Allies prepared to evacuate Central Norway.
This also had to do with the foreboding German invasion of the west.
In the north, at Narvik, the Allies had more success.
Soon King Haakon arrived in the north of Norway together with his government.
Towards the end of May – when the German invasion of the west was well on its way – the
Allies also decided to abandon Narvik.
On 7 June the king left the country.
Norwegian commander Ruge remained at the side of his man and was captured by the Germans.
On 10 June, Ruge signed the capitulation for the Norwegian forces.
The Scandinavian minerals and iron ore route to Sweden is secured and the Norway Compaign
was over.
All in all, the only reason why the Norwegian Army managed to hold out or so long was
due to the fact that they were assisted by the Allies but given the poor shape these Allied troops were in, this only
postponed the inevitable.
I read that around 25,000 Norwegians escaped to form the Free Norwegian forces overseas.
Some of these took part in the part in the liberation of Finnmark. That's a story for another time.