Hitler’s Pre-Emptive War: The Battle for Norway, 1940 by Henrik Lunde (the reader ebook .TXT) 📕

The fighting in some sectors was intense. The units facing south were switched to face west because no attack from the south materialized. However, The Germans had now driven the British and Norwegian troops from the isthmus and crossed to the mainland. May informed Ellinger at 2100 hours that he was withdrawing his forces and suggested that Ellinger do likewise. Ellinger’s machineguns were still effective and they continued to contest the German advance until 2300 hours when both direct and indirect fire became so intense that Ellinger disengaged and withdrew towards Mo.

Tamelander and Zetterling, referencing Captain Holzinger’s after-action report, state that the Germans only had two wounded and that they captured seven of their opponents. However, Ellinger, quoting from Lieutenant General Paul Klatt’s book Die 3. Gebirgs-Division 1939-1945, writes that the number of Germans killed in the engagement is not reported but 46 wounded were evacuated by air. Similarly, Ruef writes, “The price [for capturing Finneid] was a row of fallen, almost 50 wounded and two exhausted task forces.”32 The fact that two of the ten Knight Crosses to the Iron Cross awarded to the 3rd Mountain Division in the Norwegian operation were awarded for actions at Hemnes and Finneid attest to the intensity of the fight.

British-Norwegian Conference on May 16

Generals Ruge and Fleischer requested a conference with General Auchinleck to discuss the situation on the southern front. This conference took place in Harstad on May 16. It was Fleischer’s first meeting with a British general. Ruge gave Auchinleck a memorandum setting forth his own estimate of the situation. The memorandum stressed the importance of holding the Mosjøen area as a base for future offensive operations and it recommended the Allies land troops in this area as soon as possible and that these forces be augmented as quickly as the situation in the Mo area permitted. The German air threat was also a major part of Ruge’s concern. German aircraft operating from Værnes Airfield near Trondheim could spend less than one hour over their targets in Narvik area. The time-over-target factor would increase significantly if the Germans were able to make fields further north operational. They would be able to quickly gain air superiority and make both land and sea operations very difficult. It was therefore of great importance to halt the German advance as far south as possible.

Hovland criticizes Ruge for devoting a large part of his memorandum to future plans and operations at the expense of immediate concerns. Although events on the Continent would soon present the Allies with a situation where any thoughts of future offensive operations in Norway were unrealistic, developments had not reached that stage at the time of the conference. It was realistic to expect the British to strike effectively at the Germans behind their forward units and thus disrupt their advance. So far, only the Germans had taken such action, in Trondheimfjord and at Hemnesberg.

Both Ruge and Fleischer stressed the absolute necessity of holding Mo, with its airfield. Fleischer was already sending whatever units he could spare to shore up the southern front. The newly mobilized 1/15th Inf, which had provided security at Bardufoss Airfield, would be sent south as soon as a French battalion relieved it. Auchinleck stated that he would do all in his power to stop the Germans and he intended to send reinforcements to Mo.

Other questions that were discussed at the conference led to some agreements. The Norwegians were promised that Colonel Finne, the Norwegian liaison officer at the Allied headquarters, would get copies of all orders to the British commander in the Bodø area. This promise was soon violated. To Ruge’s suggestion that some French battalions from Narvik be sent to Mo and Bodø, Auchinleck answered that this was under consideration. For his part, Auchinleck requested improved administrative support from local authorities and better control of the civilian population within the operational areas.

General Fleischer stated that his troops were running low on ammunition and stressed the need for new weapons using the same ammunition as Allied forces. Fleischer was told that a supply of weapons and ammunition for his troops had arrived from Great Britain. These weapons were never issued to the Norwegians since they were used to reequip the Irish Guards and South Wales Borderers after their losses in their abortive efforts to reach Bodø on May 14 and 17.

It is obvious that Auchinleck began to take a slightly more aggressive attitude with respect to Mo than was demonstrated in his briefing to Brigadier Fraser on May 13. He sent a message to Colonel Gubbins on May 16 telling him not to abandon Mo. This came on the heel of a message from Brigadier Fraser on May 15 stating that it was militarily unsound to hold Mo. Auchinleck’s amplifying instructions were sent with the ill-fated South Wales Borderers on May 17.33

Auchinleck received a note from Admiral Cork late in the afternoon on May 15 about moving the South Wales Borderers to Mo. This probably influenced Auchinleck to try to hang on to Mo as long as possible more than the visit the following day by the two Norwegian generals. The admiral told him that they had to hold Mo for six more days until the squadron of aircraft at Bardufoss became operational.

The Norwegian generals came away from the conference on May 16 with some mixed emotions. While some administrative matters were cleared up and Auchinleck had expressed understanding and agreement with their desire to hold the Germans as far south as possible, the promises were no more definite than those made by the British Government and commanders shortly before the sudden withdrawals from Åndalsnes, Namsos, and Mosjøen. An arrangement for coordinated operations in the southern area was not achieved, only a promise that the Norwegians would get copies of British operational directives.

British Strategy Changes and Mishaps

General Feurstein’s troops had advanced 270 kilometers in nine days over terrain that Allied commanders had considered impassable. They had covered about half the distance to their beleaguered comrades