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

from the reserve battalion of the 16th Inf, and the 11th Motorized Artillery Battery were located between Mo and Bodø. The final Norwegian reinforcement, the 1/15th Inf reached Røsvik (north of Fauske) from Bardufoss on May 25.

Trappes-Lomax and Roscher-Nielsen met during the night of 19-20 May at Krokestrand. They agreed to hold a rear guard position at Messingsletten to allow a quick withdrawal of their main forces over the barren Saltfjell mountain plateau and to organize an effective defense in the area between Storjord and Posthus. At this time, Trappes-Lomax received a message from General Auchinleck, quoted by Connell, saying, “You have now reached a good position for defence. Essential to stand and fight … I rely on Scots Guards to stop the enemy.”

Trappes-Lomax pointed out that to fight a decisive action at Messingsletten, with the barren mountains at their backs, was tantamount to squandering the only battalion in the area. A telephone conversation with Brigadier Gubbins led to a slight modification in the orders. Trappes-Lomax was to fight hard and only retire when necessary to save his battalion. Based on Norwegian sources, it appears that the overall plan was for Trappes-Lomax to hold the Krokestrand area as long as possible and thereafter withdraw to the Viskiskoia area, which was to be held for at least three days to give the Irish Guards and two independent companies time to prepare defensive positions at Posthus.

The advance elements of General Feurstein’s division underwent a slight reorganization after the fighting at Stien. The two leading battle groups, Sorko and Schratz (commander of the 3rd Battalion, 138th Regiment) were placed under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Nake, the new commander of the 138th Regiment. The first German objective after capturing Mo on May 18 was to secure the Saltfjell plateau. Group XXI’s order to Feurstein on May 19 called for a relentless pursuit, even if it had to be undertaken with weak and lightly armed detachments.

The defense of the Krokestrand area was based on three delaying positions behind destroyed bridges. The German advance was delayed by the destruction but the fight at each position was short. Contemporary news reports of actions between Mo and Posthus were wildly inaccurate, citing German losses of 1,000 men.8 In fact, the 2nd Mountain Division suffered only 467 casualties (200 killed, 234 wounded, and 33 missing) during the campaign in Norway.9

The first delaying position, covering a blown bridge at Messingsletten, was held by one company of the Scots Guards and Captain Ellinger’s detachment. The British and Norwegians were tired and depressed after days of fighting and withdrawing under continued German air attacks. The British held the left side of the road while the Norwegians held the more broken terrain on the right. Ellinger describes what occurred after the first German probe:

Then something strange happened. From my command post, I saw one of the guards stand up on the other side of the road, throw away everything and vanish to the rear. One more did likewise, then others, and at the end, the whole company disappeared while the field was strewn with rifles, pouches, and lambskin overcoats. I did not understand what had happened … It was never established what caused the panic. Fear is an acute evil and very infectious. But it was strange that anything like this was possible in one of the world’s best-trained and disciplined regiments.10

Ellinger and his men collected a truck-full of discarded equipment and delivered it to Trappes-Lomax the following morning.

The next delaying position was behind the blown bridge at Krokestrand. Trappes-Lomax met Captain Ellinger on May 21 and showed him a written order he had received stating that this was the place where he should be able to stop the Germans. Ellinger reports that they both smiled sarcastically since it was hard to imagine terrain less suitable for defense. While reconnoitering a final delaying position south of Saltfjell, Trappes-Lomax asked Ellinger what they were lacking. Without hesitation, Ellinger answered “One thousand Finnish soldiers.” The Germans attacked the British position at Krokestrand and Trappes-Lomax ordered a retreat when a German envelopment threatened the British line of withdrawal.

In the last position south of Saltfjell, the Guards had their backs to the mountains, figuratively speaking. It was held until the evening of May 22 since German air superiority made a retreat over the narrow road on the desolate mountain plateau during daytime impossible. Norwegian troops had cleared the road to make the retreat possible and Ellinger describes the snow as several meters high on both sides. The Germans repaired the bridge at Krokestrand within 24 hours and they soon applied strong pressure on the Scots Guards’ position. The British battalion and the Norwegian detachment withdrew from this last position south of Saltfjell after darkness on May 22 and covered the 30-some kilometers of mountains before daylight.

The British military leadership in Harstad appears to have placed great reliance on Gubbins, who called Colonel Dowler, Auchinleck’s chief of staff, in the evening of May 19. Gubbins told Dowler he had spent the day with Trappes-Lomax and was quite happy about the situation. Dowler briefed him on the exchange that had taken place between Trappes-Lomax and Auchinleck and the latter’s insistence on a stubborn defense. This caused a quick change in Brigadier Gubbins’ view of the situation. He told Dowler that he understood and concurred with Auchinleck’s desires and related that during his meeting with Trappes-Lomax he had expressed some disagreement with his plan. Gubbins received a call from Auchinleck at midnight to confirm what his chief of staff had said earlier. Gubbins again voiced understanding and agreement and said he would travel south to see Trappes-Lomax. Auchinleck told Gubbins not to hesitate to remove any officer unfit for command.

Dowler saw Gubbins in Bodø on May 22 and sent a glowing report back to his superior saying, “I feel that the operations about Bodo could not be in better hands.” Auchinleck gave Cork a summary of Dowler’s report on the situation, concluding, “Gubbins has whole situation well in