Hitler’s Pre-Emptive War: The Battle for Norway, 1940 Henrik Lunde (general ebook reader txt) 📖

the security measures were inadequate. The Germans noted, “The Norwegians did not figure on any German counterattack because of the storm and the deep snow and were so negligent that hardly any sentries secured their nightly rest area.”11

The Frontal Attack

Another reason for Fleischer assuming direct command of the enveloping force and for allowing the 1/12th to take quarters in the valley may have been his belief that the attack against Lapphaugen was going well. In fact, it was not launched according to plan and was not going well. The heavy snowstorm was the primary factor for the faltering attack, but the way it was executed and the determination by which it was pursued by the brigade contributed to its failure.

The 2/15th Inf advanced with two companies forward, but in a rather disorganized fashion due to the blizzard. Company 5 advanced along Route 50 while Co 6 tried to make a curve-like advance to the right of Co 5, allowing it to approach the German positions from the northeast near the eastern point of Lake Lapphaugvannet. Company 5 had to shift to the left in order to give room for Co 6. The battalion reserve, Co 7 with an attached machinegun platoon, followed behind and slightly to the north of Co 6.

The attack started shortly before 1000 hours on April 24, ten hours later than planned, after Battery 7 fired a 20-minute preparation. The heavy weapons company’s mortars and machineguns fired on the German positions for five minutes during a momentary clearing in the weather. The advancing Norwegian troops had snow driven by gale force winds in their faces, resulting in near-zero visibility. The German defenders had the wind at their backs, making it much easier to observe to their front. The Norwegians struggled to make headway through heavy snow. Their skis sank into the loose snow up to their knees. The attack came to a halt in the bad weather, and the forward troops dug in and fired at the Germans during the brief moments of visibility.

It was much the same story with Co 6. Its attack was stopped by German fire and the troops sought concealment by digging into the snow. One soldier was killed. Company 7 attempted a flanking movement, approaching the German positions from the north, but was caught in the open by German machinegun fire and two of its soldiers were killed before the unit withdrew into the wood line. The 2/15th Infantry’s attack came to a halt by noon.

The Norwegians made the mistake of not maintaining contact with the enemy. They even failed to keep the German positions under observation after the initial attack failed. Consequently, they were unaware that the Germans withdrew from Lapphaugen around 1500 hours.

Colonel Løken had a significant superiority in numbers with almost two battalions supported by two and a half batteries of artillery and heavy mortars. However, he used his resources in a piecemeal and hesitant manner. The 1/16th, minus one company, was scheduled to advance on the left flank of the 2/15th. That battalion arrived in Fossbakken at 2300 hours the previous night after a tortuous march from Bones. It went into bivouac in the woods a short distance south of Fossbakken. For reasons that are not obvious, the 1/16th did not participate in the initial attack.

Around 1300 hours, the brigade tried to get the attack going again by sending the 1/16th along the southern hillside where it could approach the German positions from the southeast. The heavy snowfall prevented the 1/16th from reaching its attack position during the day, despite enormous efforts. The snow was so deep that it was impossible to bring heavy weapons forward even with the use of sleds. Major Hunstad, the battalion commander, finally reported to Løken around 2000 hours that his battalion was in position about one kilometer east of Lapphaugen and was ready to attack.

The brigade, however, concluded that a continuation of the attack at night in a snowstorm was pointless. The 1/16th was ordered into bivouac positions between Lapphaugen and Fossbakken and it arrived there around midnight. We do not know why Colonel Løken did not order the 1/16th to proceed westward another two kilometers and take up positions in Oalgge Pass instead of withdrawing two kilometers eastward to its bivouac area. While the 1/16th could not trap the Germans because they withdrew around 1500 hours, the Norwegians did not know this and occupation of the pass would have cut the line of retreat for the German company the Norwegians still believed was at Lapphaugen. The companies from the 2/15th were also withdrawn a short distance and went into bivouac in the same general area as the 1/16th. The brigade notified division that blizzard conditions made a continuation of the attack on Lapphaugen impossible.

The termination of the frontal attack left the 1/12th Inf in position behind the enemy force withdrawing from Lapphaugen. The battalion therefore sat astride the line of retreat of a smaller German force. However, the division worried that the 1/12th would be caught between German forces at Lapphaugen and other units further south and decided to make deployment changes. The Alta Bn was ordered to break out of its bivouac in Levangen and proceed through Fjordbotneidet to secure 1/12th Infantry’s right flank. The Alta Bn was in fact already in positions on the south side of Fjordbotneidet, behind the 1/12th.

Lindbäck-Larsen writes that the early movement of the Alta Bn was contrary to operational plans. Lieutenant Colonel Dahl maintains that he received orders to move forward earlier than claimed by Lindbäck-Larsen otherwise he would not have taken his battalion on a 15-hour, 1,200 feet ascent in the most difficult weather conditions imaginable. Dahl’s adjutant reported later that his commander received orders to move forward around 0500 hours on April 24 because the 1/12th Inf had entered the Gratang Valley.12 Whatever the case, the early move was fortunate since Dahl’s battaliion was already in the position to which the division now ordered it.

However, the division limited the Alta Battalion’s