Hitler’s Pre-Emptive War: The Battle for Norway, 1940 (100 page)

Norwegian forces persisted in attacking after the Allied evacuation had begun, but finally capitulated to the Germans on June 10, 1940.

The British evacuation that culiminated in the loss of the Glorious.

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OMMAND
S
TRUCTURES

1 General Massy never left London but operated from the War Office. British commanders in Central Norway did not command naval or air forces associated with their operations. Those forces took their orders from their respective service.

2
Scissorforce
and Colonel Gubbins remained under General Massy’s command until May 7 when the command was transferred to General Auchinleck.

3 Initially, Admiral Cork commanded only the naval forces and reported to the Admiralty. Major General Mackesy, replaced by Lieutenant General Auchinleck on May 16, reported to General Ironside. Admiral Cork assumed command of both sea and land forces on April 20.

4 All naval forces operating within 100 nautical miles of Harstad.

5 Lieutenant General Auchinleck assumed command from Major General Mackesy on May 16.

6 Brigadier Fraser commanded the 24th Guards until he was evacuated to England at which time Gubbins, promoted to brevet Brigadier General, assumed command of that unit as well as the Independent Companies.

1
Weserübung Süd
, under General Kaupisch, was subordinate to von Falkenhorst until April 12 when it was placed under OKH.

2 The Battle Fleet operated under the orders of Group West in the North Sea but directly under OKM for operations in the Atlantic.

3 The submarine command was subordinate to OKM but parts were under the operational control of the Fleet Commander during fleet operations.

4 Boehm was subordinate to von Falkenhorst within Norway but he was subordinate to OKM for naval operations.

5 General Dietl (3rd Mountain Division) operated directly under OKW in the period April 18 to May 5.

6 General von Falkenhorst did not command the air forces in Norway. General Milch’s 5th Air Fleet absorbed Air Corps X as well as the territorial air commands within Norway. Geissler was not subordinate to Falkenhorst. Theoretically, all requests had to go through the chain of command but after the establishment of regional air commands, many requests were handled laterally between army and air force commands.

1 This is the command structure in North Norway that became effective after the reorganization in late May. Before hostilities, the army and navy commanders (General Laake and Admiral Diesen) reported directly to the Ministry of Defense and General Fleischer, like the other division commanders, reported to the army commander. After hostilities commenced, Fleischer became commander-in-chief in North Norway and reported directly to the Ministry of Defense.

2 While commander-in-chief of the armed forces, General Ruge continued to also occupy the position as commander of the army. The two headquarters operated as one.

3 Admiral Diesen had placed himself and his forces under General Ruge’s command during the campaign in Central Norway. The May reorganization made this arrangement official.

4 As a result of the reorganization, 6th District Command became the army’s support organization, responsible for supporting all army organizations. It was directed to separate out a staff, which would concentrate its efforts on supporting General Fleischer’s forces.

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ODE NAMES

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