Hitler’s Pre-Emptive War: The Battle for Norway, 1940 (75 page)

The 2/13th Half-Brigade, supported by two light tanks, landed on the eastern side of Herjangsfjord. This landing was delayed until the 1st Bn had landed and sufficient small craft became available. The area from Bjerkvik to Øyjord was held by naval battalion Kothe, consisting of three weak companies from the crews of the sunken destroyers. There were doubts among the German officers about the ability of naval personnel to fight effectively as infantry and they were now put to the test.

The French planned to land the 2nd Bn at a point on the coastline close to Elvegårdsmoen but heavy machinegun fire forced the Legionnaires to land on an alternate beach several hundred meters to the south. Kothe’s naval personnel, badly demoralized by the bombardment, offered little resistance and abandoned their positions, leaving behind nearly all machineguns.

The 2nd Bn divided into two forces after securing the beach. One headed for Elvegårdsmoen, which was secured after some sharp fighting with a small screening force of mountain troops. The camp had been heavily struck in the naval bombardment. The second force headed south towards Øyjord. A company of naval personnel, commanded by Lieutenant Kühlenkamp, abandoned its positions at Gjeisvik after coming under naval gunfire but before a ground attack.

The 3rd Division journal tells about the disintegrated and panic-stricken German naval units arriving at the division base at Bjørnefjell, including all of Company Kühlenkamp. The troops that showed up at Bjørnefjell included a few mountain troops, but these were sent back to the front immediately. The fleeing naval personnel were assembled and kept at Bjørnefjell. Company Kühlenkamp’s abandonment of its positions opened the way to Øyjord and a French motorcycle platoon captured the place within a few hours without resistance.

The 2nd Polish battalion began its advance from Bogen (Lenvik) at 2200 hours on May 12. Their front and flank were secured by Norwegian ski troops. The battalion reached Bjerkvik after an arduous 12-hour march. The platoon-size German security force in this area made a hasty withdrawal. It found its line of retreat through Bjerkvik blocked and withdrew into the mountains to the north. The unit lost its way in the unfamiliar terrain, ended up in Gratangsbotn on May 16, and was promptly captured by French forces. A small element of the Polish battalion was sent northward to secure the Legionnaires’ left flank near Skoglund while two companies were sent to relieve the French motorcyclists at Øyjoro.

The first opposed amphibious operation of World War II proceeded generally according to plans. There were only 36 French casualties but Moulton notes that it was not a great day for the British:

General Hovland’s assessment is that “Béthouart and his Foreign Legionnaires have received most of the honor for the liberation of Bjerkvik. There is little reason to believe that this operation would have succeeded if Fleischer had not simultaneously attacked from the north.”
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It was not so much Fleischer’s simultaneous attack that made the landing a success, but his offensive that had been underway since April 23. These operations had necessitated the commitment of nearly all mountain troops available to Colonel Windisch as well as other units from Bjørnefjell and Narvik. Consequently, the Germans had virtually no reserves left when Béthouart landed his Legionnaires. The German sources attest to this conclusion: “The defense of Herjangsfjord’s east shore was left to three companies of Naval Battalion Kothe alone. All other parts of Group Windisch stood with their fronts to the north, in heavy defensive fighting against continual attacks by superior Norwegian forces.”
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The loss of Elvegårdsmoen was a blow to the Germans. Some magazines, although considerably reduced from April 9, fell into French hands. The Germans left behind three doctors and 45 seriously wounded at their field hospital, all of whom were captured. Group Windisch was now entirely dependent on supplies from the base at Bjørnefjell and the spring thaw made the route to that location very difficult.

Group Windisch Escapes

The Norwegian part of the operations against the Germans involved an attack by the 7th Brigade on the right to seize the Vassdalsfjell area north of Hartvigvann. This attack was expected to result in a link up with the Legionnaires who were moving northeast from Elvegårdsmoen, thereby trapping the 1/139th in its defensive positions astride Route 50. The 6th Brigade on the left was to seize a foothold on the Kuberg Plateau before the Germans could settle into new defensive positions.

Group Windisch was in danger of having its line of retreat severed. Windisch also had to establish a new front, one that faced north as well as west against the forces landed in Herjangsfjord. He had to delay the French advance northeast of Elvegårdsmoen and prevent a link-up with an anticipated advance by the 7th Brigade while shoring up the front facing the 6th Brigade. Failing to do so would prevent the withdrawing forces from occupying and preparing new defensive positions.

Windisch issued orders at 0500 hours on May 13 for his dangerously exposed forces on the German left to withdraw eastward to the area south of Hartvigvann and for the establishment of new defensive line from Storebalak to Fiskeløsvann. Units had orders to destroy heavy weapons and equipment that could not be brought along. Several factors came into play to allow Group Windisch to extricate itself successfully.

The advance of the 1/13th Half-Brigade halted on a line running from Skoglund to Skogfjell while the 1/139th was able to halt the southward drive of the 14/27th CA before it reached the planned link-up point at Tverelven. The two French units were therefore unable to join on May 13 as planned. The advance of the 2/13 Half-Brigade from Elvegårdsmoen was slowed by some very effective, but costly, German rear-guard actions. Lieutenant Bauer, the commander of Co 2 1/139, led a 30-man platoon from his company and tried to halt the French advance. The platoon was driven back after some vicious close-quarter fighting and Bauer was killed. Many of his men were also killed, wounded, or captured.

Elements from Co 13 were ordered to counterattack and try to throw the French back to the coast. The attack failed and the unit took up positions in the hills facing west. This allowed them to keep the Hartvigvann road as well as Route 50 under observation and fire. This fire contributed to halting the northward drive of the 1/13 Half-Brigade.

The fighting now switched to Hill 220 northeast of Elvegårdsmoen. This knoll was held by a weak detachment from Co 11 under the command of Lieutenant Tollschein. His mission was to cover the German withdrawal. The French eastward drive was stopped and the Legionnaires suffered a considerable number of casualties. Tollschein and his men repelled repeated attacks supported by naval gunfire and attacks by Norwegian aircraft. The two tanks supporting the second French attempt to take Hill 220 were stopped by mines that blew off their treads. Tollschein and his men managed to hold the Legionnaires of the 2nd Bn for 24 hours, allowing their comrades to make an orderly, but very difficult, retreat to the east. The position fell on May 14 after a French multi-directional attack. Only five of Tollschein’s men escaped by climbing down the hill’s 180-foot cliff-like backside. Buchner writes that it is difficult to understand why the French did not try to bypass the detachment by advancing south of Hartvigvann where there were no German defenders.

The German divisional reserve consisted of Lieutenant Ploder’s Co 3, 138th Regiment: two officers and 65 men who were landed in Rombakfjord between May 8 and 10. Early in the morning of May 13, this unit was ordered to move forward, occupy Mebyfjell from Hill 482 to Hill 548, and cover the withdrawal of Group Windisch. Hill 482 was secured by only two squads until 0600 hours when the company, ignorant of the actual situation, tried to return to its previous location. It ran into Colonel Windisch who turned it around. French detachments, probing eastward from the landing areas, found no Germans in their path but instead of continuing their advance, they settled in on the plateau and were subsequently driven back by Co 3/138th.

It was of the greatest importance for the Germans to secure and hold open the bridge over the Vassdal River near Gamberg for the withdrawing units, in case the enemy was able to brush aside the delaying forces or descended into the valley from Vassdalsfjell. The river was in flood because of the spring thaw and there was no other crossing point. The regimental engineer platoon was ordered to hold the bridge. Strong Norwegian forces in Gressdal also posed an acute danger to the regiment’s right flank and the weak remnants of naval company Erdmenger had the mission of blocking this threat.

The 1/139th, on the German far left, faced the most difficult withdrawal. The battalion had to disengage while under pressure from French and Norwegians forces from two directions. By leapfrogging from position to position and under the cover of well-selected machinegun emplacements, the remnants of the four companies withdrew successfully. Two mountain howitzers at the east end of Hartvigvann provided continuous support for the withdrawing units. The withdrawal of Group Windisch was mostly completed by 0700 hours on May 14 and the regimental headquarters, the last unit to cross the bridge at Gamberg, was established at the northeastern corner of Fiskeløsvann by 0900 hours.

There was precious little General Dietl and his staff could do to assist Colonel Windisch from their location at Bjørnefjell. Radio communications with Group Windisch were only sporadic after 2145 hours on May 12 and the situation remained unclear until the morning of May 14. Messengers took a long time to cover the distance to Bjørnefjell.

The only unit available after Dietl ordered the divisional reserve, Co 3/138th, forward to cover Windisch’s withdrawal was a platoon of engineers under the command of Lieutenant von Brandt. This unit was sent forward to the hills immediately west of Cirkelvann but it was not expected to arrive until the next day because of difficult snow conditions. The arrival of fleeing and demoralized naval personnel did little to improve the expectations of Dietl and his staff. Communications were also lost between Colonel Windisch and Major Schleebrügge’s task force on the far right.

The 3rd Division expected at any time to receive news of catastrophic events on the northern front. The entry in the division journal for 0700 on May 13 offers a concise summary of the prevailing sentiment: “It is doubtful that Gruppe Windisch will succeed in withdrawing its units since the enemy has made deep advances in its left flank.” Group XXI’s report to the OKW in the evening of May 13 is equally pessimistic: “Success [of Group Windisch’s withdrawal] in view of its current battle worthiness is questionable.”

Messages to Group XXI and the air support center in Trondheim called for immediate reinforcements and strong Luftwaffe support. The weather prevented effective air support and the only reinforcement received was Co 1, 1st Parachute Regiment commanded by Lieutenant Becker. Sixty-six men of this unit parachuted into the Bjørnefjell area around noon on May 14. The 3rd Division journal notes that the paratroopers arrived without rucksacks, overcoats, snowshoes and equipment needed for mountain operations. Clothing and equipment had to be scraped together to make these troops capable of operating in the mountains. However, within six hours of their arrival, the paratroopers were sent northward to reinforce Major Schleebrügge’s hard-pressed troops where the situation had become critical because of 6th Brigade’s attacks.

Dietl must have uttered a sigh of relief when Windisch reported at 0700 hours on May 14 that his exhausted mountain troops had managed to occupy new defensive positions running generally from Hill 548 in the west (Melbyfjell) to Storebalak in the east. The situation was still critical and it was doubtful if the Germans could hold Storebalak and Neverfjell.

We have seen why the Foreign Legionnaires advancing from Elvegårdsmoen failed to close the trap on Group Windisch in the Hartvigvann area. Let us now examine why the French 6th Battalion CA and the Norwegian 7th Brigade failed to do so from the north. The two postponements of the amphibious assaults made things difficult for General Fleischer. The deteriorating conditions for supplying his left wing due to the spring thaw, led him to allow the 6th Brigade to ignore the second postponement.

Fleischer visited Lieutenant Colonel Dahl and the men of the Alta Bn on Roasme on May 12. After the visit, he issued an addendum to the order for the forthcoming operation. The addition was clear and to the point, “The attack tonight will only begin, as far as the 7th Brigade is concerned, when it is determined indisputably that the French advance has actually begun.”
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Hovland suggests that this more cautious approach was a result of the events in Gratangen on 24 April.

More recent events may also have influenced Fleischer. The French advance along Route 50 had fallen almost two miles behind that of the 7th Brigade and exposed that unit’s right flank to possible German counterattacks. Then there was the refusal of the French company from the 6th Bn CA to advance from Roasme against Ørnefjell in support of the Norwegian attack on Hills 676 and 664, or even to provide mortar support for the Norwegians pinned down in front of those two objectives. Dahl and Major Hyldmo are likely to have brought these examples to Fleischer’s attention.

Regardless of whether or not the addendum was justified, it was also unfortunately open to interpretation by his subordinates as a lack of faith in his allies. An openly expressed attitude of that nature has a tendency to spread rapidly. Some have used the order as an illustration that Fleischer had become too cautious and that his excessive concern for the welfare of his own units led to a lack of initiative and a failure to exploit opportunities. General Ruge wrote later “The circumstances were that the German forces in Narvik could indisputably have been liquidated earlier if we and the allies had pressed harder.”
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Hovland writes that this is a serious accusation. However, the conclusion drawn by Ruge is similar to views expressed by German writers.