Hitler's Forgotten Armies: Combat in Norway and Finland

410 Pages·2012·6.97 MB·English

by  Carruthers

This ebook edition published in Great Britain in 2012 by Coda Books Ltd, The Barn, Cutlers Farm Business
Centre, Edstone, Wootton Wawen, Henley in Arden, Warwickshire, B95 6DJ

www.codabooks.com

Copyright © 2012 Coda Books Ltd

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval
system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Originally published as The German Northern Theater of Operations 1940-1945, Department of the Army
Pamphlet No. 20-271 by Earl F. Ziemke A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British
Library ISBN 978 1 78158 097 4

CONTENTS
Introduction
Foreword
Preface
PART ONE. THE CAMPAIGNS IN NORWAY AND
DENMARK
Chapter 1: The Background of German Operations in Norway
and Denmark
The Scandinavian Dilemma
A Siege of Britain
The Hitler-Quisling Talks, December 1939
The First Planning Phase
The Decision to Occupy Norway
Allied Objectives and Intentions
Chapter 2: The Plan WESERUEBUNG
The Problem
The Navy
Group XXI
The Air Force
Political Planning
Chapter 3. The Landings
WESERUEBUNG Begins
Narvik and Trondheim
Bergen, Stavanger, Egersund, Kristiansand, and Arendal
Oslo
The Return of the Warships
Supply and Troop Transport
Diplomatic and Political Moves
The Occupation of Denmark
Chapter 4. Operations in Southern and Central Norway
The Command Crisis
The Advance Northward from Oslo
Operations at Trondheim
Bergen, Stavanger, Kristiansand
Chapter 5. Operations in Northern Norway
The Siege of Narvik
The Advance of the 2d Mountain Division Toward Narvik.
Defeat and Victory
Operation JUNO
6. The Campaign in Norway-Summary

PART TWO: OPERATIONS IN FINLAND
Chapter 7. Plans and Preparations
The Change of Course in German-Finnish Relations
Planning for Combined Operations
The German-Finnish Conversations, May-June 1941
Chapter 8. Operation SILBERFUCHS (I)
Concentration of Forces
PLANTINFUCHS (Operations of Mountain Corps Norway)
Summary
Chapter 9. Operation SILBERFUCHS (II)
POLARFUCHS (Operations of XXXVI Corps and Finnish III Corps)
The Army of Lapland
SILBERFUCHS in Retrospect
Chapter 10. Finland's War
Operations in 1941
Co-belligerents and Brothers-in-Arms
A Thrust to Belomorsk
Chapter 11. The Northern Theater in 1942
Norway
Operations in Finland
Operations Against the Arctic Convoys
Chapter 12: In the Backwater of War
The Stagnant Front
Norway, 1943
The Arctic Convoys
Chapter 13: Finland Leaves the War
The Stagnant Front, January to June 1944
BIRKE and TANNE
The Soviet Summer Offensive
Armistice
Chapter 14: The Undefeated Army
TANNE and BIRKE
NORDLICHT
Norway and Surrender
Chapter 15: Conclusion
Appendix A. Rank Designations of German and Finnish General
and Flag Officers
Appendix B. Chronology of Events
Appendix C. List of Major Participants
Bibliographical Note
Glossary
Code Names
About Coda Books
Introduction

This excellent and much sought after publication originally appeared as DA
Pam 20-271 on 15th December 1959. It was published by the Center of Military
History of the United States Army based in Washington, D.C. Out of print since
the the fifties, it now forms part of the developing series entitled ‘World War II
From Original Sources’. The aim is to provide the reader with a varied range of
materials drawn from original writings covering the strategic, operational and
tactical aspects of the weapons and battles of Hitler’s war. The concept behind
the series is to provide the well-read and knowledgeable reader with access to
long out of print sources to build a picture of a particular aspect of that titanic
struggle.

I am pleased to report that the series has been well received and it is a pleasure
to be able to bring these original sources back to new life and to the attention of
an interested readership. I particularly enjoy re-discovering good sources like
these, and I am pleased to be able to present them unadorned and unvarnished to
a sophisticated audience. The readership I strive to serve is the increasingly well
informed community of reader/historians which needs no editorial lead and can
draw its own conclusions. I am well aware that our community is constantly
striving to discover new nuggets of information, and I trust that with this volume
I have managed to stimulate fresh enthusiasm and that at least some of these
facts will be new to you and will provoke readers to research further down these
lines of investigation, and perhaps cause established views to be challenged once
more. I am aware at all times in compiling these materials that our relentless
pursuit of more and better historical information is at the core our common
passion. I trust that this selection will contribute to that search and will help all
of us to better comprehend and understand the bewildering events of the last
century.

In order to produce an interesting compilation giving a flavour of events at the
strategic and operational level, I have returned once more to the Centre of
Military History series, which contain an intriguing series of near contemporary
reviews. I find this series particularly fascinating as they provide us with a sense
of what was happening at the face of battle almost as the events unfolded.
Thank you for buying this volume in the series we hope you will enjoy
discovering some new insights you will go on to try the others in the series.

Bob Carruthers

Edinburgh 2012
Foreword

The Office of the Chief of Military History of the Department of the Army is
currently preparing a series of studies on German military operations in World
War II against forces other than those of the United States. In addition to the
volumes already published dealing with Poland and the Balkans and the present
volume on Norway and Finland, these monographs will cover German
operations in Russia, France and the Low Countries. These campaign studies are
being made available to the General Staff and to the Army schools and colleges
as reference works. They will also prove of value to all who are interested in
military affairs.

The German campaigns in Norway and Finland established landmarks in the
evolution of military science even though they failed in the long run to influence
the outcome of the war. In the invasion of Norway the Germans executed the
first large-scale amphibious (in fact triphibious) operation of World War II. The
subsequent German operations out of Finland provided the first, and still unique,
instance of major military forces operating in the Arctic and created a precedent,
at least, for the inclusion of that region, once considered almost totally
inaccessible, in strategic considerations. In these respects the operations in the
German Northern Theater have a direct association with concepts of warfare
which have not yet reached their final stage of development and are, therefore,
of current and possible future interest.