Kristian Kristiansen Laake (9 April 1875 – 3 August 1950) was a
Norwegian
Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to:
*Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe
* Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway
* Demographics of Norway
*The Norwegian language, including ...
military officer. He is best known for having commanded the
Norwegian Army
The Norwegian Army ( no, Hæren) is the land warfare service branch of the Norwegian Armed Forces. The Army is the oldest of the Norwegian service branches, established as a modern military organization under the command of the King of Norway ...
in the first days after the
German invasion of Norway
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
on 9 April 1940, and for having been replaced because of what was seen by the leading Norwegian politicians as passive leadership.
Early life and family
He was born in
Ullensaker
Ullensaker is a Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Akershus in Viken (county), Viken Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Districts of Norway, traditional region of Romerike. The administrative centre of the municipality i ...
as a son of farmers Kristian Gulbrandsen Laake (1835–1875) and Karen Pedersen Taugland (1839–1903). His older brother
Knut M. Laake, a cavalry officer, became a politician and activist, and Kristian Laake joined the
Liberal Party
The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left.
__TOC__ Active liberal parties
This is a li ...
as well.
On 24 September 1901, Laake married
Nes
The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in American ...
-born farmer's daughter Signe Henaug (28 November 1879 – 8 January 1960). The couple had three children, and in 1908 they acquired the farm Stalsberg in
Skedsmo Skedsmo was a municipality in Akershus county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Romerike. The administrative centre of the municipality was the town of Lillestrøm. About one third of the municipal population lived in Lillestrøm. ...
,
Akershus
Akershus () is a traditional region and current electoral district in Norway, with Oslo as its main city and traditional capital. It is named after the Akershus Fortress in Oslo. From the middle ages to 1919, Akershus was a fief and main county ...
. One of their daughters married
entomologist
Entomology () is the scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such as arach ...
Leif Reinhardt Natvig.
[
]
Military career
He finished
Finished may refer to:
* ''Finished'' (novel), a 1917 novel by H. Rider Haggard
* ''Finished'' (film), a 1923 British silent romance film
* "Finished" (short story), a science fiction short story by L. Sprague de Camp
See also
*Finishing (disa ...
his secondary education in 1894 and graduated from the Norwegian Military Academy
The Norwegian Military Academy (), in Oslo, educates officers of the Norwegian Army and serves as the King's Royal Guard. The academy was established in 1750, and is the oldest institution for higher education in Norway.
History
The Commander- ...
in 1897 and the Norwegian Military College in 1900. He served in the artillery, and reached the rank of colonel in 1928. Laake commanded the 3rd Artillery Regiment in 1928-1929, and then the 1st Artillery Regiment from 1929. He spent April–May 1929 with the 2nd Prussian Artillery Regiment in Germany. In 1931 he was appointed as the Commanding General of Norway. He received the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav
Royal may refer to:
People
* Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name
* A member of a royal family
Places United States
* Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community
* Royal, Illinois, a village
* Royal, Iowa, a ci ...
in 1934, and held the Order of the White Rose of Finland
The Order of the White Rose of Finland ( fi, Suomen Valkoisen Ruusun ritarikunta; sv, Finlands Vita Ros’ orden) is one of three official orders in Finland, along with the Order of the Cross of Liberty, and the Order of the Lion of Finland. ...
(Grand Cross), the Order of the Sword
The Royal Order of the Sword (officially: ''Royal Order of the Sword''; Swedish: ''Kungliga Svärdsorden'') is a Swedish order of chivalry and military decoration created by King Frederick I of Sweden on February 23, 1748, together with the Or ...
(Grand Cross) and the Order of the Dannebrog
The Order of the Dannebrog ( da, Dannebrogordenen) is a Danish order of chivalry instituted in 1671 by Christian V. Until 1808, membership in the order was limited to fifty members of noble or royal rank, who formed a single class known a ...
(Knighthood).[
]
Becoming Commanding General
The appointment on 6 February 1931 of Kristian Laake as Commanding General of the Norwegian Army was a controversial one. The preceding Commanding General, Ivar Bauck, reached the age limit for Commanding Generals on 12 February of that year. When the Liberal Party
The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left.
__TOC__ Active liberal parties
This is a li ...
cabinet
Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to:
Furniture
* Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers
* Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets
* Filing ...
appointed Laake, it was generally viewed as a political move to enable the cabinet to push through reforms of the Norwegian Army. A member of the Liberal Party himself, Laake fully expressed full support for the politicians as they reduced the budgets for the Norwegian armed forces. The general had taken part in shaping the party's new reduced-size army plans, which his predecessor had opposed vigorously. In Laake's opinion it was vital for soldiers to loyally accept the decisions of the politicians in all respects.[Agøy 1997: 261] Laake's appointment was also criticized because of his lack of previous service on the general staff. Laake had only served in the general staff until 1912, at that time holding the rank of ''adjoint'', the second lowest officer's rank in the general staff. It was almost unheard of that an officer with such limited general staff experience should be appointed commanding general.[
]
Internal security issues
During Laake's first years as Commanding General the issue of the army's preparations to deal with possible revolutions came up. At the time the Norwegian minister of defence was the future fascist collaborator Vidkun Quisling
Vidkun Abraham Lauritz Jonssøn Quisling (, ; 18 July 1887 – 24 October 1945) was a Norwegian military officer, politician and Nazi collaborator who nominally headed the government of Norway during the country's occupation by Nazi Germ ...
. Quisling saw internal troubles and revolutionary activities as a clear and present threat to the state, and on several occasions in the summer of 1931 employed the military to assist the police forces. Laake disagreed with Quisling's views on the social and political stability of Norway, and repeatedly opposed and delayed the defence minister's internal security measures.
Among the anti-revolutionary measures that Laake opposed was blocking industrial labourers from serving in the Norwegian Royal Guards. At the time, both conservative and left-wing organizations were providing non-governmental military training for volunteers. Laake attended exercises held by the conservative organizations, although he was also criticized by the same organizations for not giving them enough support.
In 1932 Laake opposed vague instructions from Quisling that units from paramilitary organization should be mobilized in times of crisis, and requested direct and clear orders as to which units this would include, and from which organizations. The implication was that Quisling wanted the conservative ''Samfundsvernet'' to be given an open, contra-revolutionary role as units separate from the army. Laake instead suggested that those members of voluntary organizations who had a military background would be mobilized, while those without formal ties to the military would not. In this case, Laake was overruled by Quisling and the Ministry of Defence.
During the same time, Quisling was working on plans for a coup, using paramilitaries to seize power. Quisling wanted to bypass Laake in this regard, as he suspected that the general would refuse to cooperate. After months of planning, Quisling's coup plans did not come to fruition and the cabinet in which he served lost power in 1933.
During the 1930s the Norwegian Army was often troubled by anti-military protesters, both from outside and within its own ranks of conscripts. General Laake saw it as very important for the status of the military to arrest such agitators and hand them over to the police for prosecution, even though the protesters were rarely convicted in court. The army continued to have a counter-revolutionary function, and as late as in November 1937 Laake approved the inclusion of mountain artillery
Mountain guns are artillery pieces designed for use in mountain warfare and areas where usual wheeled transport is not possible. They are generally capable of being taken apart to make smaller loads for transport by horses, humans, mules, tractor ...
in the units in Western Norway
Western Norway ( nb, Vestlandet, Vest-Norge; nn, Vest-Noreg) is the region along the Atlantic coast of southern Norway. It consists of the counties Rogaland, Vestland, and Møre og Romsdal. The region has no official or political-administrativ ...
which were designated to deal with internal troubles. He did, however, refuse to allow air support to be used for possible internal security operations. Only in 1938 did the army begin to scale down its preparations to put down a revolution. The process of dismantling the anti-revolution preparations in the Norwegian Army began in 1936, and was founded to end the fears of the establishment of a revolution led by the Norwegian Labour Party
The Labour Party ( nb, Arbeiderpartiet; nn, Arbeidarpartiet; A/Ap; se, Bargiidbellodat), formerly The Norwegian Labour Party ( no, Det norske Arbeiderparti, DNA), is a social-democratic political party in Norway. It is positioned on the centr ...
. Laake was considered a moderate amongst the military in this regard.
Second World War
On 9 April 1940 Norway was invaded by Nazi Germany. Laake was perceived as too passive by the political leadership, and he was asked to resign on 10 April. He stepped down on 11 April.[
]
Prelude
Following the outbreak of the Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
in 1939, Laake had repeatedly warned the Norwegian authorities of the possibility that the war could reach Norway in a sudden manner. In the first months of the war, the Norwegian Army Air Service
The Norwegian Army Air Service (NoAAS) ( no, Hærens flyvåpen) was established in 1914.Official Norwegian Defence Force websiteHistory of the Royal Norwegian Air Force Its main base and aircraft factory was at Kjeller. On 10 November 1944, the ...
's fighter flight Jagevingen had orders not to fire at intruding aircraft. This order was changed by General Laake on 5 March 1940 and Norwegian Gloster Gladiator
The Gloster Gladiator is a British biplane fighter. It was used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) (as the Sea Gladiator variant) and was exported to a number of other air forces during the late 1930s.
Developed private ...
fighter aircraft were given the task of preventing intrusion into Norwegian airspace by aircraft belonging to the warring parties. Laake gave the Norwegian fighter pilots permission to use force if necessary to ward off intruders. Before the outbreak of war, Laake had been one of a number of prominent Norwegians to support giving Neville Chamberlain
Arthur Neville Chamberlain (; 18 March 18699 November 1940) was a British politician of the Conservative Party who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1937 to May 1940. He is best known for his foreign policy of appeasemen ...
the Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Chemi ...
for negotiating the Munich Agreement
The Munich Agreement ( cs, Mnichovská dohoda; sk, Mníchovská dohoda; german: Münchner Abkommen) was an agreement concluded at Munich on 30 September 1938, by Nazi Germany, Germany, the United Kingdom, French Third Republic, France, and Fa ...
with Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
in September 1938.
On 8 April 1940, after the British had announced that they had laid three naval mine fields along the Norwegian coast to force German shipping out of neutral Norwegian waters, Laake and the general staff contacted minister Ljungberg and suggested mobilizing the Norwegian Army. The most wide-ranging of the suggestions involved mobilizing significant forces in southern and western Norway. Defence Minister Birger Ljungberg
Birger Ljungberg (7 June 1884 – 20 April 1967) was a Norwegian military officer and politician from the Conservative Party who served as Minister of Defence
A defence minister or minister of defence is a Cabinet (government), cabinet offi ...
then advised the government to postpone the decision to the next day. The same day that the British mine fields had been laid, the Polish submarine sank the German ship that was carrying troops and war matériel off the southern Norwegian port of Lillesand
Lillesand () is municipality in Agder county, Norway. It is part of the traditional district of Sørlandet. The administrative center of the municipality is the town of Lillesand. Some of the larger villages in Lillesand municipality include ...
. The British mine fields, however, overshadowed this news.
Although many alarming incidents were taking place in the days leading up to the invasion, no orders came through from the politicians, and Laake preferred to wait passively for orders rather than act, believing the government to be relying on better intelligence than he had access to. Only on 8 April did he suggest a partial mobilization. Three days earlier, on 5 April, Laake had been among some 200 prominent Norwegians to attend a party held at the German legation
A legation was a diplomatic representative office of lower rank than an embassy. Where an embassy was headed by an ambassador, a legation was headed by a Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, minister. Ambassadors diplomatic rank, out ...
in Oslo. At the party, the Germans had shown their guests from the political and military elites of Norway a dramatic propaganda film about their conquest of Poland the year before. On the evening of 8 April, Laake boarded a train that brought him to his farm near Strømmen
Strømmen is a town in Lillestrøm municipality, Viken county, Norway. It is about twenty kilometers east of Oslo, and considered part of Greater Oslo. It has around 11,400 residents.
The town has its origins from floating lumber and sawmills alon ...
, east of Oslo
Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...
, where he was to celebrate his 65th birthday on 9 April 1940.
War
At 2330 hours Laake was warned by chief of the general staff Rasmus Hatledal
Rasmus Hatledal (1 February 1885 – 14 July 1963) was a Norwegian topographer and military officer. He was born in Stryn. He was appointed colonel and chief of the general staff in 1938. The post-World War II investigation committee, '' Under ...
that foreign warships were intruding on Norwegian territorial waters. Before Laake could get back to Oslo minister of defence Ljungberg, the latter had left the general staff's offices to attend a cabinet meeting. The top officers of the Norwegian Army were gathering at the general staff in Oslo. In the early hours of 9 April 1940, Hatledal repeatedly attempted to get in contact with defence minister Ljungberg, and confusion reigned in the general staff as no orders from the politicians came. No attempts were made by the general staff at preparing for mobilization by warning the telegraph offices, the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation
NRK, an abbreviation of the Norwegian ''Norsk Rikskringkasting AS'', generally expressed in English as the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, is the Norwegian government-owned radio and television public broadcasting company, and the largest ...
, or the newspapers. General Laake was of the opinion that it served no purpose to prepare for mobilization, as the mobilization itself would take at least three days to carry out in any case. The situation remained uncertain, with no declarations of war from Germany.
Defence minister Ljungberg had informed the military leadership of the government's decision to mobilize at around 0200hrs on 9 April. Both Laake and the general staff understood the orders from Ljungberg to entail a partial and silent mobilization. This led to much confusion amongst both the military and the civilian population. At the same time, minister of foreign affairs Halvdan Koht
Halvdan Koht (7 July 1873 – 12 December 1965) was a Norwegian historian and politician representing the Labour Party.
Born in the north of Norway to a fairly distinguished family, he soon became interested in politics and history. Star ...
was reported to have said that orders for a general mobilization had been issued.
Laake reached minister Ljungberg by telephone at 0200hrs and discussed mobilizing the army. Laake suggested mobilizing the 1st to the 4th Brigades of the army, meaning most of the forces ready for mobilization in Eastern, Southern and Western Norway. This was the most wide-ranging of the mobilization alternatives that Laake had proposed on 8 April. Ljungberg quickly received approval from the government, and relayed the message to Laake. The government had agreed with a mobilization and left it to the military to decide on the details. After the telephone conversation, an argument quickly broke out between Laake and Hatledal. Hatledal viewed the mobilization in question was inadequate and wanted a total and open mobilization, rather than the silent and partial mobilization by mail that Laake was organizing. Laake stated that if Hatledal wanted an open mobilization then he could discuss it with minister Ljungberg when the minister arrived at the general staff at Akershus Fortress
Akershus Fortress ( no, Akershus Festning, ) or Akershus Castle ( no, Akershus slott ) is a medieval castle in the Norwegian capital Oslo that was built to protect and provide a royal residence for the city. Since the Middle Ages the fortress h ...
.
In the end, Hatledal went against orders and declared 11 April as the first mobilization day, instead of 12 April. The chief of the general staff also expanded the mobilization from 24,000 men to 38,000 and included Trøndelag
Trøndelag (; sma, Trööndelage) is a county in the central part of Norway. It was created in 1687, then named Trondhjem County ( no, Trondhjems Amt); in 1804 the county was split into Nord-Trøndelag and Sør-Trøndelag by the King of Denmar ...
in the mobilization area. Hatledal did not disobey orders to the extent that he carried out a total mobilization, which would have involved 100,000 soldiers, or make the mobilization an open one. The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation and the newspapers were left out of the system. No mobilization posters were posted. Meanwhile, General Laake had returned to his farm at Strømmen to retrieve his toiletries. He left his uniform and military effects with his subordinates.
During much of 9 April 1940, the Norwegian armed forces were left leaderless on the top levels, the general staff having evacuated Oslo, and General Laake stuck at Strømmen without his uniform while he was waiting for a taxi to pick him up at his farm. When a taxi finally arrived and brought him to Slemdal
Slemdal is a neighborhood in the borough of Vestre Aker in Oslo, Norway.
The neighborhood lies south of Vettakollen, and was built up from the 1890s. It is served by the Oslo Metro station Slemdal. The local sports team is IL Heming.
The is loc ...
, the general staff had already evacuated to Eidsvoll
Eidsvoll (; sometimes written as ''Eidsvold'') is a municipality in Akershus in Viken county, Norway. It is part of the Romerike traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Sundet.
General information
E ...
without making arrangements for Laake's transport. Laake duly walked to the nearby Slemdal station and took the Holmenkoll Line
The Holmenkollen Line ( no, Holmenkollbanen) is an Oslo Metro line which runs between Majorstuen and Nordmarka in Oslo, Norway. Operating as Metro Line 1, it is the route with the fewest passengers and the only one still to have level crossi ...
to Majorstuen to find a taxi. Having failed again in finding transport, Laake made his way to Norges Geografiske Oppmåling to try and see if they had a car to lend him. When it was concluded that they did not have a car for him, Laake went to Oslo East Station
Oslo Central Station ( no, Oslo sentralstasjon, abbreviated ) is the main railway station in Oslo, and the largest railway station within the entire Norwegian railway system. It connects with Jernbanetorget station. It's the terminus of Dramm ...
, to find that the rail service was still functioning. Laake managed to board a train and make his way out of Oslo to rejoin the general staff. The General finally succeeded in finding the general staff, and set up a headquarters in the town of Rena[Bjørnsen 1977: 280]
The confusion that reigned after the German invasion led to delays in Norwegian countermeasures. At 1500hrs on 10 April, Laake and the general staff met with minister of justice Terje Wold
Terje Wold (23 August 1899 – 6 September 1972) was a Norwegian judge and politician for the Labour Party.
Terje Wold was born in Evenes. He graduated as cand.jur. in 1921. He worked as a jurist, becoming a Supreme Court Justice of Norway in ...
. During the meeting, Laake expressed his pessimistic views on the resistance against the invasion, and his disappointment at the government's decision to end negotiations with the Germans. In Laake's view, negotiations were Norway's alternative to an unconditional surrender. The Commanding General also expressed his disappointment at the lack of communication from the government. Minister Wold reacted fiercely to Laake's statements, criticising the general for not having issued orders to his troops and for not carrying out a general mobilization. Laake rebutted by stating that all he had and had not done was in accordance with the government's wishes. The General was of the opinion that the negotiations could not be called off until it was clear whether or not allied help was actually coming.
Following the meeting, the government decided, based on Wold's report, to replace Laake. He was called to Nybergsund
Nybergsund is a village in the municipality of Trysil in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located about south of the village of Innbygda which is the municipal centre of Trysil. The village is best known for serving as a hiding place for the Norw ...
, where he offered to resign. His resignation was approved and General Otto Ruge
Otto Ruge (9 January 1882 – 15 August 1961) was a Norwegian general. Ruge was Commander-in-chief of the Royal Norwegian Armed Forces after Nazi Germany's assault on Norway in April 1940.
Early career
Ruge grew up in Kristiania (Oslo) i ...
, seven years younger than Laake, was appointed as commanding general. Ruge was optimistic that at least Trondheim
Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, and ...
could be recaptured from the Germans once Allied help arrived.
Before the meeting in Nybergsund, Laake did not suspect that he was to be replaced, and believed he was going to give the government a briefing on the military situation. The government explained Laake's resignation to the public by referring to the mandatory retirement age of generals at 65 years of age. However, as Commanding General, Laake was exempted from this regulation, only being required to retire at age 68.
After his resignation, Laake held a short meeting with his successor Ruge at Rena and left the area. Rasmus Hatledal, chief of the general staff, immediately requested sick leave when he heard of the dismissal of Laake, but was persuaded to stay a few days longer to help Ruge in his new position.
Post-war life
Laake resided at the farm Stalsberg in Skedsmo Skedsmo was a municipality in Akershus county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Romerike. The administrative centre of the municipality was the town of Lillestrøm. About one third of the municipal population lived in Lillestrøm. ...
from 1908 to his death.[
Laake testified against Vidkun Quisling at the latter's post-war trial, telling the court about Quisling's attempts to disrupt the Norwegian mobilization after the German invasion on 9 April 1940.][Dahl 1992: 604]
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Laake, Kristian
1875 births
1950 deaths
People from Ullensaker
Norwegian Military Academy alumni
Norwegian Military College alumni
Norwegian expatriates in Germany
People from Skedsmo
Norwegian Army World War II generals
Liberal Party (Norway) politicians
Recipients of the Order of the Sword
Knights of the Order of the Dannebrog