Mountain Corps Norway (german: Gebirgskorps Norwegen) was a

German 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 **Ge ...

army unit during

World War II 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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. It saw action in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...

and

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bot ...

. The corps was formed in July 1940 and was later transferred to

Northern Norway Northern Norway ( nb, Nord-Norge, , nn, Nord-Noreg; se, Davvi-Norga) is a geographical region of Norway, consisting of the two northernmost counties Nordland and Troms og Finnmark, in total about 35% of the Norwegian mainland. Some of the lar ...

as part of '' Armeeoberkommando Norwegen'' ("army high command Norway"). Its first action was taking part in Operation Renntier ("reindeer"), the occupation of Finnish

Petsamo Petsamo may refer to: * Petsamo Province, a province of Finland from 1921 to 1922 * Petsamo, Tampere, a district in Tampere, Finland * Pechengsky District Pechengsky District (russian: Пе́ченгский райо́н; fi, Petsamo; no, Peisen ...

to protect the

nickel Nickel is a chemical element with symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive but large pieces are slow t ...

mines there from USSR. In June 1941 the corps attacked from Petsamo to Murmansk in Operation Platinum Fox (German: ''Unternehmen Platinfuchs''). The attack failed and the corps never reached its goal. In April and May 1942 the corps faced one of its toughest challenges. Over a period of three weeks, the Soviet 14th Army attacked, trying to defeat the Corps. But there was another enemy - on May 4, 1942, a devastating, 90-hour-long polar storm took its toll on the soldiers. In November 1942 the corps was renamed the ''XIX. Gebirgs-Armeekorps'' or XIX Mountain Corps. In 1944 the corps finally had to retreat back to Norway, where it surrendered in May 1945. From November 1944 onwards the corps was also sometimes known as ''Armeeabteilung Narvik''.

Commanders

*''

Generaloberst A ("colonel general") was the second-highest general officer rank in the German ''Reichswehr'' and ''Wehrmacht'', the Austro-Hungarian Common Army, the East German National People's Army and in their respective police services. The rank was ...

'' Eduard Dietl (14 June 1940 - 15 January 1942) *''

Generalfeldmarschall ''Generalfeldmarschall'' (from Old High German ''marahscalc'', "marshal, stable master, groom"; en, general field marshal, field marshal general, or field marshal; ; often abbreviated to ''Feldmarschall'') was a rank in the armies of several ...

'' Ferdinand Schörner (15 January 1942 - 1 October 1943) *''

General der Gebirgstruppe General der Gebirgstruppe (Literally: General of the Mountain Troops) was a category of German Army three-star, a new example of the traditional German 'General der' rank introduced by the Wehrmacht in 1940, comparable to the NATO grade OF- ...

'' Georg Ritter von Hengl (1 October 1943 - 15 May 1944) *''General der Gebirgstruppe'' Ferdinand Jodl (15 May 1944 - 8 May 1945)

Area of operations

Organisation

German 2nd Mountain Division The 2nd Mountain Division (german: 2. Gebirgs Division) was a ''Gebirgsjäger'' division of the German Army which served in World War II, mainly in the northernmost sector of the Eastern Front, near the Arctic. Formed in 1938, the division was di ...

(''

Gebirgsjäger ''Gebirgsjäger'' () are the light infantry part of the alpine or mountain troops (''Gebirgstruppe'') of Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The word '' Jäger'' (meaning "hunter" or "huntsman") is a characteristic term used for light infantr ...

'' light infantry) *

German 3rd Mountain Division The 3rd Mountain Division (german: 3. Gebirgs-Division) was a formation of the German Wehrmacht during World War II. It was created from the Austrian Army's 5th and 7th Divisions following the Anschluss in 1938. History The division took part in ...

(until September 1941) *

German 6th Mountain Division The 6th Mountain Division (german: 6. Gebirgs Division) was a German army Division of World War II. It was established in June 1940, and was deployed to France for occupation duties. In December it was relocated to Poland, where it remained unt ...

210th Coastal Defense Division The 210th Coastal Defence Division was created from a ''Division zbV'' staff (an ''ad hoc'' headquarters that could be used to form a division around) in July 1942, and shipped north to defend the port Petsamo in Arctic Finland. In late 1944 it mo ...

(a mixture of fortress infantry and coastal artillery units, 1943 - October 1944) * Division ''Rossi'' * Er.Os. P (Finnish Separate Detachment P) * Finnish 14th Regiment (2 battalions)

Strength based on supply documents

On April 30, 1942, the supply numbers for the Mountain Corps Norway showed the following numbers: 73,978 men and 8,913 horses Of the men: * 48,576 were

Heer (Army) Heer may refer to: * German Army, or ''Deutsches Heer'' (1956–present), for the Cold War Army of West Germany and the current Army of Germany * German Army (1935–1945), or ''Heer'', for the Second World War Army of Nazi Germany * ''Reichswehr'' ...

* 8,744 were Luftwaffe (Air Force) * 6,942 were Kriegsmarine (Navy) * 2,380 were Reichsarbeitsdienst (labor service) * 975 were

Organisation Todt Organisation Todt (OT; ) was a civil and military engineering organisation in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945, named for its founder, Fritz Todt, an engineer and senior Nazi. The organisation was responsible for a huge range of engineering pr ...

* Plus some Finns (border security, road maintenance), Norwegian and Dutch workers, Nationalsozialistisch Kraftfahrkorps (Speer) and 2,335 prisoners of war.

References

Bibliography

*James R. Smither, Review of "Arctic Front: The Advance of Mountain Corps Norway on Murmansk, 1941 By Wilhelm Hess," Michigan War Studies Review, accessed at http://www.miwsr.com/2021-101.aspx, 3 December 2021. Translation of 1956 German work. Smither comments that " ile this translation of Hess's work is a welcome addition to the Anglophone literature on Barbarossa, it has its limitations. essscrupulously avoids discussing Nazi ideology and policies, and skirts around issues relating to the mistreatment of civilians, especially in Norway, where he acknowledges the presence of a resistance movement. He concentrates on narrowly military issues or matters relating to German cooperation with the Finns." * *

Corps Corps (; plural ''corps'' ; from French , from the Latin "body") is a term used for several different kinds of organization. A military innovation by Napoleon I, the formation was first named as such in 1805. The size of a corps varies great ...

M00N Military units and formations established in 1940 Military units and formations disestablished in 1942 {{Germany-WWII-stub