The Battle of Vinjesvingen was a battle of the Norwegian campaign and took place in May 1940 in the

Telemark Telemark is a traditional region, a former county, and a current electoral district in southern Norway. In 2020, Telemark merged with the former county of Vestfold to form the county of Vestfold og Telemark. Telemark borders the traditional ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a 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 Jan Mayen and the ...

. It became one of the two last strongholds of Norwegian resistance in southern Norway 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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, the other being

Hegra Fortress Hegra Fortress ( no, Hegra festning) is a small mountain Fortification, fortress in the village of Hegra in the municipality of Stjørdal in Trøndelag county, Norway. Originally known as ''Ingstadkleiven Fort'' (also ''Ingstadkleiva Fort''), it w ...

Background

Under the command of Second Lieutenant Thor O. Hannevig, the Norwegians held their position against superior German forces until 5 May 1940. Hannevig managed to sneak great loads of arms, equipment and fuel from depots right in front of the German forces. The equipment was brought to

Vinje Vinje is a Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Telemark in the Counties of Norway, county of Vestfold og Telemark in Norway. It is part of the Districts of Norway, traditional regions of Upper Telemark and Vest-Telemark. The administrative ...

and Vågsli in

, where Hannevig established a unit which came to be known as Telemark Infantry Regiment. This included

Krag–Jørgensen The Krag–Jørgensen is a repeating bolt-action rifle designed by the Norwegians Ole Herman Johannes Krag and Erik Jørgensen in the late 19th century. It was adopted as a standard arm by Norway, Denmark, and the United States. About 300 we ...

bolt action Bolt-action is a type of manual firearm action that is operated by ''directly'' manipulating the bolt via a bolt handle, which is most commonly placed on the right-hand side of the weapon (as most users are right-handed). Most bolt-actio ...

rifles, Madsen

light machine gun A light machine gun (LMG) is a light-weight machine gun designed to be operated by a single infantryman, with or without an assistant, as an infantry support weapon. LMGs firing cartridges of the same caliber as the other riflemen of the sa ...

s, Colt M/29

heavy machine gun A heavy machine gun (HMG) is significantly larger than light, medium or general-purpose machine guns. HMGs are typically too heavy to be man-portable (carried by one person) and require mounting onto a weapons platform to be operably stable or ...

s, mortars as well as

mine Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging * Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun ...

s and explosives to destroy bridges and roads. The plan was to prevent German advance westward through

and

Setesdal Setesdal (; older name: Sætersdal) is a valley and a traditional district in Agder County in southern Norway. It consists of the municipalities of Bykle, Valle, Bygland, Iveland, and Evje og Hornnes. The Otra river flows through the ...

, and to support Allied reinforcements from the west.

Battle

A full mobilization was carried out in the area, and at most the force totaled around 300 men, but the number changed constantly. Several small battles were fought, mostly involving Norwegian ambushes on advancing German formations, using small arms and IEDs. The Norwegian defenders often destroyed and/or damaged bridges and roads in the area to delay the German advance. The main battle took place from 3–5 May. Large German forces were eventually deployed to the area, and the German losses were considerable. When it was realized that the entire south of Norway was lost, and that the Allied Åndalsnes task force would not break through from the west, Hannevig initiated negotiations for surrender. The battles of Vinjesvingen had a great symbolic effect during the occupation, and provided a moral boost to a rather depressing occupation. It was however not known to the rest of the country while the battles were fought.

References

* {{coord, 59, 37, 13, N, 7, 48, 23, E, source:nnwiki_region:NO_type:city, display=title Vinjesvingen Vinjesvingen Norwegian campaign 1940 in Norway History of Telemark Vinje May 1940 events

Background

Battle

See also

References