Lom prisoner of war camp
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Lom prisoner of war camp ( no, Lom krigsfangeleir) was a facility used by the Norwegian 2nd Division to hold German
prisoners-of-war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war ...
during the 1940 Norwegian Campaign 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 ...
. The camp, which operated from 20 to 27 April 1940, also held Norwegians accused of
collaborating Collaboration (from Latin ''com-'' "with" + ''laborare'' "to labor", "to work") is the process of two or more people, entities or organizations working together to complete a task or achieve a goal. Collaboration is similar to cooperation. Mos ...
with the Germans or the Norwegians fascists led by
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 ...
. In the morning of 27 April 1940, the camp was evacuated due to German forces advancing in the area, and the prisoners were marched westwards across the mountains to
Sogn Sogn is a traditional district in Western Norway ''(Vestlandet)''. It is located in the county of Vestland, surrounding the Sognefjord, the largest/longest fjord in Norway. The district of Sogn consists of the municipalities of Aurland, Balestra ...
. By the time the prisoners and guards reached Sogn after an exhausting march, the resistance in
South Norway South Norway (, ) is the southern and by far most populous half of Norway, consisting of the regions of Western Norway, Eastern Norway, Southern Norway (Agder) and Trøndelag (Central Norway). In English, South Norway was historically also known ...
was collapsing. The prisoners were soon abandoned and left to themselves by the Norwegian guards.


Establishment

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 ...
invaded An invasion is a military offensive in which large numbers of combatants of one geopolitical entity aggressively enter territory owned by another such entity, generally with the objective of either: conquering; liberating or re-establishing con ...
the neutral country of
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 t ...
on 9 April 1940. Fighting ensued across large areas of the country, and German military personnel started falling into Norwegian hands. This led to a need for facilities behind the front lines to contain the prisoners. In
Eastern Norway Eastern Norway ( nb, Østlandet, nn, Austlandet) is the geographical region of the south-eastern part of Norway. It consists of the counties Vestfold og Telemark, Viken, Oslo and Innlandet. Eastern Norway is by far the most populous region o ...
the prisoners taken by the Norwegian 2nd Division were initially placed in the auxiliary prison at
Sel Sel is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Otta. The municipality also includes several notable villages including ...
in
Oppland Oppland is a former county in Norway which existed from 1781 until its dissolution on 1 January 2020. The old Oppland county bordered the counties of Trøndelag, Møre og Romsdal, Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Akershus, Oslo and Hedmark. The co ...
. Due to capacity issues this initial solution to the prisoner situation soon proved inadequate.Mølmen 1996: 322 The task of establishing a more permanent facility for German prisoners-of-war in Eastern Norway was given to the 66-year-old Lieutenant Colonel Lars Dannevig.Mølmen 1996: 323 Dannevig had been in the Norwegian capital 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 ...
when the Germans invaded on 9 April 1940, and had made his way out of the city to take part in the fighting to delay the German advance until Allied help arrived. The lieutenant colonel had made his way to still neutral Sweden and then northwards by car and train until recrossing the border at
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 ...
on 13 April. After organizing the defences in the
Trysil Trysil is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Østerdalen. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Innbygda. Other villages in the municipality include Nybergsund, Øs ...
area, and initially being given the task of leading Danish and Swedish volunteer troops in action, Dannevig was ordered by Colonel Hans Sommerfeldt Hiorth to set up a prisoner-of-war camp for up to 200 German captives. He was at the same time made commandant of the
Otta Valley Ottadalen ( en, Otta Valley) is a valley in the municipalities of Skjåk, Lom, Vågå, and Sel in Innlandet county, Norway. The valley is one of the side valleys that branch off of the large Gudbrandsdalen valley. It lies on the northern edge o ...
. After Dannevig's first choice, the agricultural school in
Vågå Vågå () is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Vågåmo. Other village areas in Vågå include Lalm and Besshei ...
, became unavailable because the Norwegian Army High Command wanted to use it as a hospital, Loar School in the village of
Fossbergom Fossbergom is the administrative centre of Lom Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. The village is located on the south shore of the river Otta, at the north end of the Bøverdal valley. The village has a population (2021) of 830 and a p ...
in Lom was chosen.Mølmen 1996: 324


Operation

Using local volunteers and conscripts, Lieutenant Colonel Dannevig had the school fitted out as a prison camp and trenches dug in the vicinity. Barbed wire fences surrounded the school and fighting positions and shrapnel shelters were built from timber at the site of the camp.Mølmen 1996: 326 Dannevig also organized local militia units in the surrounding areas. Lom prisoner of war camp sorted under the Norwegian 2nd Division, led by General Jacob Hvinden Haug. The first German prisoners arrived at the camp on 20 April 1940. A few arrested members of the Norwegian fascist party
Nasjonal Samling Nasjonal Samling (, NS; ) was a Norwegian far-right political party active from 1933 to 1945. It was the only legal party of Norway from 1942 to 1945. It was founded by former minister of defence Vidkun Quisling and a group of supporters such a ...
(NS) came in together with the Germans. The prisoners were housed in the school's gym.Mølmen 1996: 325 Food was cooked and the camp population fed in the main school building. On 21 April Dannevig and the local police officer in Lom interrogated the imprisoned Nasjonal Samling members. After it had been determined that the NS men posed no security risk, they were released and allowed to join the local militia unit. As ''
Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...
'' air attack posed a constant risk drills were held in manning the trenches at the camp and in shooting at aircraft. On 22 April a minor air attack occurred, with the Norwegians firing at the bombers in an effort to force them to attack from higher altitudes. The next day, 23 April, a much heavier attack on Lom occurred. Several houses in the area were hit and one soldier and three civilians wounded. One bomb hit the prisoner-of-war camp, but failed to explode. Among the buildings damaged in the raid was the post office and a local business building. The target of the bombing raid was believed by the Norwegians to have been a nearby bridge. The second and last consignment of prisoners arrived at Lom on 25 April 1940. With the latest additions to the camp population it consisted of six officers, 100 soldiers, four female personnel, 35 German prisoners-of-war and five Norwegian prisoners. The German prisoners at Lom included infantrymen, artillerymen, ''Luftwaffe'' personnel and ''Fallschirmjäger'' soldiers.Mølmen 1996: 327 One of the first Germans to have been captured during the Norwegian Campaign had been taken prisoner at Bøn, south of
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 ...
on 11 April. In a short skirmish between Norwegian troops and a German patrol, two ''
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 infantry in ...
'' had been killed and the ''
Leutnant () is the lowest Junior officer rank in the armed forces the German (language), German-speaking of Germany (Bundeswehr), Austrian Armed Forces, and military of Switzerland. History The German noun (with the meaning "" (in English "deputy") fro ...
'' in command of the patrol captured. After initial confusion over what to do with the officer, he had been first placed in Sel Auxiliary Prison and later transferred to Lom. Most of the prisoners had been captured in fighting east of Lake
Mjøsa Mjøsa is Norway's largest lake, as well as one of the deepest lakes in Norway and in Europe. It is the fourth-deepest lake in Norway. It is located in the southern part of Norway, about north of the city of Oslo. Its main tributary is the rive ...
, including at Strandlykkja. During the 14–17 April battle of Strandlykkja a German bus had accidentally driven into the forward Norwegian positions on 16 April and had been shot up by Colt M/29 heavy machine guns. Nine German artillerymen were captured. When the Norwegian forces retreated from the
Morskogen Morskogen is a stretch of woodland on the Mjøsa, Norway's biggest lake. It is located between Eidsvoll, Viken (the place where the Norwegian constitution was written in 1814) and Stange, Innlandet. Morskogen was a battlefield in 1940 between ...
/Strandlykkja region east of Mjøsa they brought with them 21 prisoners of war, all of whom were sent to the camp at Lom via the Riding House complex at
Hamar Hamar is a List of cities in Norway, town in Hamar Municipality in Innlandet Counties of Norway, county, Norway. Hamar is the administrative centre of Hamar Municipality. It is located in the Districts of Norway, traditional region of Hedmarken. ...
and Sel Auxiliary Prison. The ''Fallschirmjäger'' prisoners held at Lom had been captured after having been shot down by Norwegian ground fire en route to attacking the rail road junction of
Dombås is a village or small town in Dovre Municipality in northern Innlandet county, Norway. The village serves as the commercial centre for the upper Gudbrandsdalen valley. It lies at an important junction of roads with the European route E6 highway ...
on 14 April 1940. Included amongst the prisoners were three officers; one ''
Hauptmann is a German word usually translated as captain when it is used as an officer's rank in the German, Austrian, and Swiss armies. While in contemporary German means 'main', it also has and originally had the meaning of 'head', i.e. ' literally ...
'' and two ''Leutnants''. Two other German prisoners held at Lom were the pilot ''
Unteroffizier () is a junior non-commissioned officer rank used by the . It is also the collective name for all non-commissioned officers in Austria and Germany. It was formerly a rank in the Imperial Russian Army. Austria , also , is the collective name t ...
'' Helmut Mütschele and his navigator, Karl Lorey. The
Messerschmitt Bf 110 The Messerschmitt Bf 110, often known unofficially as the Me 110,Because it was built before ''Bayerische Flugzeugwerke'' became Messerschmitt AG in July 1938, the Bf 110 was never officially given the designation Me 110. is a twin-engine (Des ...
flown by Mütschele had been shot down by the
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 flown by
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 ...
Sergeant Kristian Fredrik Schye during air battles near
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 ...
on 9 April 1940. Among the Norwegian prisoners held at Lom was the commander of the Norwegian Army Air Service's air school at
Kjeller Kjeller is a village located near Lillestrøm in the municipality of Lillestrøm, Norway. It is located 25 kilometers north-east of Oslo. Name The Norse form of the name was probably ''Tjaldir''. This is then the plural of ''tjald'' n ' tent'. T ...
, '' Rittmester'' Harald Normann. Normann was held after having been arrested on 16 April 1940 on suspicion of
collaborating Collaboration (from Latin ''com-'' "with" + ''laborare'' "to labor", "to work") is the process of two or more people, entities or organizations working together to complete a task or achieve a goal. Collaboration is similar to cooperation. Mos ...
with the fascist coup led by Vidkun Quisling. The suspicion was founded in that he as the only Norwegian commander had brought his air unit away from its regular base and to a safer secondary base shortly before the German invasion. Normann's decision on 15 April to evacuate the aircraft under his command to neutral Sweden furthered the suspicions against him and led to his arrest. He was imprisoned for a total of 10 days on the orders of the Norwegian Army High Command, before he was released. After his release Normann assumed command of an infantry unit fighting the Germans in
Sør-Trøndelag Sør-Trøndelag () was a county comprising the southern portion of the present-day Trøndelag county in Norway. It bordered the old Nord-Trøndelag county as well as the counties of Møre og Romsdal, Oppland, and Hedmark. To the west is the No ...
, before making his way through Sweden to Northern Norway and taking command of Banak Air Station in
Finnmark Finnmark (; se, Finnmárku ; fkv, Finmarku; fi, Ruija ; russian: Финнмарк) was a county in the northern part of Norway, and it is scheduled to become a county again in 2024. On 1 January 2020, Finnmark was merged with the neighbouri ...
. Both the Military Investigative Commission of 1946 and later investigations in 1975 cleared Normann of the charges relating to his actions in April 1940. Before arriving at Lom, Normann and several other Norwegian and German prisoners had been held and interrogated at Sel Auxiliary Prison. The prison was under the command of Major Peter Krohn, while the main interrogators were the chief of the Norwegian
military police Military police (MP) are law enforcement agencies connected with, or part of, the military of a state. In wartime operations, the military police may support the main fighting force with force protection, convoy security, screening, rear recon ...
Eivind Rognlien and his second in command, police chief Jonas Lie. Rognlien and Lie both interrogated ''Rittmester'' Normann, Lie coming to the conclusion that Normann was innocent, but being overruled by Rognlien.


Dissolution

On 26 April 1940 Lieutenant Colonel Dannevig was informed that the Germans were about to capture the town of Otta, cutting off the Otta Valley. The commander of the 2nd Division, General Jacob Hvinden Haug, authorized Dannevig to do as he saw best with the forces at his command. Dannevig decided to evacuate the camp and march his troops and prisoners over the mountains to join the Norwegian 4th Division in Sogn. All the prisoners were taken along, while about half of the Norwegian soldiers were dismissed because of insufficient skiing skills. The march westwards began at 1000hrs on 27 April, the German prisoners dragging ski sleds across the snow-clad mountains. The first night was spent at Krosbu. Many prisoners soon suffered from
snow blindness Photokeratitis or ultraviolet keratitis is a painful eye condition caused by exposure of insufficiently protected eyes to the ultraviolet (UV) rays from either natural (e.g. intense sunlight) or artificial (e.g. the electric arc during welding) ...
and exhaustion, some having to be left behind at the hotel
Turtagrø Turtagrø is a hotel in the municipality of Luster in Vestland county, Norway, near Hurrungane in Jotunheimen. The hotel has been a central meeting place for mountaineers from the late 1800s. Location Turtagrø is located near the old mountain ...
, where the column spent the second night, to be retrieved later by snow sleds. Over several days the prisoners were brought by boat to
Vadheim Vadheim is a village in the municipality of Høyanger in Vestland county, Norway. It is located on the north shore of the Sognefjorden, along the small Vadheimsfjorden branch. The European route E39 highway runs through the village. It is loca ...
in Sogn. By the time the prisoners reached Vadheim resistance in the southern parts of Norway was ending and the Germans were left to themselves. Dannevig's militia unit was disbanded on 1 May 1940. The commander of Lom prisoner of war camp, Lars Dannevig, joined the
Norwegian resistance movement The Norwegian resistance (Norwegian: ''Motstandsbevegelsen'') to the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany began after Operation Weserübung in 1940 and ended in 1945. It took several forms: *Asserting the legitimacy of the exiled government, ...
after the end of the Norwegian Campaign. After a failed attempt at escaping across the
North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...
to the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
, Dannevig was arrested by the
Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...
in 1942 and killed during interrogation in
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 ...
.Mølmen 1996: 328–329


Notes


References


Bibliography

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lom Buildings and structures in Innlandet Norwegian campaign World War II prisoner of war camps in Norway 1940 establishments in Norway History of Innlandet