Battle of Midtskogen

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Battle of Midtskogen
Part of World War II
Date April 9-10, 1940 Location Elverum, Østerdalen, Norway Result Norwegian victory
Combatants
Norway	Germany
Commanders
Cpt. Oliver Møystad	Eberhard Spiller
Strength
100+, 2 Colt m/29 heavy machineguns	100 paratroopers
Casualties
3 wounded	2 killed, ? wounded

Nazi occupation of Norway
Drøbak Sound –Midtskogen –Narvik–Namsos–Operation Archery–Norwegian heavy water sabotage –Telavåg–Åndalsnes

Midtskogen farm is situated approximately 5 kilometers west of the town Elverum at the mouth of the Østerdalen valley in southern Norway. The place is known in Norwegian history for the battle fought there on the night between the 9th and the 10th of April 1940 during World War II between a German raiding party and an improvised Norwegian force. The Germans were out on a raid to kidnap the Norwegian King, Haakon VII, and his cabinet and thereby forcing Norway into submission.

The Norwegian defenders mustered a numerically slightly superior force, the core of which was a rifle company of the Royal Guards (Hans Majestet Kongens Garde) and a number of hastily mustered volunteers, consisting mostly of members of local rifle clubs.

The German party consisted of approximately 100 paratroopers in commandeered Norwegian civilian vehicles. Though numerically inferior the Germans were vastly superior in terms of training and firepower, possessing numerous modern submachine guns, light machine guns and hand grenades.

The opposing forces clashed at around 1.30 AM on the 10th of April. The ensuing firefight continued until 3 AM, ending with both forces retreating. The Norwegians were reinforced and moved into new positions; the Germans, realizing their raid had failed, retreated to Oslo.

The casualties on both sides were light. The Germans suffered 2 men killed in action and an unknown number of wounded. One of the German fatalities was their military attache Spiller. Norwegian losses were 3 men wounded in action. The action may have been small, but as it prevented capture of the King and cabinet it probably saved Norway for the allied cause and proved a major boost to Norwegian morale, being very low due to the early German successes in the Norwegian campaign.

[edit] References

• Andreas Hauge: Kampen på Midtskogen 1940, article published 1995. The same author has also written the two-volume "Kampene i Norge" (english: "The battles in Norway) with summaries in English.