Battle of Gratangen
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[edit] Background
Gratangen was the site of some of the first battles between the German 3rd Mountain Division under Eduard Dietl and the Norwegian 6th Division under General Carl Gustav Fleischer after the German invasion of Norway April 9, 1940.
After initial German success in surprising and routing a battalion from Trøndelag the tide turned as the Norwegians got used to the concept of war.
Shortly after seeing their comrades from I/IR12 suffer heavy casualties under the German assault, the men from Finnmark of the soon to be highly respected Alta Battalion under Lieutenant-Colonel Arne Dagfin Dahl counter-attacked and drove the Germans back from Gratangen.
[edit] German Invasion & Norwegian Counterattacks
Transported by ten destroyers from the Kriegsmarine the German Task Force under command of General der Infanterie Eduard Dietl had occupied Narvik and the important military depots at Elvegårdsmoen in the early hours of April 9. 1940. Sinking the outdated Norwegian coastal defence ships HNoMS Norge and HNoMS Eidsvold with great loss of life and bluffing the Norwegian land forces into surrender.
The Allies counterattacked by sea and, in the two sea battles of Narvik, the Royal Navy sent the ten German destroyers to the bottom of the Ofotfjord.
This to some extent proved to Dietls benefit as the approximately 2900 ship-less sailors were kitted out with captured Norwegian equipment from Elvegårdsmoen and employed as ground troops in support of Dietls Gebirgsjäger.
In the meantime the Norwegians mobilised their forces under the leadership of the energetic General Carl Gustav Fleischer.
The Norwegian plan for a counterattack on the German bridgehead around Narvik was based on pushing towards Elvegårdsmoen and Bjerkvik through Salangsdalen over Lapphaugen with II/IR15 (Second Battalion/Fifteent Infantry Regiment) in a frontal attack with artillery support on the German forward positions on Lapphaugen believed to be held in company strength, while I/IR12 (First Battalion/twelft Infantry Regiment) advanced on the German main positions in Gratangsbotn by a surprise march over difficult terrain over Fjordbotneidet. Alta Battalion (Independent Infantry Bn) was in divisional reserve but positioned to support I/IR12.
[edit] The Battle
The plan may have been sound but the old rule that "no plan survives contact" proved true.
On 24. April the II/IR15 started its attack on Lapphaugen but due to extreme weather conditions and German resistance the attack was repulsed.
The Germans however decided to abandon their positions on Lapphaugen and Gratangsbotn. In the foul weather this went unnoticed by the II/IR15. Consequently this battalion did not push on with the advance.
In wind and heavy snowfall the I/IR12 crossed the Fjordbotneidet and arrived at Gratangsbotn to find the area cleared of Germans. The soldiers were exhausted after the forced march and went to rest in the farmhouses and barns in Gratangsbotn. For reasons not fully explained, probably a misunderstanding by the battalion's commanding officer, the battalion failed to post a sufficient perimeter security - this was indeed critical as Gratangsbotn geographically is located at the bottom of a kettle with dominating high ground all around.
The Germans did not miss this opportunity and immediately counterattacked with ruthlessness (using Norwegian civilians as a human shields), efficiency and military skill; suppressing the surprised Norwegians with superior firepower from mortars and heavy machine guns.
Despite being surprised the Norwegians fought back desperately and suffered heavy losses. 34 Norwegian soldiers were killed, 64 wounded and 130 taken prisoners. Officer losses were heavy: three out of five company commanders were killed in action, one wounded, the fifth was ill with snow-blindness and did not take active part in the battle. The Germans suffered only six soldiers killed, 16 wounded and three missing.
The surviving Norwegians retreated from Gratangsbotn. The depleted battalion was later reorganised as a reduced battalion with two rifle companies and one support company and participated actively in the rest of the campaign.
[edit] Aftermath
Despite soundly defeating I/IR12 the Germans understood that their position in Gratangsbotn was untenable. The fresh Alta Battalion pressed on from the north and II/IR15 resumed its advance over Lapphaugen.
The Germans therefore abandoned Gratangen soon after the battle.
For the Norwegians on the Narvik front the battle of Gratangen proved their first serious lesson in the art of war. Before the battle the inexperienced Norwegian soldiers often had hesitated to fire on the enemy. After Gratangen the bitterness caused by the German ruthlessness, particurlarly the use of civilians as human shields, ensured that any such reservations were gone.
