Hegra Fortress

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Hegra Fortress
Hegra, Norway
Type	Mountain fortress
Built	1907–1910, Limited improvements 1916–1918[1]
Construction materials	Rock, reinforced concrete and brick (brick was only used for secondary areas out of the line of fire)[2]
In use	1907–1926 and 1940
Controlled by	Norway Nazi Germany (1940-1945)
Commanders	Hans Reidar Holtermann (1940)[3]
Battles/wars	World War Two: Norwegian Campaign Battle of Hegra Fortress

Hegra Fortress (Norw., Hegra festning) is a small mountain fortress in Hegra, Stjørdal, in the county of Nord-Trøndelag, Norway. Originally known as Ingstadkleiven/Ingstadkleiva Fort, it was built as a border fort in the years 1907–10 as a defence against perceived threat of Swedish invasion.^[4]

Contents 1 Background 2 Ingstadkleiva Fort 3 Geography 4 Early period 4.1 Deactivated period 5 The fortress in the Norwegian Campaign 6 The fortress today 7 References 8 Literature 9 External links

[edit] Background

The intent behind Ingstadkleiva Fort was to block Swedish advances into Central Norway, as had happened repeatedly during the Swedish-Norwegian conflicts in the preceding centuries (see: Hannibal War, Northern Wars and Great Northern War).^[5] After the 1905 dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden the Norwegian military harboured continued fears of a Swedish invasion to retake Norway.

As a successful attack into the centre of the country could split it in half the Norwegian general staff in February 1906 suggested the construction of a blocking fort in the Stjørdal valley. Ingstadkleiva was early on pointed out as a good location to block an advance from the east. Already in March that year the minister of defence, commanding general and chief of the Fortress Artillery surveyed the site and agreed to the plan. In a closed meeting on 26 April 1906 the Norwegian Parliament authorised the construction of Ingstadkleiva Fort, but no funds were allocated until 12 July 1907. In May 1908 the work began on the road up to the construction site and by January 1910 the fort was ready for use.^[5]

[edit] Ingstadkleiva Fort

The fort's guns came from the dismantled Ørje Fortress in Marker. The artillery was made up of flat angle guns with a range of six to nine kilometres.^[6] The fortifications themselves consisted of 300 meters of halls and tunnels dynamited into the mountain at Ingstadkleiva, as well as trench systems and gun positions excavated from the rock with explosives.^[6] There are tow main underground parallel tunnels of around 80 metres length, with a 35 metre tunnel connecting the them at a straight angle. One of the main tunnels served as crew quarters while the other was in direct connection with the above ground artillery pits.^[7]

The fortress' artillery consisted of two 7,5 cm and four 10.5 cm positional artillery pieces in half-turrets placed in pits dynamited from the rock and lined with concrete, as well as four m/1887 Krupp 8,4 cm field guns.^[8][9] The 8,4 cm pieces, designed before the advent of recoil systems, were described by the Germans after the 1940 surrender as Napoleonic.^[10]

The positional artillery is placed in an almost straight line facing east, with 20 metres distance between each 10,5 cm gun and 16 metres between each 7,5 cm piece.^[2]

To enable the fortress to withstand attack without support from major outside support a 5–8 metre wide barbed wire obstacle was constructed encircling the entire fortress.^[1]

[edit] Geography

The fort was built on, and named after, Ingstadkleiva - a 215 m high forested hill south of the Stjørdal River, about three kilometres from the village of Hegra. To the east, north and north west the terrain is sloping down towards the Stjørdal valley and dominated by the fort, while the south front is hilly and at a higher altitude than the Ingstadskleiva. Ingstadkleiva Fort has an excellent command of the Stjørdal valley to the north and east, but to the west the view is blocked by the Grøthammeren and Hammeren hills, both about 300 m high.^[5]

[edit] Early period

During the period 1910 to 1926 the fort was used as a major military base for the Trøndelag border areas with Sweden.^[11] In 1926 Ingstadkleiva Fort was put in reserve as part of the post-World War I defence budget cuts.^[12]

[edit] Deactivated period

During 1934-1939 the deactivated fort was used by the Norwegian Red Cross's youth branch^[13] as a summer holiday camp for children.^[14] In late 1939 Finnish soldiers of the independent Lapland Group who had crossed the Norwegian border from the Petsamo district in northern Finland into Finnmark in Norway were interned at Ingstadkleiva Fort. All the Finns were repatriated during the early days of 1940.^[15] During the Finnish internees' stay a sauna was constructed at the fort's camp.^[16]

[edit] The fortress in the Norwegian Campaign

Main article: Battle of Hegra Fortress

In 1940, from April 15 to May 5, Hegra was attacked by the German invaders. During the first week the attacks consisted of two infantry assaults; however in the last two weeks attacks mostly featured heavy artillery fire and Luftwaffe bombing, as well as aggressive patrolling.

During the siege large portions of the fort was covered in snow, and as all plans of the fort was stored in German-occupied Trondheim several sections of the fortifications were not discovered by the defenders before the May 5 surrender.

[edit] The fortress today

After the end of the World War II Hegra Fortress was returned to Norwegian control and is today used as a museum with exhibitions detailing the fort's history with an emphasis on the 1940 siege. There is also a café and a souvenir shop. The museum is often used for conferences^[17] and for seminars on issues of war and peace.^[18] Hegra Fortress is still owned by the Norwegian Defence Force and financed through the Norwegian Ministry of Defence.^[19]

Hegra Rifle Association has since 13 May 1962 held an annual shooting competition at the fortress. Organized in commemoration of the 1940 battle and of World War II in general, the competition is held on the Sunday closest to 8 May (VE Day). The wandering prize is the casing of a shell fired at the fortress in 1940.^[20]

[edit] References

[edit] Literature

• Arnstad, Johan: Beleiringen av Hegra Festning 10. april - 5. mai 1940, F. Bruns bokforhandels forlag, Trondheim 1965 (Norwegian)
• Brox, Karl H.: Kampen om Hegra - festningen tyskerne ikke greide å ta. Gyldendal Norsk Forlag, Oslo 1988 ISBN 82-05-17716-3 (Norwegian)

[edit] External links

• Hegra Fortress website (Norwegian)
• Hegra Fortress on the National Fortresses of Norway website (Norwegian)
• Hegra Fortress on the official Norwegian Defense Force website (Norwegian)
• Hegra Fortress pictures