Allied Forces North Norway

Allied Forces North Norway
Active 1952 - 1994
Allegiance NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Part of Allied Forces Northern Europe, Kolsås, Norway
Location Bodø, Norway

Allied Forces North Norway (NON) was a NATO command tasked with the defense of Northern Norway. NON's area of responsibility covered the three northernmost counties of Norway: Nordland, Troms and Finnmark, as well as the adjacent sea territory.

History

Allied Forces North Norway (NON) and was activated in 1962 along with Allied Forces South Norway (SONOR) and Allied Forces Baltic Approaches. Unlike most other NATO commands NON was a staffed entirely by members of the Norwegian Armed Forces. It's operational headquarters was located in a bunker at Reitan, which today is used as the Norwegian Joint Headquarters. The commander of NON had three deputies: Commander Land Forces North Norway, Commander Air Forces North Norway and Commander Naval Forces North Norway. Each of the three deputies commanded the Norwegian units of his service branch based in District Command North Norway. Incoming allied units would have come under the command of these three deputy commanders.[1]

Structure in 1989

NON had the following units at its disposal to fight an attack by the Soviet Union's 6th Army:

Commander Naval Forces North Norway

Meløyvær Fortress 120mm Tornautomatpjäs m/70 automatic gun

Naval Forces North Norway (NAVNON) was tasked with the defence of Northern Norway's coastal waters against Soviet naval incursions and amphibious landings. Operations in the ocean beyond Norway's coastal waters were under the command of NATO Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic's (SACLANT) Northern Sub-Area Command (NORLANT). Therefore NAVNON consisted of coastal artillery units and one fast attack craft squadron. The boats for the fast attack craft squadron were dispatched from units in Southern Norway on a rotational basis.

Commander Air Forces North Norway

Norwegian Air Force bases in Northern Norway
A F-16A Fighting Falcon prepares to take off at Bodø Air Station during the exercise Alloy Express in 1982.

Commander Land Forces North Norway

Norwegian military garrisons in Troms county
Norwegian military garrisons in Finnmark county
Norwegian Leopard 1 tanks in Northern Norway in 1982

Reinforcements

A Royal Marines Scimitar reconnaissance vehicle during exercise COLD WINTER '87 in Norway
US Marine Corps Norway Air-Landed Marine Expeditionary Brigade (NALMEB) Prepositioning Program material at the Bjugn Cave Facility

NON would have been reinforced by the following Norwegian units from Allied Forces South Norway:

NATO would have planned to reinforce NON with 2-7 days with the following allied formations:

Until 1988 the Canadian Air-Sea Transportable Brigade Group formed around the 5 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group was destined to reinforce Northern Norway and had its heavy equipment pre-positioned in Norway. In 1987 Canada decided use the 5 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group to reinforce the 1st Canadian Division in Germany instead. Depending on operational needs NATO's Allied Mobile Force (Land) might have been deployed to Northern Norway. The US Army's 10th Mountain Division was expected to ship out to Norway within 10 days after a Soviet attack in case the situation required additional allied reinforcements.

US Forces in Northern Norway

The US military maintained three small units in Northern Norway.

References

  1. ↑ Till, Geoffrey (1988). Britain and N. A. T. O.'s Northern Flank. London: MacMillan Press. p. 143. ISBN 978-0-333-43931-9.
  2. ↑ Lund, John (1989). Don't Rock The Boat - Reinforcing Norway in Crisis and War (PDF). Washington DC: Rand Corporation. ISBN 0-8330-0960-5.
  3. ↑ http://www.orbat85.nl/order-of-battle/royal-navy/marine-corps/kmarns.html
  4. ↑ Cavas, Christopher P. (September 20, 2015). "Cave-Dwellers: Inside the US Marine Corps Prepositioning Program-Norway". Washington DC: US Department of Defense.
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