Chapter 299 Command the troops of the two countries
At 12 noon on April 10, 1940, the British sent a destroyer fleet led by the battleship Wasbart, which had survived the Battle of Jutland during World War I, to "capture" Narvi where no German troops were stationed.
Croatian military port.
Vice Admiral Whitworth, the commander of this British fleet, excitedly reported the results to the Admiralty, claiming that they had repelled the German fleet and seized Narvik.
On the same day, the British, which had received supplies from the Whitworth fleet in the north, sent the 1st Division of the Norwegian Expeditionary Force to launch a large-scale southward offensive and defeated the 4th Norwegian Division in front of them. Its vanguard was in Trondhe, Norway's third largest city.
Mu, has established contact with the Second Division of the British Expeditionary Force and the Alpine Regiment of the French Expeditionary Force in the center.
On April 13, the British army fought with the Norwegian 3rd Division at Lillehammer, north of Hamar. Even if it was fighting on the mainland, the firepower of the Norwegian 3rd Division was still not able to match the large number of weapons transported by the British army from afar.
Machine gun fire. Soon, Lillehammer fell.
As a result, the remnants of the Norwegian 3rd Division began to retreat. They withdrew all the way to Andalsnes, and fought rearguard battles while walking and stopping, trying to delay the British attack. Unfortunately, they hardly stopped the British army.
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On April 14, Major General Hans sent by Germany, after judging that the time was ripe, finally led the German 30th Infantry Division and a battalion of the Royal Norwegian Guards to advance towards Lillehammer in an attempt to repel the threat.
The vanguard of the British and French forces arrived in Oslo to consolidate the defense line of the Norwegian capital.
At the same time, Colonel Sundlo, who received the news, also led the 5th Norwegian Division in the north, and cooperated with the two battalions of the 2nd Norwegian Division southward to form a north-south pincer attack on Lillehammer with the German 30th Infantry Division.
Hans enjoyed the feeling of being in control of everything and turning the tide very much. This time, he not only commanded the 30th Division belonging to Germany, but also received command of the Norwegian 5th Division from the Norwegian Defense Minister Quisling. In other words, he
Now it holds the dual supreme command of a German division and a Norwegian division.
Although less than half of the so-called Norwegian Fifth Division now has guns and weapons in their hands, and the remaining half are basically militiamen. However, among the two battalions of officers and soldiers of the Fifth Division sitting with them, one of them has participated
The Norwegian reinforced battalion during the Finnish Campaign was actually temporarily attached to the temporary combat order of the 5th Division.
In other words, the Norwegian army currently commanded by Hans is already the last mobile counterattack force that the Kingdom of Norway can mobilize, and it is the essence of the entire Norwegian army!
Sending a division in exchange for the main force of the entire Norwegian Army, and then using these main Norwegian forces to help one of the divisions sent to fight against the German enemy. In the end, the Norwegian government has to express a thousand thanks after its contribution.
The German government. Even after all this, Hans couldn't help but be surprised when he thought back to it. The head of state's calculations had actually reached this point?!
"Sometimes, I really find it incredible." In the headquarters, Hans sighed with emotion in front of Leon, who had been promoted to captain and battalion commander: "Every time I think that our battle will determine the fate of Norway, I feel a sense of trance.
It’s a feeling. As a foreign general, he can actually command all the main forces left in Norway. This is the first time I have heard of this. I didn’t expect that I would actually become the protagonist of the incident."
Since Lyon's troops had always performed very well and had the experience of being ordered in times of crisis, Hans simply expanded Lyon's sharp knife company into a battalion directly under the division headquarters and kept him as a reserve force. As a result, Lyon became a long-term member of Han's army.
The officers around Si often discussed the situation together.
Of course, the discussion between a division commander and a battalion commander will not determine the overall strategic direction. Those are formulated by the personnel of the division headquarters. What Hans and Lyon talked about most were some perceptual thoughts. I don’t know why, Hans
Si always felt that this young man who had experienced a near-death counterattack on the Buzula River with him was very reliable.
"After all, they can only rely on us, not to mention the combat effectiveness of one of our divisions is higher than the five divisions of their entire army combined." Leon raised his head and said proudly: "I can't judge things I haven't seen, but
Judging from the poor defense situation in their capital, with just a little effort from our direct battalion, I am confident that we can defeat all the royal guards defending their capital and capture their administrative center."
"The fighting quality of the Norwegians is indeed too low..." Hans smiled and continued: "So I don't expect that all the main forces of the Kingdom of Norway in my hands can play a big role.
The function is just to let them pretend to attract the attention of the British and French forces in the north."
From the beginning, Hans never thought about using Norwegian troops to share his pressure. The troops should be elite but not numerous, and some troops would not have much effect no matter how large they were. This was what he had learned in the original Polish campaign.
I already had a profound experience.
If it weren't for the small number of cannons in his hands at that time and the firepower of the Polish army, Hans even doubted whether the entire Polish main force of the army could penetrate the peripheral defense line of one of his divisions.
After all, Poland is still the fifth strongest country in Europe. Now that it is a weak country like Norway, which ranks at the bottom of Europe's military power, Hans is even more doubtful about their combat effectiveness.
Therefore, from the beginning, Hans's battle plan was based on the force of only the 30th division. He did not consider the role of the Norwegian army at all. The 30th division was enough.
"Our weapons and equipment are much more advanced now than when we were in Poland. We even added a new self-propelled artillery battalion of 'Stalkers' to strengthen the firepower." Hans walked to the wall of the temporary headquarters easily.
Next to the topographic map of Norway on the side, there is an annotation on the map: "Based on the advancing speed of the British and French forces in the past few days and the time it took them to pass through the complex terrain of Northern Europe, it is absolutely impossible for them to carry a large number of artillery. Otherwise,
They can't even march at such a fast speed!"
"And we not only have strong firepower, but we have also been in a state of repair and readiness, and are full of energy." Lyon added at an inappropriate time: "To deal with the weak firepower and the tired British and French forces that have been marching with high intensity these days, we have taken various advantages.
.”
"That's right." Looking away from the various terrains that the British and French allied forces had traveled through on the map these days, Hans looked at Lyon with a pleased look and said: "Your senses are very keen. Except for the smaller number of us now, the rest of us
We are in a completely strong position in every aspect.”
"The number of people is quite large," Lyon said with a humorous smile: "Don't we still have tens of thousands of Norwegian friendly troops cooperating with the feint north of Lillehammer?"
"Yes, there are quite a few of us." Hans laughed and said, "I almost forgot about the benefits these heads of state have fought for for us."