Dombaas Norway 1940

[Tor Christian]

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I thougt that you had interest of reading this, that my friend Björn Dalen has written

Die Fallshirmjägerangriff von Dombaas-Norwegen 1940<o></o>

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The paratrooper-attack at Dombaas -Norway - 1940

Foreword<o></o>

This page is made because some of us who have interest in the local history would like to share some of the stories with others. Stories from the second world war is often of special interest to many people. Many of those who took part and remember what happened are now dead, and others are very getting old. It's therefore important to interview and speak to this people so the new generations can learn about this black years in our history. Norway was attacked the 9th of April 1940 and liberated at the 8th of May 1945. This campaign was only a small fight early in the big war. It lasted from 14.april - 19.april. The story is well documented by the men who took part on both sides, norwegians and germans.

The language is maybe not so good, but I hope the most of you understand the meaning.

Björn Dalen,

The preparation<o></o>

On the 9th of april 1940 Norway was attacked by Nazi Germany. The germans called the operation, Weserubung. Early in the morning the 9th of april, the big german battlecruiser "Blucher" and other german ships sailed into the Oslofjord to capture the capital of Norway, Oslo. Unlucky for the germans the norwegian coastal artillery at Oscarsborg manage to hit the battlecruiser so it sank with many of its crew and soldiers. This made it possible for the norwegian king and government to escape into the north of the country. The germans then prepared a second attack, this time at the Fornebu airport in Oslo with an air attack. Messerschmidt 110, Junker 52 and Heinkel 111 where used in the attack. The norwegians only had some english Gloster Gladiators, but managed to shoot down a couple of the german planes. The german parachuters were awaken at 0300 on the 9th of april. At 0430 they were in the planes ready for take off 20 minutes before the planes with the infantry soldiers. The unit contained the 2.batalion of the 1. fallshirmjagerregiment placed at Stendal. The setup was like this:

1.Fallshirmjager regiment: Chief Bruno Brauer
2.battalion: Chief Hauptmann Erich Walther
1. company Herberth Schmidt
2. company Gröschke
Staff of the battalion
Total strenght: about 340 soldiers
Planes from the Luftwaffe unit: II/K.Gr.z.b.V.1 - 5. og 6. Staffel.(Junker JU 52 transportplanes.) is going to transport the fallshirmjager. 29 Junkers at all. This unit has transported the regiment since 1937.<o></o>

II/K.Gr.z.b.V - 7.staffel is going to transport the 3.company and they are going to attack Sola airport in Stavanger at the south east coast of Norway.
II/K.Gr.z.b.V - 8.staffel is going to transport the 4.company and they are going to attack the danish town of Aalborg and occupy the 2 airfields there, and a brigdeconnection between Falster and Sjælland. The planes ment for Norway have to return to Aalborg because of bad weather. The chief of 2.Btn. Walther is very angry at the chief of II/K.Gr.z.b.V , Oberleutnant Drewes. The planes are grounded at Aalborg airport. One of the planes are lost. This plane transported 12 fallshirmjagers of the 1.company-the unit of Feldwebel Theo Karl Brand. All are killed at the crash in the Skagerak sea. 3 planes did not return, they went on and landed at Fornebu airport. 19 fallshirmjagers from the 2.company and Oberleutnant Wilhelm Götte are in the planes. One soldier is injured by heavy maschinegun fire from the norwegian defenders.<o></o>

The rest of the unit ment for Norway comes to Fornebu/Oslo at the 13th of april.<o></o>

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FORNEBU 14.APRIL:<o></o>

"EINSATZAUFTRAG".<o></o>

Fuhrerbefehl<o></o>

"Absprung bei Dombaas, Zerstörung der Bahnlinie und der Fernmeldeleitungen, Sperrung der Strasse.
Dadurch das Vorrücken der aus Andalsnes zu erwartenden Engländer und Nachschub der Norweger
für ihre gegen den deutschen Vormarsch kämpfenden Einheiten so lange wie möglich zu verhindern."
(after A.Uhlig-1989).<o></o>

"Order" <o></o>

"Jumping at Dombaas, destroy the railwayline and the telephone line, blocking the road. Trough this
as long as possible prevent that supplies to the norwegian forces and the advancing of the british forces." <o></o>

At Fornebu airport the weather i bad. Some of the luftwaffe officers don't want to carry out the order. The Stuka officers don't want to fly as support for the Junkers. The parachuters have only 1 hour to get ready for take off. Generalfeltmarskalk Gøring gives order that information about the weather at the dropplace must be found. Oberleutnant Schmidt gets a map over the area just minutes before takeoff. The platoonleader can only catch a glimbs of this map. At 1700 4 officers and 181 fallshirmjagers are sitting in 15 Junker 52/3m ready for takeoff.
They are going to fly in "5 Ketten", that is 3 plane in formation like this:<o></o>

1.Kette-Kompani-"trupp"(1 JU 52) and V.platoon (2 JU 52)
2.Kette-Sambandstroppen(3 JU 52)
3.Kette-III.platoon(3 JU 52)
4.Kette-II.platoon(3 JU 52)
5.Kette-I.platoon(3 JU 52)<o></o>

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The force:

1.Fallshirmjagerkompani/1.Fallshirmjagerregiment.<o></o>

TOTAL STRENGHT:181 MEN.<o></o>

4 officers-181 men. (4 officers-161 men ref. A.Uhlig).<o></o>

Companicommander: OBERLEUTNANT HERBERTH SCHMIDT.<o></o>

2.second in command and commander of the 2.platoon: LEUTNANT ERNST MÖSSINGER.<o></o>

Commander of the 1.platoon: FENRICH BECKER-troppen 37 men.<o></o>

Commander of the 3.platoon: FELTWEBEL BOBROWSKI-troppen 37 men.<o></o>

Commander of the 4.platoon: FELTWEBEL ALEXANDER UHLIG-25 men.<o></o>

Commander of the communication platoon:LEUTNANT GEROLD- 37 men.<o></o>

1.Kette gets a head start of 15 minutes on the other who take off with an interval of 3 minutes. Because of the bad weather the last planes can't take off before 1800 pm. There are ususally 12 jagers in each plane with 4 Waffenhalters. They are jumping with pistol and knife.

When the planes fly over the town of Hamar the norwegian forces open fire at the planes. Some are flying at an altitude of 200 meters only.
1745 hour: At the town of Lillehammer one plane is hit by norwegian fire and has to make a forced landing at a farm. They all survive but open fire at the norwegian forces that arrive at the plane. The Jump-leader is killed and the headpilot and and leader of communication are wounded. After a while they surrender.
They are sent to prison and the wounded sent to hospital. The prisoners are later sent to England. The wounded at the hospital are all liberated when 196. infantrydivision of the Wehrmacht capture Lillehammer. The plane had all the MG 34 belonging to the Nachrichtenzug (communication platoon).

1840 hour: The planes fly over Dombaas. The plane with feldwebel Goncherowskis group is badly damaged and crashes into the mountain of Gräberget .The pilot Schiffrer and observer Schneider are killed. <o></o>

Gefreiter Wietzig is also killed and feldwebel Sagasser of the fallshirmjägers deadly injured and 2 soldiers are wounded. <o></o>

The pilots are in a hurry because of the limitied fuel resources they have to get rid of the "load" as fast as possible to be able to make it back to Oslo. The company is droped at 6 different locations and no platoon is longer at its fullest strenght.

"Kompanitrupp" (Schmidt) jumps at Hagevollen farm near Dombaas by the river ande the road in the main walley.
Platoon I (Becker) jumps at Hjellsetra(mountain fram) north of Dombaas.
Platoon II (Mössinger) jumps at Lie farm near Dombaas in the main walley.
Platoon III (Bobrowski) jumps nearby Dombaas.
Platoon IV (Uhlig) jumps at Lora far east of Dombas near the Laagen river.
Platoon V (Gerold) jumps at Kjörem-Nonshö/Hareggen far south of Dombaas in the mountains.<o></o>

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The defenders

The germans had conquered Oslo and advanced north through the country. The norwegian forces was based on a mobilization army. The norwegian government waited way to long before they carried out the order to mobilize. Norway was in fact a neutral country before 9.april 1940. The country was divded into division districts, and the division was divided into regiment.
At the westcoast of Norway there was a regiment, Infantryregiment nr.11, who had a very experienced and devoted chief, Oberst David Thue. He mobilized his unit at the same day as the invation, 9.april. The soldiers should meet at Setnesmoen, a military camp near the coast of AAndalsnes. This unit had infact just been taken out of their duty in guarding the neutrality. They among several other had been training with the Colt heavy maschinegun using the new tracerbullets. Even so there was shortage of much equipment after the army had been neglected for many years. Therefore the civilans collected a lot of what was needed, such as skiing equipment, 1 ton of chocolate, sunglasses and the women and carpenters in the district made 2800 white camoflage dresses. 700 soldiers of the IR 11, the 2. fieldbattalion was to be sent to Domaas according to plan. They travelled by train from AAndalsnes to Dombaas. At the 13th of april the unit of IR 11 had reached Domaas and was already making defence-positions using the Colt heavy maschinegun. The units strenght was 55 officers and 696 corporals and privates. The leader was captain Navlesaker.
At 18:25 a message was sent from the village Otta down in the valley. German planes were advancing northwest trough the valley in direction of Dombaas. In 3-4 minutes all the heavy maschinguns were mounted. The IR11 waited for the bombardment, and it was a big surprise when parachutes were opened above the black things that was falling out of the 2-3 planes over Dombaas<o></o>

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The fighting<o></o>

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7 fallshirmjagers jumped too early, and was isolated from the rest of the unit. They where shot at in the air, wounded, or taken prisoners when they reached the ground. Among the defenders there were also units from the local civil rifle organization who using their Krag-Jörgensen rifle (like the army). This was of course not according to the Geneva convension.

I. Zug - Platoon Becker

Jumps at Dovrefjell near the mountain farm Hjellsetra, 6 km north of Dombaas. The jump is very critical for the parachuters because of the low altitude, and strong winds. 7 of the 25 fallshirmjägers in the platoon are badly injured. Some of the damage is caused by the fallshirmjägers being dragged along the surface not capable of cutting the lines. All the wounded soldiers are placed in a house at the mountain farm. Becker is desoriented, but after a while he finds 4 dressins at the railway track They are tied together and with most of the remaining soldiers he begins to travel down the railway track towards Dombaas. Some hundred meters before the railwaystation the platoon drives straight into a strong position of the IR 11 and all the soldiers are captured. For the first time the norwegians see a maschinepistol, the Schmeisser MP 38. 3-4 of these type are captured.

IV.Zug - Platoon Uhlig
Jumps at Lora 20 km west of Dombaas. Some civilans see the jumping and phone the IR 11 at Dombaas. A unit of IR 11 are ordered to travel to Lora and capture the enemies. It's getting dark and driving along the road to AAndalsnes the IR 11 soldiers drives into the fire of a heavy maschine gun (MG34). The norwegians pull back and 2 norwegian officers are sneaking forward to observ the german position, only carrying their Colt M 1914 pistols (norwegian licens produced Colt M 1911 cal.45). They are shot at and have to pull down into the ditches along the road to take cover. They later pull back. As a result of this operation they kill the fallshirmjägers Gunther Backhaus (27 years old). He was infact oberjager in another unit, but he had been put into prison at Fornebu. To get back his honor he volunteered to the operation and was degraded to jager. This was accepted by the officers and he became maschinegunshooter in Uhligs troop. Uhlig is now coming to the conclution that they can't advance along the road. They have to move down alongside the river and advance to Dombaas. They can see the norwegians following all their movement the next day and at Lesja centrum Uhlig surrender. <o></o>

V.Zug - Platoon Gerold<o></o>

The 2 planes remaining of the kette drop the equipment and the fallshirmjagers in the mountains southwest of Dombaas. They are in a position with much snow without skis, but in fact with detachable bycycles . The platoon lost all their maschineguns and 7 soldiers in the plane that crashed at Lillehammer. One man jumped to early and is lost. He find a cottage in the mountain and stays there for some days because he doesn't know where he is. The rest of the unit are carrying some of their equipment down into the valley and come to the farm Dalum 6-7 km west of Dombaas. After some dicussions the platoon surrender the next day. The farm was totally surrounded by norwegian soldiers.<o></o>

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Kompanistab - "platoon" Schmidt, II Zug - Platoon Mössinger, III Zug - Platoon Bobrowski
Leutnant Schmidt jumps near the highway 3-4 km east of Dombaas. He fires his red signal light, to mark his (the chiefs) postion.
A taxi arrives at the road, with a chaffeur and a woman. The car is captured. With fallshirmjagers all over, they drive towards Dombaas. At each curv on the road Schmidt stops. This saves the force. They observ 2 trucks coming against them. When the trucks are come near, a maschinegun (Madsen maschinegun cal.6,5 mm) is fired from the roof of the truck against the taxi. Schmidt is hit in the stomach. Schmidt and his men answered the fire with their maschinpistols. The norwegians then withdraw.

Second in command Mössinger jumps 5 km south of Dombaas. A part of his soldiers jumps over Dombaas and are separated from the rest of the platoon. He hears the shooting from Schmidts platoon and he joins Schmidt.

Bobrowski and his reduced platoon jump at Engekollan a height 4 km southeast of Dombaas. The rest jump over Domaas and are killed, wounded or captured.

Schmidt now establish a defence position and at the 15th of april some soldiers find the way to Schmidt's among them the rest of platoon Bobrowski. They are now 2 officers and 61 unterofficiers and jagers. Even if he is wounded Schmidt doesn't give the command over to Møssinger. The railway is now destroyed, the telephonelines trough the valley are cut and a road block is established . The norwegians didn't have forces south of the germans because all the military strenght was put into action against the german Wehrmacht in the southern part og Norway. Schmidt now makes a big landmark on the snowy fields. By using sand his soldiers write with sand on the snow "Verpflegung! Munition! Wir halten!" This message was read by the german planes that flew over the area. They now establish another smaller postion 1 km to the east. on a big hill up from the road called Rausandhaugen. At 07:00 the 15th of april another force from the IR 11 with 70 soldiers drive east aganist the germans.They don't know the exact position of the enemy.
Suddenly they are shot at from several different directions. 2 norwegian soldiers are killed. There is also a german plane coming and this plane also fires aganist the norwegians and another norwegian soldier is killed. The norwegian high command now reacts and dispose parts of a company into postion from the east.
The new company is of the Östoppland infanteriregiment nr. 5, IR 5, under command of captain Austlie. The captain is under a strong pressure because of the way and railroad has to be opened. East of the german stronghold are both the King and the prince, also the norwegian government. Captain Austlie attacks and both he and 4 of his soldiers are killed. The captain is killed when he tries to overrun a german maschingun postion. Schmidt captures several heavy Colt maschinguns and ammunition from Austlies company. Now, another company of the IR 5, captain Bottheims company is ordered to Dovre/Dombaas. This company is in postion at the 16th of april (mid-day). <o></o>

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At the same day at 0600 the 5.company of the IR 11 under captain Sandnes attack from the west. They first try using a train, but after some kilometers the line is blown up by the fallshirmjägers. They then return to Dombaas and 70 soldiers in 5 trucks drives eastward on the road aganist Dovre. They meet a lady who says that the germans slept in their houses during the night at Ulekleiv farm. The unit now continues at foot. with a small unit in advance. 300-400 meters before they reach Hagevollen they are shot at from the german stronghold at hill, Rausandhaugen. 2 soldiers are killed and the company returns to Dombaas at 11.12. The new guarding company at the west is 6.company, IR 11. The 5.company now tries 2 new attacks. The last one using mortars. The german rises a white flag and a parlamentary is coming forward. This is chaffeur of captain Austlie that has been captured the day before. He says the german has taken 30-40 prisoners and that they are going to shoot them if the shooting doesn't stop. Captain Sandnes then sends a german prisoner forward to Schmidt (Alexander Uhlig). Captain Sandnes says that the norwegians has 100 german prisoners and they will meet the same faith if the german carry out the execution. The shooting continues. The weather turns and it begins to snow. This makes it difficult to use the mortars. Captain Sandnes order reinforcements. Captain Kavli and his company is sendt forward. The germans try to get around on the left flank and manage to escape. The norwegian forces at the west front return to Dombaas in the night. Schmidt and his force and prisoners move, covered by the darkness eastwards. They come in contact with captain Bottheims company (IR 5). The fighting is hard. Schimdt and his folks now finds cover at a farm up in the hillside called Lindse. Schmidt is carried on a door because of his wounds. The fallshirmjägers organizes strongholds around in the terrain. Captain Sandnes has sent a small unit to observ where the germans are. At the 18.april the germans gets supplies. A Junker 52 makes a drop. The fallshirmjägers can speak with the crew over radio . Schmidt says: 1.company with 2 officers and 40 men are in battle. From the Junker: Hold out comerades in a short while german panzer will come. Schimidt: Need very hard reinforcement, have no big weapons - big losses. From the Junker: Good bye, we will be back tomorrow at the same frequence.
At the afternoon what Schmidt feard most happened. A norwegian grenade hit the ground among the houses at Lindse. The norwegians send forward a parlamentary. But Schmidt will not surrender. He says in his answer among others that he has 50 civilians of those 6 children.

On the 19th of april the norwegian forces decide to take the initiative. From the west the IR 11 har moved forward mortars in position. And at the east the forces has a canon and a big strenght of soldiers. The norwegians now open fire with the 75 mm canon and the grenades hits the ground around the houses at Lindse. The norwegian leutenant Sveen is sendt forward as a parlamentary, but Schmidt won't surrender. A short time after a granade hits the door-entrance and a german soldier is hit in the head. This makes a strong impression on the fallshirmjagers. Schmidt refuses to surrender and order the soldiers back into their positions and shouts to them about "der Fuhrer" and their duty. Just after a new grenade hits the door-entrance and wounded another german soldier. Just under the negotiations a Junker 52 comes over the farm to drops supplies. Over radio Schmidt says that they must not drop anything, "wir ergeben uns" (we surrender) he says. But Schimidt tries to play for the time, but suddenly the norwegian forces see 3 read signallights over the Lindse farms, the fallshirmjagers have surrendered.<o></o>

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The german prisoners of war are sent to a prison camp at Averöy near the town of Kristiansund. One of the fallshirmjagers is shot by a norwegian soldier.
Including this soldier it's said that the germans had 23 killed in action included 5-6 of those pilots, 25 wounded and 14 lost. The norwegians had 20 killed and around 20 wounded

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What happened to the fallshirmjäger unit? After the norwegian surrendered in southern Norway, their soldiers at Averøy were liberated by their friends in the Wehrmacht. They had a rest for a week, then they were sent to Narvik a town in the northern part of Norway. Here they came in to hard fightings with norwegian, british and french forces. Some of the fallshirmjägers saw action at Crete, in Russia, in North Africa, Italy and the invasion of France. At least two of the fallshirmjägers were taken prisoners and sent to England. Here they were interrogated very precisely by the british intelligent service.<o></o>

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[Peter Wiking]

Takk. Kjempefin info.

Cheers and thanks alot.
Peter Wiking

[Olav]

welcome to the forum and thanx for the info, great!

Cheers

[Willi Z.]

Thanks for the info Tor. I have the documents of the FJ Sanitäts NCO who jumped into Dombas with Lt Schmidt's Kompanie. He was also awarded the EKII for that jump.

Regards,

Willi