EKs Awarded for the Invasion of Norway

[Brian R]

I have a few docs from KM veterans of the Norway invasion, but it seems EKs awarded for land action are relatively scarce (probably since the invasion was generally a KM operation).

Here's one to a rifleman... dated June 28, 1940 and signed by General Horn, commander of the 214th Infantry Division.


The 214th Infantry Division was originally to be used during the invasion of Denmark. However, Denmark’s rapid capitulation allowed 214 ID to be assembled for the clearing operations of southwestern Norway in early May. Hüttemannwas awarded for actions with Kampfgruppe A, which included elements of IR 367, during the clearing operations northeast of Kristiansand.

[Hank C.]

Great document, thanks for sharing!

best
Hank

[Simon O.]

probably since the invasion was generally a KM operation

That's not true at all, It was the first example of a combined arms operation during the war. The reason you don't see too many Heer EK awards is because of the relatively few number of troops that saw combat in the South of Norway. Narvik is the exception where fighting there lasted longer then the whole French and low countries campaign and where a very high proportion of participants got the EK and above.

Think to yourself how often do you come across Polish campaign EK awards to the Heer? Not that often at all compared to the French campaign and the early Russian campaign yet it involved a huge number of troops and was of course highly successful.

[Brian R]

Simon-

I only state the above comment because the invasion of Norway was the only battle/campaign in which the KM played the decisive roll. I agree with you that there were relatively few Heer awards because there was limited ground combat in the south of Norway. It seems that most EK awards come from the Naval engagements around Narvik, Trondheim, etc. It would be interesting to see more Heer examples both from the fighting in the south and north.

[Simon O.]

The KM played the same roll that any navy plays during a landing, if by decisive you mean that it transported troops to Norway then i suppose so but then the navy was decisive at D-Day, Anzio, Salerno etc. etc.

On the contrary i would argue that the KM was soundly defeated during the Norwegian campaign, especially at Narvik and it was due to the many ships it lost that there are so many EKs awarded. The decisive element of the Norwegian campaign was airpower, it's where, for the first time in the history of warfare that warships were shown to be highly vulnerable to aircraft, both sides discovered that.

Better than examples i can give you some statistics on the award of the EK grades for the Norwegian campaign.

From the records of the 2 Gebirgs Division which had elements landed at Trondheim in April and later pushed Northwards towards Bodø we have the following figures for awards in June and July 1940. The division was also not complete in Norway until after the end of hostilities.
1 RK
24 EKI
3 EKI spange
347 EKII
3 EKII spange
42 IAB
150 KVKII m/s

It's worth remembering that the division took part in the Polish campaign where the first EK awards were made.

[Tor]

193. Inf.rgt Eisernes Kreuz awards

Here is an overview from Nordland-Echo wich shows who got EK after this regiments Norway campaign.

I have posted all the newspapers I have from this unit here: Nordland Echo