Mountain Corps Norway

Mountain Corps Norway
Generalkommando Gebirgskorps Norwegen
Active	1 July 1940 – 10 November 1942
Disbanded	10 November 1942
Country	Nazi Germany
Commanders
Notable commanders	Eduard Dietl

Mountain Corps Norway (German: Gebirgskorps Norwegen) was a German army unit during World War II. It saw action in Norway and Finland.

The corps was formed in July 1940 and was later transferred to Northern Norway as part of AOK Norwegen. Its first action was taking part in Operation Renntier, the occupation of Finnish Petsamo. In June 1941 the corps attacked from Petsamo to Murmansk in an operation codenamed Platinfuchs. The attack failed and the corps never reached its goal.

In April and May 1942 the Corps faced one of its toughest challenges. During a period of three weeks, the 14th Soviet Army attacked, trying to defeat the Corps. But there was another enemy - on May 4, 1942, a devastating, 90-hour-long polar storm took its toll on the soldiers.

In November 1942 the corps was renamed the XIX. Gebirgs-Armeekorps or XIX Mountain Corps.

In 1944 the corps finally had to retreat back to Norway, where it surrendered in May 1945. From November 1944 onwards the corps was also sometimes known as Armeeabteilung Narvik.

Commanders

• Generaloberst Eduard Dietl (14 June 1940 - 15 January 1942)
• Generalfeldmarschall Ferdinand Schörner (15 January 1942 - 1 October 1943)
• General der Gebirgstruppe Georg Ritter von Hengl (1 October 1943 - 15 May 1944)
• General der Gebirgstruppe Ferdinand Jodl (15 May 1944 - 8 May 1945)

Area of operations

Date	Area	Subordinate to	Operations
1 July 1940 - 19 December 1940	Norway	Gruppe XXI	Operation Weserübung
19 December 1940 - 14 January 1942	Finland	AOK Norwegen	Operation Platinfuchs
14 January 1942 - 22 June 1942	Finland	AOK Lappland	-
22 June 1942 - 24 April 1945	Finland, Norway	GebAOK 20	Operation Nordlicht

Organisation

• 2. Gebirgs-Division
• 3.Gebirgs-Division (until September 1941)
• 6. Gebirgs-Division
• 210th Coastal Defense Division (1943 - October 1944)
• Division Rossi
• Er.Os. P (Finnish Separate Detachment P)
• Finnish 14th Regiment (2 battalions)

Strength based on supply documents

On April 30, 1942, the supply numbers for the Mountain Corps Norway showed the following numbers: 73,978 men and 8,913 horses

Of the men:

• 48,576 were Heer (Army)
• 8,744 were Luftwaffe (Air Force)
• 6,942 were Kriegsmarine (Navy)
• 2,380 were Reichsarbeitsdienst (labor service)
• 975 were Organisation Todt
• Plus some Finns (border security, road maintenance), Norwegian and Dutch workers, Nationalsozialistisch Kraftfahrkorps (Speer) and 2,335 prisoners of war.

Bibliography

• Tessin, Georg (1980). Die Landstreitkräfte: Namensverbände / Die Luftstreitkräfte (Fliegende Verbände) / Flakeinsatz im Reich 1943–1945 [Ground forces: Named units and formations / Air forces (Flying units and formations) / Anti–aircraft service in the Reich 1943–1945] (in German). Vol. 14. Osnabrück: Biblio. ISBN 3-7648-1111-0. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)