SS Ski Jäger Battalion "Norwegen"

SS Ski Jäger Battalion "Norwegen"
Active July 1943 – January 1945
Country  Norway
Allegiance Germany Nazi-Germany
Branch Waffen-SS
Type Ski Jäger
Size Battalion
Commanders
Notable
commanders		 Sophus Kahrs
Frode Halle

The SS Ski Jäger Battalion "Norway" (German: SS-Jäg.Schi-Btl. "Norge",[1] SS Schijägerbattalion "Norwegen", Norwegian: SS-Skijegerbattalion "Norge") was a volunteer combat battalion unit within the Waffen-SS, the armed wing of the Schutzstaffel, that served alongside but was never formally part of the Wehrmacht during World War II. It consisted of a majority of volunteers from Norway, and some enlisted German soldiers. Of the officers and non-commissioned officers, most were Norwegian.

It was formed in February 1942, after it was decided to create a SS Ski company with Norwegian volunteers—attached to the 6th SS Mountain Division Nord (although the company was formally a police unit). By the winter of 1943 and the newly constructed company was designated as a combat battalion, with three full infantry companies and a staff company. For almost its entire career, the battalion was part of the 6th SS Mountain Division "Nord", fighting on the Karelian Front in Finland.

Battle during 24—26 June 1944, led to nearly 100 of the battalion's soldiers missing in action, when two of the battalion's positions (with a total of 190 soldiers) were overrun.[2] In 1972 Frode Halle, one of its former battalion commanders wrote in his published book that the unit's losses in the two battles on those two days, is "The toughest blow that a Norwegian volunteer unit has been dealt.

Training

During the winter of 1942, a Ski jäger Company, with a strength of 120 men, was formed in Finland. The first recruits were chosen for their skiing abilities, and few had had any extensive military training. Those who had attended Norwegian Army NCO schools were selected as candidates for troop leader positions. In September 1942 the embryonic company was sent to the Waffen-SS Germanic Volunteer Camp in Sennheim, Alsace for basic military training.

At the same time, those chosen for command positions were shipped off to NCO schools or the SS-Junkerschule Bad Tölz in Bavaria for officers' training. At Sennheim the Norwegian enlisted men were put in the care of a Finnish SS- Hauptsturmführer who oversaw their program of instruction. Infantry training continued until about Christmas, when it was decided that the formation of the actual Ski battalion could now commence.

The formation of the new Norwegian SS Skijaeger Battalion (which was also given the title "Norge" and a sleeve title bearing that name), took place at military training grounds in Oulu, Finland (also known by its Swedish name of Uleåborg) in the autumn of 1943. The following Norwegian Untersturmführer(s) (Ustuf. - 2nd Lt.) were assigned to command companies in the battalion: Martin Skjefstad, Tor Holmesland Vik and Rolf Uglestad. The battalion CO and a four company commander were both Germans. A few German enlisted men were also included in each company as a "stiffening" element. For the most part the Norwegian officers were young men who had obtained front line experience with the 5th SS Panzer Division Wiking or the "Frw. Legion Norwegen" before going on to the SS-JS "Tölz."

The Norwegian Ski Battalion was strictly light-weight in nature consisting only of one staff company and three ski (or infantry/assault) companies. Unlike the other battalions normally found in a German mountain division there was no 4th Heavy Weapons Company assigned. Each of the Norwegian ski companies contained the following sub-units: three platoons consisting of 3 squads each along with 1 machine-gun troop and 1 mortar section. The staff company contained the administrative personnel, a weapons and clothing dispersal office, an engineer platoon, a signals platoon (communications), a medical section and truck and horse supply columns.

Each company consisted of three platoons—each with three "rifle" squads, and a fourth machine gun squad. The standard issue weapon for the battalion was the MP-40 Submachine Gun, which was the preferred weapon due to the units abilities to do Long-range reconnaissance patrol missions. [3]

An ahkio—a type of pulk—were used by soldiers to reduce the load of equipment (on individuals' backs and shoulders) while skiing. The soldiers had Knippfelbindinger (a particular interface between a boot and a ski).

The Karelian Front

In 1943 the Ski Company (Skikompaniet—the predecessor of the "Ski Battalion") was sent to the Kiestinki Front. The battalion was formed in Germany, transported to Oulo in Finland, and later reached Kuusamo.

During the winter '43 / '44 the battalion counted around 700 men - many former soldiers from the Norwegian Legion. By January 1944 the battalion and was sent to the front. Another Norwegian Unit, The 2nd police company was also serving at the front at this time and was in severe skirmishes with the Russians, before they returned to Norway in May 1944.

The battalion was placed in position in the northern flank of the "Nord" Division, which was about 30 kilo meters north of the division HQ. The battalion had the job of patrolling the division's left wing up to Tiksje Lake. This part of the Eastern Front had long since lapsed into static warfare and the idea was to prevent Soviet infiltration through no-man's-land.

Battalion soldier Sverre Kjelstrup has described battle at Mayweg (outside Kiestinki) and patterns of warfare by local Soviet forces: "The Norwegians [in the Battalion and other units] lost 4 men, and 92 dead Russians were counted in front of the fortifications—these are conditions that we witnessed many times ... that they kept heaping (on with more) people. And the ones charging first knew that if they tried to turn around and flee, they would be shot by the politruks who were in tow. And these are reasons for the [relative size of] losses that the Russians had on several occasions."

Late in March 1944 Russian forces began building up positions in a previously unoccupied area between the lines. This threat led the "Nord" Division staff to construct a battalion-sized battle-group to deal with these new fortifications. (Two companies from the Ski Battalion were assigned to protect the left flank of the task force.

Until March 1944 the unit had military advisors (Berater) from Germany. By April, the stationing of the battalion was spread onto three peaks, which were known to them as Peak 200, Kaprolat and Hasselmann—replacing other German forces. Early in June 1944, battalion commander Halle departed for a trip to Norway, and a German assumed command of the battalion.

As a consequence of an armistice in September 1944, the German Lapland Army retreated—joined by the battalion—through North Finland into Norway. The Norwegian daily Dagbladet wrote that the unit's soldiers were at the front in Finland until the autumn of 1944, adding that "several [soldiers] were sent to the endfighting in Germany and Austria.[4]

References

  1. ↑ "Divisions - Tagesbefehl" [Order of the Day for the division] (in German). 7 July 1944. Retrieved 8 August 2013.
  2. ↑ Møtte døden i myrhull
  3. ↑ Veum, Eirik and Geir Brenden 2009: De som falt. Nordmenn som døde i tysk krigstjeneste. ISBN 978-82-8211-157-7
  4. ↑ Asbjørn Svarstad (2013-09-29). "Norske SS-soldater kokte russerkranier". Dagbladet. pp. 33–4.

Further reading

External links

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