The idea of organizing a volunteer ski unit consisting entirely of Norwegians belongs to neither a Norwegian nor a German, but to a Dane.

Gust Jonassen, a volunteer in the Waffen S.S. made the suggestion, and soon the idea caught the attention of the S.S. main office and permission was granted to begin forming the unit.

In the summer of 1942, the unit was formed in Finland with 120 men, making the S.S. Ski Company about the size of two platoons.

These early recruits were chosen due to their proficiency in skiing rather than military training or combat experience. A few men had attended Norwegian NCO schools, and those individuals were chosen to become NCO's in the newly formed unit. In September, 1942, the volunteers were shipped to Sennheim in the Alsace for basic infantry training. Personnel chosen for NCO billets were shipped to various NCO schools, and those chosen for command positions were trained at S.S. Junkerschule "Toelz" in Bavaria.

In late December, 1942, the unit's enlisted men were transferred to the Dresden area where they were supposed to receive additional ski instruction. Unfortunately, this did not occur due to a lack of snow in the area. In February, 1943, the unit was assembled in Danzig complete with newly commissioned officers and NCO's. After having German administrative personnel attached, the Norwegian ski company was shipped by sea to Finland. Upon arrival, it was attached to the Reconnaissance Detachment of the 6th S.S. Nord Division.

Here the unit engaged in patrol and reconnaissance duties. In July, 1943, the unit returned to Norway for leave but returned to the Nord Division in September.

It was decided that the company would be expanded to a battalion. Personnel were transferred from Panzer Grenadier Regiment 23 "Norge" of the Nordland Division. (The transfers occurred without difficulty as most Norwegians initially volunteered with the idea that they would be fighting in an all-Norwegian unit in Finland against the Russians.)

The unit was given the title "Norge" when it was formed at Oulu, Finland in the fall of 1943. This left the newly-formed battalion a Norwegian- German collaboration. Norwegians made up most of the enlisted positions as well as three of the company commanders. The battalion C.O., one company commander, and a number of enlisted men were Germans.

Interesting to take note of is that a number of the Norwegian officers were veterans of the Wiking Division or the Norwegian Legion.

The battalion consisted of four companies, one staff and three ski. Each ski company consisted of three platoons containing three squads, one machine gun section, and one mortar section. The staff company contained administrative personnel, an engineer platoon, communication platoon, medical section, and supply section.

The unit trained together until January of 1944 when it was sent back to the Recon Detachment of the Nord Division, which was in northeast Finland. The battalion was assigned to patrol duties in the Tiksje Lake area.

In April of 1944, the unit received its first Norwegian battalion commander, Haupsturmfuhrer Frode Halle, who was transferred from the Norge Regiment. The battalion continued its patrol duties through May, seeing only light action. On June 25, 1944, the Soviets attacked the positions of the Nord Division, the end result being that the battalion found itself surrounded. It held out in the town of Kaprolat despite incessant Soviet artillery and mortar attacks.

On the 26th, troops from SS Mountain Regiment II broke through and relieved the ski battalion. Reduced to 300 men before the Soviet attack, the ski battalion was one in name only afterwards, having suffered over 135 casualties.

The survivors were then moved to the Sohjana River for the bulk of the summer. In August, 200 replacements arrived from Norway, and the unit became occupied with their training.

On September 4, 1944, Finland capitulated. The ski battalion, like other units in the 20th Mountain Army, began to withdraw towards Norway with Narvik as their destination. The ski battalion found itself as the rear guard for the Nord Division, and later responsible for guarding bridges over the Kemijoka River. When the last German troops in the area had withdrawn across them, the bridges were destroyed by the battalion.

The now hostile Finns continued their pursuit of the retreating German forces until reaching the Norwegian border. The battalion's survivors reached Narvik by December, 1944, and were shortly afterwards transferred by ship to Myson (near Oslo). The battalion was then basically disbanded, the intention being that all surviving personnel were to be incorporated into a new motorized security battalion with the name SS Polizei Battalion 506. This was not to be, however, as Germany collapsed in May 1945, leaving the stillborn unit to surrender to indigenous resistance forces.

The Norwegian S.S. Ski BN appears in Fire in the East/Scorched Earth on October 1 1943.