The Norwegian Army in Narvik

The information given above causes a number of changes to be made to the Norwegian OB presented in Narvik. First, the mountainous nature of the terrain suggests that, at the very least, all units of Feltbrigades 3, 4, and 6 should be considered to be mountain or ski. Those units of Feltbrigade 5 also deserve consideration as mountain. A 0-1-3 training battalion should be added for each regiment. This should arrive after all other units of the regiment and may not necessarily be tied to the mobilization depot, but rather to the nearest town.

Second, the cavalry regiments should have a unit type of cavalry or bicycle, not armored reconnaissance. They should also upgrade in strength if the Norwegians retain their depot to simulate the late-mobilizing reserve companies and squadrons. I do not have enough information to judge if the current disparities in strength are warranted, but DR 2 is stronger than DR 1, based on the reserve companies assigned to each that I have identified. The incomplete information on DR 3 quotes a strength of two rifle squadrons, two bicycle squadrons and the rest of the usual troops. Judging from the identifications assigned to the bicycle squadrons it appears that some of these may have been the bicycle squadrons organic to the Feltbrigades 3 and 5.

Thirdly, much artillery is missing from the Narvik OB. Much of this was overrun before the Norwegians could mobilize it, but it needs to be added. As the heavier shell weight of the 120mm battalions is balanced by the greater numbers of the 75mm battalions all of the artillery battalions should use the existing 34 rating. The single battalion of 105mm guns should perhaps have a 4-4 rating, but should be very late to mobilize.

I am not sure how'to handle the fortresses once they are mobilized. Perhaps as fortified areas? Turreted artillery would seem to justify a real combat strength rather than a fort counter, although unimproved fortresses might be one method.

The Norwegian Army in Europa

The Norwegians are rather problematic to show at Europa scale as the feltbrigades are functionally equivalent to small divisions, albeit with weak supporting arms. Neutrality watch would then show them at cadre strength to flip to full strength upon full mobilization. Unfortunately' the widely separated nature of most of the regiments does not lend itself to simplicity. It would be better overall to show each regiment separately for later amalgamation into division groups based on the feltbrigades. Due to the over-age troops and lack of firepower of the regiments, I would rate each regiment as 1-6 infantry or 1-8 mountain, with the best units possibly being 1-2-6 or 1-2-8. The two independent battalions in the North could be shown as 0-1-8 ski or mountain battalions or combined into a 1-8 ski or mountain regiment with the ID of NN or perhaps it could borrow the ID of the 7th Feltbrigade created during the campaign. The Gardet battalion is worth showing as 0- 1 -6 Inf II HMKG.

The artillery regiments rate out as 1-6 without any reserves being mobilized, and the mountain artillery would be shown by 0- 1-8 battalions. Figuring that even the reserve artillery units can mobilize in a bimonthly Europa turn then AR 2 should perhaps be a 1-2-6 given that it is the closest unit to the place of storage of those guns.

The cavalry regiments are very weak on firepower and are rather small in size as well. I would rate them as 1-7 bicycle or 1-8 cavalry based on DR 2's structure and assigned reserves. Given their real role of mounted infantry I am not comfortable either with calling them a 0-1 or 1-0. 1 am not real comfortable with either rating given that the Finns get a 2-1-8 for two smaller, but more heavily armed, regiments in their brigade in A Winter War. I would be much happier if I could brigade them together, but that is just not reasonable given the different deployment areas and lack of any provisions by the Norwegians to do so.

There is a real lack of engineer support in the Norwegian Army as no engineers were assigned to any level lower than brigade. They totaled two battalions and six companies, including reservists, but unfortunately geography dictates that the handy engineer regiment headquarters cannot be used. The best representation is to show the two engineer battalions separately as 0- 1 -6 combat engineer counters while the various companies are lumped into the feltbrigades.

There are probably enough AA guns in Norway to be worth a couple of points of static AA although I have not been able to specifically locate that many so far. The feltbrigades would look something like this once assembled:

1x 4-6 Inf XX Grp 1 F
1x 4-5-6 Inf XX Grp 2 F
2x 2-8* Mtn XX Grp 3F, 4F
1x 5-6 Mtn XX Grp 5F

(If you want the strength bonus you have to give up the mobility as its artillery is not mountain-capable.)
1x 4-5-8* Mtn XX Grp 6 Fb

Munitions production in Norway was concentrated at Raufoss and weapons production at Kongsberg. I am not sure that it is worth showing both, but one or the other should be shown and treated much like the factory at Tampere in A Winter War.

The above proposal shows the fully mobilized nature of the Norwegians rather well, but does not lend itself to representation of the neutrality watch forces well at all. I am not sure how to do this, but perhaps random selection of a couple of regiments to be placed at the locations given in the neutrality watch table?

Finally, I have steered clear of assigning hex locations for this article as the draft map of Norway that I have is nearly a decade old and I am not sure what changes Arthur Goodwin has made since then.

Norwegian Army in 1940