Occupied Norway 1940–1945: A Brief Background to Hostage

This chapter gives background and context to the events that provide the material for this anthology—the systematic devastation of Finnmark and parts of Troms and the concomitant forced evacuation of the civilian population from October 1944 to February 1945. Although Rendulic issued the 29 October 1944 order in his capacity as Commander of German forces in Northern Norway, he was not alone responsible for that fateful order. The chapter therefore includes but also goes beyond the 29 October order’s immediate military background. It discusses the dramatic developments in the 20th Mountain Army’s area of operation in Northern Norway, Finland, and the Soviet Union in the summer and autumn of 1944. The chapter starts with an outline of the occupation regime in Norway and the role of key decision-makers behind the events that led to Rendulic’s indictment at the US military tribunal. Afterwards follow some remarks on Norway’s—and Northern Norway’s in particular—role in the war, as well as a presentation of the political and military events that preceded the return of the 20th Mountain Army to Norway and Rendulic’s order of 29 October 1944. The chapter ends with a brief note on German and English-language literature about this fragment of Germany’s Second World War military history and Norwegian occupation experience, as well as references to selected Norwegian and Russian-language texts.