Independent Norwegian Brigade Group in Germany
Encyclopedia
The Independent Norwegian Brigade Group in Germany was a Norwegian expeditionary force stationed first in the Hanover
Hanover
Hanover or Hannover, on the river Leine, is the capital of the federal state of Lower Saxony , Germany and was once by personal union the family seat of the Hanoverian Kings of Great Britain, under their title as the dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg...

 area and from 1948 to 1953 in the Schleswig Holstein area of Germany as part of the British occupying force after World War II.

Background

British authorities and the Norwegian government-in-exile in London during World War II initiated discussions about contributing a Norwegian force to the occupation of Germany after the war. In a letter to the European Advisory Commission
European Advisory Commission
The formation of the European Advisory Commission was agreed on at the Moscow Conference on October 30, 1943 between the foreign ministers of the United Kingdom, Anthony Eden, the United States, Cordell Hull, and the Soviet Union, Molotov, and confirmed at the Tehran Conference in November...

 dated September 2, 1944 the government expressed its intention but with several reservations, including political approval by the Norwegian parliament once it reconvened, as well as financial resources and staff availability.

The British government initially asked for a "small division" of about 12,000 soldiers.
But estimates of the available conscription classes meant this would be far more than the manpower available at the time, and the Brigade contingents were, for all brigades, around 4200 men all told. In total about 50 000 Norwegians served in the brigades.

After the social democrat Norwegian government returned to Norway after the German capitulation, the matter was put on hold for some time. But after a visit by the lieutenant general Ole Berg
Ole Berg
Ole Berg was a Norwegian military officer. He participated in the defence during the German invasion of Norway in 1940.He built up the Norwegian police forces in Sweden from 1943 to 1945. He served as Chief of Defence of Norway from 1946 to 1955.In 1947 he was awarded the title of Commander with...

 to the United Kingdom in January 1946, there was a renewed effort to live up to the earlier commitment. The planning process was further complicated by the 1945 parliamentary elections that resulted in a Labour
Norwegian Labour Party
The Labour Party is a social-democratic political party in Norway. It is the senior partner in the current Norwegian government as part of the Red-Green Coalition, and its leader, Jens Stoltenberg, is the current Prime Minister of Norway....

 government that reorganized the military leadership of Norwegian defense forces.

In May 1946 the government published its three-year plan that sought to both build a homeland defense force and provide a force for the occupation of Germany.

The Brigades

Each Brigade served for approximately 6 months in Germany (though discrepancies exist, particularly after the start of the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...

 when the service time was lengthened), starting with Brigade 471. The numbering of the Brigades was derived from the year (first two digits) and the contingent for that year (third digit), so Bde. 471 means 1st contingent of 1947.
  • Brigade 471
  • Brigade 472
  • Brigade 481
  • Brigade 482
  • Brigade 491
  • Brigade 492
  • Brigade 501
  • Brigade 502
  • Brigade 511
  • Brigade 512
  • Brigade 521
  • Brigade 522

Weapons and Equipment

The post-war armament situation in Norway can be simply described by the term "quartermasters nightmare". The armed forces had and used a wide assortment of Norwegian weapons recaptured from the Germans, captured German weapons, British weapons as issued to Norwegian units trained in Britain, some Swedish weapons that came with the Police force consisting of Norwegian refugees trained and equipped in Sweden during the war and finally British and American weapons from air drops to the resistance.

Tysklandsbrigaden however was supplied by the British and were armed and equipped with British weapons, wore British webbing and British uniforms. But the difficult situation needed a solution, and after testing and debate the decision was made around 1950 to adopt and standardize the weapons then in use by the United States for the regular armed forces (the Home Guard (Heimevernet) kept the captured Mauser K98's and other German weapons, most converted to fire the .30-06 round to standardize ammunition supply). This decision also covered Tysklandsbrigaden and its weapons.

Starting with some parts of Brigade 512, the transformation was finished during Bde. 521's contingent.
This however had an advertent effect on the training of the personnel in Bde. 521 and all the ensuing Brigades, before this a fairly large amount of ammunition allocated for training purposes had ensured excellent results through rigorous training. The change from .303
.303
.303 may refer to:* .303 British, a rifle cartridge* .303 Savage, a rifle cartridge* Lee-Enfield rifle* .303 , a short film...

 caliber Lee Enfield rifles, Bren
Bren
The Bren, usually called the Bren Gun, was a series of light machine guns adopted by Britain in the 1930s and used in various roles until 1991...

 LMG
Light machine gun
A light machine gun is a machine gun designed to be employed by an individual soldier, with or without an assistant, as an infantry support weapon. Light machine guns are often used as squad automatic weapons.-Characteristics:...

s and Vickers
Vickers
Vickers was a famous name in British engineering that existed through many companies from 1828 until 1999.-Early history:Vickers was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by the miller Edward Vickers and his father-in-law George Naylor in 1828. Naylor was a partner in the foundry Naylor &...

 machine guns to .30-06 caliber M1 Garand
M1 Garand
The M1 Garand , was the first semi-automatic rifle to be generally issued to the infantry of any nation. Called "the greatest battle implement ever devised" by General George S...

 rifles, BAR
Browning Automatic Rifle
The Browning Automatic Rifle was a family of United States automatic rifles and light machine guns used by the United States and numerous other countries during the 20th century. The primary variant of the BAR series was the M1918, chambered for the .30-06 Springfield rifle cartridge and designed...

 LMGs and Browning M1919
M1919
Under the old Model-year nomenclature system many different Pieces of equipment had the same Model number.* M1919 Browning machine gun* 16"/50 caliber M1919 gun* M1919 Christie 57mm Gun Medium Tank...

Machine guns (these were the principal infantry weapons in use, other weapons types were also affected) meant that the British could no longer supply Tysklandsbrigaden. The considerable drop of available ammunition showed up clearly, when Bde. 521 had to report that due to lack of ammunition for training, the Brigade was not fit for combat.

This was a very serious situation indeed, as not only had the Brigade's mission been changed from pure occupation to first-line defence against a possible Soviet invasion of Western Europe; there was at this time serious consideration regarding a Norwegian contingent in the Korean War, and the most convenient troops to send were Tysklandsbrigaden. Luckily for the troops, none were ever sent to Korea, and with the precarious situation a deployment to Korea could easily have ended in disaster.
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