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Norwegian Army
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The Norwegian Army (Norwegian: Hæren) is the branch of the Norwegian Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the Norwegian military. The modern Army has its roots from the Norwegian constitution which was adopted on 16 May, 1814, before the establishment of Norway, to meet the demands of Sweden. Storting created the Norwegian Armed Forces in 1905 after the dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden in 1905, but the Norwegian Army was established in 1628.
Along with the Royal Norwegian Navy, the Royal Norwegian Air Force and the Norwegian Home Guard.
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Encyclopedia
The Norwegian Army (Norwegian: Hæren) is the branch of the Norwegian Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the Norwegian military. The modern Army has its roots from the Norwegian constitution which was adopted on 16 May, 1814, before the establishment of Norway, to meet the demands of Sweden. Storting created the Norwegian Armed Forces in 1905 after the dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden in 1905, but the Norwegian Army was established in 1628.
Along with the Royal Norwegian Navy, the Royal Norwegian Air Force and the Norwegian Home Guard. Established in 1628, it's considerd as the Senior service of the Armed forces, currently it has a peacetime strength of 16,000, and approximately 51,000 fully mobilized. The Army is mainly located in two areas, mid-Troms and the south-eastern part of the country, with other units like the King's Guards and the border guards placed elsewhere. Norway has 479, including 150 special forces abroad according to the Norwegian Armed Forces homepage.
Early years and formation
The Norwegian Army dates back to Viking times, when it consisted of only the household forces of local kings and their allies. The present army was established by the Danish-Norwegian king Christian IV "to defend the kingdom against exterior dangers." This is still the primary mission of the Norwegian Army.
The first great victory of the Norwegian Army came in 1808, when the Swedes attempted to invade Norway from the south, but were forced back by the forces of Prince Kristian August. In 1814 the Swedes invaded again, this time with the support of the victors of the Napoleonic wars. The Swedish king intended to take Norway by force, but the Norwegian army could not be broken despite several losses and as a result the war ended with the Swedish king accepting Norway as a separate state with its own constitution - but the Norwegians having to accept him as a king. The officer class was well represented in the forming of the Constitution in 1814, which included clauses providing for a Norwegian national army based on compulsory service.
In 1905, the Storting voted to separate from Sweden. The army had been modernized and were highly trained in the years before 1905. War seemed inevitable, and 22,000 men were mobilized, but Norway achieved independence peacefully.
World War II
As well as the Norwegian Army taking part in the Norwegian Campaign, Norwegian army members joined the Norwegian resistance movement after German forces occupied Norway. Likewise there were many Norwegian army members that joined German forces. Norwegian soldiers also joined free Norwegian units in the United Kingdom to continue the fight against the Nazis. These units included the Norwegian Independent Company 1 and 5 Troop, No.10 (Inter Allied) Army Commandos. The bulk of the Norwegian Army during the years in exile in Britain consisted of a Brigade in Dumfries as well as smaller units stationed in Iceland, Jan Mayen, Svalbard and South Georgia. Units from this brigade took control over Finnmark in 1944 after the German retreat from the Red Army. The Home Front (Hjemmefronten) was the a Norwegian resistance movement during Nazi-Germanies occupation of Norway (1940-1945).
Exile and the Scottish Brigade
, armed with Krag-Jørgensen rifles]]
In August 1940 Army High Command took over command of Norwegian army camp, Dumfries in Scotland. The camp was established in June, 1940 and named Norwegian Reception Camp. Dumfries, consisting of some 500 men and women, mainly foreign-Norwegian who had volunteered for war duty in Norway during the nazi-occupation in the spring of 1940. When the army High Command took over, there were 70 officers and about 760 privates in the camp. Through the summer the numer increased to around 1500 as several Norwegians stranded abroad made it to Britain. It was however not a big growth, many of them were transferred to the Norwegian and British navy, Norwegian merchant ships, air force or SOE.
heavy machine gun on the front-line north of Narvik]]
The soldiers in Dumfries had uniforms and had no heavy equipment brought over from Norway, including machine guns and artillery. Arming of the Norwegian army department had at this time little priority for the British government. Later on the British government would give them weapons of varying quality, for a large part surplus material from World War I.
General Carl Gustav Fleischer head of the Army High Command, had since the exile pressed the Norwegian government for the implementation of discharge of all Norwegians in conscription on the British Isles. The 22 August 1940 the British government adopted the United Allied Forces Act, which gave the Allied states authority to exercise military power on British territory. After lengthy hesitation , the exile government adopted a provisional regulation on conscription of all male Norwegian citizens from 18 to 55 years of service in the armed force.
In October 1944, 208 Norwegian men from the 2 salvage company (2 bergkompani) sent to Murmansk to the 114 division of the Soviet infantry to attach themself to them. Armed forces High Command had wanted to send a larger force, but the transport of the Norwegian soldiers and their equipment was not given priority by the Allies. After some diplomatic complexities, it was decided to send a "symbolic force" of 230, because of the capacity was later reduced to 208 and arrived in Murmansk without vehicles among others. Between the 9 to 11 November the Norwegian soldiers crossed the border into Sør-Varanger, Norway and was placed in the city of Kirkenes.
The 24 November salvage company sent to the front against the Germans. Their mission was to secure the region towards the end of the German forces retreat, and take and interrogate prisoners, and attacking the German back troops. The company operated from November to February independently and spread over a large area. 6 February, the 2. Salvage Company in Finnmark deattached themself from the Soviet forces and transferred themself to district commando of Finnmark under Colonel Arne Dahl. They were reinforced with 1300 men from the Norwegian police forces in Sweden, and other Norwegian military companies that were set up in the liberated areas.
The Cold War
The Norwegian army sent an Brigade in 1947 to support British forces occuping Northwestern Germany. The Brigade was disbanded in 1953. Norway was one of the founding members of NATO, and during the Cold War, the Norwegian Army's primary role was the defence of Norway and Western Europe's northern flank. British, Dutch and US Marines were tasked to assist in the defence of Norway during any Soviet invasion.
The Cold War was a period with sometimes high tension in eastern Finnmark, at the 196 km long border with the Soviet Union. To keep tensions from getting too high, Norway declared that no NATO exercises would take place in Finnmark. There were, however, a lot of military intelligence activity, and Norwegian P-3 Orion maritime surveillance aircraft were often the first to get pictures of newly built Soviet submarines and aircraft. A purpose built ELINT vessel, the Marjata, was always stationed near the border, and the current Marjata (7500 t, is still operating out of the ports in eastern Finnmark. As recent as 2000, Russian generals threatened to target nuclear missiles at the Globus II Radar in Vardø).
The Directives for Military Officers and Ministry Officials upon an Attack of Norway has only been close to implementation once in Norwegian history. On June 3, 1968 the Leningrad Military District in the former Soviet Union was placed on alert. Within a couple of days the mobilized forces in the Leningrad region reached 11,000 soldiers, 4,000 marines, 210 tanks, 500 troop transports, 265 self propelled canons, 1,300 logistics transports, 50 helicopters and 20 transport aircraft (Antonov AN-12), all of which were staged in the Petchenga-Murmansk area near Norway.
On the evening of June 7th, the garrison (Garnisonen i Sør-Varanger or GSV) heard the noise of powerful engines coming from the manoeuvres along the entire Soviet front of the Norwegian-Soviet border. Actual observations were not possible over the border in the dark. On that same night the GSV commanding officer ordered all GSV reserve forces to report to their emergency muster locations. The Soviet demonstration of strength lasted until 10 June, when the Soviet forces backed down.
Norway has also contributed to NATO and United Nations peacekeeping forces. Since 1947 Norway has contributed military personnel to over 40 international operations abroad and some 120,000 Norwegians have served in these operations. The major missions have been UNIFIL (Lebanon), IFOR/SFOR (Bosnia) and KFOR (Kosovo), as well as multiple contributions to UN observer missions.
War on Terror
Norway along with other Scandinavian countries, supported the US War on Terror. The Norwegian government was one of the strongest supporters for the war, Jens Stoltenberg even said “It is also in our interests to hit back against such attacks,” but added later “we assume that the USA is not interested in retaliating in any way which could pose a threat to world peace.” Norwegian Defence Minister at the Bjørn Tore Godal quoted “the United States is Norway’s most important ally. Norway is already providing intelligence assistance to the United States. If we receive a request for further support, including military support, we will of course respond positively, and in accordance with the obligations of article 5 of the NATO treaty.”
The Norwegian Army sent troops to support the NATO ISAF mission in Afghanistan, to help free Afghanistan of the Taliban. Norwegian special forces were involved in combat operations during Operation Enduring Freedom in 2002, and Norwegian Army troops during Operation Harekate Yolo in 2007. About 590 Norwegians are serving in the ISAF force.
According to Aftenposten, the Norwegian army base at Meymaneh is amongst the least secure base in Afghanistan, the base is less secure than other bases belonging to other ISAF forces. Meymaneh is located in the northwestern region of Afghanistan, the region has become increasingly restless in recent years. Taliban has grown in numbers in the region, Taliban has been able to attack Meymaneh many times. Both military and political heads of the armed forces, agreed with the Norwegian armed force about the weakened state of their base. When the Norwegian army was asked for what they needed to defend their position, they asked for 120 troops and long-range weapons. They also ordered a mobile reaction force, so that allies in the region could assist each other if they came under heavy attack by Taliban or similar rebel organizations.
Ranks and insignia
Before the unit officers was introduced around 1930, in Norway, a system similar to what you have in almost all other countries with two separate career paths:
- That non-commissioned officer is most of his career a section troop commander and second officer, and thus is the leading soldier.
- As the officer who is academically trained, and that previously came from the upper class, who starts his career with a few years as a platoon leader to get some practical experience, but that is focused on command and staff work at higher levels.
Equipment
Organization
In 2004 the Army introduced the new command and control lines. The General Inspectors is now controlling the Army through three lines - three commanders. The Army is organized along three functional lines:
- Commander, Army Forces (HSTY)
- Commander, Army Ranger Command (HJK)
- Commander, Army Transformation and Doctrine Command (TRADOK)
The Norwegian Army Special Forces Command is the only one of the Army departments which is still commanded directly under GIH. The other operational departments are led by manager of the HSTY, while the Military Academy is led by the TRADOK commander.
Army Forces (Norwegian: Hærens Styrker, abbreviated to HSTY) was established as a command and control line from 2004. The leader of the HSTY is one of three top leaders in the Army, and in practice the Army force commander. The mission is to produce Army's operational capabilities - with the exception of the Norwegian Army Special Forces Command.
HSTY is not a department, but leads all the Army units with the exception of the Norwegian Army Special Forces Command, the Military Academy and the department TRADOK. HSTY includes other departments, and Commander of the HSTY has established a management and staff for the organization of activities in the Army educational efforts and structure. HSTY is to control activities in the independent departments that belong to the control line, in practice the Norwegian Army's production apparatus. HSTY is not a department.
The reserve Brigade 6 has been disbanded as a consequence of the 2005-08 white paper, and the Brigade Nord / 6. Divisjon staff merged with HSTY. HSTY relies on NASAMS units of the Royal Norwegian Air Force for air defence. All units except Telemark Bataljon are mainly made up of conscripts. A battalion size battlegroup, formed around Bn2 or PBn on a rotational basis, is to be available for national contingencies
Army Transformation and Doctrine Command (Norwegian: Hærens transformasjons- og doktrinekommando, abbreviated to TRADOK) was established in 2004 in order to support the army leadership. TRADOK will contribute to improve the army's operational capability to drive through the innovative development, conduct qualifying education and training, produce normative documentation as well as providing future-oriented projects in the army. Working closely with the rest of the army and the military is crucial for TRADOK to function optimally.
Army Ranger Command (Norwegian: Hærens Jegerkommando, abbreviated to HJK) is the military's competence in ranger-/parachutes-/anti terror-service and a special forces operative within the Army. HJK is a flexible and operational special force as high responsiveness to solve national and international missions. Nationally, the HJK has the ability to execute related to opperasions in the North Sea. Internationally, the HJK has in recent years resolved missions in several places, most recently two missions in Afghanistan.
Subordinate commands
Army Forces
during Operation Anaconda]]
Army Transformation and Doctrine Command
| Name | Headquarters | Field |
|---|
Education Departments | | Norwegian Military Academy | | | | Army Tactical Training Centre | Rena | | | Armed Forces Winter School | | | Staff Departments | | Materials Department | | | | Transformation Department | | | | Department of Land Power and Operations | | | Subject departments | | Artillery division | | | | Engineer Department | | | | ISTAR Division | | | | Logistics Department | | | | Maneuver Division | | | | Communications Division | | | | Medical Division | | |
Army Ranger Command
Garrisons
External links
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