Operation Snow, winter exercise of 36-37
The Norwegian general staff was in a meeting. During 1936 two new divisions of recruits had been called out to do active service and now it had been decided it was needed to send the Norwegian Army on exercise to train on winter and mountain warfare.
The Norwegian general staff.
At the meeting was the chief of staff, General Otto Ruge, chief of army, General Kristian Laake, chief of navy, Admiral Henry Diesen and the chief of air force, Jacob von der Lippe.
The two army generals Ruge and Laake was clearly pushing forward that the general staff should put more pressure on the government to use more money on the army.
-It is my clear opinion that the army needs more money, we need to modernize most of the units, only one of them is currently up to date, the rest is sadly out of date.
-But Ruge, what about the navy? The navy is even smaller than your precious army, and then I haven’t even though about the air force or what von der Lippe?
-Yes, yes admiral. As you all know the Norwegian air force consist of just about 5 planes, and we are lucky if we are able to get 3 of them into the air… So therefore I must say that what we have today isn’t an air force it is just some old fashion planes that might be used for training, but it wouldn’t stand a chance against modern planes in battle.
As you all know from reports from Spain it is clear that the air force is the weapon of modern warfare!
-Well I can see both of you have expressed your opinions clear, but what do you say Laake?
-Well sir, I tend to agree with you… As we all know Norway have no possibility to produce any aircrafts at the moment, so no matter how much we would like an air force, we have no way to create it. As for the navy, yes we could surly need more ships, and we have the naval yard in Horten ready to produce new ships, but really Diesen, you got a new set of destroyers just some weeks ago.
-And besides what should we use a stronger navy for. Norway is under no threat of invasion, and it won’t be a war in Europe for decades, so it is nothing to worry about.
-I guess that settles it then. I have heard all your objections and opinions gentlemen, but I agree with Laake we should focus on the army. Although I am not to sure that there will be decades until the next war. The rise of right wing controlled countries in Europe is scary, but it seems like there isn’t really a great will for war, and besides in the event of a war Norway would immediately declare neutral just like last time…
Now on to the planning of the winter exercises. Operation Snow is to go ahead in December and January. Fleischer will take “Den Norske Hær” into the woods around Terningmoen. The winter in Elverum can be hard, and that will be well.
-Yes, sir. So I presume we are going to focus on the skiing troops?
-Yes, as well as training in winter camouflage and defence. As well I hope we might get some training in air defence as well
-That should be possible, sir. It if isn’t to cold I shall try to get at least 2 or 3 of the plans into the air, but then again as I said the air force is out of date and I can’t promise anything. If it is too cold, then it is too cold…
-Very well. We shall have blue team defending the woods and red team is the aggressive force. So have the written orders sent to Fleischer at once.
- As well Graff-Wang is to do exercise in and around the mountains of Narvik. It should be an exercise in co-operation with the navy…
-That won’t be a problem, sir, the navy is ready.
-Good issue the orders to Graff-Wang as well then. Operation Snow shall begin on the 10th of December and it shall last until the 5th of February next year.
Good then we have agreed! You all know what to do?
-Yes, sir
Norwegian soldiers during Operation Snow, defending Terningmoen, the army base in Elverum. Operation Snow turned out as a shock to the army commanders, and a much needed lesson
Operations Snow turned out to be something the army was in deep need off. The beginning of the operations was filled with failed orders, missed objectives and much communication problem between the units. It also became clear than when the temperature dropped below -5 degrees Celsius it was impossible even to get the engines of the planes to run, and during the entire exercise it was only able to have 2 of the planes in the air for two hours on just one day. This lead to a change in the thinking in the general staff, and it was decided to start negotiations with Aircraft companies for the purchase of planes.
Also it became clear that the army lacked any modern transport, and it was decided to look into the ways of armoured warfare. A special team was sent to Britain to look at the armoured forces, and it was decided that the possibility of purchasing armoured units from Britain or France should be looked into.
The Chief of Navy knew that the pride of the Norwegian navy wouldn’t stand a change against a modern fleet, but the Navy’s fine achievement in Operation Snow would put a stop to any modernizing of the navy.
The navy on the other side was the only of the weapon branches that managed all its objectives in the exercise, and it became clear that although the pride of the navy was old it worked fine in co-operation with ground troops, the only problem Admiral Diesen could see was that with this fine show his navy would probably be put even further down in the list of priorities. He knew that the navy might work to ground bombardment and transporting troops, but the Norwegian navy wouldn’t stand a chance against the modern battle fleet, and certainly not against the new weapon of the British and the Americans, the aircraft carrier.