Hegra Fortress
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| Hegra festning | |
|---|---|
| Hegra, Norway | |
| Built | 1907–1910 |
| In use | 1907–1926 and 1940 |
| Controlled by | Norway, Nazi Germany |
| Commanders | Hans Reidar Holtermann (1940) |
| Battles/wars | Norwegian campaign 1940 Battle of Hegra Fortress |
Hegra fortress (Norw., Hegra festning) is a small mountain fortress in Hegra, Stjørdal, in the county of Nord-Trøndelag, Norway. It was built as a border fort in the years 1907–10 as a defence against perceived threat of Swedish invasion (no such invasion came). The use of the fortress was discontinued in 1926.
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[edit] The fortress in the Norwegian Campaign
In 1940, from April 15 to May 5, Hegra was attacked by the German invaders. During the first week the attacks consisted of two infantry assaults; however in the last two weeks attacks mostly featured heavy artillery fire and Luftwaffe bombing, as well as aggressive patrolling.
The fortress' artillery consisted of two 7,5 cm and four 10.5 cm positional artillery pieces in half-turrets, as well as a small number of 19th century model 8,4 cm field guns (described by the Germans after the surrender as Napoleonic). During the siege large portions of the fort was covered in snow, and as all plans of the fort was stored in German-occupied Trondheim several sections of the fortifications were not discovered by the defenders before the May 5 surrender.
[edit] The attackers
The attacking force was the German/Austrian 138. Gebirgsjägerregiment (a part of the 3. Gebirgsdivision), which landed in Trondheim on April 9. Later, from about April 25, the Germans started to substitute the 138. Gbg.Rgt. with other Wehrmacht-units.
[edit] Casualties
Six Norwegian soldiers were killed in action (all in the first days of the fighting) and about 30 wounded. In the first years after World War II the number of Germans KIA was said to be as high as 800–1000, but later this number is reduced to a probably more correct number, between five and twenty Wehrmacht soldiers KIA in Hegra.
[edit] The fortress today
After the end of the Second World War Hegra Fortress was returned to Norwegian controll and is today used as a museum with exhibitions detailing the fort's history with an emphasis on the 1940 siege. There is also a café and a souvenir shop.
[edit] External links
- (Norwegian)Hegra Fortress website
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