Mountain_Corps_Norway
Mountain Corps Norway
Military unit
Mountain Corps Norway (German: Gebirgskorps Norwegen) was a German army unit during World War II. It saw action in Norway and Finland.
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The corps was formed in July 1940 and was later transferred to Northern Norway as part of Armeeoberkommando Norwegen ("army high command Norway"). Its first action was taking part in Operation Renntier ("reindeer"), the occupation of Finnish Petsamo to protect the nickel mines there from USSR. In June 1941 the corps attacked from Petsamo to Murmansk in Operation Platinum Fox (German: Unternehmen Platinfuchs). The attack failed and the corps never reached its goal.
In April and May 1942 the corps faced one of its toughest challenges. Over a period of three weeks, the Soviet 14th Army attacked, trying to defeat the Corps. But there was another enemy - on 4 May 1942, a devastating, 90-hour-long polar storm took its toll on the soldiers.[1][page needed]
In November 1942 the corps was renamed the XIX. Gebirgs-Armeekorps or XIX Mountain Corps.
In 1944 the corps finally had to retreat back to Norway, where it surrendered in May 1945. From November 1944 onwards the corps was also sometimes known as Armeeabteilung Narvik.