Midtskogen farm is situated appr. 5 km. west of the town Elverum at the mouth of the Østerdalen valley in southern Norway. The place is known in Norwegian history for the action fought here on the night between 9. and 10. of April 1940 between a German raiding party and an improvised Norwegian force. The Germans were out on a raid to kidnap the Norwegian King and cabinet and thereby forcing Norway into submission.
The Norwegian defenders mustered a numerically slightly superior force, the core of which was a rifle company of the Royal Guards (Hans Majestet Kongens Garde)and a number of hastilly mustered volunteers.
The German party consisted of appr. 100 paratroopers in comandeered Norwegian civilian vehicles. Though numerically inferior the Germans were vastly superior in terms of training and firepower, posessing numerous modern sub-machine guns, light machine guns and hand grenades.
The opposing forces clashed at around 1.30 AM on the 10 April. The ensuing firefight continued until 3 AM, ending with both forces retreating. The Norwegians moved to new positions; the Germans, realising their raid had failed, retreated to Oslo.
The casualties on both sides were light, the Germans suffering 2 men KIA and an unknown number of wounded, Norwegian losses were 3 men WIA. The action may have been small, but as it prevented capture of the King and cabinet probably saved Norway for the allied cause and proved a major boost to Norwegian morale, beeing very low due to the early German successes in the campaign.
References
- Andreas Hauge: Kampen på Midtskogen 1940, article published 1995. The same author has also written the two-volume "Kampene i Norge" with summaries in English.
