Battle of Gratangen - Aftermath

Aftermath

Despite soundly defeating I/IR12, the Germans understood that their position in Gratangsbotn was untenable. The fresh Alta Battalion under Arne Dagfin Dahl pressed on from the north and II/IR15 resumed its advance over Lapphaugen.

The Germans therefore abandoned Gratangen soon after the battle.

For the Norwegians on the Narvik front, the battle of Gratangen proved their first serious lesson in the art of war. Before the battle, the inexperienced Norwegian soldiers often had hesitated to fire on the enemy. After Gratangen, the bitterness caused by the German ruthlessness—particularly the use of civilians as human shields—ensured that any such reservations were gone.