Namsos Campaign - Clash in The South

Clash in The South

By 21 April, British forces had advanced quickly as far south as the hamlet of Verdal where both road and railway bridges crossed the River Inna, a few miles inland from Trondheimsfjord. This was about halfway between Trondheim and Namsos, some miles down the fjord. They spotted a German gunboat, two armed trawlers and a destroyer in the fjord, on their flanks, well able to land troops behind them and direct fire at them, to which they lacked the means to respond.

When De Wiart landed at Namsos on April 15, the Germans had about 1,800 troops in the Trondheim area, some in the city and some along the railway to Sweden. Their possession of the Værnes airfield enabled them to fly extra troops in daily, and by 18 April, they had 3,500 men available in the area, the next day 5,000. They were generally well equipped, but lacking in field artillery. Some German troops were diverted to Hegra, where an improvised force of 251 Norwegians were holding out in an old border fort. They began pushing up the fjord and forward patrols reached Verdal on 16 April.

The Verdal bridge was defended by some 80 Norwegian soldiers, armed with Krag-Jørgensen rifles and Colt M/29 heavy machine guns. When the Germans attacked on the morning of the 21st, the Norwegians were supported by a section of Royal Engineers who happened to be in the area. For an hour and a half this force held the German attack off. The majority of the British forces were a little further back. But, the Germans landed forces at several points behind them in an attempt to outflank, drawing the attention of the main British forces. Fearing to be cut off, the Norwegians and the Royal Engineers withdrew.

A battle developed. Advantage was with the Germans, who were equipped with snowshoes and skis, and sledge mounted heavy mortars, and light field guns. They possessed air support from an airfield 35 miles away and had supporting naval gunfire.

There was no panic among the British and Norwegian forces and they succeeded in countering the first moves of the Germans. Heavy fighting occurred around the small village of Vist. Initial attacks were repelled, but the Germans outflanked the British positions by going around them on skis through the deep snow.

The Luftwaffe attacked and destroyed the British forward base at Steinkjer on 21 April, causing the loss of much of their supplies and destroying 242 houses, leaving over 1,800 Norwegian civilians homeless. Although 80% of the town was destroyed in the attack no lives were lost in the bombing.