Norway 1940 : The Gudbrandsdal Valley

For our next battle in the Dungeon we have jumped back to Norway 1940, mainly as I had the early war Germans still out of their box. As I still only have a smallish number of Norwegians I wanted to support them with British. We have previously looked at the Battle of Kvam following the magazine article in WSS. However, as the Germans moved north along the Gudbrandsdal Valley brushing the Norwegian defenders aside the British were landing at Andalsnes and heading SE until they met the retreating Norwegians at Kvam. The basis for todays battle is the British have managed to move further down the valley to link up with the remaining Norwegians at Fåberg. Here they will try and hold the advance.

A map of the Gudbrandsdal valley, I am still learning more about the Norwegian campaign so hope to build in some more historical battles ? Thoughts welcome

The scenario has the Norwegian forces on the table roughly half way across, the British will come on from behind them with artillery support, the Germans must force their way across the table, the Norwegians have the choice to hold and be overwhelmed or give ground as they pull back.

First turn and some of the Norwegians are already pulling back, but some are taking fire

The German force consists of veteran mountain Gebirgsjager 

View across the valley, the river is frozen so crossable on foot

The British are supported by one the few remaining Gloster Gladiators this may help to pin the advancing Germans in the open

A view across the whole battlefield, about 5 x 6 foot

Close up shot of the Gebirgsjager advancing through the snow

The last two Norwegian units holding their ground take a real battering and are pinned in position unable to retreat

German armour advancing down the road PzII, the Neubaufahrzeug Heavy Tank and a SdKfz222

The British artillery armed with 25mm Hotchkiss guns have opened up and knock out the armoured car which bursts into fire

The gloster continues to circle above the trees whilst the PzII advances towards the village,

the Gebirgsjager have now taken the area around the log piles

The rest of the German infantry have jumped from their trucks and the Neubaufahrzeug has pulled to the right

Norwegian infantry have pulled back to take cover and are now supported by the British

The Gebirgsjager now assault and knock out the Madsen machine gun

A wider shot showing the general advance but the Germans need to push forward

The Germans storm the building, but have still not gained enough ground

The PzII is also pushing up threatening to over run the British behind 

Then a lucky shot from one of the German MG34 hits the Gloster which is forced to fly off

Finally and luckily for the Germans an extra turn is rolled for and they make a final push forward, the victory line being beyond the first building.

It has cost the Germans to break through but we agreed a minor victory to them as at least one active infantry unit was over the line. You can’t see it in this picture but the Neubaufahrzeug took a hit and blew up in the final turn so the Pz II is the only remaining German armour. 

A good battle all round hard fought to the last turn but Lady Luck was with the Germans the British will have to withdraw back to Kvam.

Just to show the views are not always great in the Lake District a rainy day last Friday thick cloud and only a few yards visibility on the tops but refreshing all the same 👍

We are hopefully off to Vapnartak this weekend in search of new toys so any followers who’d are attending and are interested in saying hi let me know

Thanks as always for taking the time to look

Matt