Battle of Dombas

DATE: 01/09/2024

TIME (GMT): 18:00

ERA: WW2

MAP(S): Vinjesvingen

TYPE: COOP

TEAMSPEAK: ts1.biaarma.com

GAME: Arma 3

EVENT: Official

AUTHOR(S): Aris and Vuk for Brothers in Arms

SLOTS: 52 / 84

RATING: (4)

The Battle of Dombas was fought between Norwegian Army infantry forces and German Fallschirmjager paratroops in mid-April 1940. As part of their conquest of Norway south of Trondheim, and as a countermeasure against reported Allied landings in the Romsdal area of south-western Norway, the Germans dropped a company of paratroopers near the vital railroad junction of Dombas on 14 April 1940. For the next five days, the German force blocked the Dovre Line railroad line between Oslo and Trondheim, as well as the main road between the two cities.

The German force air dropped on Dombas was the 1st Company of the 1st Battalion of the 1st Regiment of the 7th Flieger Division. Based at Heimatstandort Stendal near Magdeburg the unit was ordered to Norway on 12 April, landing at Fornebu Airport near Oslo on 13 April. 1st Company was commanded by Oberleutnant Herbert Schmidt and was 185 strong, armed with light weaponry and 22 MG34 machine guns; four of which were mounted on tripods for the medium machine gun role.While the other four companies of the battalion had been sent into action on the first day of the German invasion of Denmark and Norway, the 1st Company had initially been held in reserve.

The Norwegian force initially based at Dombas was the 2nd Battalion of Infantry Regiment 11.Two days after the attack No. 1 Company of Infantry Regiment 5 arrived as reinforcements and on 17 April 2 Battalion was replaced by its sister unit, 1st Battalion of Infantry Regiment 11. Reinforcements in the form of a machine gun platoon and an anti-aircraft gun also arrived on 17 April.On the last day of the battle, the Norwegians were joined by some of the first British forces to see action on land in Norway when a howitzer manned by Royal Marines joined the fighting.

At around 16:00 Norwegian time on 14 April, fifteen Junkers Ju 52 transport aircraft took off from Fornebu Airport near Oslo in hail and sleet with low cloud cover. An hour earlier, one Ju 52 had flown a reconnaissance flight over the drop area at Dombas without being able to see anything through the cloud cover.Even though the officers on the site wished to postpone the mission due to the weather conditions the fact that the mission was based on a direct command from Adolf Hitler meant that it had to be carried out despite the risks involved.

The mission the German Fallschirmjager embarked on was the second opposed paratroop attack in history, the first had occurred five days previously when the Norwegian airbase of Sola near Stavanger was captured during the 9 April invasion of Norway

The attack at Dombas made the Norwegian Central Bank speed up the evacuation of the Norwegian gold reserves. The 50t of gold had been evacuated from Oslo on 9 April and was being kept in a vault in Lillehammer when the German attack on Dombas began. As soon as news of German paratroopers landing spread, the gold was put on a train and brought to Åndalsnes from where it was evacuated by way of British cruisers and Norwegian fishing boats.

King Haakon VII of Norway and his son, Crown Prince Olav were both at Dovre, near the drop zone and only 30 minutes from the nearest groups of paratroopers when the attack began on 14 April. The King and Crown Prince both had to be escorted out of the area by members of the Dovreskogen Rifle Club.

The Germans lost a total of 21 dead during the battle, as well as 40 wounded or injured. Of these, 15 of the fatalities occurred during the initial phase of the attack, as well as 20 wounded and 14 personnel suffering injuries. Six more were killed and another six wounded during the fighting that led to the final German surrender on 19 April. Around 150 Germans were taken as prisoners of war. Seven Junkers Ju 52 transports were shot by ground-fire and an eighth Ju 52 landed in neutral Sweden.Norwegian casualties in the battle totaled 20 dead and 20 wounded.

In the aftermath of the German attack on Dombas, efforts were made by Norwegian military authorities to prevent further Fallschirmjager landings by organizing volunteers into anti-paratroop ski patrols. By 23 April 415 volunteers from 13 local rifle clubs were carrying out regular patrols of the mountains of Osterdalen. Of the volunteers, 100 had military uniforms, the rest only armbands. Second-line regular troops were also employed to guard against new German paratroop attacks.The weapons captured from the Germans at Dombas were not distributed to Norwegian troops, but rather stored at the village of Tretten, where they were recaptured by the Germans on 23 April.