The corps was formed in July 1940 and was later transferred to Northern Norway as part of Armeeoberkommando Norwegen ("army high command Norway"). Its first action was taking part in Operation Renntier ("reindeer"), the occupation of FinnishPetsamo to protect the nickel mines there from USSR. In June 1941 the corps attacked from Petsamo to MurmanskinOperation Platinum Fox (German: Unternehmen Platinfuchs). The attack failed and the corps never reached its goal.
In April and May 1942 the corps faced one of its toughest challenges. Over a period of three weeks, the Soviet 14th Army attacked, trying to defeat the Corps. But there was another enemy - on 4 May 1942, a devastating, 90-hour-long polar storm took its toll on the soldiers.[1][page needed]
In November 1942 the corps was renamed the XIX. Gebirgs-ArmeekorpsorXIX Mountain Corps.
In 1944 the corps finally had to retreat back to Norway, where it surrendered in May 1945. From November 1944 onwards the corps was also sometimes known as Armeeabteilung Narvik.
Plus some Finns (border security, road maintenance), Norwegian and Dutch workers, Nationalsozialistisch Kraftfahrkorps (Speer) and 2,335 prisoners of war.
James R. Smither, Review of "Arctic Front: The Advance of Mountain Corps Norway on Murmansk, 1941 By Wilhelm Hess," Michigan War Studies Review, accessed at http://www.miwsr.com/2021-101.aspx, 3 December 2021. Translation of 1956 German work. Smither comments that "[w]hile this translation of Hess's work is a welcome addition to the Anglophone literature on Barbarossa, it has its limitations. [Hess] scrupulously avoids discussing Nazi ideology and policies, and skirts around issues relating to the mistreatment of civilians, especially in Norway, where he acknowledges the presence of a resistance movement. He concentrates on narrowly military issues or matters relating to German cooperation with the Finns."
Tessin, Georg (1980). Die Landstreitkräfte: Namensverbände / Die Luftstreitkräfte (Fliegende Verbände) / Flakeinsatz im Reich 1943–1945 [Ground forces: Named units and formations / Air forces (Flying units and formations) / Anti–aircraft service in the Reich 1943–1945] (in German). Vol. 14. Osnabrück: Biblio. ISBN3-7648-1111-0. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
Ziemke, Earl F. (1959). The German Northern Theater of Operations 1940-1945. Vol. Department of the Army Pamphlet No. 20-271. United States. Department of the Army.
Nazi Germany
