| The Nazi propaganda image shows a German Wehrmacht assault detachment during the occupation of a stretch of the Norwegian mountain railway between Oslo and Bergen (Bergensbanen) during the advance march into Norway in early 1940. A Nazi German kriegsberichter has written on the reverse of the image on April 7, 1942, “Two years ago, security operations began in Norway. On April 9, 1940, the German Wehrmacht began a large-scale operation to secure the Norwegian area. Thanks to the perfect cooperation of all three sections of the Wehrmacht (Heer, Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe), this bold operation has gone down as unprecedented in history. – Our picture of the taking of the Oslo-Bergen railway line shows troops on a railway carriage during the capture of this highly important stretch.” German troops being transported along the main railway line running north from Oslo to the port of Bergen. German troops were trained to take advantage of any available transport and the Norwegian railways were obviously going to be utilized by them. In the early advances through Norway the Germans were not sure how much opposition they would face from the Norwegian Army. At the center of this group the Kommandant keeps a keen look out for any Norwegian Army units still resisting. During the German advance it was not so much force of arms that proved important but the speed and forcefulness of their attacks that won many actions. The German troops are looking upwards to check for enemy snipers in the rocks above the railway. Having captured the main cities and ports of Norway, the Germans enjoyed a short break before beginning to advance into the rest of the country. During the 1st days and weeks of the campaign the only opposition to these advances came from Norwegians willing to fight the invaders. The German soldaten manning the rear truck of the advancing train were Heavily armed. As well as their own MG34 7.92 millimeter (0.312 caliber) light machine guns, these troops had also acquired a Norwegian MG-08 Maxim heavy machine gun. The only advantage for the Norwegians trying to counter these German advances was their familiarity with the terrain in which they were fighting. To deal with enemy fire, Nazi German soldaten would scramble down from the goods wagon carrying them along a railway going north from Oslo through southern Norway. Any Norwegian resistance was met the customary brute force. However, the Germans did not regard the Norwegians fighting them as guerrillas, and prisoners were taken with a degree of civilization not seen in Poland in 1939 or from 1941 in Russia and the Balkans. Since the roads through Norway’s mountainous landscapes were barely passable, German tank troops used the railways as their advance routes. Besides rail cars, the Nazi Germans adapted a Sonderkraftzeug 231 armored reconnaissance vehicle to run on railroad tracks. A Nazi German kriegsberichter wrote about the Heer’s use of trains on May 3, 1940: “This is what it looks like in the Norwegian high plains. The successful battle of our troops in Norway played out in large part in the high mountains, which presented them with particular challenges. It is a barren and bare landscape. The lakes are frozen over until the end of June. For wide stretches, the railway tracks run through snow tunnels that had to be laid down to protect from snow drifts.” The Bergen Line, or the Bergen Railway (Norwegian: Bergensbanen or Nynorsk: Bergensbana), is a 371 kilometer (231 mile) long scenic standard gauge railway line between Bergen and Hønefoss, Norway. The name is often applied to the entire route from Bergen to Oslo, including the Randsfjord and Drammen lines between Hønefoss and Oslo, covering a total distance of 496 kilometers (308 miles). It is the highest mainline railway line in Northern Europe, crossing the Hardangervidda plateau at 1,237 meters (4,058 feet) above sea level. It opened in 1894 and was still being expanded during the Nazi German occupation of Norway due to their need to control supplies and communications between their Nordic garrisons. | |
| Image Filename | wwii0746.jpg |
| Image Size | 385.04 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 1476 x 2034 |
| Photographer | |
| Photographer Title | Kriegsberichter |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | April 20, 1940 |
| Location | |
| City | Bergen |
| State or Province | Midhordland |
| Country | Norway |
| Archive | |
| Record Number | |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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