Our next stop in our Norwegian Campaign Recreation was the town of Tretten, and its battle of 23, April. The British 148th Brigade made up of two Territorial Battalions, the 8 Sherwood Foresters and 5 Royal Leicestershire, would attempt to stop or at least slow down, the advancing German forces moving on Trondheim. It would not go well for the Allies.
While the following photo shows events that take place later in the battle, its a good view of the battlefield. The view is from the north, with Tretten itself just out of view to the bottom right. The River Laagen (partially frozen and crossable only at the bridge at the bottom), runs down the middle, flanked by the main highway to the left, and the railroad to the right. The Germans will be approaching from the upper left. For the game, each company is represented by a squad (8-11 figures ea). The Germans have troops from a Mountain Battalion (from Austria), infantry, tanks, and a SiG 33 (self propelled 150mm! The Brits have only A/T Rifles to counter the tanks, and are supported by three very weak Norwegian Dragoon units.
The first German units to arrive on the field via the highway, (some German units had moved on the RR line to the south of the river, but the Brits remained quiet until now...
As the two German Gebirgsjager squads move up the slope to flank the defenders, they are taken under fire, and they take casualties...
The Germans respond with their artillery support, a 75mm Infantry gun and 150mm SP gun. Note, the brick walls are standing in for rock sangars which the local Norwegian population had prepared for their allies...
In the hills overlooking the valley, fire is exchanged between a Norwegian Dragoon section (only four men) and the two Gebirgsjager squads. The outcome is not surprising as three Dragoons go down versus four Germans...
Additional Germans begin to arrive on the highway while artillery continues to pound the Brits...
While Germans continue to advance up the RR, a second British squad opens up on the advancing Germans on the highway, inflicting serious loss on the lead squad...
The Germans return fire and it leaves only one Brit remaining in the squad...
Continuing the skirmish in the hills, the Gebirgsjager finish off the first Dragoon section...
Fortunately for the Allies, even German artillery miss from time to time...
The Brits score heavily again against the advancing Germans, but OMG, now German armor arrives!
Interesting, the armor misses all their shots, but a new German squad racks up some hits (red cap=pinned, can't move next turn; yellow cap=shaken, no move or shooting next turn).
One German squad rushes the British defense line (center of photo)with plenty of fire support. Artillery again is devastating...
While yet another fresh German squad moves up, the artillery continues to smash the British defenses...
As the Gebirgsjager advance to cutoff the few British remain down below, a British reserve (located along the river bank near center of photo) opens fire, cutting down several...
Within two further turns, the German artillery (again!) smashes both British reserve squads (along river and RR), and its basically over...
A small note of Allied positivity at the end, the two remaining Norwegian squads (center of photo) shoot up another Gebirgsjager squad up on the snow-covered hills...
In terms of game play, it was a completely lopsided German victory, although they did take some losses. But the campaign was not built to be fair in that regard. Historically, the 148 Brigade was destroyed at Tretten, with only some 300 survivors able to withdraw! Next up is the arguably, the most desperately fought engagement of the Norwegian campaign...the two day battle at Kvam, waged by the British 15 Brigade against the German forces commanded by General Pellengahr. Stay turned...
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