History experts needed (Narvik Campaign)

[Eivind IV]

I am currently working on a scenario covering the two battles of Narvik. The books I rented at the library was crap and told nothing of the units fighting in those battles, only that it was captured by the allies and then recaptured by the Germans - again.

I've searched the net and never found the orders of battles I am looking for. So does anyone posess any great knowledge about this and can help me out choosing units and such?

Thanks!

[Case]

You're in luck: the good folks at Hyperwar have digitalised the offical British history of the Norway Campaign, putting it up on the net at: https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/UN/...way/index.html As well as going into absurd levels of detail on the operations in Norway, the history includes more maps then you can poke a stick at (this being a feature of all the British Offical Histories). The hyperlinked index is also a nice feature, and should make compiling the German OOB a breaze

The Allied OOB will be even easier to compile: there's an apendix listing all the Allied units involved at: https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/UN/...-Norway-B.html

As a bonus, the book is aparently out of copywrite, meaning that you can use any of the maps and photos as you see fit. For example, this aerial shot of Narvik would make a nice title picture:

[Case]

BTW, the detailed OOB of the German 3rd Mountain Division, some of which fought at Narvik, is available at www.expage.com/3gebirgsdiv

[Eivind IV]

Thanks, Case! I've seen thos pages before and they're great! This information is very thorough, maybe it would be better if I concentrated on a mere Weserübung scen? Would there be a marked for such a scenario everyone?

[Case]

Originally posted by Kobra
This information is very thorough, maybe it would be better if I concentrated on a mere Weserübung scen? Would there be a marked for such a scenario everyone?

I'd be very interested.

If you haven't seen it, I half-completed a scenario on the Norwegian/Scandinavian campaing of 1940, and it's available on my website (see the link in my profile).

[Boco]

[Cyrion]

Yep, interested too!

[Eivind IV]

(Yes, I have that scenario, Case )

Great, I'll get started ASAP!

It would make my job a lot easier if all you experts would give me some pointers on what units to use and such! So don't be self-conscious, come out of the closet and come along!

[Boco]

Who does the human play?

Coastal Batteries!

[Eivind IV]

Who does the human play?

Good question! Havn't quite figured that out yet. It would maybe be too easy to play from the German side, yet if you play as the allies, then the AI Germany will for sure make many stupid moves.

Could it be an idea to make it a multiplayer scen, and in that way keep the historical integrity and perhaps make it possible to repell the invasion?

I made quick draft to the map btw. It's far from finished. Is it possible to somehow make it bigger as in hight? I stretched it to the limit in MapEdit.

[Case]

Originally posted by Boco
Who does the human play?

Coastal Batteries!

...and moose cavalry


Seriously, here are some unit ideas:

British:

Independant Company (the pre-war commandos)
Conscript Infantry (poorly trained and led)
Regular Infantry
Royal Marines
Destroyer
Light Cruiser
Heavy Cruiser
Battlecruiser (the HMS Renown from memory)
The various classes of battleships modeled individually? (probably not essential)
Submarine
Hurricane Fighter
Whatever aircraft the RN was using (Fulmars?)

French

Alpine Troops

Polish

Erm, Polish troops (I suspect that they had a more fancy name )

Norwegian

Regulars
Reservists (who appear a few turns into the scenario, giving the Germans time to grab undefended cities. Like Oslo )
Bicycle Infantry
Mountain Infantry
Police?
Armoured Car
Coastal Defence Battleship
Torpedo Boat?

German
Paratroopers
Glider Infantry
Mountain Infantry
Regular Infantry? (I'm not sure if the Germans did actually send any regulars to Norway)
Panzer Company (I think the Germans only sent a company's worth of some kind of obscure tank to Norway)
U-Boat
Minesweeper
Destroyer
Light Cruiser
Heavy Cruiser
Pre-Drednaught
Pocket-Battleship
Battlecruiser
JU-87
HE-111
ME-109
JU-88? (there weren't many JU-88s at the time, and they may have been kept in reserve for the attack on France).

BTW, if you haven't seen the page, there's lots of useful stuff at: http://www.nuav.net/articles.html

[Eivind IV]

Now we're talking! Thank you very mucho, Case!

[Eivind IV]

(I think the Germans only sent a company's worth of some kind of obscure tank to Norway)

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pritty sure there was some pz Is and IIs after they secured Oslo. They proved very unuseful though when advancing northwards to the mountainranges.

http://www.nuav.net/panzer.html

(A couple of weeks ago I also listed a ton of links to 'weser sites': http://www.cdgroup.org/forums/tbs/ci...opic.php?t=304 )

[Case]

That's a very nice set of links!

Would you be interested in copying and pasting it at: http://www.historic-battles.com/yabb...x.php?board=76 ?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pritty sure there was a respectable amount of pz Is and IIs after they secured Oslo.

No you're right, and I'm wrong. I was only aware of the inital wave of tanks, and didn't know that the Germans landed any more.

[Eivind IV]

Sure thing!