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Just a few days later, however, Nazi German leader Adolf Hitler opted for a “scorched earth” military policy to make sure nothing would be left for the Soviet forces who were pushing his forces westward in Northern Norway. Hitler’s troops were ordered to burn and destroy everything they could.


This was one of the few buildings left standing on AS Sydvaranger mine company property at Bjørnevatn, east of Kirkenes. Called “Rørbua,” liberated locals used it to re-establish their municipal council in Sør-Varanger, and it was to be put under formal historical preservation orders on Saturday. The Norwegian flag was raised here on October 25, 1944, as the first on freed Norwegian territory, thanks to the Soviet troops at the time who fought back Norway’s Nazi German occupiers. PHOTO: Sør-Varanger Kommune/Susanne Wasa Hagen

As a result, almost every single building in Norway’s vast northern area from Finnmark in the east to Hammerfest in the west was burned down or demolished, apart from a few churches. Within just a few weeks during the autumn of 1944, the nearby historic cities of Vardø and Vadsø were laid in ruin as were all other settlements and towns in the counties of Finnmark and Nord-Troms. In Honningsvåg, only the church survived, with its current keeper telling foreign correspondents on a visit there last year that the local German officer in charge of the city (and its destruction) had enjoyed playing the church’s organ during his tour of duty in city that today is the gateway to the North Cape. He made sure the church was spared, and it later gave shelter to scores of homeless.

The Germans also destroyed their own facilities, such as a military hospital (or lasarett as it was called) located south of Lakselv. To this day, rows of charred iron beds and even kitchen equipment from Darmstadt can be found at the eerie sprawling site, now overgrown and long-abandoned. It’s unclear what became of its patients.

Elheru Aran wrote: ↑2018-03-27 01:24pm Re Russians assistance to occupied civilians-- once they entered German territory, the stats on that are going to skew badly because they couldn't care less about the Germans, and in fact pretty vindictively exacted their revenge for the German invasion. I wouldn't expect very much assistance from them towards German civilians until post-war, at the very least. Of course there's some debate about the extent of their retaliation, but I wouldn't expect it to be anywhere like what their assistance may have been towards, say, Ukranians or Poles.

Of course I'm not sure it's necessarily a relevant point, as I don't know if the Nazis enacted scorched earth on their own territory (by which I mean the 'greater Germany' that incorporated Austria, iirc Czechoslovakia, and a chunk of Poland). Occupied territories, sure.

Elheru Aran wrote: ↑2018-03-27 01:24pm Of course I'm not sure it's necessarily a relevant point, as I don't know if the Nazis enacted scorched earth on their own territory (by which I mean the 'greater Germany' that incorporated Austria, iirc Czechoslovakia, and a chunk of Poland). Occupied territories, sure.