World War II · Film · 2022
Narvik
Kampen om Narvik
When German troops seize the iron-ore port of Narvik in April 1940, a Norwegian corporal fights on in the mountains while his wife, working at the town's hotel, is caught between the occupiers and the British.
Where it happened
Follow the story across 5 places.
Stop 1: Narvik harbour
Key location
Home on leave for his son's birthday, Corporal Gunnar Tofte wakes before dawn to find German soldiers landing in the harbour.
Stop 2: Norddal railway bridge
Gunnar's unit withdraws up the ore railway to blow a mountain bridge, just as civilians fleeing Narvik start to cross.
Stop 3: Ofotfjord off Narvik
British warships storm into the fjord and battle the German destroyers while Ingrid and her son shelter in a basement.
Stop 4: Mountains east of Narvik
Forced to haul German supplies, Gunnar is freed in an Allied attack and joins the fight to take back the town.
Stop 5: Narvik recaptured
The Allied assault on Narvik begins, and Gunnar races to reach his family in the ruined town.
What really happened
Narvik mattered because Swedish iron ore reached the sea there by rail, and both Germany and Britain wanted to control it. On 9 April 1940 German destroyers landed about 2,000 mountain troops under Eduard Dietl and sank the Norwegian coastal defence ships guarding the port. In two naval battles on 10 and 13 April the Royal Navy destroyed all ten German destroyers in the fjords.
Norwegian, British, French and Polish troops then fought through the mountains and retook Narvik on 28 May, the Allies' first land victory of the war, only to abandon it in early June as France collapsed. The film's family is fictional, but consul Wussow, mayor Theodor Broch and the Norwegian demolition of the ore railway are drawn from real people and events.
Where to watch
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Full details
- Original title
- Kampen om Narvik
- Directed by
- Erik Skjoldbjærg
- Countries
- Norway
- Languages
- Norwegian, German, English, French
- Released
- 2022
- Period
- –
- Theaters of war
- Western Europe, Atlantic & Arctic
- Themes
- Combat
- True story
