Memory track of War; Sjøvegan-Tennevoll-Gratangsbotn

TENNEVOLL

The route from Sjøvegan to Fjordbotneidet, via Tennevoll, was the deployment area for both the Trønder and Alta Battalion. They landed at Sjøvegan in Salangen between the 17th and 23th of April 1940. The afternoon of the 23rd of April, the first divisions of the Trønder Battalion passed Tennevoll Bridge, marching towards Fjordbotneidet, headed for Gratangsbotn. The Alta Battalion followed in their footprints the next morning, also headed for Fjordbotneidet.

In the battle at Gratangsbotn, approximately 3-400 German soldiers attacked the Trønder Battalion’s approximately 650 soldiers. This resulted in Norway’s biggest loss of soldiers in a single battle on Norwegian territory, during the Second World War.

After the battle, the Trønder Battalion retreated from Gratangsbotn over Fjordbotneidet and were reorganized by its superior. General Fleischer and his men stayed at his headquarters in Soløy, Lavangen until hostilities ceased on the 10th of June 1940.