Allied Forces North Norway Explained

Unit Name:Allied Forces North Norway
Dates:1952 - 1994
Command Structure:Allied Forces Northern Europe, Kolsås, Norway
Garrison:Bodø, Norway
Garrison Label:Location

Allied Forces North Norway (NON) was a NATO command tasked with the defense of Northern Norway. NON's area of responsibility covered the three northernmost counties of Norway: Nordland, Troms and Finnmark, as well as the adjacent sea territory. It formed part of Allied Forces Northern Europe.

History

Allied Forces North Norway (NON) was activated in 1962 along with Allied Forces South Norway (SONOR) and Allied Forces Baltic Approaches. Unlike most other NATO commands NON was a staffed entirely by members of the Norwegian Armed Forces. Its operational headquarters was located in a bunker at Reitan, which today is used as the Norwegian Joint Headquarters. The commander of NON had three deputies: Commander Land Forces North Norway, Commander Air Forces North Norway, and Commander Naval Forces North Norway. Each of the three deputies commanded the Norwegian units of his service branch based in . Incoming allied units would have come under the command of these three deputy commanders.[1]

Structure in 1989

NON had the following units at its disposal to fight an attack by the Soviet Union's 6th Army:

Commander Naval Forces North Norway

Naval Forces North Norway (NAVNON) was tasked with the defence of Northern Norway's coastal waters against Soviet naval incursions and amphibious landings. Operations in the ocean beyond Norway's coastal waters were under the command of NATO Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic's (SACLANT) Northern Sub-Area Command (NORLANT). Therefore NAVNON consisted of coastal artillery units and one fast attack craft squadron. The boats for the fast attack craft squadron were dispatched from units in Southern Norway on a rotational basis.

Commander Air Forces North Norway

Commander Land Forces North Norway

Reinforcements

NON would have been reinforced by the following Norwegian units from Allied Forces South Norway:

NATO would have planned to reinforce Allied Forces North Norway with 2–7 days with the following allied formations:

U.S. Forces in Northern Norway

The US military maintained three small units in Northern Norway.

References

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: Till, Geoffrey . Britain and N. A. T. O.'s Northern Flank . 1988 . London . MacMillan Press . 143. 978-0-333-43931-9. English .
  2. Book: Lund, John . Don't Rock The Boat - Reinforcing Norway in Crisis and War . 1989 . Washington DC . Rand Corporation . 0-8330-0960-5. English .
  3. https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP85S00316R000300040006-9.pdf Nordic Forces in the 1980s
  4. Book: Till. Geoffrey. Britain and N. A. T. O.'s Northern Flank. 18 June 1988. 9781349094318. 2 December 2017.
  5. Web site: Marine Corps • Korps Mariniers (KMARNS).
  6. Web site: Cavas . Christopher P. . Cave-Dwellers: Inside the US Marine Corps Prepositioning Program-Norway. September 20, 2015 . Washington DC . US Department of Defense . English.
  7. Web site: Status of the Marine Corps Prepositioning Program in Norway. US Government Accounting Office. US Government. 2 December 2017.

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