General Carl Gustav Fleischer - Narvik 1940

Håndlaget 60 mm tinnsoldat av den norske generalen Carl Gustav Flesicher fra kampene om Narvik i Norge under Andre Verdenskrig. Figuren har den mye brukte franske sauskinnjakken "Mle38 Canadienne" over den norske M1934 generalsuniformen, samt skilue, snøgamasjer, kikkert-taske over skulderen og han holder et feltkart i venstre hånd.

Carl Gustav Fleischer was a Norwegian general and the first land commander to win a major victory against the Germans in the Second World War. In 1940, following the German invasion of Norway General Fleischer was appointed commander-in-chief of the Norwegian armed forces in North Norway. When Germany launched its invasion of Norway (Operation Weserübung) ten German destroyers, each carrying 200 mountain infantry soldiers, were sent to Narvik and captured the town. On 12 April 1940, the first convoys of Allied soldiers were sent under Major-General Pierse Joseph Mackesy to Narvik. The Admiralty urged Mackesy to conduct an assault on Narvik from the sea as soon as possible. Coordinated by the Norwegian General Carl Gustav Fleischer, Norwegian, French, Polish, and British forces recaptured Narvik on 28 May 1940. This is also considered the first Allied infantry victory in World War II. However, by that time, the Allies were losing the Battle of France and the evacuation from Dunkirk was underway. Since the Nazi German invasion of France had made Scandinavia largely irrelevant, and since the valuable troops assigned to Narvik were badly needed elsewhere, the Allies withdrew from Narvik on 8 June 1940 in Operation Alphabet. Without support from the Allied naval task force, the Norwegians were outnumbered, and they had to lay down their arms in Norway on 10 June 1940. This was not a complete capitulation, since the Norwegians kept on fighting guerrilla operations inland.