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The village of lies in the Dovre municipality and serves as an administrative center in the upper Gudbrandsdal, Norway. It lies at an important junction of roads: south leading to the current capital of Norway, Oslo, west via Lesja leading to Åndalsnes on the sea and north to the old capital, Trondheim.

Contents

History

19th Century

Twentieth century

World War Two

Footnotes

Literature

History

19th Century

1895 -

Twentieth century

1913 - Dombås was connected by rail (the Eidsvol-Dombåsbanen) to Oslo, capital of Norway.
1921 - The Eidsvol-Dombåsbanen line was extended to Støren where it connected to the Rørosbanen.
1924 - The Raumabanen between Dombås and Åndalsnes was opened and from that day on the station is a junction between the Raumabanen and Dovrebanen.
1939 - The Dombås church was completed in 1939. Prior to that time, residents of Dombås worshiped at Dovre center.

World War Two

1940 - During the Norwegian campaign, the Germans recognized this rail, roadway and telegraph junction was strategically significant. From 13 April on the Germans started receiving messages of imminent allied action in Norway through the port of Åndalsnes. To counter this the German High Command ordered the investment of Dombås. The result was that a company of fallschirmjägers from 1st battalion of the 1st Regiment, 7th Flieger Division was dropped at Dombås on 14 April, intending to cut the railroad. The German company had the misfortune to jump straight onto the second battalion of Infantry Regiment no. 11 (Møre) that was bivouaced at Dombås on their way to the front north of Oslo. In the second opposed paratrooper attack in history (the first being the one made against Sola Air Station on 9 April) only seven out of fifteen Junkers Ju 52s made it back to their base at Fornebu airport the rest were lost to Norwegian Colt M/29 anti aircraft machine gun fire, dispersing the paratroppers. Most of the surviving paratroopers were taken prisoner soon after landing. Only a single group of sixty-three Germans, under the company commander Oberleutnant Herbert Schmidt managed to avoid capture and sealed off the Gudbrandsdal valley holed up in two strategically placed farms. Only on 19 April did the isolated group of Germans surrender, having been surrounded by far superior Norwegian forces for five days. On 16 April the Norwegians brought two mortars and several Colt M/29 heavy machine guns to bear on Schmidt's men and from 18 April a 40 mm Bofors anti-aircraft gun bombarded the German positions from Dombås Railway Station. On 19 April the paratroopers could no longer stand the bombardment and sent forward the captured Norwegian Major Kjøs to convey their surrender message. All in all 150 fallschirmjägers ended up in Norwegian captivity, being kept at Kristiansund Prison until released when resistance collapsed in South Norway in early May. ^[1]
1940 - After evacuating Oslo after the German invasion of Norway, King Haakon VII first travelled with his government to Elverum, but after that city and Nybergsund was bombed by the Luftwaffe the decision was made to move to the Gudbrandsdal where the Army High Command had relocated. The King's entourage at first got lost and ended up at Drevsø on the Swedish border where they were turned back by Swedish border guards. The King then went first to Hjerkinn and then to Otta. On his way to Otta the King passed through Dombås on 13 April, only five hours before the German paratropper attack took place. On 14 April the King and the Crown Prince remained at Otta, transmitting radio messages to their people. As the German attack came the fallschirmjägers were landing dispersed over a huge area and the Royals decided to spend the night at Dovre, only half an hour from the nearest Germans. Although the fallschirmjägers never got any nearer the King, who was protected by the local Dovreskogen gun club, they did ambush cabinet minister Frihagen, capturing his car and a suitcase with 1,5 million Norwegian Kroner. Minister Frihagen managed to escape the ambush and the money was recovered when Oberleutnant Schmidt surrendered 19 April. The King eventually made his way to Molde from where he was brought to Tromsø by HMS ''Glasgow''. ^[2]

Footnotes

1. Hauge 1995: 249-262
2. Hauge 1995: 257

Literature

★ Hauge, Andreas: "Kampene i Norge 1940", Krigshistorisk Forlag AS, Sandefjord 1995