2nd Division (Norway)
former Norwegian Army formation
The Norwegian 2nd Division (Norwegian: 2. divisjon) was responsible for defending Eastern Norway against Nazi Germany during the early part of the Norwegian campaign of the Second World War. The division was commanded by General Jacob Hvinden Haug.
Overview
The term "division" in the Norwegian Army in 1940 did not mean the same as a division in British terms (a tactical formation consisting of two or more manoeuvre (infantry or armour) brigades with command and staff units and supporting troops). The only Norwegian division living up to this in 1940 was the 6th Division at Narvik fielding two brigades (6 and 7 Brigades).
In 1940, the Norwegian Army used the term "division" to signify a geographical area of military responsibility. In pre-war planning, each division was supposed to field one brigade and one or more local defence battalions (landvernbataljoner).
In 1940, the 2nd division was able to mobilise a significant number of men to confront the German advance. However, the majority of the troops were poorly equipped even before the loss of critical equipment during the 9 April German invasion. The Norwegian Army of 1940 was basically equipped to First World War standards.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “2nd Division (Norway)” as former Norwegian Army formation. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as former Norwegian Army formation. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4633655. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1940.
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This entry incorporates text from “2nd Division (Norway)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.