Gratangen (fjord)
| Gratangen | ||
|---|---|---|
 The Gratangen |
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| Waters | European Arctic Ocean | |
| Land mass | Scandinavian peninsula | |
| Geographical location | 68 ° 44 ' N , 17 ° 26' E | |
|
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| width | 2 km | |
| length | 23 km | |
The Gratangen ( North Sami : Rivtták ) is a 23 km long fjord in the Norwegian Fylke (province) Troms og Finnmark . It runs through the Gratangen commune named after him .
geography
The Gratangen (also Gratangsfjord) is a tributary of the Astafjord . It begins between the hamlets of Grøsnes in the north and Hilleshamn in the south, opposite the island of Rolla , and extends from there in a general direction to the southeast, but describes several clearly pronounced right and left turns. It ends at the two small settlements Fjordbotn and Gratangsbotn, about 2 km north-west of the European route 6 , which passes there to the north , where the Storelva river, coming from the south, flows into the fjord. The fjord is between 1 and 2 km wide along its entire length; only at Årstein, the administrative center of the municipality of Gratangen, about 6 km before the end of the fjord, does it narrow to only 350 m. At this narrow point, the Årsteinstraumen, which is only about 300 m long, the provincial road Fv 141 branches off from the Fv 825, which comes from the E 6 on the southern bank of the fjord, and crosses the fjord on the Årsteinbrua (Årstein Bridge). The last 6 km of the fjord are also called Gratangsbotn.
Settlements, Transport and Economy
The inner section of the fjord, the Gratrangsbotn, is - apart from the hamlets at the end of the fjord - only populated along its southern bank, where the Fv 825 runs. Årstein, on the north side of the bridge, is the largest settlement in terms of population by the fjord and in the municipality of Gratangen with around 200 people. From the bridge to the northwest, scattered settlements extend in the middle section of the fjord on both sides, which are connected on the north bank by the Fv 141 and on the south bank by the Fv 825. Foldvik on the south bank in particular is a popular starting point for anglers ( halibut , saithe , cod , wolffish ). The last 6 km to the mouth of the fjord at Grøsnes in the north and Hilleshamn in the south are practically uninhabited on both banks.
Salmon farming , fishing and tourism , along with some agriculture, are the main industries on and in the fjord.
history
During the Second World War , in the spring of 1940, as a result of the German invasion of Norway ( Operation Weser Exercise ) and the occupation of Narvik, there were heavy fighting in and on the Gratangen. On 24./25. April a Norwegian battalion that had advanced from the north to Gratangsbotn was surprised in a German counterattack in the battle of Gratangsbotn and largely destroyed (34 dead, 64 wounded and 130 prisoners). The Germans withdrew, however, as the place could not be held against freshly brought in forces.
On April 28, a battalion of French alpine hunters of the 27th half-brigade was landed on the south bank of the fjord across from Årstein, in order to advance from there through Lalbergdal to Bjerkvik and Elvegårdsmoen on Herjangsfjord near Narvik, about 15 km south . (The other two battalions of the half-brigade landed in Salangen .) Bjerkvik and Elvegårdsmoen were finally captured on May 13th.
On May 1st, the Hurtigruten ship Dronning Maud , requisitioned by the Norwegian government as a troop transport, brought the medical company (6th Landevernssanitetskompani) of the 6th Norwegian Division from Sørreisa to Foldvik on the south bank of the Gratangsfjord. A three-by-three meter flag of the Red Cross had been stretched over the bridge deck for this trip , but the hull was still black and not, as is usual for a hospital ship, painted white with a green stripe. During the berthing maneuver, the ship was attacked by three Heinkel He 111s of the Lehrgeschwader 1 of the German Air Force with bombs and machine gun fire. It caught fire after two direct hits and sank. Eighteen people were killed in the attack. On departure, the bombers also dropped bombs on Årstein, destroying several buildings and killing two civilians.
Footnotes
- ↑ Asbjørn Jaklin: Northern fronts - Hitler skjebneområde . Gyldendal, Oslo, 2006, ISBN 978-82-05-34537-9 , p. 34 (Norwegian)
- ↑ The along today's European route 6 contracting the Alta Battalion of the Norwegian 6th Division.
- ↑ 27e demi-brigade de chasseurs alpins (27e DBCA), consisting of the 6th, 12th and 14th battalion.
- ^ Bob Carruthers: Hitler's Forgotten Armies: Combat in Norway and Finland. Coda Books, Henley in Arden, Warwickshire, 2012, ISBN 978-1-78158-097-4
- ↑ The wreck is still at Foldvik today and can be dived.