Ole Berg

Lieutenant General Ole Berg

Ole Berg (* 7. October 1890 in Frol , Nord-Trøndelag , † 23. September 1968 in Oslo ) was a Norwegian lieutenant general of the army (Den Norske Hær) , the last from 1946 to 1955 Chief of Defense Staff (Sjef for Forsvarsstaben) was .

Training and use as an officer as well as World War II

Berg, son of the farmer and flag junior Godtvard Berg and his wife Gine Elise Olsdatter Ulve, began his officer training at the war school ( Krigsskolen ) after attending school , which he graduated from in 1912. He was then an officer in infantry regiment No. 11 in Sunnmøre from 1912 to 1915 and, after attending the military college (Den militære høyskole), between 1915 and 1919 an aspirant in the general staff. After that he was adjutant at the war school between 1919 and 1920 and a deputy officer in the general staff from 1920 to 1924. At the same time he served between 1920 and 1922 as an officer in the Varanger Battalion and from 1922 to 1924 in Infantry Regiment No. 13 stationed in Nord-Trøndelag . Subsequently, between 1924 and 1928 he was employed as an adjutant in the guard of His Majesty the King HMKG ( Hans Majestet Kongens Garde ) and, after his promotion to captain in 1928, between 1928 and 1930 as chief of the intelligence office in the general staff. Based on his experience as a general staff officer , he served as chief of staff of the 3rd division from 1930 to 1933 and as head of the war school between 1934 and his replacement by Arne Dagfin Dahl in 1935. In 1935 he was promoted to major and after further assignments between 1937 and 1940 he took over the post of chief of the communications department in the general staff, where he was promoted to lieutenant colonel (Oberstløytnant) in 1938 .

After the attack by the German Wehrmacht on Norway on April 9, 1940 , Berg became commander of the 6th Field Brigade, which was responsible for operational missions in northern Norway . He was then director of the communications department between 1941 and 1942, and during this time he took an active part in the establishment of the illegal military resistance organization Milorg . From the winter of 1941 until his escape from Norway at the turn of the year 1942/43 he was chairman of the Milorg Council. During his exile in Sweden he became a colonel in 1943 and as such was first councilor of the legation and between 1943 and 1945 both military attaché at the embassy in Stockholm and military inspector of the exile associations there. He had a decisive influence on the establishment of the Norwegian police force, which in 1945 comprised around 12,000 men and was divided into a small national police force with around 1,200 men and a reserve police force. The police forces came into action for the first time in 1944 after the liberation of Finnmark and were supposed to ensure the transition to a civilian government.

Post-war period and promotion to lieutenant general

After the end of World War II , Berg was promoted to major general on September 1, 1945 and then took over from major general Johan Beichmann as Chief of the Army High Command (Sjef Hærens overkommando) . He held this post until 1946 and was then replaced by Lieutenant General Olaf Helset .

Berg himself succeeded Major General Halvor Hansson as Chief of Defense Staff (Sjef for Forsvarsstaben) on August 1, 1946 and held this position for more than nine years until October 31, 1955, after which he was replaced by Lieutenant General Finn Lambrechts . In 1947 he himself was promoted to Lieutenant General (Generalløytnant) and also commander with a star of the Order of Saint Olav .

He was in charge of the defense staff during one of the most difficult times for the armed forces. There were disputes in the military leadership and in the officer corps over the reconstruction of the armed forces and participation in the Allied occupation of Germany. In addition, there was the unresolved question about national security, which should be based on neutrality, but on the other hand should include Nordic cooperation and further cooperation with the war allies. Between 1948 and 1949 he was a member of the Scandinavian Defense Committee (Den skandinaviske forsvarskomité) , which negotiated Nordic cooperation in defense matters. Since this initiative was unsuccessful, Norway began its involvement in Western defense cooperation and ultimately signed the North Atlantic Treaty on April 4, 1949 in Washington, DC . Both military reconstruction and integration into NATO required great responsibility for the military leadership. Within NATO, the requirements were quickly implemented due to his commitment in the founding year of NATO. His personal characteristics and professional qualifications helped settle the conflicts of the early post-war years. Both within the armed forces and in relation to the political leadership, he succeeded in achieving reconciliation and cooperation between the various camps.

After finishing his position as chief of the defense staff , he served between 1956 and 1961 as chief of the military history department of the armed forces (Forsvarets Krigshistoriske Avdeling) and a member of the transport readiness council .

He was married to Torbjørg Løkke from 1918 until his death in 1968. From this marriage came Lieutenant General Ulf Berg , who was among other things commander in chief of the armed forces in Northern Norway.

Web links

• Entry in the Norsk biografisk leksikon
• Entry in store norske leksikon