In the early hours of 10 April 1940, a German motorized column that had raced north from Oslo reached Midtskogen farm, about 5 kilometres west of Elverum. Led by air attaché Captain Eberhard Spiller, roughly 100 soldiers had orders to seize King Haakon VII, Crown Prince Olav, and the entire cabinet before they could escape further into the countryside. Parliament had passed the Elverum Authorization just hours earlier, giving the government wartime powers.
At the farm, a hastily assembled Norwegian force was waiting. Soldiers from the King's Guard and civilian volunteers had set up a roadblock in near-total darkness. Around 2 AM the German vehicles hit the barricade, and a chaotic firefight erupted; neither side could see the other clearly. Spiller was shot and killed, and the leaderless German column, unable to gauge Norwegian strength, retreated south.
The skirmish bought the King and government the hours they desperately needed. By morning they had moved north to Nybergsund, where Haakon delivered his famous refusal to appoint a Quisling government. A memorial stone at the farm marks the site where a handful of men in the dark changed the trajectory of the war in Norway.
The battle is a key moment in the 2016 film Kongens Nei (The King's Choice), which follows King Haakon through the three dramatic April days, from the sinking of the Blücher at Oscarsborg to the refusal at Nybergsund.
At the farm, a hastily assembled Norwegian force was waiting. Soldiers from the King's Guard and civilian volunteers had set up a roadblock in near-total darkness. Around 2 AM the German vehicles hit the barricade, and a chaotic firefight erupted; neither side could see the other clearly. Spiller was shot and killed, and the leaderless German column, unable to gauge Norwegian strength, retreated south.
The skirmish bought the King and government the hours they desperately needed. By morning they had moved north to Nybergsund, where Haakon delivered his famous refusal to appoint a Quisling government. A memorial stone at the farm marks the site where a handful of men in the dark changed the trajectory of the war in Norway.
The battle is a key moment in the 2016 film Kongens Nei (The King's Choice), which follows King Haakon through the three dramatic April days, from the sinking of the Blücher at Oscarsborg to the refusal at Nybergsund.
