The choice of a combat general.
This happened during the initial period of the Second World War, when under the onslaught of Nazism, many generals and their troops in Europe surrendered one of their positions after another. But not Karl Fleischer. After the Nazi attack on Norway (April 9, 1940), he led the troops of Northern Norway and together with the allies, his army liberated the strategically important port of Narvik.
Many military historians consider the occupation of Norway an easy victory for the Nazis. However, in fact, the Norwegian troops fairly battered the uninvited guests. This is proved by the loss of the fascists themselves, both in manpower and in the ships of the fleet. Suffice it to say that the Norwegian coastal battery sank the heavy cruiser "Blucher", together with the temporary occupation administration of Norway. Narvik was abandoned again on 8 June 1940. The general himself was ordered to be evacuated to the UK to continue the fight. But during this time, all the port facilities that supplied the Nazis with Swedish iron ore were destroyed. It was used to make 30% of all the weapons of the Fascist army. The port was inactive for more than eight months. This was also a contribution to the Victory over the world's evil. His military services were highly appreciated by the people and the King of Norway. He was awarded the Orders of England, France, and Poland. Karl Fleischer was awarded Norway's highest decoration, the Military Cross, on December 18, 1942, before his tragic death. And on December 19, he was gone… But the struggle continued. The territory of Norway was covered by a movement of resistance and civil disobedience to the German administration.
Northern Norway was liberated during the Petsamo-Kirkenes offensive operation of the Karelian Front and the Northern Fleet, conducted against the German group in the Petsamo area and the Finnmark province in northern Norway, from October 7 to November 8, 1944, followed by the surrender of the remnants of the fascist troops in the rest of the country.
General Karl Fleischer, who never saw the happy day of the Great Victory. But this is understood by the inhabitants of Norway themselves. Gunhedd Schmidt, a member of the Norwegian-Russian friendship society, remembers the years of the Nazi occupation, when 13,700 Soviet soldiers died in Hitler's concentration camps alone. On behalf of the people of Finnmark, the sulfur part of the country, she expresses gratitude for the price that the Red Army soldiers paid for the freedom of her country.
His choice and call to fight against Nazism was shared by many Norwegian patriots. This brought closer the day when the Red Army cleared Northern Norway of the invaders. 2122 Soviet soldiers and officers fell to the death of the brave or were injured in the battles on Norwegian soil. In memory of them and the fallen Soviet prisoners of concentration camps, one of the commemorative bas-reliefs has an inscription framed by an oak wreath in Norwegian and Russian: "With gratitude in memory of the Soviet soldiers who fell in Northern Norway during the war of 1941-1945 and were buried here."