The commanders of the forces at Namsos objected, claiming that these routes were impassable even though Norwegian units had been moving easily between Grong and Mosjøen.

[4] When the Germans had attacked Norway, MI(R), a branch of the War Office in Britain which specialised in irregular warfare, had formed ten Independent Companies for raiding purposes, organised by Lieutenant Colonel Colin Gubbins.

Early in the morning of 10 May, the leading German troops (from the 181st Infantry Division)[6] advanced incautiously by bicycle up the road and were ambushed and destroyed by a platoon commanded by Captain John Prendergast, one of eight Indian Army officers attached to the Independent Companies, losing some fifty casualties.

[7] Later in the morning, the German main body drove the British and Norwegians from this position, while Austrian ski troops outflanked the defenders.

Alarmed by Gubbins's first reports, on 9 May Major General Mackesy had ordered that the entire British component of the Allied force attacking Narvik (24th Guards Brigade plus some supporting arms detachments), was to be diverted to the south to defend Bodø and Mo i Rana.

The only alternative line of communication, the road from Mo i Rana to Rognan on the south side of Skjerstad Fjord, was believed incorrectly to be snowbound for several miles.

Somali was attacked by German bombers and so badly damaged that it had to proceed directly to Scapa Flow for emergency repairs, carrying the brigadier with it.

[10][nb 1] On 15 May, the Polish troopship Chrobry, with the Irish Guards and Brigade HQ embarked, was attacked by German bombers off the southern Lofoten Islands.

The stoic behaviour of the Irish Guards, mustered on the foredeck of the blazing liner, was compared by the captain of Wolverine to the Birkenhead drill.

On 17 May, the cruiser HMS Effingham, carrying some of the personnel and most of the equipment of the 2nd Battalion, the South Wales Borderers, struck a rock about 12 miles (19 km) from Bodø.

No.2 Independent Company, which had recently arrived at Bodø, later salvaged four Bren Carriers[11][12] and other equipment from the wreck of Effingam, which was finally dispatched by a torpedo on 21 May.

Other German ski troops, thought at the time to be paratroops dropped on a bare hillside,[15] attacked the Scots Guards' transport near Mo i Rana to threaten Trappes-Lomax's rear.

On 18 May, Gubbins arrived, bringing orders from Lieutenant General Claude Auchinleck, the recently appointed commander of the North Western Expeditionary Force, that Mo i Rana was to be firmly defended.

)[17] On 20 May, Gubbins and Auchinleck were dismayed to find that Trappes-Lomax had continued to retreat despite having broken contact with the Germans, and was proposing to fall back across the "snow belt" north of his new position at the village of Krokstrand.

Gubbins was also alarmed by the large numbers of stragglers he found north of the "snow belt", including the troop of 203 Battery RA, who had lost their communications equipment at Mo i Rana.

As reinforcements landed at Bodø and were moved forward by any improvised means available, Gubbins intended to man a defensive position at Storjord, 20 miles (32 km) south of Rognan.

The Germans occupied a hill which No.3 Independent Company had arrived too late to defend and which dominated the west flank of the position, and Gubbins ordered the exhausted Scots Guards to be withdrawn to Bodø.

2 Independent Company) to occupy a delaying position at Pothus 10 miles (16 km) south of Rognan where the Saltdal valley widened.

[21] Early on 25 May, the Germans began attacking the positions on the east side of the river and forced some of the defenders to fall back across it, in one case by a holding onto a line of linked rifle slings.

[22] During the night of 25/26 May, the Germans had built a temporary bridge higher up the Saltdal and transferred the main weight of their attack to the west bank, threatening to surround Stockwell's position.

He was aided by two Gloster Gladiator fighters (one of them flown by Rhodesian ace Caesar Hull) operating from the newly completed airstrip at Bodø.

The Irish Guards and other troops made a fighting withdrawal to Rognan, mostly down the west side of the Saltdal, removing or destroying stores and ammunition as they fell back.

The ferry broke down and had to be towed, and the troops aboard came under fire from the leading German cyclists and were showered with burning timber from the final demolitions.

[23] One company of the Irish Guards was unable to cross the river to be evacuated with the rest of the force, but extricated itself by a march of 20 miles (32 km) across country to a point further along the shore of the fjord.

To avoid alerting the Germans, no noisy demolitions were carried out but vehicles and items of equipment which could not be removed were disabled and thrown into the sea.

Although he was recommended for the command of a division,[28] he rejoined MI(R) and was appointed to organise the Auxiliary Units, a stay-behind force which would act against a German invasion of Britain.

Although the Scots Guards had not performed well during the campaign, Trappes-Lomax argued that they were not equipped or trained for the conditions they encountered (having been employed on Public duties immediately before being deployed to Norway) and were exhausted by continual air attack.

Lieutenant Colonel Stockwell, who was also awarded the DSO, ran a Commando Training Centre at Lochailort before being appointed to command a brigade and eventually a division.