Kristian Rikardsen Løken (31 July 1884March 1961) was a highly decorated Norwegian military officer who served in the Belgian Force Publique from 1907 to 1917, fighting German colonial forces in East Africa from 1914 to 1917, and went on to command a Norwegian Army infantry brigade during the 1940 Norwegian campaign of the Second World War.
In 1943, Løken was one of 1,100 Norwegian officers arrested and sent as prisoners-of-war to Germany, only being released after the German capitulation in 1945.
Early life and education Kristian Løken was born in the town of Elverum in Hedmark county, Norway. He was the son of smallholder Rikard Løken (1845–1909) and Gurine Syversen (1852–1902). Kristian had an older brother, Halvor (born 8 March 1876), who also sought a military career. He attended the upper section of the Norwegian Military Academy from 1903, graduating as an infantry officer in 1906. That same year he took his examen artium.
After graduating, Løken was posted as a first lieutenant to the 1st Akershus Brigade. In 1910 he achieved a permanent position in the Norwegian infantry. He was transferred to the 5th Brigade in 1911 and to the 2nd Brigade on 1 October 1912.Barth 1930, p. 391
Belgian service and the First World War Løken was declared supernumerary soon after graduation, and granted leave from the Norwegian Army in 1907. He then entered the service of the Force Publique in the Congo Free State. He would have three periods of service in the Congo in the coming ten years.
Løken was among a sizeable number of Norwegian junior officers who sought foreign service after being unable to gain paid officers positions in Norway. The Norwegian Armed Forces had trained a large number of officers in the lead-up to the 1905 dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden, officers that were no longer required once the crisis between the two countries had settled.
Along with other Norwegian officers, Løken was shipped out of Kristiania in March 1907. His brother, then army captain Halvor Løken, bid him farewell at the docks with the words "It's a comfort to know that ill weeds never wither" (Norwegian: ""), in reference to the unhealthy and dangerous conditions then to be found in the Congo Free State.
Løken's group of officers first underwent a three-month colonial training course in Brussels, Belgium, before being shipped to the Congo. During his service in the Congo, Løken would periodically receive renewed permission from the Norwegian authorities to remain in Force Publique service. Initially given command of a Force Publique company, Løken eventually became a battalion commander in the Belgian Congo.Viksveen 1992, p. 72 Løken was one 21 Norwegians to attain the rank of Commandant in the Force Publique.Morel and Morgenstierne 2002, p. 202
He remained in Force Publique service after Leopold II of Belgium gave up his personal control of the territory in 1908 and transferred it to the Belgian state. Løken's first tour in the Congo lasted until 1910, when he returned to Norway. He went back to the Congo in 1911, staying until 1913, and had a final tour from 1914 to 1917. During his final years in the Belgian Congo, Løken saw action as first a company commander and later a battalion commander in the First World War East African Campaign, fighting the German colonial forces commanded by General Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck. Amongst the battles in German East Africa where Løken fought was that at Ruakadigi in present-day Rwanda in January 1916.
Kristian Løken left the Force Publique and the Congo in 1917 and returned to Norway on 12 November 1917. Due to his years spent in the Congo he was affectionately nicknamed "Kongo-Løken" by his Norwegian friends and colleagues.Christensen 1990, p. 16Hovland 2000, p. 92 During his final years of life, Løken received a pension from the Belgian state for his Force Publique service.Morel and Morgenstierne 2002, p. 196
Inter-war years Returning to regular Norwegian Army service, Løken was promoted to the rank of captain in May 1918. Following his promotion, he assumed command of the 4th Company of the 4th Infantry Regiment, a command he continued to hold until 1930. In 1918 he attended a hand grenade course, in 1919 the Norwegian infantry shooting school, in 1921 a machine gun course and in 1928 a tactical command course. From 1926 onwards he served on occasion as an instructor at the shooting school. From 1929 to 1931 he commanded the First Company of the Norwegian Royal Guards. In the period 1932–1933 he led the Norwegian Military Academy. He attained the rank of major in 1933, and colonel in 1939. From 1933 to 1939 he served with the 6th Infantry Regiment in Hønefoss. In the inter-war years Løken wrote three articles for the military journal Norsk Militært Tidsskrift, one in 1927 on the subject of basic military training and two in 1936 on Norwegians serving with the Force Publique in the First World War East African Campaign.Johnsen and Wasberg 1969, pp. 223, 328, 330
In addition to his military career, Løken worked for the Office of the Auditor General of Norway from 1920 to 1923. After his years at the Auditor General, Løken spent a year in France in 1923–1924, teaching Norwegian students at the Lycée Pierre-Corneille in Rouen, Normandy. He had been a state authorised French language translator in Norway since 1920.
On 17 January 1931, Kristian Løken married Guldborg Noer (born in Brandval Municipality on 3 July 1886), the daughter of forest owner Arne Noer and Thea Hokaasen. The couple had no children.
Second World War By the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, Løken was in command of the 14th Infantry Regiment in Nordland county, a position he had held since 17 January 1939, when he replaced Colonel Carl Gustav Fleischer, who went on to command the 6th Division with the rank of major general.Fure 1995, pp. 80, 90, 225
On 16 December 1939, Løken assumed command of Norwegian 6th Brigade, after the brigade's previous commander Colonel Wilhelm Faye had been appointed chief of defence for Finnmark county following the outbreak of the Winter War between Finland and the Soviet Union. Colonel Løken was also appointed chief of defence for the mainland of Troms county in Northern Norway. In this command Løken carried out brigade-sized field exercises to prepare his troops for potential combat operations.Berg and Vollan 1999, p. 26Sandvik 1965I, pp. 54-55Hovland 2000, p. 62 Løken was replaced as commander of the 14th Infantry Regiment by Lieutenant Colonel Thoralf Nummedal.Hovland 2000, p. 109 By April 1940, Løken was temporarily in command of the 6th Division's officer cadets, while these were deployed on winter exercises.Haga 1998, p. 252 Løken's headquarters were located in Bardu Municipality in Troms.Steen 1958, p. 176
Norwegian Campaign Following the invasion of Norway and the German attack on Narvik on 9 April 1940, by 3rd Mountain Division troops led by Generaloberst Eduard Dietl, Løken was responsible for carrying out the Norwegian mobilization in Troms.Berg and Vollan 1999, pp. 45-53, 94 The first task Løken carried out, in addition to the mobilization, was using the forces initially available to him to block the German forces at Narvik from advancing into Troms. Maintaining control of the central army base at Setermoen was vital for the Norwegian mobilization.Haga 1998, p. 30 The forces under Løken's direct command when the Germans invaded were an infantry battalion, a mountain artillery battalion and assorted support troops. In the evening of 8 April, Colonel Løken had been ordered to send his infantry battalion and a motorized artillery battery to Narvik to defend the town, but the transfer of forces was pre-empted by the German landing.Steen 1958, pp. 23, 59 In maintaining a defensive posture with almost his entire force during the mobilization stage, Løken came into disagreement with the top leadership of the 6th Division, which wanted a swift counter-attack against the Germans as soon as possible.Berg and Vollan 1999, pp. 425-426 Despite not mounting an immediate counter-attack, Løken did move troops forward to blocking positions further south than planned, as he saw it as important to stop the German advance in Gratangen Municipality.Lunde 2009, p. 262 Colonel Løken's more cautious approach to warfare lead to a deterioration of his relationship with the more offensive division commander, Carl Gustav Fleischer. On 19 April, Løken reported that the morale of the opposing German forces seemed to be faltering, and that most of the Germans appeared to be "below average" at skiing.Lie 2000, p. 165
After completing the mobilization in his area of responsibility and stopping the German advances into Troms, Colonel Løken was in overall command of the early counter-attacks carried out in late April 1940 by the 6th Brigade against the German forces in the Gratangen area.Sandvik 1965I, p. 256Berg and Vollan 1999, p. 78 During this time, Løken first had his headquarters at Kroken in the Salangsdalen valley in Troms county, before it moved forward to Fossbakken in Lavangen Municipality. Løken personally commanded the central axis of the failed first Norwegian advance at Gratangen.Ramberg et al. 1996, pp. 103, 107Andersen 1997, p. 170 During the attack the 6th Brigade greatly outnumbered the German defenders, with two infantry battalions with artillery support mounting a direct attack against the German positions on Lapphaugen, while another two battalions made a flank march to cut off the defenders. The frontal attack failed after Løken had hesitated in attacking and sent his units against strong German positions in a disorganized and uncoordinated manner. While the main attack failed, the flank march of the 1st Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment was counter-attacked by the Germans, the Norwegians suffering heavy losses and being routed.Lunde 2009, pp. 294-309 After the failed initial offensive, Løken severely criticized the commander of the 1st Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, Major Nils Christoffer Bøckman, for having bypassed Løken's brigade command in order to receive permission to advance directly from the 6th Division, exposing his unit to counter-attack.Andersen 1997, p. 174 Løken's orders to the battalion had been to under no circumstance move down into the Gratangen valley, but stay on defensible ground.Den Militære undersøkelseskommisjon av 1946, 1979, p. 132
On 29 April 1940, the 6th Division was reorganized into two weak brigades, the three-battalion strong 6th Brigade under Colonel Løken and the slightly smaller 7th Brigade under Colonel Wilhelm Faye. While the 6th Brigade was to follow a generally mountainous advance route against the Germans, the 7th was to attack along the coast in cooperation with French expeditionary forces.Berg and Vollan 1999, p. 139 The 6th Brigade carried out a hard-fought mountain campaign over the coming weeks, pushing the Germans southwards along the Swedish border.Haarr 2010, p. 241
During the advance ski patrols reported in late April to Colonel Løken that the mountainous Kuberg Plateau, in the advance route of the brigade, was unoccupied by the Germans. Failure on the part of Løken to act on this information and seize the plateau allowed the Germans to occupy and fortify the feature on 7 May 1940, requiring heavy fighting a week later before they were dislodged.Lunde 2009, p. 420