Otto Ruge (January 9, 1882 - 1961) was a Norwegian general. He was Commander-in-chief of the Royal Norwegian Armed Forces after Nazi Germany's assault on Norway in April 1940. Flag of the Chief of Defence The Chief of Defence of Norway (Forsvarssjefen) is the highest ranking officer of the Military of Norway, second only to the King. ... Order of St. ... January 9 is the 9th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1882 (MDCCCLXXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... General is a high military rank, used by nearly every country in the world. ... Commander-in-Chief (in NATO-lingo often C-in-C or CINC pronounced sink) is the commander of all the military forces within a particular region or of all the military forces of a state. ... Ranks Norwegian military ranks The Norwegian Army is Norways military land force. ... Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ... 1940 (MCMXL) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1940 calendar). ...

General Ruge assumed command after the former C-in-C, general Laake, who was supposed to go into retirement a few days after the German attack on Norway, displayed a defeatist attitude and consequently was relieved of command. General Ruge persuaded the government to fight the German invaders. He was convinced that fighting would be vital to the country and the nations selfrespect, but pragmatic enough to realize that a need for allied help was crucial to succeed. Ruge had a hard task on his hands, he got the command over an only partly mobilised army, and Norway had already lost all major cities to the Germans, moreover the Germans had established air superiority. The loss of one of the few infantery regiments available, the Norwegian third infantry regiment, its commander surrendering without a shot being fired, falsely believing that he was surrounded, made the situation even worse. Operation Weserübung was the German codename for Nazi Germanys assault on Denmark and Norway during World War II and the opening operation of the Norwegian Campaign. ...

Ruge's main strategy was to slowly retreat northwards and to establish a defence line south of Trondheim while waiting for the allies to reconqure that city. However, the allies launched their pinchers towards Trondheim to late, and to far away from their destination. As a result of this several of the pincer forces became entangeled in combat before the attack against the city could be launched. County Sør-Trøndelag District Municipality NO-1601 Administrative centre Trondheim Mayor (2005) Rita Ottervik (A) Official language form Neutral Area  - Total  - Land  - Percentage Ranked 258 342 km² 322 km² 0. ...

Ruge's choices have later been criticised. General Torkel Hovland claims that General Ruge to a large degree was responsible for the ease of which Nazi-German forces were able to occupy Norway. This was partly due to his appeasement with the Labor party and their razing of the Norwegian army during the 1930s and partly due to his failure to mount a more active, determined defense in central Norway. General is a high military rank, used by nearly every country in the world. ...

However, other military historians with close ties to the Labor party have contested these views. Terje Holm at the Norwegian Defence Museum claims that the Norwegian Mobilisation army had the necessary arms, but that the army never became mobilized because of misunderstandings and the surprise of the German attack, and that the ad-hoc nature of the randomly mobilized Norwegian units drastically hampered their operations as well as their ability to counterattack. Kjetil Skogrand, currently State Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, perceive Hovland's criticism of Ruge as comments on present-day Norwegian defence policies than related to Otto Ruges actual strategies. Skogrand has also criticized Hovland for comparing General Carl Gustav Fleichers more active fighting style around Narvik with Ruges more defensive style further south. Fleischer, because of northern Norway´s geographical distance from Germany, is seen as enjoying the advantage of more time to train and mobilise his forces, and being less disturbed by the Luftwaffe. The Norwegian Labour Party (Det norske Arbeiderparti, Arbeiderpartiet or DNA) is a left-wing political party in Norway. ... Entrance to the Royal Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Oslo Royal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Oslo, Norway The Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Utenriksdepartementet) was established on June 7, 1905 - the same day the Norwegian Parliament decided to dissolve the union with Sweden. ... The Deutsche Luftwaffe or (help· info) (German: Air Arm, IPA: [luftvafÉ™]) is the commonly used term for the German air force. ...

Contrary to what Terje Holm claims, military historian Tom Kristensen emphasizes that even though Otto Ruge participated in the downsizing of the Norwegian army during the early 1930s, he also warned against the renewed treath after 1935 and pointed to the weakness of the Norwegian mobilization system.

Ruge was evacuated after the fall of southern Norway and participated in the Battle of Narvik. After the withdrawal of allied forces he remained in Norway to negotiate the surrender of the remains of the Norwegian army. Subsequently he was arrested by the Germans and sent to Germany for the rest of the war. The Battles of Narvik were naval battles between the Royal Navy (Britain) and the Kriegsmarine (Germany) that occurred in April 1940 (during the Second World War). ... Look up surrender in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

After the war, Ruge was briefly reinstated as Commander-in-Chief, but fell out with his political superiors. He retired, and his last post was as a corporal in the Norwegian home guard. His memoirs from the 1940 campaign is published in Norwegian under the title Felttoget 1940. General Otto Ruge was awarded "Storkorset med Kjede" for his service to the nation during WWII which is the highest decoration of St. Olav, normally reserved for foreign heads of state. He was also given the residence of the commandant quarters of Høytorp Fortress until his death in 1961.