{{Short description|Norwegian Army officer (1875-1958)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2020}} {{Infobox military person | name = Birger Kristian Eriksen | birth_date = {{Birth date|1875|11|17|df=yes}} | death_date = {{Death date and age|1958|07|16|1875|11|17|df=yes}} | birth_place = Flakstad, Lofoten, Kingdom of Sweden and Norway | death_place = Oslo, Norway | burial_place = Vår Frelsers gravlund, Oslo | image = Standard compressed Birger2024.jpg | allegiance = {{flag|Norway}} | branch = Norwegian Army | service_years = 1893–1940 | rank = Oberst (Colonel) | commands = '''Coastal fortresses:''' *Tønsberg Fortress (1915)<ref>{{cite book |title=Klar til strid - Kystartilleriet gjennom århundrene |last=Fjeld |first=Odd T. |year=1999 |publisher=Kystartilleriets Offisersforening |location=Oslo |isbn=82-995208-0-0 |page=404 |language= Norwegian}}</ref> *{{ill|Agdenes Fortress|no|Agdenes festning}} (1915–1931)<ref name="Fjeld 405">Fjeld 1999: 405</ref> *{{ill|Bergen Fortress|no|Bergen Fortress}} (1931–1933)<ref name="Fjeld 405"/> *Oscarsborg Fortress (1933–1940)<ref>Fjeld 1999: 403</ref> | battles = {{Tree list}} * '''World War II''' ** Norwegian campaign *** Battle of Drøbak Sound {{POW}} {{Tree list/end}} | awards = {{flagicon|Norway}} War Cross with sword<ref name="Fjeld 410">Fjeld 1999: 410</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.webstaff.no/851000%20Medal%20lists/Krigskorset.htm |title=Krigskorset |accessdate=2009-01-31 |work=Webstaff.no |language=Norwegian |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100327135603/http://www.webstaff.no/851000%20Medal%20lists/Krigskorset.htm |archivedate=27 March 2010}}</ref><br/>{{flagicon|France}} Croix de Guerre<ref name="Fjeld 410"/><ref name="Eriksen website"/><br/>{{flagicon|France}} Légion d'honneur<ref name="Fjeld 410"/><ref name="Eriksen website"/> | spouse = {{marriage|Christiane Sæhlie|21 November 1903}} | relations = Hans Eriksen (grandfather), Casper Eriksen (father)<ref name="Eriksen website"/><br>Andreas Olsen Sæhlie (father-in-law)<ref name="SNL1"/> | other_work = | enteredservice = }}
'''Birger Kristian Eriksen''' (17 November 1875 – 16 July 1958) was a Norwegian military officer (with the rank of Oberst) who was instrumental in stopping the first wave of ''Gruppe 5'' of the German invasion force outside Oslo. Eriksen was the commander of Oscarsborg Fortress when Nazi Germany attacked Norway in the early hours of 9 April 1940. He gained lasting recognition for ordering the fortress under his command to open fire on the vanguard forces of Operation Weserübung, sinking the 16,000-ton heavy cruiser ''Blücher''.
==Early and personal life== Born on 17 November 1875 to merchant and ship captain Caspar Edvard Eriksen and his wife Jensine Petrine Arentzen in Flakstad Municipality in the area that is now Moskenes Municipality in Lofoten, Birger Eriksen left home early, at age 12, to go to Kristiania (as Oslo was known as at the time) to study. Nonetheless, he would return home to Moskenes every summer to visit his mother until she died in 1936, having been a widow for fifty years.<ref name="Eriksen website">{{cite web |url=http://janmon.priv.no/birgereriksen.html |title=Nordlendingen som senket "Blücher" |accessdate=2009-01-31 |author=Jan Dagfinn Monssen |language=Norwegian |archive-date=12 August 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130812092642/http://janmon.priv.no/birgereriksen.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=nordleks>{{cite encyclopedia |first=Billy |last=Jacobsen |encyclopedia=NRK Nordland Fylkesleksikon |title=Birger Eriksen |editor=Hans-Tore Bjerkaas |editor-link=Hans-Tore Bjerkaas |url=http://www.nrk.no/nordland/fylkesleksikon/index.php/Birger_Eriksen |accessdate=13 March 2013 |year=2009 |publisher=NRK |language=Norwegian |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150112210629/http://www.nrk.no/nordland/fylkesleksikon/index.php/Birger_Eriksen |archivedate=12 January 2015}}</ref>
On 21 November 1903 in Vang Municipality, Eriksen married Christiane Sæhlie (born 1874 in Vang). The married couple had one son and two daughters by 1930.<ref name=nordleks/><ref name=barth136>{{cite encyclopedia |editor-last=Barth |editor-first=Bjarne Keyser |editor-link=Bjarne Keyser Barth |encyclopedia=Norges militære embedsmenn 1929 |title=Eriksen, B. K. |url=http://www.nb.no/nbsok/nb/f7b5a0cd69fb1d6ef5d5df633e0279e6?index=0 |year=1930 |publisher=A. M. Hanche |location=Oslo |page=136 |language=Norwegian }}</ref>
==Military career== After Eriksen graduated from high school in 1893,<ref name="SNL1">{{cite web |url=http://www.snl.no/.nbl_biografi/Birger_Eriksen/utdypning |title=Birger Eriksen |accessdate=2011-05-14 |author=Jan Egil Fjørtoft |work=Norsk biografisk leksikon |language=Norwegian }}</ref> he attended the Technische Hochschule in Charlottenburg (now Technische Universität Berlin), Germany for three months before returning home.<ref name=barth136/> In 1896 he started his military career<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Fjørtoft |first=Jan Egil |editor=Dahl, Hans Fredrik |encyclopedia=Norsk krigsleksikon 1940-45 |title=Eriksen, Birger (Kristian) |url=http://mediabase1.uib.no/krigslex/e/e2.html#eriksen-birger |year=1995 |publisher=Cappelen |location=Oslo |language=Norwegian |accessdate=29 January 2009 |editor-link=Hans Fredrik Dahl |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120301185321/http://mediabase1.uib.no/krigslex/e/e2.html#eriksen-birger |archivedate=1 March 2012}}</ref> by graduating from the Norwegian Military Academy.<ref name="SNL1"/> By 1901 he had reached the rank of Kaptein (Captain) in the Norwegian coastal artillery, and by 1915 the rank of Major. In 1915, Eriksen was also made commander of Agdenes Fortress off Trondheim.<ref name=barth136/>
In 1931 he reached the rank of Oberst (Colonel) and two years later he obtained the position of commander of Oscarsborg Fortress, a position he would hold until that fateful morning of the Battle of Drøbak Sound on 9 April 1940.
By the time of the battle, Eriksen was six months from retirement.<ref name=nordleks/>
Before his Oscarsborg command Eriksen had commanded the fortresses of Tønsberg, Agdenes, and Bergen.
Eriksen was present when Oscarsborg Fortress was returned to the Norwegian military on 12 May 1945, more than five years after it had been surrendered to the Germans, following the battle. Eriksen delivered a speech about the Flag of Norway as the symbol of the fatherland, as the flag that had flown over the fortress until April 1940 was again raised over Oscarsborg.<ref>{{cite book |title=Sjøforsvaret dag for dag 1814–2000 |editor-last=Sivertsen |editor-first=Svein Carl |year=2001 |publisher=Sjømilitære Samfund ved Norsk Tidsskrift for Sjøvesen |location=Hundvåg |isbn=82-92217-03-7 |page=112 |language=Norwegian}}</ref>
==Post–World War II investigations== {{quote box | width = 23em|"The Commission of 1946 finds no reason to make anyone juridically responsible in connection with the surrender of the fortress at the time it occurred"|—The Military Investigative Commission of 1946<ref name="Kongsberg"/> }} Although Eriksen was honoured for his efforts after the war, he also came under criticism by governmental investigators who felt he had surrendered his fortress sooner than had been necessary. Eriksen defended himself and stated that he had been acting under enormous pressure and that he had in fact opened fire against the German invaders contrary to standing Norwegian military orders to first fire warning shots at intruders.<ref name="Kongsberg">{{cite web |url=http://www.kongsberg.net/forsvarsforeningen/frame.asp?Id=48592 |title=Oberst Birger Kristian Eriksen |work=Kongsberg Forsvarsforening |language=Norwegian |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071016213227/http://www.kongsberg.net/forsvarsforeningen/frame.asp?Id=48592 |archivedate=16 October 2007}}</ref>
Both the Investigative Commission of 1945 and the Military Investigative Commission of 1946 confirmed that Eriksen carried out his duties to the full during the German invasion.<ref name="Kongsberg"/>
==Legacy== Birger Eriksen died as a celebrated war hero on 16 July 1958. The funeral service took place at Oslo New Crematorium and the urn with Eriksen's ashes was buried at Drøbak Church. Following a private initiative and the formation of a committee to honour him, Eriksen's ashes were exhumed on 4 October 1977 and moved to the Vår Frelsers gravlund cemetery in Oslo. It is a great honour for a Norwegian to be buried in the Æreslunden there.<ref name="Kongsberg"/>
The final recognition of Eriksen's efforts, and rebuttal of the early post-war criticisms of some of his actions, took place during the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. On 6 May 1995 King Harald V unveiled a statue of Eriksen<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.verneplaner.no/?f=oscarsborg&id=50570&a=2 |title=Verneplan: Oscarsborg festning |accessdate=2009-01-31 |author=Kristen Grieg Bjerke |date=April 2006 |work=Nasjonale Festningsverk |language=Norwegian }}</ref> on the Borggården square at Oscarsborg's Main Fort, cementing the Colonel's position amongst the foremost Norwegian leaders of the Second World War.<ref name="Kongsberg"/><ref>[http://www.visitdrobak.no/en/visit-us/the-statue-of-colonel-birger-eriksen The Statue of Colonel Birger Eriksen] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190610073843/http://www.visitdrobak.no/en/visit-us/the-statue-of-colonel-birger-eriksen |date=10 June 2019 }} visitdrobak.no {{in lang|en}}</ref>
Eriksen was portrayed by Erik Hivju in the 2016 film ''The King's Choice'', in which the scenes recreating the Battle of Drøbak Sound were filmed on location at Oscarsborg Fortress. He was portrayed by Bjørn Sundquist in the 2025 film ''The Battle of Oslo''. The film was set on 9 April 1940, during the German invasion of Norway, followed Eriksen at Oscarsborg Fortress and the sinking of the German cruiser Blücher.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nfi.no/filmer-og-serier/blucher|title=Blücher|trans-title=The Battle of Oslo|date=20 June 2023|access-date=1 July 2025|website= Norwegian Film Institute |language=no}}</ref>
==Quotations== {{blockquote|Either I will be decorated, or I will be court-martialed. Fire!|Birger Kristian Eriksen|as he gave orders to fire at the German heavy cruiser ''Blücher'' <ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lofotenkrigmus.no/april2.htm |title=9 april 3 |accessdate=2009-01-31 |work=Lofoten Krigsminnemuseum |language=Norwegian |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081016061047/http://www.lofotenkrigmus.no/april2.htm |archive-date=16 October 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref>}}
{{blockquote|It's not really hard to fire guns, but it's immensely hard to make the decision to fire.|Post-war statement with regards to his decision to open fire<ref name="Kongsberg"/>}}
{{blockquote| "Der skal for fanden skytes med skarpt" Damn right we're firing live ammunition.|Supposedly said as he gave orders to fire}}
==Awards== *War Cross with Sword – 16 November 1945<ref name="Fjeld 410">Fjeld 1999: 410</ref> *French Légion d'honneur (Officier) – May 1946<ref name="Fjeld 410"/> *French Croix de Guerre – May 1946<ref name="Fjeld 410"/>
==References== {{commons}} {{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eriksen, Birger Kristian}} Category:1875 births Category:1958 deaths Category:People from Moskenes Municipality Category:People from Flakstad Municipality Category:Norwegian Military Academy alumni Category:Norwegian expatriates in Germany Category:Burials at the Cemetery of Our Saviour Category:Officers of the Legion of Honour Category:Norwegian Army personnel of World War II Category:Norwegian prisoners of war in World War II Category:Recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1939–1945 (France) Category:World War II prisoners of war held by Germany Category:Recipients of the War Cross with Sword (Norway) Category:Norwegian colonels Category:Norwegian recipients of the Legion of Honour