When Nazi Germany occupied Norway in 1940, they arrived in a country separated in two, in terms of overland transportation. The uninterrupted road system only stretched as far north as Elsfjord in the municipality of Vefsn – basically the middle of the country. From there, a small car ferry was the only link over the fjord to the village of Hemnesberget, and the northern half of Norway. Plans had been made to build the new National Road 50 (R-50, now known as European Route 6) as part of Nordland County’s road plans for 1939-45, but with low priority.

Construction work on a railroad track stretching north from Stjørdal (the Nordland Line) had been under way since October 1902. Both as part of the ordinary transportation budget, and partly as an emergency effort. On 7. July 1940, the railway station in Mosjøen was finally opened, attended by Wehrmacht’s commanding officer of occupied Norway, Generaloberst Nikolaus von Falkenhorst.

The German campaign to the north in April and May of 1940 had uncovered severe logistical challenges for the occupying force, both in terms of conveying personnel, and transporting of military and civilian supplies.

After Operation Barbarossa – the initial German invasion of the Soviet Union – started on 22. June 1941, the northern lines of communication in Norway became an even bigger challenge. A new northern front had been opened, placing enormous demands on transportation of personnel and supplies, both to the direct march into the Soviet Union, and for the supply lines into Finland supporting that part of the eastern front.

Work on both the northern road and rail systems was accelerated, and given the highest priority.

Under von Falkenhorst’s leadership, the Wehrmacht supervised the railroad construction, performed by Norwegian State Railways (NSB).

It soon became clear that the efforts of NSB’s personnel alone were not satisfactory, and in the aftermath of Operation Barbarossa, the Wehrmacht and Organisation Todt/Einsatzgruppe Wiking (north of Mo i Rana) were given virtually unlimited access to prisoners of war, primarily Soviets, who were forced to join the construction efforts.

Planning work for the stretch of R-50 crossing the mountain of Korgfjellet was immediately accelerated, and the occupational regime demanded the road be finished by the end of 1941. Led by the Norwegian Public Roads Administration and its local Helgeland division, work started in 1941, but the regime was not happy with the progress made by the local Public Road work force.

At the same time, the need arose to winterproof the stretch of R-50 terminating in Lakselv in Finnmark County, and its connection to the strategically important (and at the time Finnish-controlled) Arctic Ocean Highway between Rovaniemi and Liinakhamari.

The same need was uncovered for the stretch between Rognan and Langset in the district of Salten, and for the purposes of roadwork by Narvik (Beisfjord/Øvre Jernvatn).

The regime had limited access to workers. Generaloberst von Falkenhorst prioritised using Soviet prisoners of war for the rail construction. The Reichskommissariat – the civilian administration of the occupying forces – was led by Josef Terboven, at the time the highest-ranking SS officer in Norway. His agenda was to gain independence from the authority of the Wehrmacht and von Falkenhorst. To serve this ambition, Terboven identified the importance of giving the Reichskommissariat authority over important infrastructure projects, such as R-50 in the north. Terboven was supported by Heinrich Himmler, the leader of the SS, in his machinations, but still needed workers to achieve these goals.

August Edler von Meyszner – «Höhere SS und Polizei Führer Serbien» – had led the Nazi order police in Norway before being transferred to the Balkans in January 1942. He was a close friend of Terboven’s, and had access to manpower, in the shape of captured Yugoslav Partisans, and civilians arrested in various retaliatory actions in the region. The SS had several camps for prisoners of war in the Balkans, in addition to the prison camps of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH). Among which was the concentration camp in Jasenovac, the infamous «Auschwitz of the Balkans». Around this time, an agreement was made to transfer Yugoslavian prisoners to various construction efforts led by the SS. The prisoners were to be put to work with «the strictest conditions possible».