However, other military historians have contested these views. Of them are Terje Holm and Kjetil Skogrand, both with ties to the Norwegian Labour Party. Terje Holm at the Norwegian Armed Forces Museum claims that the Norwegian Mobilization 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, former 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 Ruge's actual strategies. Skogrand has also criticized Hovland for comparing General Carl Gustav Fleischer's more active fighting style around Narvik with Ruge's 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.