www.voicesofwar.co.uk

Unfortunately there is little information in his SOE records. It seems that he was a a fisherman prior to

the war and then he joined the Norwegian Navy in 1941. He was employed as a crewman on the

Shetland Bus from 21st September 1944. This was the nickname of a special operations group that

made a link between Mainland Shetland in Scotland and German-occupied Norway from 1941 until the

surrender of Nazi Germany on 8 May 1945. From mid-1942, the group's official name was the

Norwegian Naval Independent Unit (NNIU). In October 1943, it became an official part of the Royal

Norwegian Navy and was renamed the Royal Norwegian Naval Special Unit (RNNSU). The unit was

operated initially by a large number of small fishing boats and later augmented by three fast and 3

submarine chasers

Crossings were mostly made during the winter under the cover of darkness. This meant the crews and

passengers had to endure terrible North Sea conditions, with no lights and constant risk of discovery by

Germans, either from the air or sea. The boats were disguised as working fishing boats and the crew as

fishermen. The fishing boats were armed with light machine guns concealed inside oil drums placed on

deck. The operation was under constant threat from German forces, and several missions went awry,

of which the TelavÃ¥g tragedy in spring 1942 was a prime example. Several fishing boats were lost

during the early operations, but after receiving the three submarine chasers there were no more losses.

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