A Long Morning and Afternoon
Time moved very slowly; we occupied ourselves by examining our escape kits not knowing exactly what treasures we might find. They contained maps of Norway and Holland, and much to our great surprise, maps of France and also a few French francs. The maps were printed on silk and coated with rubber to prevent them from deteriorating. Finding the maps of France and the French money, made us momentarily turn our thoughts to the possibility of making our way south. We knew that there were a number of highly organized escape net works throughout occupied Europe and that these networks had provided shelter and the eventual means of evasion for many airmen. A number had made their way from the north of Holland down through Belgium and France and had eventually crossed the Pyrenees into Spain and then on to Gibraltar and eventually back to England. None of us recalled having been told that the escape networks reached as far north as Norway. We felt, therefore, that it would be far easier to attempt to reach Sweden than to try to head south towards France.
The kits did contain a few goodies in the way of food tablets to help sustain us. There was a rubber water bottle, some tablets to purify water, a small compass, a little file, a miniature razor, tablets to help keep us awake, sewing thread, needles, buttons and a small quantity of medical supplies. These kits were issued to us before each operational sortie and had to be returned unopened after each trip under very severe penalty for not doing so.
We engaged in whispered discussion of how best to conserve the meagre rations that we had with us. We had nothing in the way of food other than the tablets in our escape kits. I had had an orange which I foolishly had given to the girl who had led us to the cave not realizing how incriminating it would be if she were to be found with it. Years later, as a grown, charming woman, Martha Haugland (nee Bruaroy} informed me that she did not eat the orange but had hidden it in the underbrush as she returned home. She had realized the danger it presented and did not want to be found with it in her possession.
We explored the area in the immediate vicinity of the cave, not wandering too far in any direction and never out of sight of each other. We discovered a lot of very large blueberries on some bushes nearby but we hesitated to eat any for fear that we might become ill.
Neil filled us in on what had transpired when he first left us. He told us that he had found two women at the first home he approached but that they could not understand him. One of the two women was Martha Bruarøy, the woman who had guided us to the cave, the other was her mother. It was Martha who led him to her aunt's home where Neil met Ingeborg Bjørnen. She spoke English very well, having spent a number of years in England working as a nurse. Ingeborg and Martha, after a short discussion, had agreed that Martha would take us to the cave.
With darkness soon approaching we contemplated our first night in Norway, little realizing the tremendous activity our crash had generated on three fronts. We knew full well that there would be a hurried search by the German forces in the area to attempt to find us, but did not anticipate the dedicated effort on the part of Ingeborg Bjørnen to get help for us, nor could we imagine the frantic at tempt to locate us by various members of the very well organized local resistance groups.
As mentioned before, when the Bay of Biscay ports that had been havens for German submarines operating in the Atlantic were cut off by the advancing Allied armies in France, the Germans diverted their naval activities to the sea ports on the Norwegian coast. They had a very large submarine base at Hattvik that was also used as a training school for sub crews. It was situated less than eight kilometres north east of where we crashed and was very heavily fortified. A large army post was located on the east side of the village of Os and they had a garrison and anti-aircraft installations on Rottingen, an island about three and a half kilometres from where we crashed.
The main German army garrison and a large prison camp were at Ulven, less than one kilometre north of Os. This base was a Norwegian military installation prior to the war and had been taken over by the Germans. After the war the Norwegian army continued to use and are still using the base. In 1982 I had the honour to lay a wreath at the base of a memorial located just outside the main gates of the camp. The memorial is in memory of the over nine hundred allied seamen, airmen and commandos who were shot by the Germans and whose bodies are buried in unmarked graves on the hillsides surrounding the camp. Until March of 1945 the Germans shot most prisoners taken in Norway, rather than send them to prison camps in Germany. Their deaths were ordained by Hitler's infamous "Commando Order".
A month after Dieppe, twelve British commandos were captured in Norway on a mission to blow up a power station. The Germans found a British "Hand book of Irregular Warfare" on one of the commandos. Hitler read from it: "Never give the enemy a chance, the days when we could practice the rules of sportsman ship are over. For the time being, every soldier must be a potential gangster.... Remember, you are out to kill." Hitler raged at all commandos calling them thugs and gangsters and stating that they did not enjoy the protections of the Geneva Convention because they violated the Hague Convention on Land Warfare. Hence forth, Hitler announced, all commandos were to be shot, even if they were in uniform and had surrendered willingly. "They are to be slaughtered to the last man and without a trial," he commanded. Hitler insisted that the word be put out to all the German armed forces in a formal order. The Commando Order was issued on October 18,1942. After D-Day it included any parachutists and all Allied troops found operating beyond the battle perimeter. It remained in effect "fully in force" until the end of the war. Nowhere was it carried out with more ruthlessness than in Norway.
In the mistaken belief that we were a heavily armed commando group, a rumour circulated by the resistance, our capture became one of the top priorities governing the activities of all the German forces on land and sea and air in the area. All available units were immediately called out to search for us including many from further afield. Every man that could be taken from his normal activity was utilized. They set up roadblocks and searched and questioned everyone in the area. They put up notices and admonished one and all that the penalty for aiding us was death; that anyone thus caught would be shot on sight.
Within a very short time after we had left the crash scene the Germans rounded up all the citizens in the Os area and terrorized them with brutal beatings and torture during the interrogations that followed. Many were sent off to prison, never to return. We learned of the frenzied activities of the Germans some days later from those who were helping us evade capture. The threat of death to themselves and their loved ones could not detract them from their efforts to resist a despised enemy, and in doing so, help six strangers in their time of need
Time moved very slowly; we occupied ourselves by examining our escape kits not knowing exactly what treasures we might find. They contained maps of Norway and Holland, and much to our great surprise, maps of France and also a few French francs. The maps were printed on silk and coated with rubber to prevent them from deteriorating. Finding the maps of France and the French money, made us momentarily turn our thoughts to the possibility of making our way south. We knew that there were a number of highly organized escape net works throughout occupied Europe and that these networks had provided shelter and the eventual means of evasion for many airmen. A number had made their way from the north of Holland down through Belgium and France and had eventually crossed the Pyrenees into Spain and then on to Gibraltar and eventually back to England. None of us recalled having been told that the escape networks reached as far north as Norway. We felt, therefore, that it would be far easier to attempt to reach Sweden than to try to head south towards France.
The kits did contain a few goodies in the way of food tablets to help sustain us. There was a rubber water bottle, some tablets to purify water, a small compass, a little file, a miniature razor, tablets to help keep us awake, sewing thread, needles, buttons and a small quantity of medical supplies. These kits were issued to us before each operational sortie and had to be returned unopened after each trip under very severe penalty for not doing so.
We engaged in whispered discussion of how best to conserve the meagre rations that we had with us. We had nothing in the way of food other than the tablets in our escape kits. I had had an orange which I foolishly had given to the girl who had led us to the cave not realizing how incriminating it would be if she were to be found with it. Years later, as a grown, charming woman, Martha Haugland (nee Bruaroy} informed me that she did not eat the orange but had hidden it in the underbrush as she returned home. She had realized the danger it presented and did not want to be found with it in her possession.
We explored the area in the immediate vicinity of the cave, not wandering too far in any direction and never out of sight of each other. We discovered a lot of very large blueberries on some bushes nearby but we hesitated to eat any for fear that we might become ill.
Neil filled us in on what had transpired when he first left us. He told us that he had found two women at the first home he approached but that they could not understand him. One of the two women was Martha Bruarøy, the woman who had guided us to the cave, the other was her mother. It was Martha who led him to her aunt's home where Neil met Ingeborg Bjørnen. She spoke English very well, having spent a number of years in England working as a nurse. Ingeborg and Martha, after a short discussion, had agreed that Martha would take us to the cave.
With darkness soon approaching we contemplated our first night in Norway, little realizing the tremendous activity our crash had generated on three fronts. We knew full well that there would be a hurried search by the German forces in the area to attempt to find us, but did not anticipate the dedicated effort on the part of Ingeborg Bjørnen to get help for us, nor could we imagine the frantic at tempt to locate us by various members of the very well organized local resistance groups.
As mentioned before, when the Bay of Biscay ports that had been havens for German submarines operating in the Atlantic were cut off by the advancing Allied armies in France, the Germans diverted their naval activities to the sea ports on the Norwegian coast. They had a very large submarine base at Hattvik that was also used as a training school for sub crews. It was situated less than eight kilometres north east of where we crashed and was very heavily fortified. A large army post was located on the east side of the village of Os and they had a garrison and anti-aircraft installations on Rottingen, an island about three and a half kilometres from where we crashed.
The main German army garrison and a large prison camp were at Ulven, less than one kilometre north of Os. This base was a Norwegian military installation prior to the war and had been taken over by the Germans. After the war the Norwegian army continued to use and are still using the base. In 1982 I had the honour to lay a wreath at the base of a memorial located just outside the main gates of the camp. The memorial is in memory of the over nine hundred allied seamen, airmen and commandos who were shot by the Germans and whose bodies are buried in unmarked graves on the hillsides surrounding the camp. Until March of 1945 the Germans shot most prisoners taken in Norway, rather than send them to prison camps in Germany. Their deaths were ordained by Hitler's infamous "Commando Order".
A month after Dieppe, twelve British commandos were captured in Norway on a mission to blow up a power station. The Germans found a British "Hand book of Irregular Warfare" on one of the commandos. Hitler read from it: "Never give the enemy a chance, the days when we could practice the rules of sportsman ship are over. For the time being, every soldier must be a potential gangster.... Remember, you are out to kill." Hitler raged at all commandos calling them thugs and gangsters and stating that they did not enjoy the protections of the Geneva Convention because they violated the Hague Convention on Land Warfare. Hence forth, Hitler announced, all commandos were to be shot, even if they were in uniform and had surrendered willingly. "They are to be slaughtered to the last man and without a trial," he commanded. Hitler insisted that the word be put out to all the German armed forces in a formal order. The Commando Order was issued on October 18,1942. After D-Day it included any parachutists and all Allied troops found operating beyond the battle perimeter. It remained in effect "fully in force" until the end of the war. Nowhere was it carried out with more ruthlessness than in Norway.
In the mistaken belief that we were a heavily armed commando group, a rumour circulated by the resistance, our capture became one of the top priorities governing the activities of all the German forces on land and sea and air in the area. All available units were immediately called out to search for us including many from further afield. Every man that could be taken from his normal activity was utilized. They set up roadblocks and searched and questioned everyone in the area. They put up notices and admonished one and all that the penalty for aiding us was death; that anyone thus caught would be shot on sight.
Within a very short time after we had left the crash scene the Germans rounded up all the citizens in the Os area and terrorized them with brutal beatings and torture during the interrogations that followed. Many were sent off to prison, never to return. We learned of the frenzied activities of the Germans some days later from those who were helping us evade capture. The threat of death to themselves and their loved ones could not detract them from their efforts to resist a despised enemy, and in doing so, help six strangers in their time of need