A Leisurely First Day at Strono - 27 September
We disembarked to find that we were at a boathouse and that we had arrived at our destination. We quickly entered the boathouse and stumbled around in the dark but still managed to climb up into the loft under the guidance of the Norwegians. On entering the room above the boathouse, the blackout curtain on the one window was checked and a match was struck. A coal oil lantern was on a table in front of the window and it was lit. There were ten of us in the room, one of the Norwegians had stayed with the boats as a lookout.
Nils Rottingen quickly informed us that we were to remain where we were, that under cover of darkness we were to leave the boathouse and climb into the mountains, stay there until darkness had settled in and return to the boathouse at night, and that they were leaving us an old canvas which we were to take and to use for shelter from the weather. He went on to tell us that we were in a camp that had previously been used by the Germans and that across the narrow strait some 30 metres away at Rottingen was a large German garrison.
On assuring themselves that we understood what we were to do, they told us that someone would try to return the following night and wishing us well, they swiftly departed.
When they had gone we examined our surroundings and found that we were in a room with two narrow beds. The window faced west and one bed was against the north wall, and the other against the south wall. As mentioned before, there was a table and chair under the window. There also was a small stand beside each bed. The stands contained books that were printed in both German and Norwegian. The quarters above the boathouse were austere but fairly comfortable.
We determined that we had to try to sleep as soon as possible; one of us would stay on watch while the others slept. The watch was to be of one hour duration as it was well on in the wee hours of the morning and there were few hours left for sleep before we had to be on our way up the mountain. As I had been awake before six in the morning of the 25th I had not slept in over forty hours; nonetheless I took the first watch.
As the others tried to get comfortable on the beds, I sat in the chair by the window. I tried to peer through the darkness outside but could make out nothing. Sitting there in the darkness the events of the previous day flashed through my thoughts. Implanted in my mind was the calm, cool efficiency that had been displayed by each of the other members of the crew. There had not been the least sign of hesitation or panic aboard the plane. The crew had functioned extremely well under duress. I marvelled at our luck in not having to come down in the North Sea and at how fortunate we were to have survived the crash.
My thoughts turned to the ease in which we seemed to have travelled on the fjords. A very strict curfew existed and anyone caught contravening the curfew would be in deep trouble with the authorities; anyone caught helping us surely would be forced to pay with their lives, therefore I reasoned that the possibility that we were actually in the hands of Germans, or people working for them, existed.
The intelligence lectures we had received on escape and evasion, some given by successful escapers themselves, suggested that a ruse often employed success fully by German intelligence was to become involved with evaders in the pretext that they were helping them. In doing so they would gain the confidence of the evaders and perhaps obtain valuable information from them. I hoped that my suspicions were unfounded and that our new-found friends were what they appeared to be, brave, loyal Norwegians doing their utmost to help in the fight against our common enemy. The hour passed quickly. I went over to the bed, shook Neil who was taking over on watch, took his place on the bed and was soon fast asleep.
We left the boathouse, as we had been instructed, under cover of darkness a couple of hours later. We carefully descended the stairs, fully aware that our movements had to be vecy slow and deliberate in order to make as little noise as possible. We exited the boathouse onto a railed wooden deck which extended for a short distance over water and brought us to land a few feet away. The path leading from the deck followed along the water to the right for a very short distance and then veered to the left. It had stopped raining but the heavy clouds continued to make visibility very limited. We could, however, see that the clearing contained a large building which looked much like a barrack block, and that we would have to pass alongside the very edge of it, for its full length. It had windows spaced about three feet apart and as we had no idea if it was occupied or not we proceeded with the utmost of caution. Crouching down we passed under the windows and continued on, passed the building and headed into the underbrush along a very narrow pathway.
It was shortly after five in the morning and we doubted if anyone would be about at that time, nonetheless we felt it would be safer for us if we stayed clear of any path which most likely would be used by others. We laboriously climbed over the rocks and through the trees and foliage for about a half hour. We spotted an area that afforded good concealment from prying eyes and decided that we would remain there. We made a lean-to type shelter with the canvas and huddled on the ground under it.
Daylight slowly materialized and we were able to see Rottingen, through the trees, across the water. We estimated that we were some 350 metres above the fjord. A short while later we were suddenly startled by the sound of heavy gunfire. It was fairly close and sounded like heavy artillery. Naturally we were curious to know what it could be. Later we were to learn that the garrison on Rottingen consisted of anti-aircraft defences as well as coastal defences and that they had gunnery practice regularly in the early hours of the morning.
We remained where we were, filling the time with small talk and determining how best to conserve the tablets which we had in our escape kits, hopeful that the Norwegians would be able to bring food that night as they had promised. When darkness settled in we started on our trek back to the boathouse. We arrived back in the boathouse without incident and anxiously waited to see if our friends would be able to get back to us that night.
We disembarked to find that we were at a boathouse and that we had arrived at our destination. We quickly entered the boathouse and stumbled around in the dark but still managed to climb up into the loft under the guidance of the Norwegians. On entering the room above the boathouse, the blackout curtain on the one window was checked and a match was struck. A coal oil lantern was on a table in front of the window and it was lit. There were ten of us in the room, one of the Norwegians had stayed with the boats as a lookout.
Nils Rottingen quickly informed us that we were to remain where we were, that under cover of darkness we were to leave the boathouse and climb into the mountains, stay there until darkness had settled in and return to the boathouse at night, and that they were leaving us an old canvas which we were to take and to use for shelter from the weather. He went on to tell us that we were in a camp that had previously been used by the Germans and that across the narrow strait some 30 metres away at Rottingen was a large German garrison.
On assuring themselves that we understood what we were to do, they told us that someone would try to return the following night and wishing us well, they swiftly departed.
When they had gone we examined our surroundings and found that we were in a room with two narrow beds. The window faced west and one bed was against the north wall, and the other against the south wall. As mentioned before, there was a table and chair under the window. There also was a small stand beside each bed. The stands contained books that were printed in both German and Norwegian. The quarters above the boathouse were austere but fairly comfortable.
We determined that we had to try to sleep as soon as possible; one of us would stay on watch while the others slept. The watch was to be of one hour duration as it was well on in the wee hours of the morning and there were few hours left for sleep before we had to be on our way up the mountain. As I had been awake before six in the morning of the 25th I had not slept in over forty hours; nonetheless I took the first watch.
As the others tried to get comfortable on the beds, I sat in the chair by the window. I tried to peer through the darkness outside but could make out nothing. Sitting there in the darkness the events of the previous day flashed through my thoughts. Implanted in my mind was the calm, cool efficiency that had been displayed by each of the other members of the crew. There had not been the least sign of hesitation or panic aboard the plane. The crew had functioned extremely well under duress. I marvelled at our luck in not having to come down in the North Sea and at how fortunate we were to have survived the crash.
My thoughts turned to the ease in which we seemed to have travelled on the fjords. A very strict curfew existed and anyone caught contravening the curfew would be in deep trouble with the authorities; anyone caught helping us surely would be forced to pay with their lives, therefore I reasoned that the possibility that we were actually in the hands of Germans, or people working for them, existed.
The intelligence lectures we had received on escape and evasion, some given by successful escapers themselves, suggested that a ruse often employed success fully by German intelligence was to become involved with evaders in the pretext that they were helping them. In doing so they would gain the confidence of the evaders and perhaps obtain valuable information from them. I hoped that my suspicions were unfounded and that our new-found friends were what they appeared to be, brave, loyal Norwegians doing their utmost to help in the fight against our common enemy. The hour passed quickly. I went over to the bed, shook Neil who was taking over on watch, took his place on the bed and was soon fast asleep.
We left the boathouse, as we had been instructed, under cover of darkness a couple of hours later. We carefully descended the stairs, fully aware that our movements had to be vecy slow and deliberate in order to make as little noise as possible. We exited the boathouse onto a railed wooden deck which extended for a short distance over water and brought us to land a few feet away. The path leading from the deck followed along the water to the right for a very short distance and then veered to the left. It had stopped raining but the heavy clouds continued to make visibility very limited. We could, however, see that the clearing contained a large building which looked much like a barrack block, and that we would have to pass alongside the very edge of it, for its full length. It had windows spaced about three feet apart and as we had no idea if it was occupied or not we proceeded with the utmost of caution. Crouching down we passed under the windows and continued on, passed the building and headed into the underbrush along a very narrow pathway.
It was shortly after five in the morning and we doubted if anyone would be about at that time, nonetheless we felt it would be safer for us if we stayed clear of any path which most likely would be used by others. We laboriously climbed over the rocks and through the trees and foliage for about a half hour. We spotted an area that afforded good concealment from prying eyes and decided that we would remain there. We made a lean-to type shelter with the canvas and huddled on the ground under it.
Daylight slowly materialized and we were able to see Rottingen, through the trees, across the water. We estimated that we were some 350 metres above the fjord. A short while later we were suddenly startled by the sound of heavy gunfire. It was fairly close and sounded like heavy artillery. Naturally we were curious to know what it could be. Later we were to learn that the garrison on Rottingen consisted of anti-aircraft defences as well as coastal defences and that they had gunnery practice regularly in the early hours of the morning.
We remained where we were, filling the time with small talk and determining how best to conserve the tablets which we had in our escape kits, hopeful that the Norwegians would be able to bring food that night as they had promised. When darkness settled in we started on our trek back to the boathouse. We arrived back in the boathouse without incident and anxiously waited to see if our friends would be able to get back to us that night.