September 26, 1944
There was some truth to Helén Mowinckel Nilsen's observation that the Germans couldn't do anything without first lining up and marching, because it was a full two hours after Gordon Biddle's incredible landing before the Germans arrived. Two tracking dogs were brought in a black Mercedes Benz. In the middle of all the furor, a thunderstorm struck. Soldiers chased the slightest hint of movement in the surrounding countryside.
They started by searching the surrounding area. About four hundred meters from the landing site, they found some fairly new aviator helmets and goggles. Two men came running with their find and gave them to an officer in riding breeches for examination.
All the people in the neighbourhood were rounded up into the old school house. The Germans wanted to know what each person had seen. Several had no doubt seen the crash, and there was little reason to deny it. A quiet farmer explained that the plane flew like a crow.
But everyone in the interrogation room, the schoolteacher and all others, replied that they had not seen the crew. The crew had fled before the astonished crowd had time to assemble at the crash site. The only thing that resembled a useful statement came from a woman with a black scarf around her head. She loosened the scarf enough to explain to the interpreter that she had seen some strangers after the flying machine had crashed into the ground. “But I think maybe they took the bus,” she said. She was referring to rumours in circulation about the “North Sea Bus” (or Shetland Bus) that traveled between Norway’s west coast and Scotland, but neither the interpreter nor the German noticed the double meaning.
For three years it had been unlawful for Norwegians to have a radio. The first thing Ingeborg Bjørnen did after her conversation with the unexpected guests was to hide her radio even better than before. She consulted with her father, Hans Bjørnen, who was always ready to do something against the occupation forces. He immediately said that he would contact a young man who lived at Bjørnarøy, a half-hour boat trip away. He suspected that the young man was in the resistance. In any case, he was a man they could trust.
Hans Bjørnen and a neighbour, Johannes Ferstadvoll, took a small boat and rowed towards Bjørnarøy. They met a German corvette with guns fore and aft and an officer on the bridge. They expected to be stopped and have their passes checked, but the boat just passed them by and continued on its own way.
The crew of the Wellington waited for darkness and kept looking at their watches. Time seemed to move infinitely slowly. They conversed at a whisper and looked through their emergency kits closely, because they did not know everything that was packed in them. The crews were given them before each mission and they returned them unopened when they returned to base. Now they found several maps printed on silk and coated to be waterproof. Besides the map of Norway, they had one of the Netherlands and one of France. They had a first aid kit, and some French coins.
The maps made them consider trying to head south. Although it seemed far, birds migrated longer distances. They knew that throughout occupied Europe there were many well-organized networks that saved airmen who had been shot down. They were brought stage-by-stage through forest and darkened city streets, from Netherlands through Belgium and France, the Pyrenees and Spain, and on to Gibraltar and eventually England.
But nobody had told them that the escape networks reached as far north as Norway. They believed that it would be easier to try to reach Sweden than France but that neither would happen without a lot of help from the local people. Neil thought of how when he signed the final weather briefing, he had joked about plotting a route to Sweden, and now they were discussing the same option seriously.
The emergency kit contained tablets that would give them energy, others that would keep them awake, and water purifying tablets. There was a small plastic container to be used for water, a pocket compass, a small file, a razor, needles and thread, buttons and some basic medical supplies. The Canadians scouted the nearby area, but were careful not to lose sight of each other.
The only food they had was the energy pills, and they had to ration them. Firestone had had an orange in his pocket, but had given it to the girl who had led them to the cave. Now he realized that maybe he put the girl at risk, because imported food was likely unavailable in Norway. However, Marta Bruarøy was aware of the risk and hid the orange well away from her house.
In the afternoon, Marta Bruarøy showed up with a milk pail in her hand that she gave to Neil. She also brought lots of blueberries, but the crew were afraid to eat them for fear of becoming ill. Marta Bruarøy put a handful in her mouth to demonstrate that they were not only edible, but good healthy food. Their dinner was milk and blueberries, without much effect on their hunger.
Although they tried to cheer each other up, they all thought that sooner or later they would be arrested, and that any minute they would hear someone speaking German. It would be suicide to resist, because the only thing they had to defend themselves with was one pistol.
Later in the afternoon Marta Bruarøy appeared again slipping quietly through the trees carrying a basket with hot tea, freshly-made waffles and eggs. Both Biddle and Death said, “God bless you” as she disappeared back into the trees. Neil's spirits were so lifted by the hot drink and food that he cracked one of his jokes. The other crew members all smiled even though they had heard it many times before.
As dusk approached, the crew-members talked about their first day on Norwegian soil, wondering what they would be able to do before the Germans found them. They were amazed that they still had not been found.
Early in the evening they were startled by a quiet “Good Evening,” Ingeborg Bjørnen had arrived so quietly and effortlessly that they wondered at her skills. If she could move through the woods so easily, perhaps there was hope they could avoid capture with the help of people like her who were at home in the forest. They gathered around her in a circle, and she told them that her father had gone out to one of the nearby islands to contact a person they believed to be in the “secret army.”
She also told them that she had ridden her bicycle to look for another potential contact with the resistance, but could not find him. When she returned home after the bike ride, she found a group of Germans near her house. Their commander interrogated her, but of course she know nothing. He spoke half German and half Norwegian. He said that the residents of the area must be both blind and deaf, because none of them had seen any of the aircrew.
But the Germans knew better and knew all about the heavily armed “Englische soldaten.” The Germans know that they were hiding in the nearest hill, having found clues that led in that direction. He made it clear that the entire peninsula was surrounded. But he did not expect the “Englishmen” to surrender without a fight, and he saw no sense in risking the loss of his troops by sending them up into the woods in the dark. The Germans would stay here at the house overnight and evacuate the residents at down before they troops went into action.
Ingeborg Bjørnen's eyes had widened at the news, and she had tried to cover up by changing the subject. While the commander was talking she found a bucket in the kitchen and showed it to him, saying that she wanted to go up to the hillside and pick blueberries for tomorrow's breakfast. He generously gave her the go-ahead. “You be vorsichtig (careful)”” he told her. Ingeborg Bjørnen had wished the Commandant a good evening before heading back up the hill.
Otto van Schrader was the Kommandierender Admiral der Norwegischen Westkuste – the supreme commander of the Kreigsmarine in western Norway, headquartered in Bergen. The admiral's diary entry for September 26, 1944 was that a plane had made an emergency landing at Halhjem eight kilometres south of the center of Os. The crew had escaped after they set the plane on fire. The army had launched search operations, and naval units have been ordered to blockade Os from the sea.
There was some truth to Helén Mowinckel Nilsen's observation that the Germans couldn't do anything without first lining up and marching, because it was a full two hours after Gordon Biddle's incredible landing before the Germans arrived. Two tracking dogs were brought in a black Mercedes Benz. In the middle of all the furor, a thunderstorm struck. Soldiers chased the slightest hint of movement in the surrounding countryside.
They started by searching the surrounding area. About four hundred meters from the landing site, they found some fairly new aviator helmets and goggles. Two men came running with their find and gave them to an officer in riding breeches for examination.
All the people in the neighbourhood were rounded up into the old school house. The Germans wanted to know what each person had seen. Several had no doubt seen the crash, and there was little reason to deny it. A quiet farmer explained that the plane flew like a crow.
But everyone in the interrogation room, the schoolteacher and all others, replied that they had not seen the crew. The crew had fled before the astonished crowd had time to assemble at the crash site. The only thing that resembled a useful statement came from a woman with a black scarf around her head. She loosened the scarf enough to explain to the interpreter that she had seen some strangers after the flying machine had crashed into the ground. “But I think maybe they took the bus,” she said. She was referring to rumours in circulation about the “North Sea Bus” (or Shetland Bus) that traveled between Norway’s west coast and Scotland, but neither the interpreter nor the German noticed the double meaning.
For three years it had been unlawful for Norwegians to have a radio. The first thing Ingeborg Bjørnen did after her conversation with the unexpected guests was to hide her radio even better than before. She consulted with her father, Hans Bjørnen, who was always ready to do something against the occupation forces. He immediately said that he would contact a young man who lived at Bjørnarøy, a half-hour boat trip away. He suspected that the young man was in the resistance. In any case, he was a man they could trust.
Hans Bjørnen and a neighbour, Johannes Ferstadvoll, took a small boat and rowed towards Bjørnarøy. They met a German corvette with guns fore and aft and an officer on the bridge. They expected to be stopped and have their passes checked, but the boat just passed them by and continued on its own way.
The crew of the Wellington waited for darkness and kept looking at their watches. Time seemed to move infinitely slowly. They conversed at a whisper and looked through their emergency kits closely, because they did not know everything that was packed in them. The crews were given them before each mission and they returned them unopened when they returned to base. Now they found several maps printed on silk and coated to be waterproof. Besides the map of Norway, they had one of the Netherlands and one of France. They had a first aid kit, and some French coins.
The maps made them consider trying to head south. Although it seemed far, birds migrated longer distances. They knew that throughout occupied Europe there were many well-organized networks that saved airmen who had been shot down. They were brought stage-by-stage through forest and darkened city streets, from Netherlands through Belgium and France, the Pyrenees and Spain, and on to Gibraltar and eventually England.
But nobody had told them that the escape networks reached as far north as Norway. They believed that it would be easier to try to reach Sweden than France but that neither would happen without a lot of help from the local people. Neil thought of how when he signed the final weather briefing, he had joked about plotting a route to Sweden, and now they were discussing the same option seriously.
The emergency kit contained tablets that would give them energy, others that would keep them awake, and water purifying tablets. There was a small plastic container to be used for water, a pocket compass, a small file, a razor, needles and thread, buttons and some basic medical supplies. The Canadians scouted the nearby area, but were careful not to lose sight of each other.
The only food they had was the energy pills, and they had to ration them. Firestone had had an orange in his pocket, but had given it to the girl who had led them to the cave. Now he realized that maybe he put the girl at risk, because imported food was likely unavailable in Norway. However, Marta Bruarøy was aware of the risk and hid the orange well away from her house.
In the afternoon, Marta Bruarøy showed up with a milk pail in her hand that she gave to Neil. She also brought lots of blueberries, but the crew were afraid to eat them for fear of becoming ill. Marta Bruarøy put a handful in her mouth to demonstrate that they were not only edible, but good healthy food. Their dinner was milk and blueberries, without much effect on their hunger.
Although they tried to cheer each other up, they all thought that sooner or later they would be arrested, and that any minute they would hear someone speaking German. It would be suicide to resist, because the only thing they had to defend themselves with was one pistol.
Later in the afternoon Marta Bruarøy appeared again slipping quietly through the trees carrying a basket with hot tea, freshly-made waffles and eggs. Both Biddle and Death said, “God bless you” as she disappeared back into the trees. Neil's spirits were so lifted by the hot drink and food that he cracked one of his jokes. The other crew members all smiled even though they had heard it many times before.
As dusk approached, the crew-members talked about their first day on Norwegian soil, wondering what they would be able to do before the Germans found them. They were amazed that they still had not been found.
Early in the evening they were startled by a quiet “Good Evening,” Ingeborg Bjørnen had arrived so quietly and effortlessly that they wondered at her skills. If she could move through the woods so easily, perhaps there was hope they could avoid capture with the help of people like her who were at home in the forest. They gathered around her in a circle, and she told them that her father had gone out to one of the nearby islands to contact a person they believed to be in the “secret army.”
She also told them that she had ridden her bicycle to look for another potential contact with the resistance, but could not find him. When she returned home after the bike ride, she found a group of Germans near her house. Their commander interrogated her, but of course she know nothing. He spoke half German and half Norwegian. He said that the residents of the area must be both blind and deaf, because none of them had seen any of the aircrew.
But the Germans knew better and knew all about the heavily armed “Englische soldaten.” The Germans know that they were hiding in the nearest hill, having found clues that led in that direction. He made it clear that the entire peninsula was surrounded. But he did not expect the “Englishmen” to surrender without a fight, and he saw no sense in risking the loss of his troops by sending them up into the woods in the dark. The Germans would stay here at the house overnight and evacuate the residents at down before they troops went into action.
Ingeborg Bjørnen's eyes had widened at the news, and she had tried to cover up by changing the subject. While the commander was talking she found a bucket in the kitchen and showed it to him, saying that she wanted to go up to the hillside and pick blueberries for tomorrow's breakfast. He generously gave her the go-ahead. “You be vorsichtig (careful)”” he told her. Ingeborg Bjørnen had wished the Commandant a good evening before heading back up the hill.
Otto van Schrader was the Kommandierender Admiral der Norwegischen Westkuste – the supreme commander of the Kreigsmarine in western Norway, headquartered in Bergen. The admiral's diary entry for September 26, 1944 was that a plane had made an emergency landing at Halhjem eight kilometres south of the center of Os. The crew had escaped after they set the plane on fire. The army had launched search operations, and naval units have been ordered to blockade Os from the sea.