This is another interesting video which details SOE weaponry. I'm a bit of a WW2/military history buff so things of this nature are always of interest to me. I've wrote a couple of spy books set in that period and I like to be historically correct as far as the details go. My character employs a commando knife the same as the one featured.
I'm watching a re-run now. The "feather boy" counted to 100 while he held a feather under the nazi's nose. I can't imagine a very tense scene where a Bond girl holds her breath while pretending to be dead.
A three-man team of agents under training in the USSR. One Soviet citizen and two Norwegians.
I'm about to tell a story of resistance against the nazis in WWII that's unusual, both in terms of what happened and where it happened, We're talking about the far north of Norway and Europe, but also as far east as the latitude of Greece. The land there is rough and desolute, the weather very cold and often brutal. Russia and the Soviet union is much closer than Oslo and continental Europe. Only about 25 years before the war there was a lively trade between these areas and the Kola peninsula in Russia, called the pomor trade. They even developed a trading language that was a mix of Russian, Norwegian and some other languages.
But this far edge of Europe became important during the war. Especially because of the Murmansk convoys, or Artic convoys as they were also called, from the UK and America to the USSR. The Soviets did most of the fighting against the nazi forces, but much like Ukraine today they depended on supplies from the West. Much of this aid came by the ships in the convoys, a route Churchill called the worst journey in the world. The Soviets needed to protect these convoys, and to do that they needed to know where the German planes, warships and u-boats along the northeren coast of Norway were.
If the locals in this region wanted to fight Germans, going to Britain wasn't really an option. They had to go east to the USSR. Some of them were communists too. Many of them were trained by the Soviets to be long range reconaissance back in Norway. the training was in radios, small arms, survival and recognizing German military equipment among other things. Usually they were sent back in groups of three, one Soviet radio specialist and two Norwegians. The Soviets often called guerillas working behind enemy lines partisans, and these three-man groups are often called that. But partisans are guerilla fighters, but this was impossible in the Arctic due to the open landscape and sparse population. These people were LRRP soldiers or agents.
Being a part of these three-man groups was extremely dangerous. All resistance members working behind enemy lines faced the brutality of the Germans. But these men and women had no urban areas or forests to hide in. Half of them lost their lives. If they contacted the local population for food, information or human contact both parties ran a huge risk. Talk among civilians could be picked up by the German occupiers. Civilians who helped the agents risked execution or concentration camps, as happened to a number of them. For months in the summer there is no night, and for months in the winter there is only night and no day. As you can see, hiding and surviving here must be very difficult. To quote the narrator in the TV documentary The World At War (he was speaking of the desert): "Here is no nubile, girlish land; no green and virginal countryside for war to violate. This land is hard. Inviolable."
This is what's called Spionvárri (Spy Mountain) by the local Sami population because a group of agents hid there for months observing the German forces and sending radio reports back to the USSR.
More examples of the landscape:
The nature and weather was also much more brutal than what most other resistance members had to survive. Weather condidtions that most people rarely experience happens many times every winter in this part of Norway.
In my next post I will tell the story of one of these groups of agents,
I was aware of these operations in Norway, but not in detail. The BBC did a really good (three part?) documentary on the 'Heroes of Telemark) which focussed on their incredible feat of survival. It was hosted by Ray Mears (a well known survival expert). My guess it it may by on YouTube. If so, I recommend it to anyone interested in WW2 Special Operations.
There was another interesting and informative show on the BBC a few years ago called 'Secret Agent Selection'. It followed a group of civilian volunteers who were put through wartime SOE training before being sent on 'a mission' to put all they'd learned to the test. I think it was later renamed and broadcast on Netflix. As I remember it was six, one-hour programmes. Very well worth watching.
Author of 'An Ungentlemanly Act' and 'Execution of Duty'. The WW2 espionage series starring Harry Flynn.
Good documentary, especially the short interviews. But other than a short shot of a second or two of an old factory we don't see the factory. It was demolished back in the 70's. What's left is the hydro power plant.
I also question the claim that the SOE agents had to learn parachuting for this mission in particular. Parachuting was a part of their basic training. One man from Vemork escaped to the UK, but was sent back after a few days to spy on the factory. He was sent back by plane and made his first jump ever there.
I haven't seen the documentary since it was first aired on British TV. I think, but am not absolutely sure, that the men involved were serving with the British commandos. They weren't fully fledged SOS operatives but selected then trained for the mission by SOE in Scotland. If I'm correct, they would have not been parachute qualified with the commandos so required to undertake the jump course at Ringway (now Manchester Airport).
Author of 'An Ungentlemanly Act' and 'Execution of Duty'. The WW2 espionage series starring Harry Flynn.
I just double-checked on Wikipedia. Not the best source in the world, not the worst either. Wikipedia lists all units they were in and not a single one has a word about commandos. I also read their biographies, and again no commandos. There was a Norwegian Commando Troop in the UK during the war, though.
Maybe you're thinking of the gliderborne troops Grouse were supposed to help land? They were British paratrooper engineers.
Perhaps the 'commandos' term came into play because of the raid on the hydro plant, when the British wanted to make sure the enemy knew it was one of their operations rather than a partisan one and sent the team in in British uniforms?
An uncle of mine was a commando (the original army commandos not the Royal Marines, but the army commandos are what we're talking about anyway) during the war and he wasn't parachute qualified. Another uncle of mine met one of the original saboteurs while on a cruise to the fiords. Apparently he came aboard the ship to give a lecture about the operation. I would have liked to have been there to listen to that.
Author of 'An Ungentlemanly Act' and 'Execution of Duty'. The WW2 espionage series starring Harry Flynn.
I've seen the Vemork saboteurs being called commandos. But I've also seen the SAS and other units who weren't in the commandos being called that. I think it is used as a generic term for special forces.
You're right in saying the saboteurs were in British uniforms to avoid revenge killings on civilians. This wasn't uncommon for SOE (Company Linge) in Norway where missions often were military in nature.
You should be proud of your uncle. 👍
I did pass Joachim Rønneberg on a mountain path in .... 1991 I think. I was too "starstruck" to talk to him, and he walked on and the moment was over. I would value it very much to talk to one of the Vemork saboteurs about their service, and I envy those who did. My sister's father-in-law worked a year with Rønneberg after the war, sharing the same office. They never spoke about the war.
Joachim Rønneberg, he always reminded me of Clint Eastwood. Tall, lean, tough. I believe there's a statue of him somewhere in Norway. Yes, you're right when you say that many raids which weren't actually carried out by commandos were attributed to them. Possibly to divert attention away from other, more secretive units as well as the reason you mention. Although I remember my father and the uncle I mentioned, speaking a little about army life, they too never spoke about their wartime experiences (not in front of us anyway). My father was a regular soldier who joined in the mid-1930s then served throughout and after WW2.
We owe every one of those brave men and women who served an incalculable debt of gratitude.
Author of 'An Ungentlemanly Act' and 'Execution of Duty'. The WW2 espionage series starring Harry Flynn.
Comments
This is another interesting video which details SOE weaponry. I'm a bit of a WW2/military history buff so things of this nature are always of interest to me. I've wrote a couple of spy books set in that period and I like to be historically correct as far as the details go. My character employs a commando knife the same as the one featured.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wFQ6DwDZpo
Author of 'An Ungentlemanly Act' and 'Execution of Duty'. The WW2 espionage series starring Harry Flynn.
Yes, I too could see the feather trick being used in a Fleming novel.
Author of 'An Ungentlemanly Act' and 'Execution of Duty'. The WW2 espionage series starring Harry Flynn.
I'm watching a re-run now. The "feather boy" counted to 100 while he held a feather under the nazi's nose. I can't imagine a very tense scene where a Bond girl holds her breath while pretending to be dead.
Perhaps 'feather man' would tickle the nose instead?
Author of 'An Ungentlemanly Act' and 'Execution of Duty'. The WW2 espionage series starring Harry Flynn.
Maybe, but perhaps that would've been too comical?
Yes, that would have been an intriguing and quirky element in a Bond henchman (Kidd? Vargas?) if developed.
The post in the link has been mildly updated after listening to a podcast about the assassination of the WWII nazi informer Ivar Grande:
https://www.ajb007.co.uk/discussion/comment/964567#Comment_964567
Partisans in the Arctic
A three-man team of agents under training in the USSR. One Soviet citizen and two Norwegians.
I'm about to tell a story of resistance against the nazis in WWII that's unusual, both in terms of what happened and where it happened, We're talking about the far north of Norway and Europe, but also as far east as the latitude of Greece. The land there is rough and desolute, the weather very cold and often brutal. Russia and the Soviet union is much closer than Oslo and continental Europe. Only about 25 years before the war there was a lively trade between these areas and the Kola peninsula in Russia, called the pomor trade. They even developed a trading language that was a mix of Russian, Norwegian and some other languages.
But this far edge of Europe became important during the war. Especially because of the Murmansk convoys, or Artic convoys as they were also called, from the UK and America to the USSR. The Soviets did most of the fighting against the nazi forces, but much like Ukraine today they depended on supplies from the West. Much of this aid came by the ships in the convoys, a route Churchill called the worst journey in the world. The Soviets needed to protect these convoys, and to do that they needed to know where the German planes, warships and u-boats along the northeren coast of Norway were.
If the locals in this region wanted to fight Germans, going to Britain wasn't really an option. They had to go east to the USSR. Some of them were communists too. Many of them were trained by the Soviets to be long range reconaissance back in Norway. the training was in radios, small arms, survival and recognizing German military equipment among other things. Usually they were sent back in groups of three, one Soviet radio specialist and two Norwegians. The Soviets often called guerillas working behind enemy lines partisans, and these three-man groups are often called that. But partisans are guerilla fighters, but this was impossible in the Arctic due to the open landscape and sparse population. These people were LRRP soldiers or agents.
Being a part of these three-man groups was extremely dangerous. All resistance members working behind enemy lines faced the brutality of the Germans. But these men and women had no urban areas or forests to hide in. Half of them lost their lives. If they contacted the local population for food, information or human contact both parties ran a huge risk. Talk among civilians could be picked up by the German occupiers. Civilians who helped the agents risked execution or concentration camps, as happened to a number of them. For months in the summer there is no night, and for months in the winter there is only night and no day. As you can see, hiding and surviving here must be very difficult. To quote the narrator in the TV documentary The World At War (he was speaking of the desert): "Here is no nubile, girlish land; no green and virginal countryside for war to violate. This land is hard. Inviolable."
This is what's called Spionvárri (Spy Mountain) by the local Sami population because a group of agents hid there for months observing the German forces and sending radio reports back to the USSR.
More examples of the landscape:
The nature and weather was also much more brutal than what most other resistance members had to survive. Weather condidtions that most people rarely experience happens many times every winter in this part of Norway.
In my next post I will tell the story of one of these groups of agents,
Very intriguing. This part of the WW2 story is little known here
It's little known even in Norway, but a few historians have tried to give this part of the war the attention it deserves.
It turns out 600 nazi war criminals in Australia died mysterious deaths or disapeared after the war. That's so sad ..... 😁
I was aware of these operations in Norway, but not in detail. The BBC did a really good (three part?) documentary on the 'Heroes of Telemark) which focussed on their incredible feat of survival. It was hosted by Ray Mears (a well known survival expert). My guess it it may by on YouTube. If so, I recommend it to anyone interested in WW2 Special Operations.
There was another interesting and informative show on the BBC a few years ago called 'Secret Agent Selection'. It followed a group of civilian volunteers who were put through wartime SOE training before being sent on 'a mission' to put all they'd learned to the test. I think it was later renamed and broadcast on Netflix. As I remember it was six, one-hour programmes. Very well worth watching.
Author of 'An Ungentlemanly Act' and 'Execution of Duty'. The WW2 espionage series starring Harry Flynn.
I was right. Here's the link to part one of the Ray Mears programme.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2lEA44uMHg
Author of 'An Ungentlemanly Act' and 'Execution of Duty'. The WW2 espionage series starring Harry Flynn.
Here's the SOE programme.
You have to purchase to view though, but the bumph gives an idea of what it's about.
https://www.youtube.com/show/SCAvA4ymcPQFy2z1JLrhEU6A?season=1&sbp=CgEx
Author of 'An Ungentlemanly Act' and 'Execution of Duty'. The WW2 espionage series starring Harry Flynn.
Too sad, too bad, as they say. 😉
Good documentary, especially the short interviews. But other than a short shot of a second or two of an old factory we don't see the factory. It was demolished back in the 70's. What's left is the hydro power plant.
I also question the claim that the SOE agents had to learn parachuting for this mission in particular. Parachuting was a part of their basic training. One man from Vemork escaped to the UK, but was sent back after a few days to spy on the factory. He was sent back by plane and made his first jump ever there.
I haven't seen the documentary since it was first aired on British TV. I think, but am not absolutely sure, that the men involved were serving with the British commandos. They weren't fully fledged SOS operatives but selected then trained for the mission by SOE in Scotland. If I'm correct, they would have not been parachute qualified with the commandos so required to undertake the jump course at Ringway (now Manchester Airport).
Author of 'An Ungentlemanly Act' and 'Execution of Duty'. The WW2 espionage series starring Harry Flynn.
No. I'm sure they were SOE and not commandos. I'm less sure if all commandos were parachute qualified.
I just double-checked on Wikipedia. Not the best source in the world, not the worst either. Wikipedia lists all units they were in and not a single one has a word about commandos. I also read their biographies, and again no commandos. There was a Norwegian Commando Troop in the UK during the war, though.
Maybe you're thinking of the gliderborne troops Grouse were supposed to help land? They were British paratrooper engineers.
Perhaps the 'commandos' term came into play because of the raid on the hydro plant, when the British wanted to make sure the enemy knew it was one of their operations rather than a partisan one and sent the team in in British uniforms?
An uncle of mine was a commando (the original army commandos not the Royal Marines, but the army commandos are what we're talking about anyway) during the war and he wasn't parachute qualified. Another uncle of mine met one of the original saboteurs while on a cruise to the fiords. Apparently he came aboard the ship to give a lecture about the operation. I would have liked to have been there to listen to that.
Author of 'An Ungentlemanly Act' and 'Execution of Duty'. The WW2 espionage series starring Harry Flynn.
I've seen the Vemork saboteurs being called commandos. But I've also seen the SAS and other units who weren't in the commandos being called that. I think it is used as a generic term for special forces.
You're right in saying the saboteurs were in British uniforms to avoid revenge killings on civilians. This wasn't uncommon for SOE (Company Linge) in Norway where missions often were military in nature.
You should be proud of your uncle. 👍
I did pass Joachim Rønneberg on a mountain path in .... 1991 I think. I was too "starstruck" to talk to him, and he walked on and the moment was over. I would value it very much to talk to one of the Vemork saboteurs about their service, and I envy those who did. My sister's father-in-law worked a year with Rønneberg after the war, sharing the same office. They never spoke about the war.
Joachim Rønneberg, he always reminded me of Clint Eastwood. Tall, lean, tough. I believe there's a statue of him somewhere in Norway. Yes, you're right when you say that many raids which weren't actually carried out by commandos were attributed to them. Possibly to divert attention away from other, more secretive units as well as the reason you mention. Although I remember my father and the uncle I mentioned, speaking a little about army life, they too never spoke about their wartime experiences (not in front of us anyway). My father was a regular soldier who joined in the mid-1930s then served throughout and after WW2.
We owe every one of those brave men and women who served an incalculable debt of gratitude.
Author of 'An Ungentlemanly Act' and 'Execution of Duty'. The WW2 espionage series starring Harry Flynn.
The statue of Rønneberg is outside Ålesund town hall, and i agree he looked like Clint Eastwood.