B uy U. S. Victory Savings Bonds an d Stamps

By T H OMAS R. H EN RY

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Xowhere else in Europe had the enemy oc­cupation been more disturbed by resistanceforces than in Norway throu" h the long wh ilenigh ts of five winters. Efforts to placate thepopulace fa iled everywhere. German com­manders never could relax in their viglfance,or their ammu nit ion dumps would sta r t ClI ­

ploding from T romsO to Stavanger,

U nderground Even Used N azi unWalls had ea rs. T rusted girl secretaries,

showered with gifts of looted jewelry, remainedspies of the Underground in the offices of highofficials. Chauffeurs, supposedly completelypurchased rollabora tionists, were usinR thecars of quisling Sta te offic ials and Germangenerals to run hunted Underground leadersover the Swedish border after midnill;hL

And all took. place in the e~r1asting white­ness. It was a painting in white on a whitecanvas, and all who took part in the eventswere lost in the overwhelming whiteness.T here was no distinguishing snowdrifts a ndbirch trees from sharpshooters and saboteu rs.

So X erway was dancing when the sixthb1ossoming of the lilac bushes and the sixthappearance of carpets of violets in marshyfields at the heads of the fjords marked thewhite war 's ending.

It danced, although it was hungry. Enemyt roops had requisit ioned much of its grain ,much of its fish . T ransporta tion had brokendown through coal shortaRe, so t hat only withthe utmost d ifficuhy could food be broughtfrom the farms to the ci ties. ~lany of the bestcattle had been taken to Germa ny . Therewas no gasoline for the fi shing boats, and thecoastal waters were mined.

About once a week t here would be a supplyof fresh lobster in Oslo. T hen the ci ty feasted.N ow and then fishermen, venturing a fewweeks ea rly along cold mounta in rivers, wouldbring a few salmon into T rondheim and therewould be feasts in the hotels. But a lwaysbread was scarce, meat nonexistent. Yetempty stomachs seemed to make little di ffer­ence in the dancing.

T wo Cigarette , W eekly R atiun

Moreover , it was dancing with very li ttlealcoholic stimulus. Beer , the supply of whichseemed inexhaustible, had less than half ofone percent alcoholic content. The onlypotent liquor was eau de vie, distilled fromsawdust a nd wood ch ips, which cost 100kroner (about $20) a bottle. The Norwegian

T he Wh ite War in N orway

NORWAY was dancing all night, throughmidnight dusk and midnight dawn,when the lilacs bloomed.

It danced to fi ddles and pipes up and downbroad avenues of Oslo and T rondheim, in pub.lic squ ares of Hamar and Lillehammer, alongbirc h-shaded country roads.

Day a lter day through late May and earlyJ une the libera tion dancing cont inued withoutregard for brief hours of lilac-scented twilightwhich separated da tes on the calendar . Girlsdanced in costumes, little changed since Vikingdays, which had been bidden in t runks storedin "aUies for fi ve vears. Old ladies danced inthe dresses they had worn at their ....eddings.There was little sleep, it seemed, for a monthin Norway.

Fi$l:hling in Europe had ended. Com­manders of German occupation forces underthe midnight sun f1~ to Scotland and ar­ranged to surrender their troops. Quislingand his collaborators, after lI:ivinll: themselvesup, were taken without ceremony from their~uisitioned mansions and thrown into jailto await trial ( page 632). The terrible con­cen tration camp of Gr ini near Oslo gave up5,000 patriot inmates, who looked as if theywere rising from their graves on JudgmentDay ( pages 625, 633, 639 ). T heir cells werefilled with false N orwegians who had servedthe enemy.

A Beloved King Recurn.

T all, stately Kinll: Haakcn, t hen nea rly 73,came back to his throne amid scenes of wildjubilat ion (pages 618, 623 ) . All inst it ut ionsof government were restored as they had beenbefore 1940 (pages 621, 621) .

But these events seemed only episodes inthe dancing, For the white war was over.F ive years it had been a continuous battle inwhite ; so white it had been nearly invisibleagainst the dark background of the war as awhole. Men in whi te uniforms--canvas anderm ine-had fough t in white blizza rds amidwhite mou ntains, the rattle of t heir rilles un­heard against the roar ing of white waterfalls(map, page 620).

It had been a war of white sold iers maneu­vering swiftly and silently on sk is among whitebirches. Summers when the b irches weregreen had been brea thing spells in the wraith­like st ruggle wh ich cont inued from the Ger­man occupat ion of N orway unt il the lastGerman soldier had been marched to a prisonreservation .

_...-...A King Who W a,fed War in Exile SIIu le~ H is People, Who Carried On II Home

Aller rl\~ y.... in E ngland, Kin; Hu kon \'11 m urm to 0olo J I,lrw: 7. II)4S, ero..... P rince OIIV, ..-a rt imechitf of :-;or."~·'1 art'l'led fot«". .._rs Rril w" hallie drns. h om Btth" ,,.. }'b.,-b nd. ""r h_ ill \ bel 'nilft! SU IH. eTO"'" PrincnJ )lartluo m um' ....t b her childrtl\. Pril"lo« Ha ' ald Ind Prin..- Rap'hild . ...out liMd l~i n.1 .. Xo....-q;Uon dr>tto)'r r. Prit>ttu ,-\g rid is pa rtl)' h iddrll by M, fatbo. (pal:<l 611 , 6H).

ians from the sidewalks of its cities. Thecount ry, too, was essentially unsca rrcd . T hewhile war had left only flesh wounds whichwould heal rapidly with the resumption ofpeace.

For nearly five years the people had waitedfor an .>\ lIicd invasion which never came. Atleast it never came in a way observable tothe majority . of the people. Th e count rymight well have been another Xonnandy, itscities rubble heaps from air bombing amishellfire. But relatively few cit ies were da m­aged. It was hard for Xorwegians to sit bywhile the rest of Europe was liberated, buttoday Norway is profoundly grateful that itwas not the bnuleflcld of the great invasion.

The nation Itself came out of the war withits reputation unclouded. Rela tively few of itspeople had been collaborat iunists. x ever sincethe foundation of the Kingdom by Haraldthe Fair-haired io 872 had Xorwegian citizens

T he Na tional Geographic: M agazlne

was rationed to two cijtaret tes a week, andfor a month after liberat ion the standard prkefor a package 01 American or British ciga­rettes was 56. Sto res were empty of every­thing , But Norway seemed hungr ier [or dane­ing than (or food, liquor, or tobacco.

Dancing and movies. Lines of people twoand three blocks long would stand lor hoursin Iront of a cinema, not 10 be admitted butto buy tickets for several days hence. I sawthese lines start to form at 4 " . M. with peoplegathering in the rain , although the t icket sell­ers would not be on duty until 9. ~Iovies hadbeen boycotted during the German occupation.T he populace of Oslo had refused to pat ronizepictures approved by the enemy and at tendedby enemy soldiers.

Ncr.....ay had plenty of reason to dance.Xot onlv .....as it free at last , but Germans nolonger occupied its public buildings and ar­rogant Ger man officers no longer caned civil-

618

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u. S. Army L'ni(orms in a Holel Window Tesch Oslo 10 Rec:o....i,..e Americans~ lIi ~ Sland!. for Kinll 1I... I<.on nl. "\~ may ~ 1M ,ietory .~n of the Ge.ma ns, who ,,"olr it. Xo._

~i.:In s oflr D wrote Hi ,,·ith;n the Y. p".,.,pite li>.. y...... of war. t he people apPra' ~ll dru .-ed. Ho....,,". , .m....•• shi.t.! are likely Lo b.' on ly r olla.. and . 1••,,-.. ; fro" , aDd bo.<k hiI>'e iZOne: int .. han<l k.n:hit- f•• Woltll"n""""u the Ia.t h e.... of on«..,xten"h'e .."a.dTohrs ; >erne made d othes hom bla nkC'U and shottt •.

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T he British sent the •.Red De\·i1s of Arn­hem," their First Airborne Division [page631 ) . Pa rt of the American force was a bat­ta lion of Xorwegtan American s recruited spe­cifically for service in the land of their ances­tors. They had been given ri~orous trainingin mountain fighting and ski [urnplng. T heyincluded some of the world 's Ioremost skiexperts.

Originally, it seems, at least a small-scaleX orwegtan invasion had hcen planned, but ithad been abandoned when it became apparentthat America's fun military strength in west­ern Europe was needed in Xomiandy. So thisbattalion had been sent over the Channel. Ithad suffered heavy losses, sc that the forcewhich finally appeared in Oslo was, becauseof replacements. far from the homogeneousgroup which had been intended. Still, morethan hall the men spoke Xurwegtan and hadsome association with the country.

T he \Vhite \Var in ?\o Tway

performed deeds of greater valor and self­sacrifice than had the wrahhtike soldiers ofthe while army which had fO\.lght from thesou thernmost cape of Lindesnes to the k e­covered rocks of Arcttc Spitsbergen. T heyhad proved worthy of their Vikinll: ancestry,which in recent centuries had turned lts energylargely away lrom war toward accomplish­ments in the arts and sciences.

Tn the ca use of the Allied world, ,,"orwayhad made one nnteworthv cunt rfbutton-c-theservices of its merchant fleet , the nation'sgreatest single asset. Nearly half was lost .

By mid-june most of the 300.000 Germanswlm hMI const ituted the occupation force hadbeen disarmed and confined in concentrat ionareas by American and British troops sent toNorway to keep the Naxis under rigid controlunti l they rould be sent back to Germany .

T hese l!'OO!tS constituted some of the pickof both the Allied armies.

Center of the American area was Norway'scapi tal , 900-year-<lld Oslo, where a populationof close to 300,000 gave the troops a heartywelcome. T he American camps stretched allthe way down Osloljord on both sides.

From R ubble H u ps 10 H ome ComfortsFrom the first, the homes of the city were

thrown open to the Americans. They hadcome from Gennany where " fraternizat ion"was then st rictly forbidden, where speakingto a German girl on the street was likely tobring a $~4 fi ne. Here the boys were delugedwith the loveliest of blond feminini ty. Theyhad come from cit ies which were rubble heapsinto a town of wide, dean streets, few damagedbuild ings, electric lights, hot and cold runningwater, bathtubs, streetcars, a subway, and,above all, friendship. It was almost like beingback in America again.

The troops went about freely through thecity 01 the ancestors of so many of them.From the first , the most cordial relations be-

In Its F ar North. r"Oo,...-. y II.... i'OcwNeighbo....-Rus. i.

fll>1and, ""id1 f.....-rly ;omtd Xorway .... t beArtti< ()cu.n, has crcltd ue PI'UI_ ~ to ~C. S. S. R. Appr-<Wmak ly .. third of ~D""'Y lin.bo\~ lhc Arctic Circle; iu dimlu is ltmpem:l by1M Gulf Su n..... Southern :So.... ,. boa" f.... warsan, but FinnmaTt ProviDC1! n "Kof'l:htd ..rth .~ lhehu>di """'t.... of rot_tine Gt-rmallS ( pal[e (3 1) . )1<$of :So",,)", t.b_ milIiont live aIo.Dl the 1l>I.D)' fjords.

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The remainder of the American contingent,excluding the numerous auxiliary troops, wasdrawn from the so-called Special Serviceinfantry, Uncle Sam's super-commandos, whowere trained in all the ways of mountain war­fare . They had fought almost constantly sincetheir fi rst appearance in the mountains nearCassino in Italy in the early winter of 1944.

-,..­M ore P opulu ThIn Ever. l'Oo""'l y', Exiled Leade... Come H ome to I J oyful W el o;:ome

Sinn his 1l'1 ~ln lofty 31, 1Q45, , board lhe Briili.h liner ..h IltJ, C. J. H&mbro ( left ) bas oolltinued ashn.d of the Stortilljl (Parliament) and the Co....,.....t ive Party. T rygve Ue (untel' ) carried On al f oreil:1lMinister. J ohan N)·;....rd.vold ( riebl) , true to hi. promise, Mgned as Prime Minister b~t~ his lutin t he Storting (~ rh!; ) .

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dark forest of Holmenkollen, one of theworld 's foremost skiing fields .

\""ith the ci tizens of Oslo the sold iers loungedabout the palace grounds during the night­long summer evenings , and many doubtlessgot a new conception of the democracy ofroyalty as they saw King Haakon stroll andlittle Prince Harald romp among the people.

T here can be no dou bt that this royal oldgentleman is one of the most popular of t heworld 's few remaining monarchs.

On J une 7 he returned from his long exile inEngland, exactly five years fro m the day ofhis departure, a nd 40 years fro m t he day onwhich N orway separated from Sweden (page6 18 ). In the fjord the Danish-born K ingtransferred to the gunboat in which he hadfi rst come to his Kingdom 40 years ago inNovember.

It Is hardly an exaggeration to say th at allN orway had gathered in Oslo to welcome h im.

T he White \Var in N oTway

tween soldiers and civilians were promotedby the American commander, Brig. Gen . OwenSummers.

There was plenty or sight-seeing. Foremostamong places of interest lor the soldiers wasthe Norwegian Folk Museum at Bygdby, apeninsula jutt ing into the fjord near Oslo.Here characteristic old timber hou ses from allparts of t he country have been re-erected inna tural settings. I n a special building a represerved the rema ins of two Viking ships,t he Oseberg ship and the Gokstad ship, whichare probably the city 's greatest historic treas­ures.

At Frognerseteren , also near Oslo, the sol­diers saw many relics of the voyages of FridtjofNansen and Roald Amundsen, especiallyNansen's ship Fram, which now is preservedin a build ing designed especially for it on theshore of the fjord . I n a few minutes byelect ric railway they could reach the great

II. s. a...,. S,_, c...o.0'"" "C .."d}' a"d O>e" ·j,,g G um !llpeak Lo uder Than Word s \\-b en U. S. Army :-';"roes ~fake F r iend. w ith Q,ild ren N ear O slo

),fo"" than ~ koly l l1<'oe "" It a~ be~;nd in ,hoi. otud.it'5, 10' Germanr cln>ed many ~o",~ian ",~""b. Teac~e... and ,tudents, unitM In' ",,;'ano:, met in one ..nolher'.hnm... BQ)-s and l i'll learned nover to whisper secrets. So"", demon,t,ated Qut....de prison.. E,~n habiet ohared dan!l<'rs, .idillll "'rapons hidd." in po,..mbulato's.

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--,So Beloved II " in, lin k,," VII, Rid ing H ome from Exile, Tha t lI is People Gave Up Shee ts to Bellall: H is ~\ \"enu" of T riumph

For I"" ""n>ecomin~. ]UIIC 7, 19-tS, t:arl ] <>hans Got~. Osl,,', main t horou~hI",e, temporarily bco<: P SimI. and whi~ was I~ .1'P.opr"~ colo• . W.,lm ...."lame from .11 "orway ; n'<'n .""h ops ....~ w>wdtd. Thai ni~ht 80.000 ptople filed />0-" lhe ROlal 1''01 A.. . rmod I llard trained in SwWell nco.lo the Ki.... IIi>"",,ttlime <haulJe" r, ,,'ho .....1 him at th. quay, i. again '01 the wheel of Oslo'. omn"", A· \ (l"'~ 61~ , 6111.

It_ $. A_ . ....1 ",..., .....,

An Info rm.,r, ~f ...k.,d by .. lI ant.man', nlack H ood, F .,rrcl, QlIt ' V.. Criminal, H idi ng A mong e a"t"red Germa n Re gula....In on" 1>,1>0"",.or. .. . , ra mp, "'''''' 100 \.nIopo .nd SS men .."... found "",squr,adinl: in lh. uniro,n.. or " inn<><. nt~ l.uu... ll. OT Wrh,m• •ht m"n. T his info""". may

be rilhe. a pn:lended qui>linl Of a Get man d""',I.., Iii> . ,m _in _oTm <><:0' 10 . ... m<m."".. of the Homo . ·Orq, Righi : a :\o,... gian regular home Irom duty .hroad .

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_lU_"We' re Free!" ThaI'. What the Viclory F lash !\.Ieanr to W omen ;n G rini, the Nn;I' 8 i, Concentration Coomp N ""r Oslo

Men and ",0_0 ..0.., XIl&r1Ilod by. fen«; MV"nll.1ns, many becalM m gaged. Th..e ..0....0 may hl ..e deliv",.d me""l new>popers or S<TVed ... U,,<le~ro\lnd

COllri..... So_ wo""'" perlo...,.d ..bot"," ; ot~rs _ .., >pies in German "lliotS. Grini, lUrrouadtd by electric wirn and Lr.nd m.ines, hl ndJ<d ..."'" 20POO pri501lU$duri"i the o«up&lioo. Food and vitamin concentrates ..ere ...,IIRk<! into the camp. Eight th"....nd No.~.ns ~[ to Jails in (;c"mlny; lDaoy ne\~ returned.

T he Nat ional Geographic M agazine

,- ,a. o-..o_,

H omeward-bound, L ibe ..... ,ed R us. ian. G et a G ala Send.oll" from the Y ank. in ;-';:orwa)'Gumaoy ""Id <,"m &1 .000 Rt"'i.ans tapll"" in Xorway. Lu t J Unt many .., out by ""~ca.. aero...

S..'. ...o aod Fiolaod . .Il.t "ach dopal1u.... Oslo wit""...,.) an international «Iobra. ion. l"niltd Stat....Il. rml·musician> pla j'ed ; .It" R u....n• .-..sponded witlt acwrdion, . Brill'" offi."".. tool: part In lh. oprtdImal:;ng.T lto....nd. of Xor",.gLo II$ ..ng a nd c"""red (pa~ 629).

racies, k ingship is a symbol. flut Haakonis loved by his people as an individual as wellas a king.

K aturally , al ter the ordeal through which:'\orway has passed, somewhat bitter politicshave arisen. :\Ien who have led the HomeFront movement a t consta nt risk of their lives,men who have undergone the horrors of monthsin Grini believe their hour has come to Il: "V­ern the country, for the preserva tion of whoseintegrity they feel themselves largely re~pon .

sible. Bu t no voice in any pa rty-s-even therelatively conservative ;';orwell:ian Communistparty--ever is raised agains t the King.

They had been arrivin g for days by train, inwagons. on foot. Keady a million citizenswere there. T hey slept in the lilac-scentedrain on the wet ground in the parks, or theywandered and danced about the streets allnight. T he pa rade on Haakon's arrival lastedfive hours. It was the l/:reatest day in Nor­way 's history (page 623) .

N o Voice Ra i••d A ga inot tlte Kin~

But every day lor a week there were nearlyas Impressive pa rades. The city was a tossingsea of flags.

In Norway, as in other crowned dernoc-

The W h ite \ Va r 10 X or way

trial. Doubtless a few innocent have suffertdwith many guilty. It bas been regrettable butthoroughly understandable.

The :\"orwegian, with his intense loyalty tohis insti tu tions and his respect for law andorder under the King, has set a bette r ex­ample. :\"ohody has been condemned with­out a fair trial in open court, not even Quis.ling. T his intense legalism bas nroused thewonder of American soldiers. It has alsosomewhat irked men of th e Underground andXorwegians who have passed throu!(h the her­rors of Gruti or been confined for davs in mid.winter in the damp, unheated, ~indowlesscells, where absolute darkness was perpetual,

T he feeling of jnten~ loyalty extends fromthe farmers and rl~hermen around the south­ern t ip~ of the shor~ of Oslofjcrd to theLapp teindeer herders of war·desolated "' inn­mark, where the German~ pursued a scorched­earth policy against the ad\'am'ing Russians.

Fa ir T rial. It.. Gollahorato..

In other Invaded countries there has beenccnsldcrnble rowdyism among rcalstanceforces after liberation. Known collabora­tors have been strunK from lampposts, andwomen who have openly consorted with Ger­mans have had their hrads shaved at publicgatherings-and all tbis without benefit of

~.........­O~lo. W" k " m ing the CAbine t lIome f ....m London, C" k-bra t"" the R"hirth of • :-':.t ioll

Citiuns ill thtir holiltl )· boot fi ll the qua),.idt ar>d fta~ -draptd u"""r d«kt ~by 31. I~·I; . Al t h~ ~ht oftheir leaM... JO .... fi.." )......, ..,me men ar>d w"",en ..-rpt (page 6l11 . Dark unifo rms clothe InI:mbrl'f of the)\orwt'll ian police.

'-."--'-­MBo)'-, nil II • _ ." The: Yank Can't Find . Word for Ju ; In II i, Norway G uide

~.,...,." ,,""'..,

The National Geographic Mugazin e

R d ugcci from a Slave H unt A walt R"'CllC on an Island 275 l\Jilcl above the A rc tic CircleAt Ih. R~...ian$ jnvadt·d f innma,k , Norwa )" '. northom provlo, ,,, relreating Germl ns ordered the deport l .

d on of 6I.occ d ' iz. nl , Some who fled we•• hunt ed down with d"~1 a nd . hot Hu e on So.O)" • . 500 . .."';,,odOl.n-. 'ion, Ul ""' . lod Ih. ma nhunt unlil M. r<:h . 1945. when four Britioh de.troy. ...,'acuatcd Ih,-m.." 0lis-rear-o ld " man okird to the ••nrk.vou.; the }"oun~." ,..,fU~ff was 10 <ta l" nld. T"".. wOmen lh"ed inth• •• rlh huul<' (blKk••ound); olhen rndu",d the winler in onow huts. Mi n}' ~'" in rag. (Pl',.63 1).

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Bilhop Eivind Bcrggrav Confers ... ilh eollnt Folke Bern.doltePrimate 01 the :Sonrtldan State Chur<h, Ihe Bilohop ",as Irml.d by the N.....

in )t1...II, 1941, Shortly bolo... \'_E Day he ""'" rucllOd d,..ml 'iully by ,1>01I0m< FlOnt. During lili imp""'","""t hei~ lIiI rount ryn>on w,,11 _retrnoMa,II" , rldk un Qu;.Jint , whom 1>0 <Wiod, is reporltd 10 IIl vt .alled 11 1m" You lriple t.anor"----<l u' te a <omplim""t from I quillin" The Count. wllon:pra<nl.l the Swed..11 Red Cr05O, lndopon<lc:ntly tarried on nogO\iltlonl withn .in. kh H immlet lor Gonnany'l ...r....dor,

629

Oslo and Trondheim the Americans passedthrough reservations where disarmed Germantroops had been concentrated and throughcamps of libera ted Russian and Yugoslav slavelaborers , The red fl ag of Russia with its goldhammer and sickle tlew from many mastheads,and gigantic pictures 01 Stalin marked the en­trance of each camp (page 626) .

T hese Russians were popular wi th the Nor­wegian country people with whom they hadassociated, T hey were everywhere a fine,clean-looking lot 01 men. T heir conduct afterlibera tion was exemplary in the lace of natu ral

T he \Vhit e W ar In N orway

und er the Ges t apoheadquarters near theRo)'al Palace. T hisplace has ~n visitedby nearly every Amer­ican sold ier in Oslo.

:--orw. y·s second andthird citie s , Bergenand Tronrlheim, are.chietly under Britishcontrol, but :\mericantroops art Iree to visitt he m o n t wo- andth ree-day passes.

For :--OT\.,-('jtLans andYa n k, of ;':~ian

dnt'ffit. T rondheimoomn close 10 beinll: aholy city . It onc e'11' . 5 the n. t ion ·scapital. Kin!!:s stilluecrowned in its mediev;olathedral, one of thel in est exa m p les o fGothic .rc.h itecture innorthern Europe. I tcontains the shrint ofthe counlry 's palronsaint, Olav.

T hrooll:houl the ....arT rondheim was an im­portant ~rman sub­marine base. From ilsconcrete pens, buill sct hat they were essen­tLally immu ne to a ir .1­tac k , s l u nk un der ­sea wolf packs I" ra ""eup and down the west­em ecest of Europeand hallway across the:\I lanlic. T hey sentscores 01 Allied supplyships 10 the bottom,Trondheim and Bergenbecame two of the mostimportant ports in German y's naval warfa re,especially durin,l! the latter part of Ihe war,

Bergen has been visited by the Americansmainly for its scenery and history. Chief cityof west Xorway, it stands in a pocket formedby seven mountains, wi th the great ,l!raniteshare of )fount Ulr iken showing like a hugegable behind the roofs of the town, A funic­ular railway leads to the summit of MountFlclen , a lesser peak which affords memorableviews far out to sen beyond the maze of coastalislands (P.1,l!e 6.H).

All along the mounta inous road between

This Jail .built Radio Set Fooled Gennan Gu.rd~

11. openlo., a capti,--e Iibtnltd Ira"" Gri"i COACctlt""inn (_P, ron>lruclod 6\--e otl>en lik<: ;1 , tho>ud>... ..... the ri<Jr. of tort u~ and dtath.., Be""", couple opt,alM an l"ndntround ..! ill !be butm<nt ", •Gc-nru a offiao, their for.... . ho...... ,..bou Ihty .....,... pnmiu td to l <q> roum. T I>e ~ui.' radio 0101«1"<0De-,•• _ \ltd it bt<;a...., Ihrir 0_ reniving ...t ~Ioah-d~ signo,b l rom I "'" I ddr.....

"""'..... .....101•

and those of iu citizcll$ who deal in picturepost cards.

T he Germans chose II site near Hell for oneof their largest milita ry a irf.elrls in ~oTway.

From here came SWOOpinll: Sl'a ra iders wbosespecial job was to break li p the );orthCape (X ordkapp) convoys to Ru""ia .- T heypreyed on ,\ Hied shippinll all the way fromIcelaocl to the British Isles.

Hell at times took on som.. cha racteristicsof its infernal oll'l'e"'lke , eSfl!"Ciall ~' when itsheavy antiaircraft guns were turn ed on .' mer­iean and Bri tish bombers. When the lidd wastaken over by a Ruyal Air Furce winp; , Ger­man ordnance soldiers were set to work puttinl(the ack-ack guns in good condition alter thevhad been sabotaged. Great 0Pt'll fI res ~"'edtheir forges, and for a lew days the place

•~ "L.nd-L......nd tho Ru, >i.n \·lclor~· ." by!lan.-.y Klemmer, "'An<>l<AL CEOCRAPnlC ) I "CW KR.O<tobcr , I '#-\ 5.

T he Nat ional Geographic Magazine

vengeance impul~. for they had been beatenand sta rved by the Germans. Beriberi andother dt t a<l d iseaM'!l appea red in many 01 theRussian camps.

POll Card. from H ell

:\ lew miles east of T rondheim is a fjord­slde village of a few hundred inhabitan ts,which before the war was vL<it.d bv thousandsul Hrlt lsh and America n tourists solely becauseor its name . Amer icans especially likffi tosemI home post cards whh the postmark."Hell." T hey also could bring hnm. as sou­venirs return train t ickets from Trondheimto Hell.

There is l1othil1R ahout this hamlet of Iisber­men and fanners remotely suggestive of itssinister name. But from t ime immemorial thevillage has ht-en " Hell," probably th roughsome cont rac tion of let ters, and it remains"Hell," great ly to the profit of its post office

630

- ,.._ ,A V iclory I l a nd~h ak" Ex"rc~..,~ Ihe Clo ... Solidarity Be' .....,.,n Bri'a in and :""""-11)'In fronl 01 0010', Cit.v Haft . C"'"'n Princt Qb,' lril<ht ) l ""lS llaj. ~n_ R_ E_ Urq uha rt , ...ho led lhe

ai rborne RRord o.,..-ib of Mnhcm~ ;,,10 Xorway (_ 6Iq ) _ .:u. anonymo... Home Front Uoope1" (,. ilh armband) "",,",,·..U,- oham Ihe .potlilhl . Ski cap. ,ki boots and socks, n ile " 'indhmoku , aIM! ...u.:lun are hi>uniform, dtIi~ord lor tile "whito .....r.. in the .....w.

63 1

any kind, since fisherfol k were confined 10ports by lack of xasoline for their boats,

Shortly after the arrival of the Allit'd forcesa regular plane service was set up from Oslo.:'Ilany soldiers of Xorwegian descent havetaken advantage of it to visit the old home­steads because their parents or ~randpa. rents

came originally from the Tromsi:i neighbor­hood.

T he little city is north of the Arctic Circleand is headquarters for polar traffic and furcommunications with Spitsbergen. It has anobservatory for study of the nor thern lightsand an Arctic museum.

}'rom Tro lll~ii it was possible during thesummer, prc>viding ~pe<;ia l permi~si"n was ob­tained from the R uss ians, to proceed east­ward into X orway's desolated Arct ic Provinceof F innmark. Here war left its worst sca rs.The Germans, relrealinl( from the Russians,destroyed everything in their path (page 628 ).

T he \Vhite \ Var III X o rway

resembled, from 11 dista nce, the city of Beelze­bub. T here were even sulphur Iumes in theair during a slight snow fiurry one day in earlyJ une.

The Lu ftwaffe men, officers and soldiers,stationed here were a picked 101 and weretreated as such. T he clubhouse for enl istedmen was finer than many officers' clubs I hadseen a t airfields in the United States or Eng­land.

Hut the village itself has returned quicklyto normal , and is about the nearest approachin E urope to the crossroads hamlet of thecomic supplements where the fa rmers sit aboutthe cra cker barrel ill the country store , chew­in!!: tobacco and whitt ling. I'-or occasional,\ mcrlcan sold ier visitors the storekeeper hadplaced in stuck again a plentiful supply ofpost ca rds.

From Hell north to T romsii, a d istance ofnearly 500 miles, there was little activity of

Vidkun Qui. ling Peu t . O ,ild ren of the Hird. Hi~ G " ...d-. Pho logNl ph Found in G ilQle, H i. Luxu r ious P alaceIklo... h~ ",..,nl nn trlal for t .... ..,o. QutllinK ,,~~ lo_ d. wilh JOO "enmmon ron.b<>.....tors,~ ioto MOllr ' K. t. n 19, th. 0olo j.il (page 6.17) . T he t r. ito, "'.. condemned

10 deolh hy. frrinK ""uad l..t 5<1>le", I><•. Tl>< inn"",n t ofl'l'rinG 01 its qui,I ;,,~ "'<lrr~' !\'o, ,, 'ay. T hty do not ....<it ""irqatio ,, ; l·et "" Ihout it they ' OCC pe, oc<:ul ion by) 'oung pat riot.. I.. No' " m)'tbol"'l" . Cimk n",. .. t God ', Ibn, and in Viking lime> « iTtI. "'.. the King ', Guard.

...............,Y " un ll :'\orwa y 0 0 R A F Shoulde rs W a vO'S the Br ilish Flag

Soon all... \"_E IJay Ihi. air ~unno. lkw 10 0.10 wilh . upplioo fe. IIril;'<hair bo rne lo.eto;. "'t a" y 01 hi> ...mpa"; loot Ibeir h os ..""yin. ......."".... Lo:';",,,...g"' '''. -Hi. ril,bo" " and. lor L Diolinguish,.., tlyin~ M edal.

A Sec re t R ad ;Q O per a t" . in a I'ri. ,m ·. Olick"" Coop... li.....l«! ..Ilti..... k\C'n li6. d by hi. Ir"'''. Io. dC'moM .at.. a Gemun-ma,Je

..I a L Grini. T he \]n<kr. ' oo"d b uill its own e"",l"'ct. partabl< I"","<m illen andr=ivon . Pa rI. we", mod<: b~' hand ; lubeo wor" . ,ok» from Gr,man ""to.

••

.-. ...._.. ....­SiJ "wal k. ( h crAow nJ Roof. B.,come G all " r; ,,_ a. Z"" rw"lI;an A ,ne. i..an. Cury the Sian and St r ipe'S ;nlo T rom.lhe im

Out of th" " ,. hit<' " in lh.. "",unt. i march theoc OIlier of Strat<!tic s." 'i<n 1m...... o>p«;"lly . 1I_n • • Iin""i<b and ok",,,, lpa"" 6..16) . Follo,.. in~ \ /w: \11 "",...,1<.. ;. • mi.,..] un;l - A inn.;n """roo aps, ~otw.lti.n ' in ""..U....f ••n di"ll in II""", of em...n Prin,;., Olav. r..,ft:. stU U' 10 Olav Tr~· ll.... ""n.I"" \ "ik ing kingwho inlrodu«d Chri.tianity into No. ... y. Go"",," y u-,.,u Trondhrim, ~orw. y '. "ho1)- dlyt as. U_heu ba", a nd . om y """dquarte.. (~ 61~).

':;oi"'.~",. w_Thi~ W.. Un~cRfrN nert"" Belore the l"azi~ Built Concrete V-boar Pe n. and Ihe R A F D ropped SiX-IOn E arthquake Bomb.

Sotn fro m Mount ~· 16~n , /'IO" ,way 'l Ol"Co nd cit y olrt' tdlC5 along th" By/to.d . Tbt l>ke j. Utl lc l.unJ:t~aa,d . \"aa ll"n. the main Mc,b", bounded b>- th. old Han..aticqua ' .et, eapoon it . lip a t \be cxtrm>c righ t. St""" mount. i... l rown duwn on 1M city (poj(l' 6l9 ) .

--­German S ailor. Sad ly E umine the Ti. ';u . Bouom t:p in the Fjord a' Trom'"On :O;o\"e"'bo . 11. 1'J-l-4. l...,aly.Ri RA F bombcn found Ibt :Sui ball lnhip • mli". d....k. s.-.. 1

, io_lon bo..bo struck : ", it hin IJ minut Ibt ~ S .ooo-ton m",,;t.,. hm,ed II••IIt. lu ignuminio e"<l mI>l»....~ mi;hl)' M<lI.Itf 10 Mu rmalUl<'. Awl< COM..,, -L Xo.....),·. liboratiClll p ,... t lw Bril ioll this d up 01 th.propoll<1" w it . high and dr)-.

-.•

Xeither the Fnhed Statn nor England ever[0ll:ot the land of the northern li/l:hts. Per­haps the most thriltin/l: episode of the .Rhostl~'

lighting was a Io-man in\'asion of the aurora..ha loed whit.. mountains last :'olarch by Ameri_can parat roopers of the Xorwegian OperationalGroup.

:'oIOSI of them were sold iers of Xcrwegiandescent belonj:! in1( 10 that colorful A mericanmilitary organization. :'oJaj. Gen. William J .Donovan's Office of Strateg ic Servic..s. T heplan was 10 cut th.. north-sout h rallrond lineand thus break up German troop tra nsport .

In all . r.ve allempts were malic to land.T wice the white·dad para t roopers commandedby :'o laj. \\" iIl iam F.. Colby set out from Scot­land, once in January and once in February,Hoth times they were forced bark when theirB-24 bombers encountered heavy sn ow~t orms.

The third allempt, a week before Easter, waspartly successful.

The National Geograph ic :\Ia:p zine636

This was. rather obvious procedure, since theRE'd ..hmy, far a....ay from its ba~, was forcedto live 10 snOW' nlent off th.. country.

;\ 1 best, there was litt le enough SUSIe.nance lor the-m in Ftn nmark. Towns were1t'\ '('led and rd ndeer herds were d ispersed Qrstauzht ered.

T his was I"lrticillar ly hard on the Lappnomads. Th.. two principal Lapp settlements.Karasjok a nd K~LU tnk ei no , were burned . Hadit nol been for the end of the war, the comingwinter mi,ltht well have meant sta rvation lorthese people, deprived of the ir herds. I' romthe fi rst they have been a mong Ihe most loyalof Xorse citi zens.

Yank~ D rop in from Ih ~ Sky

The white war wa~ not Xorwa ~" s alone,althou~h her white..clad saboteurs, vanishin!/:into blizzards like bodiless spirits of the tem..pest·blown snow, were the d ief act~N ,

'<-"-'-'"Cha""""l·bum;~ BuM'S ,\..-. it Libe led P alnots al \ Iollergaten 19, • :'\u ..i Jail in O slo

t'g, Id. fu iu<allon ."d ","",ca l .,.a minu io II",}' wtn tau n to Grini. a «Iorenlral;"" amp l p&lt< 6H).lb." Ib<}· frtut1lftl 101M apilal in a lrillmphal p'''''''';"". l.ocUd ill }10110rp1...·• dark «II.. poIi.....1pri<or>o..... ~ 1_ 1«1 like ('Ilmmon criminals ; lhey 1'<>1 Ion minll'' '' airiru! • day. lboo llb <om",uniralio",....... lorbtdd<n. ",pl.h..- nc""n""" ........._ . nd "'..... rirrulalnl ... ilkPl ""'"P&I"" .

631

of wind-resistant cloth , lill:ht, durable, andserviceable. rnll"'" the German Army, theAmerican Army does not favor furs for ....tntermountain filthting. Especially in eastern Ger­many , vast warehouses filled wi th fur Il:,.r­roents, loot from the furriers of two-thirds ofEurope, .......re overrun . T hese quickly becameheavy, cumbersome. and, tven in the coldestweather, too warm for ba tt le uniforms.

T he AmericaM ....ho landed on the lakequickly made tents of their white parachutesto shelter themselves from the wind. Severalof th em were old hands at the game. T he)'had parachuted behind enemy line~ before inFrance. They had been given intensive tra in­ing for months for this particular exploit in theScottish Hij(hJaod~ re~ion , especially on thehigh slopes of the Grampians.

T hey were to be joined at Jz vsjo by asmall group of Norwegian Underground sabo­teurs. Arrangements had been made by radio.

T he \ YlJ it e \\'ar In N orway

The expedit ion sta rted with 36 men andofficers. O f th~. 16 parachuted surres.sfull~·

to within a few miles of the tenduvou$ point,a high mountain lake northca~t of T rondhtim.The plan." carry ing the e thers with theirequipment were unable to get through a ~tonn

and turned back. On the fou rth and flfthatlempL~ tn rejoin their comrades. a planecra~hed each time: 10 paratroopers and 14airmen in all were killed (page 638 ).

It was 20 below' zero in th e mountains the~llml a y before Easter. Snow wraiths swirledin the wind through the high passes and overthe glassllke ice " f Ja'\'sjO ( Iji! means " lake" ).The men dropped over a radius of about tenmiles. It was eight hours before they wereable to assemble in one spot. T he snow overwhich the>' made their way On skis was fiveIcct deep. The country, near the Swedishb order , wu almost uninhab'trd .

T he men were dressed in ~now.whi te parkas

-"-"-­Beh ind En.,my Lineo., U. S. P ara_ski.troops F ire .. Salute to 13 Yaob ;n .. Rocky T omb!'Oar j .....;O' .. so...~ bu. thtir pan<hu1.e rm<Itr....... in .. ffi,dl t ITO'" Sa>t.."". 1'- OffICe 0/

Stntetic SeniceI j"""" lhcir t;t>mpaninD5 liIkd ill Ii>< rruh 01 .. pIaar. S....... _,,-hite PO'w ptol«todtbem j",,,, lo-holow cold.~ in the •...,... tbty bid Ibn.~~_ With I....m lhoy bItw upbri<bIM and rails ill lho >prinK 011')45. Outourn~ 10 t o t , the)' ....tran S ui pol ........ in .. $G-mile >kI tha<e.

On the tra il each ski ueoper carri~ 85pounds of equipm.-n t on his back. E"errthird man alternated every two hours in drag­giJlll: a toboll:gan loaded with 2-pound blocks ufa plastic explosive far more powerful thandynami t.e, ..... hich could be molded into anyshape by hand. •

T he landing on the lake had been unob­served. T here were no ('..,rman patrols int h~ lonely mounta ins. T he men kept wellhidden for a week. ,\ny fiTf', of course, wasoot of the question, despite the Intense cold.Smoke cer tai nly would arouse suspicion.

T he fi rst brklze-hlowing jnh was accom­plished success fully on Eas ter Sunday,

It was snowing. T he enemy had left unlya coupl.. of sent ries 0 11 du ty while the re. tof the guard were attending Easter services ata n..~ r~b ,· vil1aR~ church. With ski tracksquickly ccv..r~d b)' fallinll snow, the white­parkacd ,\meric~n~ marie their way bark tothe parachute-tent b ivouac without a ll}' d ashwith the enemy.

An intensive search for th~m stark d im­mediately . German ski patrols combed themou ntains, and it was necessary tn cut loo:;efrom the base of ope rations.

T he Narionul Geograpbic M agaz ine

Thl"l"t was banlly a My for five years whenthe Xorse resistance men were not in radiocommunication with their army h..adquartersin London, and :'objo. Colb)"J group rarelyfa iled to 1/:ct II da ily report of its activit ies backin ass offices in England. .

A Gun R~.II. the r l u ,",-ord

The passwords hed ~n agreed upon. The:\merkan was to ask an approach in ~ native:

" Is there good li5hing around he~~"T he answer: " Yes, especially in winter."But the first X orwegian. a nat ive of the

sect ion, challl"olled by Colby forget in hisexcitement and answered what he knew to bethe truth:

"='0, it's no dam ned good!"He quic kly recalled the correct answer when

a Run WiU pressed a!i:ainst his back !With the men had been dropped apprcxi­

matcly len tons of equipment. iElclud ing Ihr{'~

Inns of explosives. ), [uch of it fell into ~mal1

fjords or forests in 15 IN.-I o f S:lOW, a nd themen had 10 work about a week to recover it.Thcn it was cached on the lake and wellcanlOutlaJ1:crl with snow and with lhe whitepa rachutes.

63'

••P ro\luly She WelIU Her Priw n Badge, an H onor 'Yon Wh en the :Su is J . iled lIer . t G ri ni

Hn cap ")"S ~ ..... . S1 .....nl al OsIo's (;nn..,,,,itr. \\l>ttt G«man)" dosed it. bul'dftdJ ~lIt into t~

t:~roul'd or fouJht opml)' III the bilb. Pta~, ..-hich this ~rl ttk bratn , means ~ must ndIa~ utile­....... t for duU study.

OJ,

T he ski troopers found shelter in the cabin ofa seter, one of the high mounUin pasturesused by farmers in summer for their cau leand goals. Food was restricted to the amounteach man carried on his back.

Once, bowever, a C~rman food rache wasfound. It contained !lour and champagne.This curious combination is not surprising.Wherever German tl'OOJ» were stationed, evenat the loneliest outposts, there Willi alwaysplenty of champagne, presumably looted fromFrance . The .." mericans had several goodmeals of pancakes and champagne.

A long halt anywhere would have beensuicide, for the mountains were full of enemyski pat rols. Th e Americans must keep con­stantly on the move, living off the country asbest they could. At one time the)' were re­duced to eating reindeer muss for a couple ofdays.

',"hat seemed at fi rst a big break in luckcame when they encountered a nomad Lappwith a herd of reindeer. He was Ileelng fromthe Germans. The paratroopers bought andate one of the animals.

T hough constantly on the move, the Ameri­cans managed to keep in touch by radio withLondon. Their superior officers knew where

T he \Vh it e \ \'a r In N o r way

•

Penicillin Sa~'e~ Woundo:d l'at r;ol

One soldier, a Xcrwegian patriot whn hadjoined the group, had II. bullet wound in hisabdomen. He was treated with penicillin anddragged r m a sled hastily improvised Irom apair of skis. T he man was unconscious mostof the t ime. He was taken over the Swedishborder and placed in the care of some villagers.He is now recovered.

Return to the lake was out of the question.

The nul job was on a larger scale and cor­rt'SPOndinltlr mort difficult: to blow up aboutlour mil" of the north-south rail line, ..·hkhwag well guarded with sentry posts. Thisfeat also ","lIS accompl ished in a storm, withthe white-clad men hiddtn in the whitenessof the 5IlOW. They Infiltrated the sentry linein groups of three. T he demolition job wasa complete success. A hundred charges wentoff in two minutes.

But the Easler Sunday job had put the Ger­mans on the alert . The chase started at once,with the Americans outnumbered ten to one.But they were bett er men on skis. T heyfled 50 miles into the moun tains withou t paus­inK for breath. T his probably was a recordof s ome sort.

"T he N ational Geographic M agazine640

they were, but could not help them. Thegroup hid in the mountains until the warended.

When they heard over the air the news ofthe German capltulatlon, they came out 01 themountains toward the little lawn of Steink jer.From .a {"rmbouse they telephoned 10 theSte tnkjer hotel asking that d inner and bedsbe reserved lor th"'m.

When the bearded, long-ha ired , white-cladYanks and their Xorwegla n companionsreacbed town I hall bour later, they we regreeted by the mayor and a band in thecentral square.

ThrouJt:bout the war, R:\F, American , andXor-gian pilots risked their li\'t'J night afternight , Dy ing low O'o-er k e-covered moun tai npeaks threugb cloud and snow and swoopingbllnd th rough narrow " alleys to drop supplie;to the XOrwej[ian resistance forces . :\Ianyplants and men were lost in the ...hlte war.

H e",," of 1M Underground

But the major credit (or n-el)'thinJt: accom­plished altainst the coml1l(lQ enemy in XOl"'II"aybelongs to the rnistan« forces, tbe little~rouP5 of hUnltd , sleepless, nameltsS mm whofor live ytArs fought against odds of a thou·sand to eee. :\ month after the GermanClpitulation I mtt a leader of the movtmelltlit lin Oslo cocktail party. Befort the warhe had been a rising young altomt)'. Hestill we going under lin assumed nalnt , be­cause of various complica tions arising from"Ork left undone. H is wife, wbom he had notseen since the btltinning of the war, stillthoujtht he ....a.s dead .

The rnov~ t in !\o~ay ....as 00 much thesame pattern liS in other Invaded countries.The men were organleed in small groups.Each group knew only i15 own leader. It d idnot know the members of any other WUUPor the hight'r officers from whom orders camefor sabotage jobs. Lifelong friends, membersof differtnt Il:roups. knew noth ing of eacholher's act ivities. Old neighbors were amazedwhen. after the capitulation, they found thatboth had served as saboteurs. Sometimes theyactually had suspected each other of servingthe Germans.

For the most pa rt, th ese little groups hilinut in the mounta ins from which, movingswiftly and silently as ermines th rough thesnow, th ey raided German installations.

The chill of late winter still was in the airwhen I encountered one of th ese groups a t ahill:h mountain inn at the peak of a rldgebetween Oslo and T rondhetm. T hey had justleft their hiding place. T hey were led by aNorse pa ratrooper who had been flown from

Brita in and dropped into the mountains wilhspecial sabotage equipment. A few weeks be­fore, they had been livinjl; in a comfortableEskimo-type ill:loo whkh the leader hadlearned to build as a Boy Scout.

!\aturally, the resistance lI:roups .....ere ofvaluable a id to the Amerit"a ll5 and British inlocaung German secret installations. A pre­cious memory of the war is a nil;tht spent withthe local resistance group at L i1Iehammer aftera rald on a country hotel which had served fora time as German sta ff headquarters. ),Ianysecret documents still ....ere concealed tbere,but staff officer.; ...ho remained were al~t

perpetually drunk . They had large suppliesof cbampegne and COjtn3C which they kneweventually must be handed over to tbe Allies.They were trying to coll5Ume a.s much a.s pos­sible before the day came. The ralden hadacted on infonna tiop from a German deserterwho had joined the XOl'1l"el!ian L"nlierground.

After the last war, a large nu mber of Ger·man and _-'ustnao orphans ~ I.Iken intoXo~ian IJ<:MneI aod reared and educa ted a~

members of the families. They returned totheir own coun tries later. When the fon::n ofthe Reich invaded XOtwlly in .-'pri!, 1940.charll:t'5 __ II\3de tha t these same boys andgirls ser....ed as guides and that their intimateknowled~ of the country plartd an importantpart in its quick m:!uction . This was true.

But there is another side to the story whichlhrowa a better lil1:ht on human nature. Someof these orphans nre DOt wholly ungrateful.On the contrary, a number had volunteered be­cause of thei r I(Tatitude. " 0 appeal had beenmade to them to help save !\orway, whicb theyloved. Xcrway, they wert told, bad been in.vaded and was being oppressed hy the British .The German Army's mission ,,·as to liberatetheir benefactors, ,,·bom they looked upon lIS

fa thers, mothers, brothers, and sisters.When the orphans, especially those from

Austria , lea rned the true picture, some of themshot themselves and many others deserted tothe Underground. Some remained on duty inGerman un iforms, an excellent position inwhich to serve as spies for the Underground.They played a real part in the .....hlte war.

Wi th the weird white war paiiSinll: into his­torv, the mountainous, forested land of theViltin!!:s and the northern lil{hts seems thehappiest country in Europe. That is why itspeople dance all night in the avenues and t hesquares.e

• F<>r addilioTl;l.I artldo. on l'<>rwa y In tho 1"4_TJ<'>:4r. Gro<:.4. IlIC M" :4" "'. ..~: ":-;orway. anACli'" Ally." b~· Wilhelm MO'lIffI<lk' M . Match.I94J; "Counlry LiC. in :-;orwoy." by .0. ••1 H. 0..holm•."'pri l. 1 9J ~ ; and "I.If~ in a Sorway Valk)·,"by Abhk L. Bosworth . May, I~J 5 .