The Shetland Bus

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The last of the crew of Vita was Jens Haldorssen. He was a quiet, gentle, and studious man. His quietness made him conspicuous in our gang, most of whose members were extrovert and noisy, and his appearance also was not what one would expect in a seaman of proven toughness. With a thin ascetic face, and large calm and innocent brown eyes, he looked more like a priest or a poet. He spoke fluent English with an idiom all his own, and I always enjoyed hearing him telling a story in a slow, rather mournful voice, in which the most powerful swear words passed almost unnoticed (30)." The Shetland “Bus” was a crucial connection for the resistance, as well as the arrival of Norwegian refugees to Shetland, formed by Norwegian fishing ships that would make trips between Norway and Shetland communities like Kergord and Lunna. Scalloway would go on to become the main base for the Bus from 1942 onwards. It now holds most of the memorials and tributes dedicated to the operation.

In a later interview , Larsen nonchalantly spoke of the mission: “We lost all of our small sub-mines we were towing with us … we had to go overland to Sweden and, well, we had some hardships and met some Germans and had a little fight.” The Shetland Bus Memorial is located at Scalloway, and the local museum has a permanent exhibition relating to the activities of the Shetland Bus. [12] In 2018 Norwegian visitors were among those attending a service at the memorial to commemorate the 75th anniversary of an improvement in the safety of operations as a result of the introduction of new ships - the Hitria, Vigra and Hessa [13] In popular culture [ edit ] Aksel of Giske, 65 feet (20m) long, the first "Shetland Bus" boat, arrived Shetland on 5 May 1941 with 20 refugees. Skipper Anders Nærøy chose the Aksel on the first official "Shetland Bus" mission, on 30 August 1941. Aksel later made several journeys to Norway with different skippers. No British-made boat could successfully sneak into the harbors without raising an eyebrow. If a British sailor fluent in Norwegian were to be questioned, he would certainly garner an accent. The value in using Norwegian sailors was that they countered avoidable risks; local knowledge to distinguish manmade flaws in the landscape — a sentry, perhaps, or a new fixture designed to overwatch the coast — was a priceless asset. Plus, each knew the route from memory and had unmatched seamanship fishing off the shores of Greenland and Iceland during the summer.

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Kåre Iversen was another notable member of the gang. Discovered to be a member of the resistance, Iversen escaped capture to Shetland in the early days of the war. He then joined 57 trips across the North Sea. Following the war, he married a Scalloway girl and fathered three daughters. Remembering the Shetland Bus One of the highlights of the book was a scheme to destroy the German battleship Tirpitz while it sat in a Norwegian fjord. The unit made extensive preparations and nearly succeeded. The plan was to use a vessel called a chariot, kind of like a two-man torpedo. The chariot would be launched at night from a fishing boat, guided by two men, and taken right to their target. Then they would unscrew the warhead, attach it to the Tirpitz with magnets, set a timer, and be on their way across the Norwegian frontier into neutral Sweden. They practiced, prepared, got through a German control point where their boat was searched, and nearly made it to the Tirpitz before the two chariots (being towed behind the ship so they wouldn’t be noticed during inspection) disappeared—somehow the lines broke. Malakoff & Moore’s Slip, Scalloway, Shetland. Built in World War II to service MTBs that went between Shetland and Norway, this slip was one of the links in the Shetland Bus. Now it is used for servicing fishing boats and salmon farm vessels. Photo courtesy of John Dally / Malakoff & Moore’s Slip, Scalloway, Shetland / CC BY-SA 2.0. Using modified fishing trawlers and later submarine chasers, and manned by all-volunteer crews of Norwegian fishermen and sailors, the Shetland Bus was a joint effort of the SOE, the British Admiralty’s Naval Intelligence, and the Military Intelligence Service of Norway’s government in exile.

I really enjoyed this book. For all the chaotic and brave stories that came out of WW2, this one seemed special and isolated. A small team of sailors set up base in the Shetland Islands during Nazi Germany’s reign in Norway in WW2. The team traveled to Norway to smuggle in supplies or to take out refugees, and this book is simply the account of the entire process from the formation of the Shetland Bus to the many successful missions they carried out. Following the war, his legend continued as he pioneered aluminum lifeboats and tested their mettle himself across an 800-mile voyage with a mixed batch of amateur seafarers and seasoned veterans. One of his crew quipped they were “hanging on for dear life.” Larsen, however, described it as “a nice little holiday” and “a cakewalk.” Sælen, Frithjof (1973). None But the Brave: Story of "Shetlands" Larsen (HarperCollins) ISBN 978-0583121286 The Vita arrived at Shetland on 9 May 1940 with four Norwegian Navy officers and two other refugees aboard. The Vita started as a "Bus" boat before the "Shetland Bus" was officially established. Her first voyage to Norway was on 22 December 1940, skippered by Hilmar Langøy. The next was on 27 March 1941, this time skippered by Ingvald Johansen, who became her skipper for the rest of her missions. Johansen's crew were; Åge Sandvik, H.W. Olsen, Jens Haldorsen and J. Hermansen.Films portraying the Shetland Bus include Shetlandsgjengen (1954; released as Suicide Mission in the United States) [14] in which Leif Larsen played himself. At the onset of World War II, the Kingdom of Norway was not allied with the Axis or Allied Powers, leading both factions to consider invading the country due to its strategic position in the North Sea. While the British in particular drew plans to mine Norwegian waters and prevent Axis ships from transiting these waters, Nazi Germany actually invaded and occupied the country in 1940. The commandos and raiders suffered the loss of Linge and 52 others as a part of the five Allied nation coalition. The mission, however, forced Adolf Hitler to respond with the construction of “Festung Norwegen,” a defensive fortification of 10 German divisions. In addition, four fishing oil factories were destroyed, an estimated 120 Nazis died, and eight warships were sunk. When the war ended, the Heland returned to Norway and became fishing vessel again. In 1971, it was donated to Sunnmøre Museum. The Heland is now preserved as a typical representative fishing vessel of the "Shetland Bus" fleet. These engines were very unusual, and spare parts were not available in Britain, but that was easily solved. Norway's largest engine factory, Wichmann Diesel, at the time under German control, was located at Bømlo, near Bergen. The agents in the area received messages about which parts were needed, workers in the factory, many of them active members of the Resistance Movement, smuggled them out, and the parts were sent to Shetland with the next "Bus".

Shetland's bus services are specified and financed by ZetTrans and are operated by a number of different bus companies. Germany launched their invasion of Norway on 9 April 1940, and despite the efforts of the Norwegians and the British, the Germans controlled most of the country by the beginning of May. The occupation of Norway and the oppression which followed immediately prompted a number of Norwegians to escape and make landfall in the Orkney and Shetland Islands. Collectively, the group of men who were the Shetland Bus originally had the name of the Norwegian Naval Independent Unit, but in October 1943, when it officially became part of the Royal Norwegian Navy, it was renamed the Royal Norwegian Naval Special Unit. The Shetland Bus Memorial is likely the centerpiece of this legacy, consisting of a small metal sculpture representing one of these fishing boats. Other features in the area include a concrete plaque, along with information boards on the windows of nearby buildings.On its first voyage in November 1941 the Heland was skippered by one of the owners, Sevrin Roald, and made for Shetland, with two Company Linge agents Karl Johan Aarsæter and Åsmund Wisløff aboard. Using the false name M/K Per, it managed to get undamaged through the same storm in which the Blia disappeared, and returned to Norway with supplies to other agents.

The M/K. Blia left Norway on 14 November 1941, en route to Shetland. Captain of the vessel was 21-year-old Ingvald Leroy, and along with his six crew members, he had on board thirty-five Norwegian refugees. On the night of the journey, the weather was particularly bad, with a strong possibility of storms forecast.

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Initially it operated informally, and then became a formal part of the war effort completing more than 200 trips. Not all of those trips were successful, and 44 lives were lost during the crossings. Odd Strand (1987) Hitra: Med Ingvald Eidsheim og hans menn pa krigstokt løpet Nordsjøen (J.W. Eide) ( (in Norwegian)) A number of years ago a charity was formed in Scalloway to help the keep memory of the Shetland Bus alive. This group has members all over the world. Our first act was to commission a memorial to the 44 men who gave their lives in the service of the Shetland Bus. A mission on the horizon in 1942 to target the German battleship Tirpitz was given to the only skipper bold enough to carry it out. The Tirpitz looked like a skyscraper on its side, outfitted with the biggest guns the German Navy had ever built. To say it was enormous would be an understatement. Strategically placed at the Trondheim fjord, British destroyers and aircraft carriers were occupied in its surveillance but were desperately needed elsewhere.