The 12th Man Read online

  It has taken five years and many trips to the Troms District to gather all the data. We hired a helicopter to fly us into the inaccessible areas (for most of us in the winter) of the Arctic Mountains where Jan trudged alone, wounded and hunted in freezing, stormy weather. We hired motorboats and crews to track down information and to understand the distances involved. And we hiked many a mile, visiting the Baalsrud cave in Skaidijonni and the Gentleman stone in the Revdal Mountains, and into Lyngsdalen where Jan was caught in the avalanche. We climbed precipitous mountains in our attempt to understand every fraction of this story. What you will read in this book will be new to many of you, but nothing is dramatized or fictitious. The story is filled with its own drama - it does not need any embellishments. All the details included are as we learned of them from the participants. Every boulder and small islet has been searched out, described and can be found on the maps we have included. Cross-checking of our sources, weather reports from the actual days in 1943 and the helpers’ explanations have untied many a knot.

  Even after all this, we struggled with some of the major happenings for five years. The reason is that the sources did not agree. Then, as we neared the end of our journey, small details led us in the right direction. Suddenly the puzzle pieces fit. Important, unexplained riddles were finally revealed to us.

  The events of this story are all true; however, in the chapter “A Tragic Decision,” we changed identifying names and relationships of people involved with the merchant in Bromnes so as not to bring unhappiness to their families.

  Much of the dialogue presented in this book is actual conversation as recalled by the participants. Other conversation is based on the recollections of people still living. Where dialogue had to be re-created, we held fast to the facts.

  Our foremost motive has been to honor not only Jan’s courage, and that of the men of Brattholm, but also that of his selfless helpers, and to give an accurate and complete account of the whole Baalsrud affair. We believe we have accomplished this by searching out the many helpers who had never been mentioned before, either in books or films. Many of his helpers have passed on without being honored for their contributions. For them, our efforts are too late, but their self-sacrifice, toil and bold courage will continue to shine brightly for all of us.

  The women’s and the Samis’ offerings have also been close to our hearts. The Baalsrud story would not be complete without mentioning the Sami brothers’ contribution; Nils and Per Siri and Aslak and Per Thomas Baal are given a central place. The same goes for Hjalmar Steinnes and John Olav Ballovarre from Kåfjord and the brothers Leif and Rolf Bjørn in Birtavärre.

  Jan’s 11 friends from M/K Brattholm suffered a fate seldom brought to the forefront. We have written about their torment in our book, and though the horror of it might not suit itself to print, we have included it. By showing a glimpse of what they suffered for Norway, we hope to honor them.

  When we first started to collect the background material for this book, we had no idea what a task we faced. It would have been an impossible undertaking without the willingness of all we approached. In our efforts to get to the truth, our innumerable questions, phone calls, letters and frequent interviews with many were always received with the greatest of courtesy and openness. Because of the help given us, the story of Jan Baalsrud and his benefactors will be an inspiration of selflessness and courage for many years to come. Our deepest thanks.

  Astrid Karlsen Scott

  Dr. Tore Haug

  Olympia, Washington

  Jessheim, Norway

  Update to the Introduction

  November 2017

  SINCE THE first publication of this book (originally titled Defiant Courage), our story about Jan Baalsrud’s escape from the Gestapo has created great interest both nationally and internationally. It has been adapted for the theater in Norway, and NRK (The Norwegian Broadcasting Company) produced a major documentary series of five episodes based on our book. The series was aired throughout the country in 2013.

  In 2015, coauthor Tore Haug was contacted by the New York Times, who wished to send a reporter and a photographer to learn more about Jan Baalsrud. Haug took them on a two-week trip to the north of Norway, where Jan’s dramatic escape was reconstructed for them. The result of that trip appeared as a seven-page article in the magazine section of the New York Times on March 20th, 2016, with the title “The Fugitive.”

  Recently, our book came to the attention of the famous Norwegian and Hollywood-based director Harald Zwart. Mr. Zwart has on many occasions expressed how strongly he was affected by the story—so much so that today he is producing a major motion picture based on it. The film is being produced in Norway and shot on locations where the actual story took place in 1943, and is scheduled to be shown in many languages all over the world. As authors, we are very proud that we can refer to Harald Zwart’s emotional and enthusiastic use of our book.

  GERMAN ATTACK AGAINST

  NORWAY LAST NIGHT

  NORWAY AT WAR WITH GERMANY

  Frightening newspaper headlines tell of the German invasion on Norway, April 9, 1940.

  German soldiers march down Karl Johan’s gate, Oslo’s main street.

  Reichskommissar Terboven and Minister President Quisling arrive at Akershus Castle.

  AT ANCHOR IN SCALLOWAY

  MARCH 22, 1943: “Well men, we are on our way home at last.” Sigurd Eskeland, a tall slender man, broke the silence while with his fingers he made a small clearing on the train compartment’s fogged up window.

  “Jaja, and this time we are not leaving before we drive the devils out!” another chimed in. “If the Germans only knew what we have in store for them!” Jan Baalsrud flashed his handsome smile and with blue-gray eyes blazing, drew a finger across his throat.

  “Ja, think about it. Our efforts might bring the war to a standstill in the north. That thought excites me!” The third man, Per Blindheim, straightened up and leaned toward his comrades. “Believe me – I’m eager to play a small part in liberating Norway.”

  The Norwegians returned to silence, each absorbed in his own thoughts, unaware of the train’s rocking motion. The train sped from London through Scotland’s lower Grampian Mountains en route to Aberdeen. Strong winds from the Atlantic Ocean brought dark clouds sloshing heavy rains against the windows, blurring their view of the Scottish Highlands.

  The men were returning from a furlough in London. They had been selected for an extremely dangerous and top secret commando operation in northern Norway, in the Troms District. Though many military men felt this particular mission was suicidal, the saboteurs were anxious to be on their way.

  March 23, 1943: A small fishing vessel took the Norwegians from Aberdeen to Scalloway in the Shetland Islands, a cluster of small islands off the northern tip of the Scottish coast, 210 miles west of southern Norway.

  During World War II, the Norwegian Resistance used the Shetland Islands as a base. They ferried refugees from Norway to Shetland in small fishing vessels and returned with supplies and trained resistance fighters.

  Scalloway Harbor where Brattholm lay anchored

  Several boats bobbed at the quay in Scalloway including a 62-foot Norwegian fishing cutter, M/K Brattholm. The Norwegians spent the final day preparing for their upcoming journey, double-checking the ammunition, explosives and the other provisions and loading them into Brattholm’s hull. In the early evening they were joined by the team’s fourth saboteur, radiotelegrapher Gabriel Salvesen, who arrived by plane from London.

  March 24, 1943: Evening shadows veiled Brattholm as she set forth from the quay heading for occupied Norway. Aboard, in addition to the four saboteurs and the seven-man crew, was Erik Reichelt, a man of vital importance to the operation codenamed Martin.

  In the fall of 1942, Erik Reichelt had been sent as a courier to the Troms District by Consul Nielsen, chief of the S.O.E. branch at the British legation in Stockholm. Reichelt’s assignment was to find men loyal to Norway and to get to know them and
the Troms District. Reichelt was also to track down patriots willing to help saboteurs who would arrive later by boat. Reichelt had familiarized himself with the district and had come to know the resistance leaders in the area. The plan was that he would return to the Shetland Islands with the crew after he helped the saboteurs get established, and in contact with the incorruptible men in the Northland.

  Brattholm’s route across the north Atlantic, one of the most treacherous waterways in the world, was toward Senja, a large island 35 miles due south of the city of Tromsø, in northern Norway.

  Brattholm, on her first voyage across the Atlantic, had left Norwegian waters under daring circumstances; her return passage, unquestionably, would be even more dramatic. A first-rate boat, she was heavily armed and well supplied with the best navigation equipment for crossing the high seas. Her beam was 18 feet, four inches wide and she had a nine-foot draw. A two-cylinder 60 horsepower Wichman motor enabled Brattholm to cruise at seven to eight knots.

  Brattholm’s skipper Sverre Odd Kvernhellen was much admired by the crew. Years of operating vessels in the Norwegian Sea and several Atlantic crossings had made Kvernhellen an exceptional navigator.

  Machine guns hid in large fishing barrels on Brattholm’s deck, a camouflage to prove they were peaceful fishermen should they be approached by the enemy. Eight tons of dynamite, explosives, a hand radio transmitter, survival kits and other provisions filled Brattholm’s hull. All were necessary requirements for survival in the Arctic and had been carefully planned and chosen. She rode heavy in the water.

  If there is anyone who still wonders why this war is being fought – let him look to Norway.

  If there is anyone who has any delusions that this war could have been averted – let him look to Norway.

  And, if there is anyone who doubts of the democratic will to win, again I say, let him look to Norway.

  Franklin D. Roosevelt,

  President of the United States of America,

  September 16, 1942

  M/K BRATTHOLM

  SEPTEMBER 3, 1940: Leonard Larsen and his grandfather were enjoying a balmy Saturday evening on their Remøy Island farm when a man appeared. The stranger carried an unusual phonograph, and, without a word of explanation, started it up, but no sound emerged. In a heavy German accent, the man asked Leonard many questions. Leonard realized the conversation was being recorded and he became wary.

  For the past several months, Leonard and his friend Alfred Remøy had worked for the Norwegian underground. The two young men and their friends Fritjof Remøy, John Remøy, Julius Remøy, Johan Remøy, and Lars Sævik, had helped many refugees escape occupied Norway across the Atlantic. All young bachelors, the men helped English and French soldiers as well as Norwegians.

  M/K Brattholm docked in Ålesund, Norway

  After the stranger left, Leonard sought out Alfred Remøy and some of the other men who had helped the refugees. The mysterious man had been busy with his phonograph all across Remøy Island and the young men realized their peril.

  “We must get away from Norway,” Alfred urged. “If there is no room for us on any other fishing vessels, I will steal Brattholm.” Alfred shared ownership of M/K Brattholm with two brothers, Petter and Arthur Sævik.

  “It’s pretty risky to take the vessel across the Atlantic,” worried Leonard. “And it will be quite a blow to Petter and Arthur.”

  “Ja, but our lives are at stake,” Alfred said. “This is war! If you men want to come along, we sail!”

  The young men decided to make their escape while they could. A few nights later, as the dark autumn night blanketed the Norwegian coast and fear of the Nazis haunted every dwelling, M/K Brattholm lay moored near the Sæviks’ home.

  Taking care to muffle the sound of their oars, the seven resistance workers rowed a small boat toward M/K Brattholm. They had thoroughly planned their escape, but their nerves grew taut when the rowboat gently bumped up against Brattholm. In tense silence they attached a hawser to the fishing vessel and loosened the moorings.

  They pulled the cutter 150 meters across the inlet to Skotholmen Islet.

  The two strongest men pulled on each set of oars with all their might to get the 72-foot Brattholm to slide along the pier.

  Oil was stored in barrels and tanks on Skotholmen. The young men broke into one of the tanks and filled Brattholm’s bunker with fuel and lifted additional oil barrels onto Brattholm’s deck.

  Another small dinghy, this one with an outboard motor, came forth from the darkness. A friend had agreed to tow Brattholm further out to sea. When the men felt sure that Brattholm could not be heard from the shore, they started her engine. By 5 a.m., the cutter was on the open sea.

  A few hours later, Petter and Arthur Sævik were shaken when they discovered Brattholm missing.

  “Arthur, Brattholm is gone!” Petter shrieked, looking through the window. “Call the police! The thieves can’t have gone far. Have the police hunt them down!”

  The woman who received the incoming call at the telephone exchange was an aunt of one of the young men aboard Brattholm.

  “Unfortunately, there is no answer at the police station. I tried several times, but they must be out on a call. Please try later.”

  The aunt owned a small grocery store and she had helped the runaways with food for their voyage. She knew who had stolen the Sæviks’ boat and she was determined to give them as long a head start as possible.

  Furious, the Sævik brothers called back later, and finally reached the police. But Brattholm was now far out to sea, heading north. While planning the getaway, the young men expected that the theft would be reported immediately and they decided to set a course straight north, and later, northwest toward Iceland. That decision spared their discovery by German patrol planes sent out once the hijacking had been reported. The Germans assumed the runaways were heading west for the Shetland Islands, the destination point for most boats escaping from Norway.

  The men aboard Brattholm heard the planes, but the thick Atlantic fog cloaked them in safety. The weather worsened with a heavy wind and high seas. The men moved the heavy oil barrels below deck to stop their constant rolling and to stabilize the vessel. Brattholm struggled against the storm. A beam tore loose and slammed into Fritjof’s back. He was badly hurt and the men considered turning back to get him to a doctor, but Fritjof refused and they continued ahead.

  The men’s and Brattholm’s relentless struggle ended when they reached Rejkjavik, Iceland’s capital, five days later. They were welcomed by both Norwegian and English authorities, who had received advance notice of their arrival. The young men had planned to earn a living by fishing while in Iceland, but instead the boat was taken over by Nortraship and rented out to the British Navy Sea Transport. On November 18, the resistance workers were ordered to sail to Seydesfjord, on Iceland’s east coast. For two years, the cutter carried English troops and supplies to and from the outposts in the Icelandic fjords.

  In November 1942, Brattholm was recalled to Reykjavik. She and her crew were ordered to the Shetland Islands. Two armed whaleboats escorted them to Lerwich, in the Shetland Islands, without mishap. Brattholm was put into secret service between the Shetland Islands and Norway against the Germans. The seven Norwegian underground workers were sent on to London where some ended up in the Norwegian Merchant Marine and others in the Navy.

  THE CONVOYS

  FEBRUARY 2, 1942: A gruesome battle over Stalingrad in the Soviet Union took place between the Germans and the Russians. Germany lost the battle against the Russians but not before leaving the city in ashes. It would have been an impossible victory for the Soviet Union without the huge weapon supplies delivered from the United States and England.

  When Denmark was attacked and invaded by the German Army in 1940, England occupied Iceland with the consensus of her people. Iceland was strategically located in the North Atlantic.

  Convoys to the Soviet Union with war materials and other provisions were sent from the West via Iceland, the
shortest and the safest route at the time. They sailed through the Arctic Ocean a few hundred nautical miles above the North Cape, the northern tip of Norway, and on to Murmansk and Archangel in the Soviet Union.

  The plan worked well, with most ships bearing the desperately needed materials reaching their destination. The convoys only lost one ship, but after the first few months, the situation changed drastically.

  Arctic pack ice forced the convoys within 300 nautical miles of the Norwegian coast.

  To pinpoint the convoys’ position, German reconnaissance planes were sent out from Bardufoss Airport in the Troms District, as well as seaplanes from Skatøyra seaplane-harbor close to the city of Tromsø, in the same district.

  As summer had returned and the midnight sun did not set, it was easy for the German pilots to detect the convoys. The information from these sorties was forwarded to the German High Command.

  Convoys were sent from the west via Iceland with war-materials. They sailed to Murmansk and Archangel in the Soviet Union through the Arctic Ocean above the northern tip of Norway.

  June 27, 1942: Convoy P.Q.17 left Iceland for Archangel with 34 ships. German spy planes spotted them, and soon the German bombers and U-boats were on their way. They sank 23 ships and several hundred men went down.

  Due to the terrible loss of lives and ships, the convoys were briefly halted. This caused large weapon supplies to accumulate in the West. In this serious situation the Allies had to find a way to stop German planes from flying out of northern Norway.