Description
Object description
Norwegian civilian served with a guard company in Norway, 4/1940-6/1940; member of XU Organisation, Norwegian Resistance in Norway 1941-1944; served as radio operator with Secret Intelligence Service in GB, Norway and Sweden, 1/1944-5/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Norway, 1939-1940: father's military service; voluntary military training in Bodo, 2/1940; sympathy felt for Finland during Winter War 1939-1940; question of Soviet threat to Norway and espionage in Finnmark; nature of training. Recollections of German invasion of Norway, 4/1940-6/1940: volunteer formation of guard company in Bodo, 9/4/1940; limited supply of equipment and ammunition; false alarm; question of lack of experience of shooting; issue of home made uniforms; observation duties; sight of German Air Force bombing raid on Bodo, 27/5/1940; arrival of British ships and troops; secondment to British unit; language difficulties; question of British officer being obsessed by the threat of parachutists; German Air Force activity; consequences of firing on German aircraft; officers in guard company; question of disbandment of guard company; British activities in Bodo; British withdrawal by sea; description of the German Air Force formation, 27/5/1940; breakdown of order in town after raid and looting.
REEL 2 Continues: thefts from co-operative store; subsequent German orders to return goods; evacuation of Bodo; nature of evacuation arrangements. Aspects of period as student in Norway, 1940-1941: treatment by German occupiers; joining parents in Finnmark; education in Bodo; move to Oslo to continue education; behaviour of German soldiers; obtaining university place, 1941. Recollections of period with Norwegian Resistance in Norway, 1941-1944: first contact with resistance; joining XU Organisation, the intelligence branch of Milorg; acting as courier and description of message carrying; false papers to enter prohibited zone near Swedish border; participation in reception committee to meet agent arriving by parachute, 3/1943; abortive first drop; successful delivery of containers and death of agent; question of leader ordering immediate departure; reaction of party sent to bury dead agent; recovery of supplies and subsequent loss to German search party; effect of leaving dead agent; journey to visit parents; orders to observe German activities and recruit agents; recruitment of agents in Bodo, Alta and Hammerfest; photographing radar stations and German battleships Tirpitz and Scharnhorst.
REEL 3 Continues: film delivered to London, GB; inspecting torpedo nets by kayak; question of unawareness of Special Intelligence Service activities in Alta; meeting contacts from XU Organisation; mass arrest of students, 11/1943; going on run disguised as farmhand; how main contact 'Martin' was shot by Gestapo; lack of knowledge of arrests; story of classmate being a Quisling; life on the run; story of journey into Sweden 1/1944; reception by Swedes, invitation to train as agent in GB. Aspects of training as agent with Secret Intelligence Service in GB, 1/1944-8/1944: flight from Sweden to Scotland; story of German spy arrested in Leuchars; arrival in London; training as radio operator; aspects of training; coding ; basic military training, St Andrews, nature of parachute training at No 1 Parachute Training School, RAF at RAF Ringway; incident of bad jump. Recollection of period as agent with Secret Intelligence Service in Norway, 8/1944-3/1945: return to Norway, 29/8/1944; orders to operate in Frederikstad; nature of intelligence work.
REEL 4 continues: landing zone; equipment and clothing; parachute drop from Handley Page Halifax aircraft; landing in boggy ground; problems recognising reception committee; nature of air supply drop; German reconnaissance flight; collection of supplies; incident of being surprised by son of local Police chief; help received from locals; car journey; being stopped by German Army troops; question of not being able to draw pistols; escaping in dark and German reaction; taking refuge in railway station; Germans searching village; second hand story of other agents experiences; recovering radio and supplies; stopping of lorry carrying equipment by German Army; move to Oslo and contact with XU Organisation; nature of agreement with Secret Intelligence Service; operating from woods; difficulty of operating from friend's lodgings; messages sent for XU Organisation.
REEL 5 Continues: invisible ink technique; German Air Force flights over camp; move to cottage in woods; nature of communication; story of German Army officer asking for help to escape to Sweden; abortive attempt to make contact in Fredrikstad; move to cottage near Fredrikstad; search on bus; nature and schedule of messages sent to Secret Intelligence Service in GB; Germans searching area; failure to check hut's interior; return to Oslo; lack of operating facilities available in Fredrikstad; crossing to Sweden, 3/1945; role training radio operators in Stockholm, Sweden, 3/1945-5/1945