Odd Starheim
Encyclopedia
Odd Kjell Starheim, DSO
(14 June 1916 – 1 March 1943) was a Norwegian resistance fighter and SOE
agent during the Second World War
. He died when a Norwegian ship he had captured off the coast of Norway was sunk by German bombers on its way back to the United Kingdom.
, Odd Starheim was the son of ship captain Kjetil Starheim and his wife Amalie, née Leonhardsen. He attended chief mate school and radio school in the pre-Second World War years, and served for six years as an officer and radio operator in the Norwegian Merchant Navy. During his childhood Starheim was a Scout, idolizing Scout Movement
founder Robert Baden-Powell
and Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen
.
Starheim joined the Norwegian Army, but was soon captured. He later went to Sweden and attempted to make his way to the United Kingdom
from there, but could not find a way to do so. He returned to Norway, and after slowly accumulating enough fuel, made his way to the United Kingdom on the boat Viking from Rauna
, near Farsund
, together with two other men. The boat set off on 11 August 1940, but was forced back the next day by bad weather. On 13 August Viking set off again, and reached Aberdeen
on 17 August despite encountering another storm during the voyage across the North Sea
.
He was among the pioneer members of the SOE
branch called Norwegian Independent Company 1
(NOR.I.C.1), hand-picked by Captain Martin Linge
, going on three missions to Norway and organizing intelligence work in Southern Norway. He was in charge of the SOE intelligence operation Cheese
, together with double agent
and radio operator Gunvald Tomstad
. For Cheese Starheim was landed by submarine at the Norwegian coast near Farsund
in December 1940, making his way ashore by kayak
and carrying his radio set 25 miles inland despite suffering from flu. The purpose of the mission was to find out what had happened to the two men with whom he had originally escaped Norway (and one other), who had already been returned to Norway on another mission—They had been captured and executed. He remained in Norway until June 1941, organising the resistance, and remaining in radio contact with UK. Realising he was in danger, he escaped to Sweden and was then returned to the UK. On 2 January 1942 he and fellow agent Andreas Fasting became the first to parachute into occupied Norway
. This time he was aiming to re-establish radio contact between the Norwegian resistance and the UK as the radio operator left behind after his previous mission had stopped transmitting.
While in Oslo he was captured by the Gestapo
, during his interrogation, he managed to snatch back his identity papers and jump from a second storey window to make his escape. He signalled to the UK that he needed to be extracted, but an attempt to take him off in a fishing boat failed. Not wishing to risk an escape to Sweden for a third time, he came up with daring plan for which he is best known, the hijacking of the coastal steamer SS Galtesund in Flekkefjord
on 15 March 1942. He brought her over to the UK, together with a small group of people. Amongst the group was Einar Skinnarland
, who was in possession of important information on the heavy water
plant at Vemork
. The capture of Galtesund was aided by a secret radio transmitter in Norway which radioed London, requesting air support for the vessel. The air support arrived on 16 March and the ship made it safely to Aberdeen. Starheim had not received permission from his superiors in the United Kingdom to capture Galtesund, and carried out the operation entirely on his own initiative. On 2 July 1942, his British superiors in the SOE recommended him for the British Military Cross
, in the end he was awarded the higher-level Distinguished Service Order
on 2 July 1942.
He also organized the failed Operation Carhampton in 1943, an attempt to take over a German shipping convoy. The success of the Galtesund operation helped persuade the British in approving of the new, more ambitious plan. In the operation Starheim and 40 Norwegian soldiers were landed near Abelsnes in Vest-Agder by the Norwegian patrol boat Bodø. Thirty of Starheim's men were from NOR.I.C.1, while the remaining 10 belonged to the Royal Norwegian Navy
. The first attempt, on 10 January, at capturing a convoy failed when the coordination of the various groups was lost. A second attempt on 17 January ended in a gunfight between the commandos and German guards. The group's cover blown, the Norwegians were hunted by large German forces and had to be assisted by local resistance people in order to survive. After an aborted attempt at attacking the strategically significant mines at Knaben
the whole operation was called off. The leadership in London had not supported the plans to attack Knaben, instead approving of an attack on the titanium
mine Titania in Sokndal
, and the capture of a 10,000 ton ship in the Jøssingfjord
. The commandos were supposed to have escaped Titania by using the mine trolleys
. Starheim and 12 other Carhampton members hijacked the Norwegian coastal passenger/cargo steamship SS Tromøsund on 28 February in an attempt to bring the ship over to Scotland, but Tromøsund never reached the UK, being sunk by German aircraft
. All those on board, including the 13 commandos, the 26 crew, two passengers and three German prisoners of war
, lost their lives when Tromøsund sank. Starheim and the ship's captain were the only ones whose bodies were recovered, drifting ashore on Tjörn
near Bohuslän
. Of the members of the operation who did not sail on Tromøsund 16 made their way to West Hartlepool
in North East England
by fishing boat, four men were given new missions in Norway and the rest made their way to neutral Sweden
. Starheim was buried in his birthplace Lista. In addition to his British DSO, he was awarded the Norwegian War Cross.
Distinguished Service Order
The Distinguished Service Order is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, and formerly of other parts of the British Commonwealth and Empire, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typically in actual combat.Instituted on 6 September...
(14 June 1916 – 1 March 1943) was a Norwegian resistance fighter and SOE
Special Operations Executive
The Special Operations Executive was a World War II organisation of the United Kingdom. It was officially formed by Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton on 22 July 1940, to conduct guerrilla warfare against the Axis powers and to instruct and aid local...
agent during the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. He died when a Norwegian ship he had captured off the coast of Norway was sunk by German bombers on its way back to the United Kingdom.
Early life
Born in Lista, Vest-AgderVest-Agder
In the 16th century, Dutch merchant vessels began to visit ports in southern Norway to purchase salmon and other goods. Soon thereafter the export of timber began, as oak from southern Norway was exceptionally well suited for shipbuilding...
, Odd Starheim was the son of ship captain Kjetil Starheim and his wife Amalie, née Leonhardsen. He attended chief mate school and radio school in the pre-Second World War years, and served for six years as an officer and radio operator in the Norwegian Merchant Navy. During his childhood Starheim was a Scout, idolizing Scout Movement
Scouting
Scouting, also known as the Scout Movement, is a worldwide youth movement with the stated aim of supporting young people in their physical, mental and spiritual development, that they may play constructive roles in society....
founder Robert Baden-Powell
Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell
Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, Bt, OM, GCMG, GCVO, KCB , also known as B-P or Lord Baden-Powell, was a lieutenant-general in the British Army, writer, and founder of the Scout Movement....
and Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen
Fridtjof Nansen
Fridtjof Wedel-Jarlsberg Nansen was a Norwegian explorer, scientist, diplomat, humanitarian and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. In his youth a champion skier and ice skater, he led the team that made the first crossing of the Greenland interior in 1888, and won international fame after reaching a...
.
Second World War
When Norway was invaded by GermanyOperation Weserübung
Operation Weserübung was the code name for Germany's assault on Denmark and Norway during the Second World War and the opening operation of the Norwegian Campaign...
Starheim joined the Norwegian Army, but was soon captured. He later went to Sweden and attempted to make his way to the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
from there, but could not find a way to do so. He returned to Norway, and after slowly accumulating enough fuel, made his way to the United Kingdom on the boat Viking from Rauna
Rauna
Rauna is an extinct genus of prawn, containing the single species Rauna angusta, described from the Solnhofen limestones of southern Germany....
, near Farsund
Farsund
is a town and municipality in the county of Vest-Agder, Norway.The town of Farsund was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 , although already recognized as a trading center in 1795...
, together with two other men. The boat set off on 11 August 1940, but was forced back the next day by bad weather. On 13 August Viking set off again, and reached Aberdeen
Aberdeen
Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....
on 17 August despite encountering another storm during the voyage across the North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
.
He was among the pioneer members of the SOE
Special Operations Executive
The Special Operations Executive was a World War II organisation of the United Kingdom. It was officially formed by Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton on 22 July 1940, to conduct guerrilla warfare against the Axis powers and to instruct and aid local...
branch called Norwegian Independent Company 1
Norwegian Independent Company 1
Norwegian Independent Company 1 was a British SOE group formed in March 1941 originally for the purpose of performing commando raids during the Occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany. It was organized under the leadership of Captain Martin Linge...
(NOR.I.C.1), hand-picked by Captain Martin Linge
Martin Linge
Martin Jensen Linge was a former Norwegian actor who, in World War II, became the commander of the Norwegian Independent Company 1 , formed in March 1941 for operations on behalf of the Special Operations Executive.-Biography:Martin Linge was born in Norddal, Møre og Romsdal County, Norway...
, going on three missions to Norway and organizing intelligence work in Southern Norway. He was in charge of the SOE intelligence operation Cheese
Operation Cheese
Operation Cheese was an intelligence operation carried out by Special Operations Executive in Norway during World War II. Key persons were Odd Starheim and Gunvald Tomstad, who established radio communications with UK and developed an intelligence network in Southern Norway. The radio station was...
, together with double agent
Double agent
A double agent, commonly abbreviated referral of double secret agent, is a counterintelligence term used to designate an employee of a secret service or organization, whose primary aim is to spy on the target organization, but who in fact is a member of that same target organization oneself. They...
and radio operator Gunvald Tomstad
Gunvald Tomstad
Gunvald Jørg Tomstad was a Norwegian resistance member during World War II. From 1941 to 1943 he was a double agent and radio operator in the Flekkefjord area....
. For Cheese Starheim was landed by submarine at the Norwegian coast near Farsund
Farsund
is a town and municipality in the county of Vest-Agder, Norway.The town of Farsund was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 , although already recognized as a trading center in 1795...
in December 1940, making his way ashore by kayak
Kayak
A kayak is a small, relatively narrow, human-powered boat primarily designed to be manually propelled by means of a double blade paddle.The traditional kayak has a covered deck and one or more cockpits, each seating one paddler...
and carrying his radio set 25 miles inland despite suffering from flu. The purpose of the mission was to find out what had happened to the two men with whom he had originally escaped Norway (and one other), who had already been returned to Norway on another mission—They had been captured and executed. He remained in Norway until June 1941, organising the resistance, and remaining in radio contact with UK. Realising he was in danger, he escaped to Sweden and was then returned to the UK. On 2 January 1942 he and fellow agent Andreas Fasting became the first to parachute into occupied Norway
Occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany
The occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany started with the German invasion of Norway on April 9, 1940, and ended on May 8, 1945, after the capitulation of German forces in Europe. Throughout this period, Norway was continuously occupied by the Wehrmacht...
. This time he was aiming to re-establish radio contact between the Norwegian resistance and the UK as the radio operator left behind after his previous mission had stopped transmitting.
While in Oslo he was captured by the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
, during his interrogation, he managed to snatch back his identity papers and jump from a second storey window to make his escape. He signalled to the UK that he needed to be extracted, but an attempt to take him off in a fishing boat failed. Not wishing to risk an escape to Sweden for a third time, he came up with daring plan for which he is best known, the hijacking of the coastal steamer SS Galtesund in Flekkefjord
Flekkefjord
is a town and municipality in the county of Vest-Agder, Norway.The town of Flekkefjord was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 . The rural municipalities of Bakke, Gyland, Hidra, and Nes were merged with Flekkefjord on 1 January 1965.Flekkefjord is the westernmost town of the...
on 15 March 1942. He brought her over to the UK, together with a small group of people. Amongst the group was Einar Skinnarland
Einar Skinnarland
Einar Skinnarland DCM was a Norwegian resistance fighter during the Second World War.Einar Skinnarland was born in Vinje, in Telemark county, Norway...
, who was in possession of important information on the heavy water
Heavy water
Heavy water is water highly enriched in the hydrogen isotope deuterium; e.g., heavy water used in CANDU reactors is 99.75% enriched by hydrogen atom-fraction...
plant at Vemork
Vemork
Vemork is the name of a hydroelectric power plant outside Rjukan in Tinn, Norway. The plant was built by Norsk Hydro and opened in 1911, its main purpose being to fix nitrogen for the production of fertilizer. Vemork was later the site of the first plant in the world to mass-produce heavy water...
. The capture of Galtesund was aided by a secret radio transmitter in Norway which radioed London, requesting air support for the vessel. The air support arrived on 16 March and the ship made it safely to Aberdeen. Starheim had not received permission from his superiors in the United Kingdom to capture Galtesund, and carried out the operation entirely on his own initiative. On 2 July 1942, his British superiors in the SOE recommended him for the British Military Cross
Military Cross
The Military Cross is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers and other ranks of the British Armed Forces; and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries....
, in the end he was awarded the higher-level Distinguished Service Order
Distinguished Service Order
The Distinguished Service Order is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, and formerly of other parts of the British Commonwealth and Empire, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typically in actual combat.Instituted on 6 September...
on 2 July 1942.
He also organized the failed Operation Carhampton in 1943, an attempt to take over a German shipping convoy. The success of the Galtesund operation helped persuade the British in approving of the new, more ambitious plan. In the operation Starheim and 40 Norwegian soldiers were landed near Abelsnes in Vest-Agder by the Norwegian patrol boat Bodø. Thirty of Starheim's men were from NOR.I.C.1, while the remaining 10 belonged to the Royal Norwegian Navy
Royal Norwegian Navy
The Royal Norwegian Navy is the branch of the Norwegian Defence Force responsible for naval operations. , the RNoN consists of approximately 3,700 personnel and 70 vessels, including 5 heavy frigates, 6 submarines, 14 patrol boats, 4 minesweepers, 4 minehunters, 1 mine detection vessel, 4 support...
. The first attempt, on 10 January, at capturing a convoy failed when the coordination of the various groups was lost. A second attempt on 17 January ended in a gunfight between the commandos and German guards. The group's cover blown, the Norwegians were hunted by large German forces and had to be assisted by local resistance people in order to survive. After an aborted attempt at attacking the strategically significant mines at Knaben
Knaben
Knaben is a former mining community in the northern part of Kvinesdal municipality, Norway, and currently a popular ski resort. The settlement lies about 630 metres above sea level. The molybdenum mines were operated from 1885 to 1973. Buildings and constructions are still partly intact...
the whole operation was called off. The leadership in London had not supported the plans to attack Knaben, instead approving of an attack on the titanium
Titanium
Titanium is a chemical element with the symbol Ti and atomic number 22. It has a low density and is a strong, lustrous, corrosion-resistant transition metal with a silver color....
mine Titania in Sokndal
Sokndal
Sokndal is a municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. It is part of the region of Dalane.The parish of Soggendal was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838...
, and the capture of a 10,000 ton ship in the Jøssingfjord
Jøssingfjord
Jøssingfjord is a fjord located within the municipality of Sokndal in south-western Norway.The fjord is known as the location of the Altmark Incident, where, during World War II, on February 16, 1940, the British destroyer Cossack managed to free prisoners taken by the Admiral Graf Spee from the...
. The commandos were supposed to have escaped Titania by using the mine trolleys
Flatbed trolley
Flatbed Trolleys are some of the most common form of transport in warehousing and distribution environments, for moving bulk loads. A very simple design that offer a basic flat platform with four castors and a fixed handle which is used to either push or pull the platform with the load on the...
. Starheim and 12 other Carhampton members hijacked the Norwegian coastal passenger/cargo steamship SS Tromøsund on 28 February in an attempt to bring the ship over to Scotland, but Tromøsund never reached the UK, being sunk by German aircraft
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
. All those on board, including the 13 commandos, the 26 crew, two passengers and three German prisoners of war
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
, lost their lives when Tromøsund sank. Starheim and the ship's captain were the only ones whose bodies were recovered, drifting ashore on Tjörn
Tjörn
Tjörn is the sixth largest island in Sweden. It is located on the Swedish West coast in the province of Bohuslän.-Geography:Tjörn is connected in the east to the town of Stenungsund on the mainland by the Tjörn bridge, and to the island of Orust in the north by theSkåpesund bridge. The largest town...
near Bohuslän
Bohuslän
' is a Swedish traditional province, or landskap, situated in Götaland on the northernmost part of the country's west coast. It is bordered by Dalsland to the northeast, Västergötland to the southeast, the Skagerrak arm of the North Sea to the west, and the county of Østfold in Norway to the north...
. Of the members of the operation who did not sail on Tromøsund 16 made their way to West Hartlepool
West Hartlepool
This article refers to the place; for the Rugby Football Club see West Hartlepool R.F.C.West Hartlepool refers to the western part of the what has since the 1960s been known as the borough of Hartlepool in North East England...
in North East England
North East England
North East England is one of the nine official regions of England. It covers Northumberland, County Durham, Tyne and Wear, and Teesside . The only cities in the region are Durham, Newcastle upon Tyne and Sunderland...
by fishing boat, four men were given new missions in Norway and the rest made their way to neutral Sweden
Sweden during World War II
Sweden during World War II maintained a policy of neutrality. When the Second World War began on September 1, 1939, the fate of Sweden was unclear...
. Starheim was buried in his birthplace Lista. In addition to his British DSO, he was awarded the Norwegian War Cross.