Operation Doomsday
Encyclopedia
- For the album by MF DOOM, see Operation: DoomsdayOperation: DoomsdayOperation: Doomsday is the debut solo album by hip hop artist Daniel Dumile, under his MF DOOM alias, marking Dumile's return to the hip hop scene after KMD's demise...
In Operation Doomsday, the British 1st Airborne Division acted as a police and military force during the Allied occupation of Norway in May 1945, immediately after the victory in Europe during the Second World War. The division maintained law and order until the arrival of the remainder of Force 134, the occupation force. During its time in Norway, the division was tasked with supervising the surrender of the German forces in Norway, as well as preventing the sabotage of vital military and civilian facilities.
The German Instrument of Surrender was delivered on 8 May to General Franz Böhme
Franz Böhme
Franz Friedrich Böhme was an Austrian who later went on to become a military officer...
, the commander of all German forces stationed in Norway, and the 1st Airborne Division landed near Oslo
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
and Stavanger
Stavanger
Stavanger is a city and municipality in the county of Rogaland, Norway.Stavanger municipality has a population of 126,469. There are 197,852 people living in the Stavanger conurbation, making Stavanger the fourth largest city, but the third largest urban area, in Norway...
between 9 May and 11 May. The majority of the transport aircraft carrying the division landed safely, but one crash caused a number of fatalities. The division encountered little of the expected German resistance. Operational duties included welcoming back King Haakon VII of Norway
Haakon VII of Norway
Haakon VII , known as Prince Carl of Denmark until 1905, was the first king of Norway after the 1905 dissolution of the personal union with Sweden. He was a member of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg...
, looking after Allied ex-prisoners of war, arresting war criminals and supervising the clearing of minefields. The division was also able to confirm the deaths of the British airborne troops that had taken part in Operation Freshman
Operation Freshman
Operation Freshman was the codename given to a British airborne operation conducted in November 1942 during World War II. It was the first British airborne operation conducted using gliders, and its target was the Vemork Norsk Hydro chemical plant in Norway which produced heavy water for Nazi Germany...
, an unsuccessful attempt to disrupt the German atomic weapons programme
German nuclear energy project
The German nuclear energy project, , was an attempted clandestine scientific effort led by Germany to develop and produce the atomic weapons during the events involving the World War II...
in November 1942. The division returned to Britain at the end of August and disbanded two months later.
Background
Since 1943 the Western Allies had been developing plans for the occupation of NorwayNorway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, code-named Operation Apostle, after Germany's surrender. Force 134, the occupation force, was composed of Norwegian troops who were stationed in Scotland, as well as a British contingent (initially the 52nd (Lowland) Infantry Division), a few American troops, and some 12,000 Norwegian police troops currently stationed in neutral Sweden
Norwegian police troops in Sweden during World War II
The Norwegian police troops in Sweden during World War II consisted of around 13,000 troops, recruited from Norwegian refugees and trained at a number of secret camps in Sweden.-Background:...
. In the event of an emergency, the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force
Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force
Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force , was the headquarters of the Commander of Allied forces in north west Europe, from late 1943 until the end of World War II. U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower was in command of SHAEF throughout its existence...
would deploy troops into Norway from Germany. The entire operation came under Headquarters Scottish Command
Scottish Command
-History:The Command was established in 1905 at Edinburgh Castle but moved to Craigiehall in the early 1950s.Since 1936 the General Officer Commanding Scottish Command has also always been appointed Governor of Edinburgh Castle....
, which had been commanded by General
General (United Kingdom)
General is currently the highest peace-time rank in the British Army and Royal Marines. It is subordinate to the Army rank of Field Marshal, has a NATO-code of OF-9, and is a four-star rank....
Andrew Thorne
Andrew Thorne
General Sir Augustus Francis Andrew Nicol Thorne KCB, CMG, DSO & Two Bars was a soldier in the British Army who served in the First and Second World Wars.-Military career:...
since 7 May 1941. One of the reasons behind Thorne's appointment to Scottish Command, which he regarded as "being banished to Scotland", may well have been Thorne's acquaintance with Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
; they had met several times when Thorne had been British Military Attache in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
in 1934 and 1935, and Hitler held Thorne and his military abilities in high regard. In the wake of British Commando
British Commandos
The British Commandos were formed during the Second World War in June 1940, following a request from the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, for a force that could carry out raids against German-occupied Europe...
raids in Norway during 1941, Hitler had ordered substantial reinforcements for Norway, and British High Command hoped that Thorne as head of Scottish Command would "help to focus the Fuhrer's attention on the threat posed to Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
" and Norway in particular.
Two separate scenarios were considered in planning for Operation Apostle. The first, known as 'Rankin C (Norway)' was based on the assumption that all German forces occupying Norway would surrender as part of a more general unconditional surrender by Germany. The second was known as 'Rankin B' and assumed that there was no surrender and that only parts of Norway would be abandoned by the Germans in order to reinforce their troops stationed in north-western Europe against Allied advances there; in this scenario, Force 134 would encounter heavy German resistance. The development of plans for the liberation and administration of Norway were complicated by it being difficult to predict whether the landings would be opposed by German forces and the extent of damage resulting from Allied bombardments and any German "scorched earth
Scorched earth
A scorched earth policy is a military strategy or operational method which involves destroying anything that might be useful to the enemy while advancing through or withdrawing from an area...
" demolitions. As a result, planning for the administration of Norway was detailed and flexible.
Either of the two 'Rankin' scenarios would be difficult for Thorne to accomplish however, as the troops allocated to Force 134 were meagre; from late 1943 onwards the majority of military resources were dedicated to the campaign in north-west Europe. In September 1944 Thorne was even deprived of 52nd Lowland Division, which was attached to the 1st Allied Airborne Army by the War Office
War Office
The War Office was a department of the British Government, responsible for the administration of the British Army between the 17th century and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the Ministry of Defence...
and earmarked for Operation Market Garden
Operation Market Garden
Operation Market Garden was an unsuccessful Allied military operation, fought in the Netherlands and Germany in the Second World War. It was the largest airborne operation up to that time....
. Instead Thorne was later given the 1st Airborne Division, under the command of Major General
Major-General (United Kingdom)
Major general is a senior rank in the British Army. Since 1996 the highest position within the Royal Marines is the Commandant General Royal Marines who holds the rank of major general...
Roy Urquhart
Roy Urquhart
Major General Robert "Roy" Elliott Urquhart, CB, DSO was a British military officer. He became prominent for his role commanding the British 1st Airborne Division during Operation Market Garden.-Early career:...
. However, owing to the heavy casualties the division had suffered during Market Garden it would not be combat ready until 1 May 1945 after being heavily reinforced. In order to bolster his forces, Thorne would therefore have to rely on Milorg
Milorg
Milorg was the main Norwegian resistance movement in World War II....
, the Norwegian Resistance. The Allied civil affairs planners maintained very close contact with the Norwegian Government in exile which was based in London as well as Milorg. As a result, by the end of the war Milorg had been preparing for the arrival of an Allied force for some time; its 40,000 members were well-armed and trained, and led by more than 100 Special Operations Executive
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...
agents parachuted into Norway, and it was prepared to prevent any sabotage of key communication centres and other important facilities by German troops if they resisted the Allied forces.
Allied preparations
By early May, 1st Airborne Division had been brought up to strength, albeit mainly with inexperienced replacements. 4th Parachute Brigade had been disbanded and its battalions merged with those of 1st Parachute Brigade in the aftermath of the Battle of ArnhemBattle of Arnhem
The Battle of Arnhem was a famous Second World War military engagement fought in and around the Dutch towns of Arnhem, Oosterbeek, Wolfheze, Driel and the surrounding countryside from 17–26 September 1944....
. It was replaced by 1st Independent Polish Parachute Brigade. The Norwegian Parachute Company was also attached to the 1st Airborne Division. However, on 4 May, Urquhart was ordered to despatch 1st Independent Polish Brigade to Dunkirk, and to detach 1st Parachute Brigade from the division; one of the brigade's battalions would immediately be transported to Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
for occupation duties, with the rest of the Brigade remaining in Britain as a reserve formation. At the same time the rest of the division was warned that it would be soon be transported by air to Norway as part of the occupation force, with the Special Air Service Brigade being temporarily attached to the division to replace 1st Parachute Brigade. Urquhart informed Thorne that the division could be ready for deployment in 48 hours, far less time than Thorne and his staff had expected. When it entered Norway, the division would be responsible for maintaining law and order in the areas it occupied, ensuring that German units followed the terms of their surrender, securing and then protecting captured airfields, and finally preventing the sabotage of essential military and civilian structures. To achieve this, the division would be formed of three brigades: 1st Airlanding Brigade, Special Air Service Brigade and an ad hoc
Ad hoc
Ad hoc is a Latin phrase meaning "for this". It generally signifies a solution designed for a specific problem or task, non-generalizable, and not intended to be able to be adapted to other purposes. Compare A priori....
Artillery Brigade formed from divisional troops.
1st Airlanding Brigade would land near to the Norwegian capital, Oslo
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
, and occupy the city alongside other elements of Force 134. The brigade's commander, Brigadier R. H. Bower, would become Commander, Oslo area for the duration of the division's time in Norway. Oslo was chosen because it was the Norwegian capital, as well as being the centre of Norwegian and German administration. Similarly, the Artillery Brigade would land at Stavanger
Stavanger
Stavanger is a city and municipality in the county of Rogaland, Norway.Stavanger municipality has a population of 126,469. There are 197,852 people living in the Stavanger conurbation, making Stavanger the fourth largest city, but the third largest urban area, in Norway...
and its commanding officer Brigadier R.G. Loder-Symonds would become Commander, Stavanger area. Stavanger was the closest airfield to Britain, and would also be useful as a fighter base. Finally, Special Air Service Brigade would also land in Stavanger, from where it would advance to and occupy the area around Kristiansand
Kristiansand
-History:As indicated by archeological findings in the city, the Kristiansand area has been settled at least since 400 AD. A royal farm is known to have been situated on Oddernes as early as 800, and the first church was built around 1040...
. This was an important port from which the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
would sweep the surrounding waters for mines. The division's operations would be divided into four phases over four consecutive days. On 8 May, fifteen transport aircraft would carry advance parties to airfields at Gardermoen
Oslo Airport, Gardermoen
Oslo Airport, Gardermoen is the principal airport serving Oslo, Norway. It acts as the main domestic hub and international airport for Norway, and the second-busiest airport in the Nordic countries. A hub for Scandinavian Airlines and Norwegian Air Shuttle, and a focus city for Widerøe, it is...
, near Oslo, and Sola airfield
Stavanger Airport, Sola
Stavanger Airport, Sola is an international airport located in Sola, Norway, southwest of Stavanger. It is Norway's third-busiest airport, with both fixed-wing aircraft and helicopter traffic for the offshore North Sea oil installations...
by Stavanger; this was to be completed by the evening. The second phase, on 9 May, would see seventy Handley Page Halifax
Handley Page Halifax
The Handley Page Halifax was one of the British front-line, four-engined heavy bombers of the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. A contemporary of the famous Avro Lancaster, the Halifax remained in service until the end of the war, performing a variety of duties in addition to bombing...
es transport 1st Airlanding Brigade and elements of Headquarters 1st Airborne Division to both airfields, and another seventy-six C-47 Dakotas
C-47 Skytrain
The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota is a military transport aircraft that was developed from the Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the Allies during World War II and remained in front line operations through the 1950s with a few remaining in operation to this day.-Design and...
land the Artillery Brigade at Sola. On 10 May, the third phase would see Special Air Service Brigade land at Sola, and finally stores and vehicles would be landed at both airfields on 11 May. Before the division began to land in Norway, specially selected Allied representatives known as 'Heralds' would accompany German diplomatic delegates to Norway; only when they signaled that the airfields were clear to land on would the first transport aircraft take off from Britain.
Axis preparations
German forces had started gradual withdrawal to northernmost Finland in early September 1944 in Operation BirkeOperation Birke
Operation Birke refers to German operation late in the World War II in Finnish Lapland.-Background:Finnish attempts to find and acceptable exit from the war in spring 1944 alarmed Germans who had sizable stores in Northern Finland...
. As value of Petsamo region had decreased the Germans decided in early October 1944 to abandon Finland and the most of the northern Norway and had begun Operation Nordlicht (Northern Light), a retreat into prepared positions at Lyngen
Lyngen
Lyngen is a municipality and a fjord in Troms county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Lyngseidet.- General information :...
in northern Norway. Operation Nordlicht had come to an end at the beginning of January 1945, with only a few miles of Finnish territory remaining in German hands, and several isolated garrisons in Norwegian Finnmark
Finnmark
or Finnmárku is a county in the extreme northeast of Norway. By land it borders Troms county to the west, Finland to the south and Russia to the east, and by water, the Norwegian Sea to the northwest, and the Barents Sea to the north and northeast.The county was formerly known as Finmarkens...
. Soviet forces occupied eastern Finnmark, and the USSR asked that Western Allied forces be landed to support them. Only a single company
Company (military unit)
A company is a military unit, typically consisting of 80–225 soldiers and usually commanded by a Captain, Major or Commandant. Most companies are formed of three to five platoons although the exact number may vary by country, unit type, and structure...
of Norwegian mountain infantry could be spared for this duty, though the British and Norwegian governments provided food supplies for the civilian population in the area. Due to the failure of the recent offensive in the Ardennes
Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge was a major German offensive , launched toward the end of World War II through the densely forested Ardennes mountain region of Wallonia in Belgium, hence its French name , and France and...
and the fact that several new types of U-Boat were ready to be deployed, the German positions in Norway became of great value to Grand Admiral
Grand Admiral
Grand admiral is a historic naval rank, generally being the highest such rank present in any particular country. Its most notable use was in Germany — the German word is Großadmiral.-France:...
Karl Dönitz
Karl Dönitz
Karl Dönitz was a German naval commander during World War II. He started his career in the German Navy during World War I. In 1918, while he was in command of , the submarine was sunk by British forces and Dönitz was taken prisoner...
, Commander-in-Chief of the Naval High Command as a way to continue submarine warfare against the Allies. They also were to Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
, who denied requests from General Heinz Guderian
Heinz Guderian
Heinz Wilhelm Guderian was a German general during World War II. He was a pioneer in the development of armored warfare, and was the leading proponent of tanks and mechanization in the Wehrmacht . Germany's panzer forces were raised and organized under his direction as Chief of Mobile Forces...
that divisions should be withdrawn from Norway for use in the defence of Germany, and from Böhme in March that northern Norway should be abandoned and that construction of submarine pens should come to a halt due to lack of materials. He feared that any withdrawal might tempt Sweden to enter the war in support of the Allies, and that any withdrawal from northern Norway would endanger U-Boat bases in the southern parts of the country. Until the last days of the war, Dönitz believed that Norway should be kept in order to deploy submarines against Allied vessels, and on 3 May the Kriegsmarine Naval Warfare Command
Seekriegsleitung
The Seekriegsleitung or SKL was the high command of the Kaiserliche Marine and the Kriegsmarine of Germany during the World Wars.It led planning and execution of naval combat and directed the distribution of naval forces...
informed U-Boat staff that even if Germany itself were occupied, submarines would still sail from Norway. Only on 4 May were orders issued by the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht
Oberkommando der Wehrmacht
The Oberkommando der Wehrmacht was part of the command structure of the armed forces of Nazi Germany during World War II.- Genesis :...
that all German troops in Norway were to avoid actions that might provoke Allied forces.
In May 1945, all German troops in Norway came under the command of the Twentieth Mountain Army, which had absorbed the Army Norway on 18 December 1944. It was commanded by General Franz Böhme
Franz Böhme
Franz Friedrich Böhme was an Austrian who later went on to become a military officer...
, who had succeeded General Lothar Rendulic
Lothar Rendulic
Generaloberst Lothar Rendulic was an Austro-Hungarian and Austrian Army officer of Croatian origin who served as a German general during World War II. He commanded the 14. Infanterie-Division, 52. Infanterie-Division, XXXV Armeekorps, 2. Panzer-Armee, 20...
as Armed Forces Commander, Norway in January 1945. At the beginning of May, Böhme informed Grand Admiral
Grand Admiral
Grand admiral is a historic naval rank, generally being the highest such rank present in any particular country. Its most notable use was in Germany — the German word is Großadmiral.-France:...
Karl Dönitz
Karl Dönitz
Karl Dönitz was a German naval commander during World War II. He started his career in the German Navy during World War I. In 1918, while he was in command of , the submarine was sunk by British forces and Dönitz was taken prisoner...
, Commander-in-Chief of the Naval High Command and the new German president, with the death of Adolf Hitler, that all forces in Norway consisted of eleven divisions and five brigades. In total, they had a combined strength of between 350,000 and 380,000 troops. There were also a number of U-boats stationed in naval bases in Norway, including 10 Mark XXI and 17 Mark XXXIII models. Yet although Allied forces had entered Germany, and rumours and speculation were rife about a possible invasion of Norway, the Twentieth Mountain Army almost seemed to be at a peace-time status; Böhme had complained in January that there were some units in the Army that took Sunday off as a holiday, and that he could do little to stop it.
Arrival
In the early hours of 7 May, Dönitz gave the order for all German military forces to unconditionally surrender, and on 8 May the German Instrument of Surrender was delivered to General Böhme. The Germans were to withdraw from all Norwegian towns and the SwedishSweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
border and gradually redeploy to areas pre-designated for disarmament; simultaneously, all senior Nazi party officials and security personnel were to immediately be arrested. Force 134 would be greatly outnumbered during its task; a total of 30,000 Allied troops would have to supervise the disarmament of more than 350,000 German troops. There were fears that the German forces might refuse to surrender and instead resist the Allied occupation forces, and there were particular concerns about what the large detachment of Kriegsmarine
Kriegsmarine
The Kriegsmarine was the name of the German Navy during the Nazi regime . It superseded the Kaiserliche Marine of World War I and the post-war Reichsmarine. The Kriegsmarine was one of three official branches of the Wehrmacht, the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany.The Kriegsmarine grew rapidly...
personnel at the port of Trondheim
Trondheim
Trondheim , historically, Nidaros and Trondhjem, is a city and municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. With a population of 173,486, it is the third most populous municipality and city in the country, although the fourth largest metropolitan area. It is the administrative centre of...
might do.
Although the first phase of the operation had been scheduled for 8 May, no word was received from the 'Heralds' and so Doomsday was postponed by twenty-four hours. Contact was successfully established on 9 May and the first units of Force 134 arrived in Norway to begin their occupation, including the first elements of 1st Airborne Division and the Norwegian Parachute Company. All but one of the transport aircraft belonging to the first phase took off and landed in Norway without incident. Phase II was accelerated to compensate for the delay, with aircraft scheduled to leave Britain between 02:00 and 13:30. Unfortunately after approximately 07:00, poor weather over Oslo caused many transport aircraft heading for the airfield there to return to Britain, although all of those destined for Stavanger landed successfully. Several crash-landed, and one was reported missing. The remaining aircraft took off again on 11 May, with one crashing on takeoff and another going missing; of the two missing aircraft, one landed at another airfield in Norway, but the other had crashed killing all of its occupants, including Air Vice-Marshal
Air Vice-Marshal
Air vice-marshal is a two-star air-officer rank which originated in and continues to be used by the Royal Air Force. The rank is also used by the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence and it is sometimes used as the English translation of an equivalent rank in...
Scarlett-Streatfield
James Scarlett-Streatfield
Air Vice-Marshal James Rowland Scarlett-Streatfield was a Royal Air Force squadron commander and commander of No. 38 Group RAF during World War II. Following the German defeat, he was assigned the task of accepting the surrender of Nazi forces in Norway. While flying to Oslo, his aircraft...
. The aircraft belonging to the next two phases suffered no more casualties, although a number of them were again delayed by inclement weather over the Norwegian airfields. 1st Airborne Division suffered one officer and thirty-three other ranks killed, and one other rank wounded, and the Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
six killed and seven injured. All of these losses had occurred after the general surrender had been declared.
Occupation duties
The original plan for the division called for two of the airborne battalions to march through Oslo on 10 May, but the delay meant that only a few troops had arrived by this date. Instead, two platoons from 2nd Battalion The South Staffordshire Regiment and four Military PoliceMilitary police
Military police are police organisations connected with, or part of, the military of a state. The word can have different meanings in different countries, and may refer to:...
men on motorcycles accompanied Urquhart, who rode in a commandeered German staff car. The soldiers, although somewhat nervous given the small size of their group, were greeted enthusiastically by the Norwegian population in Oslo. The only resistance came from the captains
Captain (naval)
Captain is the name most often given in English-speaking navies to the rank corresponding to command of the largest ships. The NATO rank code is OF-5, equivalent to an army full colonel....
of several U-boat
U-boat
U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...
s at Trondheim. Apart from this, 1st Airborne Division encountered no trouble from the German forces in Norway, who co-operated fully with the airborne troops. They were disarmed without problem, allowed themselves to be transferred to collection camps and also assisted in the clearing of numerous minefields they had sown during their occupation, which resulted in several German casualties.
Until the arrival of other units from Force 134, as well as the Headquarters of Allied Forces, Norway, Major General Urquhart and his headquarter staff had complete control over all Norwegian activities. This meant that it was Urquhart who welcomed Crown Prince Olaf of Norway
Olav V of Norway
Olav V was the king of Norway from 1957 until his death. A member of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, Olav was born in the United Kingdom as the son of King Haakon VII of Norway and Queen Maud of Norway...
and three ministers representing the Norwegian Government when they arrived on a Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
cruiser
Cruiser
A cruiser is a type of warship. The term has been in use for several hundreds of years, and has had different meanings throughout this period...
, and the division also took part in the celebrations when King Haakon VII of Norway
Haakon VII of Norway
Haakon VII , known as Prince Carl of Denmark until 1905, was the first king of Norway after the 1905 dissolution of the personal union with Sweden. He was a member of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg...
returned to his country from exile. Other duties for the division included rounding up war criminals, ensuring that German troops were confined to their camps and reservations and, with Royal Engineer
Royal Engineers
The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually just called the Royal Engineers , and commonly known as the Sappers, is one of the corps of the British Army....
assistance, clearing buildings of mines and other boobytraps. They were also given the responsibility of assisting Allied personnel who had, until the German surrender, been prisoners of war in Norway, a large number of whom were Russian. There were more than 80,000 Russian ex-prisoners of war, and many needed medical treatment because of the inhumane conditions of the camps in which they had been imprisoned. When a parade was held in late June to celebrate the Allied liberation, many of the Russians participated, wearing uniforms with Red Star
Red star
A red star, five-pointed and filled, is an important ideological and religious symbol which has been used for various purposes, such as: state emblems, flags, monuments, ornaments, and logos.- Symbol of communism :...
badges they had made themselves. During the division's time in Norway, some 400 paratroopers under the command of Major
Major
Major is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...
Frederick Gough
Frederick Gough
Colonel Charles Frederick Howard Gough, MC, TD was a British Territorial Army officer, company director and politician.-Navy education:...
were temporarily transferred to the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, where they helped take part in Theirs Is the Glory
Theirs is the Glory
Theirs Is the Glory , a Rank production, is a 1946 British film about the British Airborne element of the World War II Operation Market Garden, and specifically the Battle of Arnhem. It was the first film to be made about this battle, and the biggest grossing war movie for nearly a decade...
, a documentary about the Battle of Arnhem
Battle of Arnhem
The Battle of Arnhem was a famous Second World War military engagement fought in and around the Dutch towns of Arnhem, Oosterbeek, Wolfheze, Driel and the surrounding countryside from 17–26 September 1944....
.
The Norwegian resistance co-operated fully with 1st Airborne Division, often providing liaisons and performing guard duties, and the Norwegian population as a whole gave a warm welcome to the airborne troops. British forces were initially only in control of Oslo, Stavanger and Kristiansand with the resistance and, less commonly, local Norwegian authorities taking control of the rest of the country from the Germans. The resistance also helped the division discover the fate of 1st Airborne Division troops assigned to Operation Freshman
Operation Freshman
Operation Freshman was the codename given to a British airborne operation conducted in November 1942 during World War II. It was the first British airborne operation conducted using gliders, and its target was the Vemork Norsk Hydro chemical plant in Norway which produced heavy water for Nazi Germany...
, a failed attempt in November 1942 to sabotage the Norsk Hydro
Norsk Hydro
Norsk Hydro ASA is a Norwegian aluminium and renewable energy company, headquartered in Oslo. Hydro is the fourth largest integrated aluminium company worldwide. It has operations in some 40 countries around the world and is active on all continents. The Norwegian state holds a 43.8 percent...
chemical plant
Chemical plant
A chemical plant is an industrial process plant that manufactures chemicals, usually on a large scale. The general objective of a chemical plant is to create new material wealth via the chemical or biological transformation and or separation of materials. Chemical plants use special equipment,...
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...
, which produced 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...
for Nazi Germany's atomic weapons programme
German nuclear energy project
The German nuclear energy project, , was an attempted clandestine scientific effort led by Germany to develop and produce the atomic weapons during the events involving the World War II...
. Two gliders
Military glider
Military gliders have been used by the military of various countries for carrying troops and heavy equipment to a combat zone, mainly during the Second World War. These engineless aircraft were towed into the air and most of the way to their target by military transport planes, e.g...
had been assigned to the operation, and both had crash-landed after being released by the aircraft towing them. The men who survived the crashes were executed shortly after being captured. Although the local Norwegian population could not prevent the prisoners being executed, they later recovered their remains and reinterred them in marked graves. When it arrived, 1st Airborne Division was informed of the fate of the operation and cooperated with the Norwegian government to have a memorial erected and the fallen men buried with full military honours at Stavanger and Oslo.
Aftermath
The remaining units of Force 134 entered Norway throughout the rest of May, gradually reinforcing the airborne troops. On 10 May elements of the 12,000 strong Norwegian police force began to enter the country from SwedenSweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, having been raised from young Norwegians who had fled to Sweden after Norway had been occupied in 1940. General Thorne arrived with the rest of his headquarters on 13 May, and took up his position as Commander-in-Chief Allied Liberation Forces. In the next two weeks further elements of Force 134 arrived, including a composite American regiment, a Norwegian brigade, and two British infantry brigades composed of re-trained anti-aircraft gunners who replaced the Special Air Service Brigade. Thorne was the de facto Head of Government
Head of government
Head of government is the chief officer of the executive branch of a government, often presiding over a cabinet. In a parliamentary system, the head of government is often styled prime minister, chief minister, premier, etc...
of Norway until 7 June, when King Haakon returned, and from then until his departure at the end of October was Commander-in-Chief of all military forces in Norway.
1st Airborne Division was stationed in Norway until the end of the summer. It returned to Britain at the end of August, and its personnel were sent on leave. Initial plans had called for the division to be used as an Imperial Strategic Reserve, as it was believed that 6th Airborne Division would be required in the Far Eastern Theatre
South-East Asian theatre of World War II
The South-East Asian Theatre of World War II was the name given to the campaigns of the Pacific War in Burma , Ceylon, India, Thailand, Indochina, Malaya and Singapore. Conflict in the theatre began when the Empire of Japan invaded Thailand and Malaya from bases located in Indochina on December 8,...
; however, when Japan surrendered in August it negated the need for 6th Airborne Division to be transferred. This created a problem, as two airborne divisions existed, but only one was included in the planned post-war British Regular Army. Although the tradition of seniority might have called for 6th Airborne Division to be disbanded as the junior airborne formation, 1st Airborne Division was still understrength after Operation Market Garden and not fully trained. As such, the division spent the next two months training and transferring troops to 6th Airborne Division, and then disbanded on 15 November 1945.