Germany invades Norway
Norway remained non-aligned throughout the First World War, and
the Norwegian government again declared neutrality when the Second
World War broke out in the autumn of 1939. During the first winter
of the war, Norwegian authorities negotiated trade agreements with
both Germany and Britain. In February 1940, these talks ended with
Britain chartering part of the Norwegian merchant navy while Norway
continued to trade with Germany.
Norwegian neutrality proved to be of little consequence.
Strategic interests led both the Germans and the Allies to make
plans which involved violations of Norwegian boundaries and
military operations on Norwegian territory. One of the motives was
the German navy's desire to have Norwegian bases for their warships
- they had not forgotten how their fleet had been trapped in the
Baltic during the First World War.
Nevertheless the Norwegians were surprised when the full
military might of Germany attacked on 9 April 1940.
Early Actions
In December 1939, three ships carrying iron ore in British
service were torpedoed by a German submarine off the Norwegian
coast. The vessels had been transporting Swedish iron ore, shipped
from the northern Norwegian town of Narvik.
Germany was also involved in iron ore transport from Narvik. The
Allies were displeased with Norwegian and Swedish neutrality which
allowed the Germans to ship ore through Norwegian waters. On 8
April 1940, the Allies announced that they had placed mines in
Norwegian waters to stop the shipments of iron ore to Germany.
A German invasion of Norway was already underway. The entire
German navy, six army divisions and a large air force contingent
had left Germany. The first targets were eight Norwegian towns and
cities along the country's lengthy coast. The Norwegian defence was
tiny by comparison, and the eight targets of the attack were
captured within 24 hours, as was the Norwegian naval base at
Horten.
The Battle of Narvik
To the north, in the Narvik region, German forces were
outnumbered and were driven back toward the Swedish border. Fierce
battles broke out as British naval forces fought German units and
both sides suffered large losses. On 13 April a British battle
fleet lead by HMS Warspite sunk seven German destroyers in a sea
battle off the port. On 24 April Norwegian and Allied troops
established a bridgehead which held until 5 June when Allied forces
were ordered to withdraw due to setbacks on the Western Front.
After 62 days, the German campaign succeeded. On 7 June 1940,
King Haakon VII of Norway and the Nygaardsvold government boarded
the British cruiser HMS Devonshire and left their country.
It would be five years before they could return.
The Norwegian Merchant
Fleet
As in all the countries which they occupied, the Nazis profited
from the support of local sympathisers. After the invasion the
leader of the Norwegian National Socialist Party, Vidkun Quisling,
proclaimed himself government leader and ordered the Norwegian
armed forces to stop fighting. The Norwegian merchant fleet was
still at sea and it too was instructed to proceed to neutral or
German harbours.
Every ship sailed to Allied ports. Ironically, Quisling's
actions had backfired and merely stimulated Norwegian
resistance.
In all, 3,000 men arrived in Britain. About half went back to
sea in British or Norwegian ships, and the remainder were sent to a
transit camp set up in Troqueer Mill, Dumfries.
Norway's greatest contribution to the Allied war effort abroad
was the often hazardous service of Norwegian seamen in the merchant
navy. The Norwegian merchant fleet carried oil, munitions and food
to soldiers and civilians all over the world and to all arenas of
the Second World War.
Norwegian Resistance
At home the Nazification of Norwegian society was resisted,
especially in churches and schools. The Norwegian government
resumed its activities from London, recruiting an army, a navy and
an air force. Throughout the war, a Norwegian naval detachment,
popularly known as "the Shetland bus", provided a risky transport
route between the Shetland Islands and occupied Norway. Underground
military groups were established in parallel with civilian
resistance, with the main aim of assisting Allied and Norwegian
intelligence operations. They reported movements of German vessels
and the transport of troops and munitions, and were provisioned by
parachute drops from Allied aircraft and supplies from
Shetland.
Daily life in Norway was marked by lack of food and other
supplies during the occupation years. These problems were
compounded by the 400,000 Germans on Norwegian soil.
Norway and Dumfries
After the invasion of Norway and the German controlled Quisling
government's order to cease fighting, the Norwegian merchant fleet
headed for Allied ports. 3,000 men arrived in Britain.
Initially, the British authorities directed them to the town of
Hamilton, near Glasgow, where Major Carl Stenersen, who had escaped
from Norway in a fishing boat, was the officer in charge. About
half of those who arrived went back to sea in British or Norwegian
ships, but a group of over three hundred men were instructed to
travel to Dumfries.
The first men to arrive, a small advance party, reached Dumfries
on 28 May 1940. In the following days, James Hutcheon, Town Clerk
and Air Raid Protection Controller, recalled the demeanour of the
main group of Whalers who arrived on a sunny June afternoon,
"the train disgorged some hundreds of a most motley crew. Only
those inhabitants of Dumfries who had been on service in the First
World War had seen before the spectacle of men who had lost
everything but the clothes they stood up in ..."
However, many of the men brought money with them, especially
those from the Norwegian whaling fleet which had been at sea for
eight months, and their appearance was soon remedied.
In the following days hundreds more Norwegians arrived. They
came from all corners of the globe, including Africa, the Middle
East and South America. Some even managed to escape from Norway,
risking their lives crossing the North Sea in small boats.
A few weeks later, when the Norwegian government declared war on
Germany, the Norwegians in Dumfries enlisted as soldiers. At one
time there were a thousand men and over a hundred women training in
the town.
This resulted in regular visits from Norwegian dignitaries.
During the course of the Second World War the Norwegian Prime
Minister, Crown Prince Olav and King Haakon VII all stayed in the
town. James Hutcheon recalls that when the Prime Minister was
scheduled to arrive he had organised a civic reception, but was
unable to find the honoured guest,
"A wee stoutly built man carrying
two well worn Gladstone bags came up to me as I stood at the end of
the line and asked who was the VIP we were expecting, and when I
answered the Prime Minister of Norway, he stunned me by saying
"Good Heavens, I am the Prime Minister of Norway."
The Norwegian visitors soon became part of the community. An
empty building in the High Street of Dumfries was converted, and
part of it was used for workshops and stores, the rest for the
newly formed Scottish Norwegian Society. Called Norges Hus, it also
hosted regular exhibitions on Norwegian life.
Wartime travel restrictions meant that First Division football
had to cease. Enthusiasm for the game was great in the town,
especially as Queen of the South had a highly successful season
during the previous year. A match was organised with the Norwegian
visitors, who omitted to mention that nine members of their team
had been Bronze medal winners in the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games.
This was the first of many defeats for Queen of the South in the
months to come.
The Norwegians also worshipped in local churches, particularly
Troqueer Church and St Michael's Church. They left behind memorials
of thanks, in Troqueer a baptismal bowl, and in St Michael's a
plaque and pulpit robes.
James Hutcheon concludes,
"They were never just a colony
within a foreign town for they entered into the life of the
community bringing a robust, self reliant vibrance to the stirring
time of war."
The War ends …
When the end of the war came the German commander in chief in
Norway, General Böhme, followed the orders which he received from
his superiors in Germany on 7 May 1945 and surrendered. A day
later, an Allied mission flew into Oslo, followed by Allied and
Norwegian military detachments. The Government returned from London
on 7 June 1945, and King Haakon VII followed.
When the cost of the war in Norway was counted, it was
discovered that 10,262 Norwegians had been killed, including 3,670
seamen. There had been considerable material destruction. Towns and
communities were damaged by bombings or burned by the retreating
Germans.
… but the friendship
continues
After the war the links between Norway and Dumfries continued.
There have been many exchange visits, perhaps the most frequent of
which are the tours of Norwegian youth football teams, and visits
to Norway by Greystone Rovers, a local club. For many years Norway
provided the town with its Christmas tree. In October 1962 King
Olav V visited Dumfries. He was granted the freedom of the burgh in
a ceremony held at the Lyceum Cinema.
In June 1990 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the arrival
of Norwegians in Dumfries, the Royal British Legion and Nithsdale
District Council organised a series of events for Norwegian
veterans. This included a parade from Dumfries Museum to the
Norwegian war graves at Troqueer Cemetery, and a moving graveside
service there.
Over the years many people have presented archives, photographs
and mementoes associated with Norway to Dumfries Museum. The museum
often receives requests to view this material from Norwegian
families spending time in Dumfries and local people who remember
the Second World War. In this way a special friendship forged by
the events of the Second World War continues today.