This is very cool. To honor his memory, a joint British-Norwegian military team is re-enacting the journey of Jan Baalsrud, the WW II Norwegian commando who recounted his tale of betrayal, escape, and survival in the book "We Die Alone":
A THREE WEEK long expedition is to take place later this month to commemorate one of the Norwegian heroes of the famous World War II Shetland Bus operation.
Eight British and Norwegian sailors and ski mountaineers will be following the same route Jan Baalsrud took after his boat was blown up near Tromsų, Norway, and he was forced to escape alone into the wilderness of the Arctic circle.
Leading the expedition is Alun Davies, a member of the Alpine ski club and an ex-Welsh guard from Cardiff. They will be setting sail from the Shetland village of Scalloway on Saturday (25 March) - the same day Mr Baalsrud left for Tromsų in 1943.
Mr Baalsrud's story is one of the most famous of the Shetland Bus sagas. After his boat the Brattholm was blown up, German troops killed the rest of the crew and he was forced to travel across northern Norway, Finland and Sweden to get to safety.
He had to use all aspects of his British commando training to survive against all the odds.
Among other hardships he survived an avalanche, lived in a snow-hole for almost a fortnight, killed a German officer with a single shot and was forced to cut off his own toes to avoid gangrene after he contracted frostbite.
It took Mr Baalsrud, 25 years old at the time, eight weeks to walk, swim and ski the 150 miles to freedom.
Wearing one shoe!
The "Shetland Bus" was the name of the secret operation to aid the Norwegian Resistance by sea. Happily, America was able to put her two cents in, or in this case, three sub-chasers in, and end the depradations of the German Navy that had plagued the operation. One of the ships, the "Hitra," is still being used by the Norwegian Navy.
A member of Mr. Baalsrud's family is on the expedition team, which is a nice touch.
We have an original 1955 copy of his story. If the tale wasn't exciting enough in itself, there's the epilogue: his going back to Norway after the war and facing the villagers who betrayed their countryman.
Posted by floridacracker at March 20, 2006 07:19 PM