Sælen, Frithjof (1973). None But the Brave: Story of "Shetlands" Larsen (HarperCollins) ISBN 978-0583121286 There is another book by David Howard, We Die Alone, which I will read shortly. It expands on the story of one of the Norwegians mentioned here who took part in one of these missions. He was the only survivor and was pursued relentlessly by the Germans. It took him two months to travel the 80 miles to Sweden often swimming through icy seas, helped through the mountains by locals when he couldn't walk. In total, Larsen made 52 trips across the North Sea, a remarkable feat knowing some tours were hundreds of miles in distance and lasted for as long as three weeks. By war’s end, Larsen would be awarded every Norwegian medal for bravery, including the War Cross with two swords (equivalent to two Medal of Honor awards), and every British award for valor except the Victoria Cross. On its first voyage in November 1941 the Heland was skippered by one of the owners, Sevrin Roald, and made for Shetland, with two Company Linge agents Karl Johan Aarsæter and Åsmund Wisløff aboard. Using the false name M/K Per, it managed to get undamaged through the same storm in which the Blia disappeared, and returned to Norway with supplies to other agents. Malakoff & Moore’s Slip, Scalloway, Shetland. Built in World War II to service MTBs that went between Shetland and Norway, this slip was one of the links in the Shetland Bus. Now it is used for servicing fishing boats and salmon farm vessels. Photo courtesy of John Dally / Malakoff & Moore’s Slip, Scalloway, Shetland / CC BY-SA 2.0.

No British-made boat could successfully sneak into the harbors without raising an eyebrow. If a British sailor fluent in Norwegian were to be questioned, he would certainly garner an accent. The value in using Norwegian sailors was that they countered avoidable risks; local knowledge to distinguish manmade flaws in the landscape — a sentry, perhaps, or a new fixture designed to overwatch the coast — was a priceless asset. Plus, each knew the route from memory and had unmatched seamanship fishing off the shores of Greenland and Iceland during the summer. The Vita arrived at Shetland on 9 May 1940 with four Norwegian Navy officers and two other refugees aboard. The Vita started as a "Bus" boat before the "Shetland Bus" was officially established. Her first voyage to Norway was on 22 December 1940, skippered by Hilmar Langøy. The next was on 27 March 1941, this time skippered by Ingvald Johansen, who became her skipper for the rest of her missions. Johansen's crew were; Åge Sandvik, H.W. Olsen, Jens Haldorsen and J. Hermansen. The village of Scalloway is now the centre of memories of the operation. Scalloway Museum hosts a permanent exhibition. The memorial of the British-Norwegian Shetland Bus located in Scotland Shetland Islands Council also provide a Voicebank for School Transport, available on 01595 745743. Public Holidays

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In the early weeks of April 1940, the first combat air assault in history saw German paratroopers , or Fallschirmjägers , leap from Junkers Ju-52s onto Aalborg Airport in Denmark and the Sola Air Station in Norway. Nazi Germany launched Operation Weserübung , the first major invasion to strike from the air, land, and sea. The tactic was so effective that Norway surrendered within two months. Their leadership, along with leaders of other European nations, was forced into exile in Great Britain. Under the cover of darkness, a group of small boats, collectively known as the Shetland Bus, ferried people and weapons between Norway and the isles. When our friends in the base disappeared in this way we could not forbear to speculate on the possible causes of their deaths, though we knew such speculation was useless. From the loss of Blia the image of a dreadful scene of suffering and fear, of revolt against an inescapable fate, or of resignation as the end could be seen to be approaching, will always remain with us and haunt us, and remind us that though wars can still bring adventures which can stir the heart, their true nature is of innumerable personal tragedies, of grief, waste and sacrifice, wholly evil and not redeemed by glory (77)."

In a later interview , Larsen nonchalantly spoke of the mission: “We lost all of our small sub-mines we were towing with us … we had to go overland to Sweden and, well, we had some hardships and met some Germans and had a little fight.” They parachuted from an RAF plane, skied snowy hills, crossed icy rivers, detonated explosives to erase the entire inventory, and journeyed 400 kilometers to Sweden — completely undetected.Every time they geared up to go overseas to Norway you never new what was going to happen - did I mention they’re using modified fishing boats? They don’t have any major military support. If I remember correctly I think only one guy on the whole base is even a military officer. The Shetland Bus plays a role in the plot of mystery novel, Red Bones by Ann Cleeves, and in the BBC television series based on Cleeves' novels, Shetland, episodes 1 and 2, "Red Bones". [15] See also [ edit ] Lunna House was the first headquarter for the Shetland Bus operations during World War II. Photo courtesy of Aldebaran/Wikimedia Commons. At first, there were fourteen fishing boats of various sizes. The original Shetland Bus boat, the Aksel, skippered by August Nærøy, departed for Bergen from Hamna Voe, on the west side of Lunna Ness, on 30 August 1941. The other crew on this first tour were Mindor Berge, Ivar Brekke, Andreas Gjertsen, and Bård Grotle. [5] Fishing boats were used at first, but after some losses, it was decided that faster vessels were necessary. On 26 October 1943, the US Navy officially transferred the submarine chasers Hitra, Vigra, and Hessa to the Shetland Bus operation. These craft were 110 feet (34m) long and powered by two 1,200hp diesel engines, capable of a top speed of 22kn (25mph; 41km/h), with a normal cruising speed of 17kn (20mph; 31km/h). When the submarine chasers arrived, the group became an official part of the Royal Norwegian Navy and was renamed the Royal Norwegian Naval Special Unit (RNNSU).

The smaller, more agile 50- to 70-foot fishing boats provided a fitting disguise. David Howarth, another British SOE officer who joined Mitchell in June 1941 and authored the book “The Shetland Bus: A WWII Epic of Escape, Survival, and Adventure,” described their design. The last of the crew of Vita was Jens Haldorssen. He was a quiet, gentle, and studious man. His quietness made him conspicuous in our gang, most of whose members were extrovert and noisy, and his appearance also was not what one would expect in a seaman of proven toughness. With a thin ascetic face, and large calm and innocent brown eyes, he looked more like a priest or a poet. He spoke fluent English with an idiom all his own, and I always enjoyed hearing him telling a story in a slow, rather mournful voice, in which the most powerful swear words passed almost unnoticed (30)." As a "Shetland Bus", the Heland made several tours to Norway, mostly skippered by August Nerø, but with other skippers too. There were many narrow escapes, but the vessel always returned safely to Shetland. In 1943, when the submarine chasers arrived, the Heland became a reserve vessel and made transport voyages to Scotland. These engines were very unusual, and spare parts were not available in Britain, but that was easily solved. Norway's largest engine factory, Wichmann Diesel, at the time under German control, was located at Bømlo, near Bergen. The agents in the area received messages about which parts were needed, workers in the factory, many of them active members of the Resistance Movement, smuggled them out, and the parts were sent to Shetland with the next "Bus".One of the highlights of the book was a scheme to destroy the German battleship Tirpitz while it sat in a Norwegian fjord. The unit made extensive preparations and nearly succeeded. The plan was to use a vessel called a chariot, kind of like a two-man torpedo. The chariot would be launched at night from a fishing boat, guided by two men, and taken right to their target. Then they would unscrew the warhead, attach it to the Tirpitz with magnets, set a timer, and be on their way across the Norwegian frontier into neutral Sweden. They practiced, prepared, got through a German control point where their boat was searched, and nearly made it to the Tirpitz before the two chariots (being towed behind the ship so they wouldn’t be noticed during inspection) disappeared—somehow the lines broke. ZetTrans recognises that public bus services must be effective in providing for a number of different needs beyond those of the daily commute. With this in mind, ZetTrans is committed to ensuring that the public bus service seeks to meet the needs of all its users while remaining affordable and being better integrated with inter-island ferry and plane services. Timetable Information Occupation of Norway was strategic for the Nazis because it would allow them to establish naval ports and air bases to engage the Allies across Europe. Cut off from the rest of the world, Norwegian civilians were in need of salvation. A miracle came in the form of a clandestine mission headquartered hundreds of miles away using a motley crew of Norwegian fisherman with guidance from officers of Britain’s Special Operations Executive ( SOE). Kompani Linge’s most praised contribution to World War II was certainly Operation Gunnerside , the destruction of the heavy water plant in Vemork. The Nazis had plans to develop a nuclear bomb, and Norwegian commandos were sent to destroy the plant. They parachuted from an RAF plane, skied snowy hills, crossed icy rivers, detonated explosives to erase the entire inventory, and journeyed 400 kilometers to Sweden — completely undetected. When the German guard along the Norwegian coast was tightened in 1943, the Shetland Bus switched to three smaller American submarine fighters. This increased the success rate of the missions. Riding the Shetland Bus