Secret Alliances: Special Operations and Intelligence in Norway 1940–1945 – The British Perspective

by Tony Insall

In this extraordinary book, historian Tony Insall reveals how some of the most striking achievements of the Norwegian resistance were the detailed reports produced by intelligence agents living in the dangerous conditions of the country's desolate wilderness.

A definitive appraisal of Anglo-Norwegian WWII cooperation, Secret Alliances provides remarkable insights into the uniquely close political relationship that afforded powerful assistance for a successful resistance movement. Using previously unpublished archival material from London, Oslo and Moscow, Insall explores how SIS and SOE developed productive links with their Norwegian counterparts and examines the crucial intelligence from the Security Service and Bletchley Park codebreakers who supported their sabotage operations.

Offering dramatic details on operations such as gunnerside which targeted the heavy water plant in Vemork in order to foil the Nazis plans to build an atomic bomb and the sinking of the Tirpitz in November 1944, Secret Alliances is an authoritative new perspective on some of the most remarkable exploits of the Second World War.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, European History, World War II, War, Espionage

464 pages, Paperback

First published November 12, 2019

Reviews

[Geevee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Should you wish to learn much more about Norway's part in World War II and the associated work done by SOE (Special Operations Executive) and the SIS (Secret Intelligence Service) then this book will reward you very much.

In good detail using both British and Norwegian archives Tony Insall provides solid insight into the evolution, development, challenges and work done by SOE and SIS. He provides fascinating detail on Anglo-Norwegian governmental and military relations (for the most part warm and highly collaborative although there are tensions), as well as the work done by the Norwegian miliary resistance organisation (MilOrg) and interestingly the involvement of Sweden in various aspects notably repatriations.

This isn't a story that delivers nothing but military action and fighting the enemy hand-to-hand as it also provides great detail and insight into the organisations and how they recruited the Norwegian operatives and agents, and also where they trained and how missions were planned and came about.

This is then added to the information on the numerous - and very dangerous - radio stations that SIS operated across Norway, especially those providing updates on German naval shipping including the key part played in the hunting of the Tirpitz. Along with this there is some good content on the German efforts to hunt down these radio transmitters and operators using direction finding; sadly, this work was extremely dangerous and did result in the capture and death of a number of Norwegians.

There are some astonishing accounts - all verified in various records and sources - that Tony Insall provides on Norwegian agents and operators as they create and deliver sabotage missions and then have to escape the Germans as the net closes in on them. The courage and endurance of these men, and in a few cases women, is humbling.

There are a number of good black and white photos, a handy glossary and maps of Norway and of the SOE operations and SIS stations within the country.

Overall, this is a good book that tells the stories of many people who stayed or kept returning to Norway to help in the long battle to free their country. They are true Viking heroes.

[Tim Pendry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Norway seems to have played little part in English and then British-Imperial strategic calculations betweeen the age of the Vikings and the twentieth century which may seem surprising if you look at a map and see how it faces off the British Isles across the North Sea.

In fact, the logic of lack of interest lies in the fact that post-Viking Norway was a dependency of powers more linked to the Baltic until 1905. Its strategically important long coastline was an impoverished add-on to its southern heartland closer to Denmark, Germany and Sweden.

Cultural relations were always good albeit a minority interest and the Scots were closer through the Shetlands and Orkneys than the English but Norway was only thrust into the British strategic spotlight when the Germans invaded the country in 1940.

Even then, the British clumsily conceded defeat in order to concentrate on France. The resulting debacle was instrumental in the removal of Neville Chamberlain from office and his replacement by a Coalition under Winston Churchill.

Norway had its own internal issues with its democratic-monarchist establishment which faced towards a relatively unresponsive London being politically matched by the rise of a native Germanophile fascism that gave us the word 'quisling' for a collaborative traitor.

There were only around 700,000 able-bodied men in Norway, largely fragmented and untrained. The German military averaged around 350,000-400,000. They were fully trained and supported by around 45,000 native fascists. Those are not good odds for an uprising.

The resistance movement Milorg could eventually muster 40,000 but this was only by 1945 when it was clear the odds were moving in the Allies full favour. This ratio of occupiers to occupied was extremely unusual so much so that wartime Norway has been called a 'garrison state'.

It is not often realised that the sheer scale of the German military presence and its auxiliaries would have made any direct revolt almost certain not to succeed amidst the sort of bloodletting and brutality that had been seen in Poland. Norwegian resistance was wise to limit its ambitions.

Above all, Norway escaped the worst horrors of the war including the starvation seen in the Netherlands or the mass murders of Eastern Europe but it was probably a close run thing. In the end, Milorg was able to move in fast to liberate almost by consent with minimal loss of life.

It would be naive not to believe that many but not a majority of Norwegians were sympathetic to the occupation but the 'nation' (especially the tough coastline) much more resented a loss of a sovereignty only recently acquired. On this resentment, Norwegian resistance was built.

SOE (warfare) and SIS (intelligence) therefore had a pool of tough and committed recruits, mostly quite young and often toughened by work in the unforgiving Norwegian climate. Keeping out NS infiltrators, often equally dedicated, was a full time business, especially in the early days.

Although relations started off a little less than happy at first, the identity of interest between the British Empire and Norway steadily resulted in a relationship of exceptional strategic closeness which is now central to the mutual commitment of both states to NATO.

Insall's book is the story of how a convergence of interest, the exceptional pragmatism of the Norwegian government-in-exile and a rapidly growing respect for the Norwegians amongst the British security services and political class contributed to the later strategic friendship.

This is not a diplomatic history, although diplomacy is mentioned when necessary, but essentially a history of the SOE (warfare) and SIS (intelligence) operations on Norwegian soil from 1940 to 1945. These took time to establish but, once established, were impressive in scope and achievement.

A key aspect here is the relative unimportance of Norway in the great struggle for power. It is to the Norwegians' credit that they understood this and played their game accordingly. Apart from the principle of securing democracy, there were three core reasons for Allied interest.

The first was vital intelligence on the presence of a significant German naval force of which the Tirpitz was the main concern. Its very presence stopped British naval deployment to the Far East and, with the U-Boat presence, threatened the convoy system north to Murmansk and westwards.

The second was, as we have seeen, that Norway was being held by a substantial German force. It was vital to keep it occupied so it could not join other fronts especially in its later stages. The war might have been lengthened by months if it had chosen not to surrender after Donitz' capitulation.

One of the few times Milorg (the resistance militia) broke cover in a major operation was to halt the 'quisling' attempt to conscript tens of thousands of young Norwegian males for the Eastern Front. It forced the occupation government to back down.

The third reason was that Norway's natural resources (the reason for Hitler's initial invasion designed to secure not only these resources but access to neutral Sweden's) were vital to the German war effort and increasingly so as time went on.

Of course the story is well known that Norwegian heavy water was critical to German plans to develop an atomic bomb. This would have been devastating if it could have been developed and carried to British cities or the front line on V-2 rocketry.

SOE and SIS performed different functions with largely Norwegian personnel trained in Britain separate from the resistance militia and directed more to the global strategic game plan than the more limited aim of Norwegian liberation.

There were the usual tensions and misunderstandings and negotiations - the Norwegian Government did not want actions that resulted in reprisals or risk of local starvation - but what is remarkable is how everythying tended to get sorted out in the end.

Because the story is essentially one of the British SOE and SIS, we are, of course, not getting the full story here and this must be understood. Not only is Milorg a separate story but so is the scale of collaboration and the role of the Communists and the late Russian move into Northern Norway.

Yet another story is that of neutral Sweden, primarily concerned with its own survival but vitally important in keeping the British-Norwegian special operations and intelligence flows going. It is remarkable that men were flying between Stockholm and the UK with minimal interruption.

The concentration here on Anglo-Norwegian special operations may not be the whole story but it is a very important story with two significant 'heroic' tales told within the whole - the destruction of the heavy water plant at Vemork and the intelligence war against the Tirpitz.

The book has many other remarkable stories of staggering physical toughness in entering hostile territory, maintaining intelligence outposts, undertaking commando raids, escaping across incredibly environmentally hostile territory and surviving interrogation.

Being secret service not all the relevant documentation has survived. Insall has to contend with lacunae and sometimes to read between the lines but the book remains valuable for its insights into intelligence and security decision-making in the context of total war.

He plays it straight as author. You always knows when he does not know. If the book is really are monograph rather than a complete history, this does not make it less useful. The author has even managed to give us some idea of the personalities involved to temper the necessary operational detail.

The book is instructive as to why Norway is so sensitive about its own sovereign vulnerability and why the Anglo-Norwegian relationship has since been seen by both sides as vital to the security of the other, even more so as the Northern Approaches become strategically important again.

Although they never pressed their advantage and Molotov was rather desultory in his attempt to get something for Russian efforts, Russian boots have stood briefly on Norwegian soil which perhaps concentrates minds in Oslo. This in itself pushes Norway into NATO's hawkish camp.

Perhaps best read from a knowledge of the economics of the Second World War (the convoys on the one side and natural resources on the other), this is also a useful introduction to the wartime reality of undercover operations and to a largely working class Norwegian will to survive.

[Study With Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book, started off a little shaky and slow as I was a complete newbie to the topic but as I gained momentum and understood more of the words used, it got slightly lighter to read and definitely easier. My one bone that I have to pick is the problems with punctuation in some points of the book, but it was very interesting nonetheless and I definitely feel a whole lot more educated on the subject..

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting story of the activities of special forces in Norway during Hitler’s War. Some amazing tales of bravery in occupied Norway.

[Nick Morton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating aspect of WW2 of which I was largely ignorant. This is a real historian's work so can be a little hard work at times but worthwhile and puts into perspective the outstanding bravery of the SOE and Norwegian Resistance.