Finding both Soviet and German MIAs (soldiers missing in action), stumbling upon two abandoned Wehrmacht lorries & a US Jeep windshield and visiting an almost untouched German labour camp; these are some of our summer´s historical highlights.
There are several WWII sites up here that I haven´t documented yet. To rectify this my wife Ann-Sofie and I spent most of our vacation touring the whole North Calotte, i.e. northernmost Norway, Finland, Sweden and the Russian county of Murmansk. We started a bit below the Arctic Circle though, in the village of Lien in the Swedish county of Jämtland. It was here that five men of the American OSS NORSO Group accidentally landed in 1945. I wanted to show Ann-Sofie the NORSO-monument here, that was inaugurated last year. Villagers told us people come to visit the NORSO-memorial from time to time even though it is a bit tricky to find. If you encounter such difficulties - just chat with the locals and you will probably also get to hear a story or two of how Lien was invaded by America on the 25th of March 1945...
In Norwegian Trondheim we had no difficulties in finding the street upon which the NORSO-men paraded the 17th of May 1945. Besides seeing Trondheim´s magnificent Nidaros cathedral, we also visited the Armoury which has a good section on life during the German occupation, incl. equipment from the NORSO Group.
An M 1 carbine and explosives as used by the OSS NORSO Group and SOE-parachutists operating in the Trondheim area, on display in the Trondheim armoury, located right beside the Nidaros cathedral. Photo: Lars Gyllenhaal
The Trondheim police museum also proved to have some unique WWI and WWII items such as an Enigma code machine, sabotage equipment and a life-size diorama showing Norwegian volunteers of the Waffen-SS in Karelia. Among the many small and odd items in this museum there is a receipt for a winter cap procured by Heinrich Himmler while he was inspecting Norway in February 1942. Evidently not even the head of the SS had prepared himself for that most dreaded of all generals: "general Winter". Right beside the receipt there is a photograph of the Reichsfuhrer SS looking very civilian indeed in his plain Norwegian fur cap.
Two major WWII sites we did not visit in the Trondheim area that you might want to see are the Hegra fortress on the road between Sweden and Trondheim and the German coastal artillery battery at Austrått. Hegra was a hard nut to crack for the Germans in 1940 and is today a grand WWII memorial site. Austrått has a complete turret with guns from the German battleship Gneisenau.
Going north we stopped at Tangen bridge on the Nordland railway. This bridge was blown up by the OSS NORSO Group on April 15th 1945. Next we looked at the Jørstadelva war memorial dedicated both to the memory of the NORSO Group and the men of the SOE-trained Norwegian Independent Company No. 1 (Company Linge). The Jørstadelva bridge was blown up on January 13th 1945 by the SOE-Norwegians and led to the death of 78 Germans and two Norwegians travelling on the first train that reached the bridge after the explosion. How many lives that were indirectly saved by the interruption that was caused by this sabotage act is more difficult to measure. The victims could have been many, many more though: the Reichskommisar for Norway, Josef Terboven, urged Berlin to allow him to have a great number of hostages, reportedly thousands, shot in reprisal for Jørstadelva bridge. This was, however, not granted him.
Before heading off the E6 to see "Batterie Dietl", we stopped at tiny Tømmerneset and after some searching found the monument unveiled in 2000 by former POW Ivan Denisov. It is right by the local graveyard. Denisov has captivated audiences all over Europe in the prize-winning documentary "Blood Road" about his and fellow eastern Europeans´ slave-work on the Nordland railway. We were very surprised to find the labor camp from where Denisov fled in a remarkably complete condition, i.e. it has been left unaltered. We knew there were remains on the northern side of the river (just north of the Tømmerneset camping) but to find so much was absolutely amazing. We thought it was an excellent idea by the local authorities to simply have left the camp untouched, except by nature´s own hand (foliage). Loose cans and containers just add to the eerie "time has stood still" atmosphere. The only intrusions into the landscape are modern but discreet signs explaining the use of certain buildings. The best preserved building is the prison - reportedly used both for German and foreign offenders. Beside it lay a door from some kind of military vehicle (German lorry?). The only negative aspect of this WWII memorial is that there are no signs from the main road (E6) pointing out its existence. I plan to write to the local municipality urging them to put up a sign by the E6.
The rock carvings immediately after Tømmerneset in the direction of Engeløya are also well worth seeing.
The island of Engeløya was definately one of the trip´s most fascinating places with awesome mountains, nice beaches and lots of history ranging from the stone age until the era of the Third Reich. The island´s enormous bunker complex of "Batterie Dietl" was built at the price of 514 Soviet prisoners´ lives...
Without having been payed a penny (or yen) from Toyota I must say that our Corolla proved to be an excellent vehicle for long-range historical expeditions in the north. This is Ann-Sofie in our car on Engeløya island. Photo: Lars Gyllenhaal
"Batterie Dietl" once had some of Germany´s largest guns - 406 mm. The guns themselves are no longer there but there is still so much left to see that this is an absolute must for any student of WWII visiting north Norway. If you want to see the guns there is precisely the same type as on Engeløya; i.e. an "Adolf" (!) gun, outside Harstad. The slide show inside the main bunker´s exhibition section is one of the best I have ever seen as far as WWII and suitable music goes. The main power source of the complex, a massive engine, has been restored and is also shown.
The Lofoten islands offer an incredible mountain & sea landscape, a reconstructed viking settlement and in Svolvaer Norway´s best uniform and small militaria museum. If you are interested of special forces this museum is obviously of prime interest to you as it has many exhibits from the world-famous commando raid on Lofoten the 4th of March 1941.
This is how SOE-trained Norwegians operated in Arctic Norway. The weapon is a US paratrooper carbine. One of many uniforms in the Lofoten War Museum in Svolvaer. The box in the right-hand corner is for German "Feldpost". Photo: Lars Gyllenhaal
The Nordland Red Cross War Museum in Narvik had some displays that were not there the last time I visited (1990), most notably on the tragedy of the Soviet POWs in Norway and about the top-secret allied Sepal bases in Sweden, along the Norwegian border. Several unusual items from Sepals were recently donated to the museum from a Swedish Sepal-auxiliary. The sections on the Polish and French mountain troops and Foreign Legion in Narvik are among the most interesting old sections.
One of the most intrigueing photographs in the museum shows Major, later Colonel General, Dietl and his future French adversary General Béthouart, both in Norway in 1927 training winter warfare! No wonder they were both sent to Norway in 1940 to fight each other...
The Narvik museum sells several interesting books that I was not aware of previously - some with a "then and now" attitude. Most are in Norwegian though.
Next time I visit Narvik I plan to hire a kayak to see the German shipwrecks up-close. They still protrude from the sea in the innermost part of Rombaksfjorden.
Somewhere here in the waters not far from the Tirpitz museum lie the remains of the Tirpitz and many of its crew members (971 died in the final attck - who knows how many remain with the ship?). The gun is a German 105 mm belonging to the museum. Photo: Lars Gyllenhaal
The Tirpitz museum, or Tromsø Defence Museum, proved to be rather small, but still of interest to those into naval matters. When in Tromsø, don´t miss the Tromsø Railway Station. There has, however, never been any railway leading to Tromsö (although the Third Reich wanted to establish one)! How then to explain the railway station?? It is a bar decorated with train and railway items from all the countries of the North Calotte.
In Lyngenfjord we found a WWII memorial trail along the E6, called the "Russian Road/Bollmann Road". Bollmann was the sirname of the German officer in charge of road construction at this section. The trail leads to a restored German bunker. It takes 2-4 hours of steep walking to get there. The length is 6 km. This was where the Germans erected their last northern "Festung" or line of defence during WWII. The trail starts right from the E 6 about midway between Hatteng and Skibotn. There is an info board about the WWII history of the trail at the starting point.
Unfortunately we found out about the next sight only after we had passed it. Between Birtavarre and Sørkjosen the Storbakken German coastal fortress lies. To be precise it lies in Djupvik bay.
Some kilometres before Alta lies one of many fjords with the name Kaafjord. This one once "housed" the Tirpitz and we found the memorial to the British submariners who attacked her to be still in place but evidently the plaque has been replaced since my 1990 visit. Porcelain from the smaller ships that were sunk here still floats onto "Tirpitz beach" in 2001... amazing!
Skoganvarre has one of the most moving WWII sites in Norway: a German military hospital left exactly as it was abandoned by the retreating Germans in 1944. The idea behind this site is much the same as in Tømmerneset and it works just as well here. The birch trees growing through the hospital beds, the scattered bits and pieces of equipment and the two Wehrmacht lorries are much better here than in any museum (or collection). May they always remain as they are! There are good signs pointing to the site by the E6 a kilometre or two south of Skoganvarre. In the village of Skoganvarre there is a local museum by the camping with some unusual WWII photographs and items from labour camps and the Banak Luftwaffe airfield.
In Karasjok we were baffled by the small size of the church in which Norwegian doctors once operated under extreme stress. The medical staff had parachuted from Luleċ-based C-47 Dakotas and they operated on the men that were maimed by the great Karasjok mine accident in May 1945.
In Kiberg we visited the huge bunker area just east of the village. We found this to be one of the most interesting and also easily accessible coastal defence areas and we got to see a herd of reindeer at the same time, wandering around the bunkers. The small but unique Partisan Museum of Kiberg is definately worth seeing for anyone interested of Soviet special forces. Most "partisans" (actually they were rangers/agents) came from Kiberg, once known as "Little Moscow" because of its many communists.
Vardø is so far east in Norway that its on the same longitude as Istanbul. It can only be reached by an underwater tunnel. It is an experience in itself to drive below the Barents Sea I can tell you! The town has one of Norway´s best preserved old fortresses which was taken over by the SS-Totenkopfstandarte "Kirkenes" in the summer of 1940. The guides at the fortress will tell you some interesting stories of how this came about.
Just east of Kirkenes friends showed us a well-preserved 88 mm Flak strong-point which had some 88 mm shells still lying around. The concentration of fire from this hill must have been horrifying for the Soviet bomber crews trying to reach their goals in Kirkenes. The Borderland museum (Grenselandmuséet), centred around a restored Il-2 Shturmovik, really is a great improvement to the previous Il-2 museum. The Borderland museum also sells some interesting WWII litterature.
We crossed the border to Russia in a mini-bus belonging to Pasvikturist AS of Kirkenes. Our first night in Russia at the Hotel Pechenga in Zapolyarny was most comfortable. The room standard was excellent and the food OK.
The 12 000 German (Austrian mainly) dead of the northernmost section of the Eastern Front are honoured by this memorial outside Pechenga. Photo: Lars Gyllenhaal
The following day we saw the Parkkina cemetery just outside what is today Pechenga. During the war this was where most of the dead from the Litsa- or Eismeerfront were buried. After Petsamo was incorporated into the Soviet Union and became Pechenga the Parkkina cemetery was destroyed and houses were erected on top. In 1992 Dr Fritz Rohner, a former member of the 2nd German mountain division, managed to visit the cemetery. To make a long story very brief the surviving Austrian and German veterans of this front received permission in 1993 from the Russian authorities to re-establish the cemetery. The 20th of August 1994 the inaugaration ceremony was held with many German and Soviet veterans participating.
The neighbouring Soviet memorial has been improved but most tragically its many metal parts have recently been stolen, presumably to be sold off as scrap metal.
The individual German graves have not (yet) been restored but the memorial to the dead of the Eismeerfront in combination with the sheer dimensions of the graveyard make a strong impression.
The remainder of our vacation we stayed at the combined childrens´ summer camp/WWII MIA search base run by the Murmansk County Council of Search Groups and the Leonov Youth Sports School. We were greeted by many old and new friends and a 37 mm PaK. Soon we were back on the real Russian tundra again and it was even more fascinating this year. The most emotional moment for me was definately witnessing Konstantin Dobrovolsky find an unburied soldier that he could immediately identify. Soviet soldiers rarely carried IDs due to superstition and/or lack of ID-containers. Some, more rationally thinking soldiers, made their own IDs, stuffing a note in an empty case. But the messages in these are seldom legible today. So, it was a great joy when Konstantin found a real ID-container and could readily read Pavel Melnikov´s name and address. Melnikov was also carrying a still legible letter in which he made several requests. Konstantin could deduct a lot from the short letter, figuring it must have been written in July or August 1941. Now, 60 years on, Melnikov´s family will get his message and also be able to visit his grave. UPDATE SEPTEMBER 2002: Pavel´s nephew has since visited the grave.
We found one more unburied Soviet soldier, obviously an NCO, that Konstantin and his team hope to identify later through several clues that were on him. Also, we visited the resting place of two yet unburied German mountain troopers (they had the special mountain boots) which to our disgust had been disturbed since they were found last year. The bones had obviously been moved. Perhaps they had just been scattered by an animal, but all the same it was very unpleasant to see. Roman put the back the bones and hopes that the German war graves organization, the Volksbund, soon will have these remains properly buried, as he is now in regular contact with them. If so, they will probably be buried in the re-established German cemetery by Pechenga.
The following photographs will give you some idea of what we saw on the Kola battlefields in late July 2001:
Believe it or not - we found a WWII Soviet helmet lying as it had been left some sixty years ago. Photo: Lars Gyllenhaal
How is it possible that a WWII helmet can lie untouched for some sixty years, you may well wonder. Well, the northernmost Eastern Front is a vast, unpopulated area, and the surface mostly consists of rock, either bare or covered by a thin layer of lichen or scrubs. This all creates the impression that 1941 was almost yesterday.
No, I did not take the helmet. I believe in leaving the battlefield pretty much untouched - to let others experience the same things as we did. However - I have taken a few things: either such items that can be found all over the place such as empty cartridges, or things that I will pass on to the future military history museum of Boden. I would like to see them lying on a piece of tundra ground in the museum, to make others realize how close Sweden lies to the still war-marked Eastern Front.
Finally, please remember that we strongly warn against visiting WWII battlefields and adjacent areas on your own. There is plenty of still lethal unexploded ammunition, both from World War II and the Cold War. Many parts of the battlefields are also prohibited to foreigners. If you should wish to visit these areas you should therefore travel with either a certified tourist firm or one of the certified search groups. If you try to visit these areas on your own you risk injury, death, or being arrested. And don´t say we didn´t warn you.
Coins (1 kopek) from 1941 and 1938 found on the Litsa battlefield. Photo: Lars Gyllenhaal
This Austrian soldier´s cross will shortly be returned to his family. The fate of his remains is yet to be resolved. More on this later. Photo: Lars Gyllenhaal
Imagine all the shrapnel that struck this German field bottle. Imagine yourself trying to survive that kind of bombardment almost every day for over three years... Photo: Lars Gyllenhaal
Glass containers still filled with morphine, such as this one, still litter the battlefield. When found by the legally certified seekers they are destroyed. Photo: Lars Gyllenhaal
Norwegian sardine cans still lie everywhere. Photo: Lars Gyllenhaal
Is this windshield from a Willy´s or a Ford Jeep? Any way to tell the difference? We found it some 10 km east from the IS-2 tank (see photo album) not far from the modern main road to Murmansk. Photo: Lars Gyllenhaal
This "horse-rucksack" was used to transport ammunition, food and even mountain artillery on German horses. Photo: Lars Gyllenhaal
Tools for a Soviet SVT automatic rifle. Photo: Lars Gyllenhaal
Returning to Sweden via Ivalo we stopped there to look at the memorial to the Finnish and Sami population that had to forever leave the Petsamo area in the fall of 1944. The memorial bears the names of the villages of the Petsamo area. The statues represent the miners, fishermen, hunters, workers and sami of the once Finnish province. Photo: Lars Gyllenhaal
Published 06-08-2001
© Lars and Ann-Sofie Gyllenhaal