A chain of allied sabotage and reconnaissance bases on Swedish soil stretched from the only point where Finland, Norway and Sweden converge to the province of Jämtland. One of the main purposes of these bases was to hinder the retreat of the German forces from Arctic Norway. This Easter my friend Peder Axensten and I decided to ski in the southernmost base area, combining recreation with some research work. We were amazed to find not only WWII equipment but also an eye-witness to these special operations.
There were two groups taking orders from the interallied (US & UK) Special Force Headquarters (SFHQ) serving on the border between Swedish Jämtland and Norwegian Northern Trøndelag. One consisted of members of the Norwegian Linge-company, who were conducting Operation Woodlark, and the other mainly of Americans of Norwegian descent belonging to the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) Norwegian Special Operations (NORSO) Group, who were conducting Operation Rype. Our goal was to visit the buildings used during Operation Rype and if possible also the former base of Operation Woodlark.
On our way to the mountains we stopped at Lien to see the stone commemorating the five NORSO Group paratroopers that landed well inside Sweden. Many snowmobile tracks leading to the memorial told us the stone has a lot of wintertime visitors. One can rent a snowmobile in Tulleråsen/Offerdal and then snowmobile to Lien.
The OSS NORSO Group memorial in Lien, Sweden. Photo: Peder Axensten
Only a few kilometres NW of Lien lies a tiny settlement called Frankrike, i.e. France in Swedish. There was nothing there reminding of the real France, not even a plastic Eiffel tower, but it was still pretty cool just to momentarily stop in "France"...
We parked our car in Swedish Edevik where there is one single farmstead, run by a meteorologist who also rents cabins. We later found out it was truly wise of us having parked there, in spite of the distance (10 km) between Edevik and the actual border. If you arrive earlier than we did (i.e. before mid-March), or after June, it is probably a better idea to drive on as far as possible to the border, leaving your car at the dead end. But between mid-March and June the road gets so muddy (think Eastern front) that you will need a 4WD vehicle to reach the end of the road (you may even experience difficulties getting to Edevik).
We crossed lake Jävsjön/Gjevsjøen on skis safely by using the snowmobile route across it. The lake lies partly in Sweden, partly in Norway and thus its name can be spellt two ways. There was a cabin lying on the Swedish side of the lake that was used by the Americans as a secondary base. The farmstead where they mainly stayed: Gjevsjøen gård, lies only 2-3 kilometres inside Norway.
It was on the ice of lake Jävsjön/Gjevsjøen where the first NORSO Group party landed by parachute the 25th of March 1945, commanded by major William Colby, later to lead the entire post-war OSS: the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
Colbyīs group was guided by fires lit by the local Norwegian resistance and after having touched-down on the ice Colby used the prearranged (and I must say pretty lousy) password "is the fishing good in this lake?" to address the resistance fighters. The Norwegian whom he addressed probably knew that he was supposed to reply with "Yes, particularly in the winter" but instead decided to recklessly reply: "to tell you the truth, itīs no good at all". Colby remarked in his memoirs Honorable Men that he then ought to have shot the Norwegian for not having given the correct reply, but abstained from doing so, prefering to take the risk of following his instinct that this, after all, was the right reception committee.
One of the persons who saw the NORSO Group on day one of their mission was the then ten year-old Nils Gjefsjø, the son of the wartime farm owner Alfred Gjefsjø. Nils is now the owner. It was quite amazing to see that neither has the farm shut down nor has it changed much since WWII. Still today there is not a single road leading to the farmstead. If you want to get there in the wintertime you must either use a snowmobile or skis, and in the summer you walk and use a boat. Unless you have a helicopter, of course.
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| Members of the local Norwegian resistance in front of the Gjevsjøen farmsteadīs main building in April or May 1945. They are wearing NORSO Group Arctic anoraks and displaying US weapons like Browning automatic rifles (BARs). Photo: Knut Andreassen |
The Gjevsjøen farm as we found it in 2002. The former main building is virtually unchanged since 1945. Photo: Lars Gyllenhaal |
Nilsī family still keeps sheep but also rents cabins to small groups. We were invited into the new main building. While being treated with wonderful little Norwegian pancakes Nils told us about how he was evacuated from the farm to Stockholm courtesy of the OSS and showed us what was left of the Allied presence: a small British SOE/OSS field radio (a type B, mark II suitcase radio transmitter) and an ammeter from the B-24 Liberator aircraft that crashed into a local mountain, killing all USAAF and NORSO Group members onboard. It was remarkable to see Nils test some batteries with the ammeter to prove that it still works.
Concerning Nilsī second meeting with William Colby, some fifty years after the war, Nils remarked that Colby didnīt seem to have changed. Nor has the building where Colby and the main part of his paratroopers stayed changed much. Nils opened it up for us and we were convinced that hardly anything, not even the wallpaper, has been altered. It may soon become a protected structure of architectual heritage.
Nils Gjefsjø with WWII field radio and ammeter. Photo: Lars Gyllenhaal
After having thanked the Gjefsjø family for their hospitality we skied on in the direction of the Plukkutjaern mountain, aiming to see the large memorial to the eight flight crew and four NORSO Group members who were killed in the above mentioned crash. We camped not far from the site but decided to turn back to Sweden the next morning as we had endured rain since starting, and with a totally wet tent, wet clothes and cold winds it would have been foolish to pursue towards the rest of the objectives, as they will still be around next winter. Nevertheless we had skied part of the stretch to lake Snåsa, where the main targets of the Rype and Woodlark operations were. Skiing in the same (soggy wet) terrain as the men of these operations raised our respect for them.
As a fitting end to our Easter trip two ptarmigans (northern grouse) lifted off in front of me right before we reached the road. The name of this NORSO Group operation was the Norwegian word for ptarmigan: rype.
Nils Gjefsjø with the ammeter from the B-24 Liberator "Jones" that went down with twelve men on April 6th 1945. "Jones" belonged to the 492nd "Carpetbagger" Bombardment Group. In spite of the crash and 57 years the ammeter is still functioning. Photo: Lars Gyllenhaal
Last modified 04-06-2002
© Lars and Ann-Sofie Gyllenhaal