{"id":125342,"date":"2022-04-29T08:00:20","date_gmt":"2022-04-29T12:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/?p=125342"},"modified":"2022-04-28T16:52:25","modified_gmt":"2022-04-28T20:52:25","slug":"valor-friday-170","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/?p=125342","title":{"rendered":"Valor Friday"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Captain Gunnar S\u00f8nsteby<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On 9 April 1940, the Nazi German Wehrmacht launched an invasion of Norway. This was just a few months after the Invasion of Poland which set the world to war, just days before the Battle of France that would see that country fall to German control, which itself was followed by Operation Barbarossa (the Invasion of the Soviet Union by the Nazis). Book-ended by these much larger and more consequential battles, the Invasion and Occupation of Norway can easily be overlooked.<\/p>\n

The arctic country of Norway has always been slight in population, particularly given its size. At the outset of the invasion, she only had 50,000 men in uniform to defend the homeland against a force of Germans, emboldened by their significant Blitzkrieg victories, that outnumbered them two-to-one. Strategically, Norway was important to the Germans for their raw materials, namely iron but also for oil and lubricants.<\/p>\n

In response, the Allies, to which Norway was allied, sent a contingent of about 38,000 British, French, and Polish troops to reinforce the Norweigians. It wasn\u2019t enough. Two months after the invasion started, the Allied expeditionary force and as many Norwegians as possible, were evacuated from the country. This included King Haakon IV and his son the crown prince who would set up a government-in-exile.<\/p>\n

As would happen in other occupied countries, the people of Norway immediately set about creating an underground network of spies and direct-action operatives to thwart the Nazis\u2019 plans. In addition to the iron ore the German war machine needed, Norway became a large source for the heavy water used in nuclear\/atomic research. Resistance spotters played key roles in the sinking of the famed Kreigsmarine battleships Bismarck and Tirpitz.<\/p>\n

This was in contrast to the Nazi-puppet government famously run by a man whose very name has become synonymous with collaboration and treason, that of Vidkun Quisling.<\/p>\n

Among the men of the resistance movement was Gunnar S\u00f8nsteby. He was part of the direct-action wing of the resistance and conducted highly dangerous sabotage operations.<\/p>\n

Only 22 years old when the Germans took over his homeland, S\u00f8nsteby was born in Rjukan. He remained there throughout his youth, graduating primary school at Rjukan. Several of his classmates also would later join the resistance movement. One of them was Knut Haugland, who after his heroic exploits in the war would be on Thor Heyerdahl\u2019s Kon-Tiki (the 1947 expedition that proved South Americans could have sailed across the Pacific to the Polynesian Islands in pre-Columbian times).<\/p>\n

After graduating from High School S\u00f8nsteby attended university where he completed his compulsory military service. Working a series of odd jobs and employed as an accountant in 1940, he watched as his country was invaded. After two months of fighting, the country surrendered. S\u00f8nsteby soon joined the resistance movement.<\/p>\n

He initially fought in a ski-borne infantry formation and participated in underground press. S\u00f8nsteby was then brought into the British Intelligence Service\u2019s Special Operations Executive (SOE) in Stockholm in 1941. The SOE was the British inspiration for the American OSS, which became the CIA in the post-war years.<\/p>\n

Sweden was neutral before and during World War II. While the Nazis and Russians invaded and fought over all the territory around them, they remained free. Though the Swedes did allow the Wehrmacht to use Swedish railways between Norway and Finland as the Nazis reinforced the Finns against the Russians. Later in the war, the Swedes allowed the Allies to use their air bases.<\/p>\n

At the SOE, S\u00f8nsteby would be known as \u201cAgent 24\u201d. Later he earned the codename, \u201cThe Chin.\u201d In 1942, while in Stockholm, he was arrested and detained for three months by Swedish police. Somehow he was able to secure his release by convincing them he was not the Gunnar S\u00f8nsteby they wanted.<\/p>\n

S\u00f8nsteby then returned to Norway, where he was captured by the Gestapo. Escaping the Nazi secret police, he fled to Sweden. From Sweden, S\u00f8nsteby went to England where he received additional irregular military training. He and his comrades would, upon their return to Norway, be organizing, advising, and training the local resistance forces. S\u00f8nsteby and his men would also be the resistance\u2019s link to the outside world, coordinating with the Allies.<\/p>\n

Parachuting into occupied Norway in October 1943 he joined and coordinated with the Milorg (military organization) which was the organized resistance in Norway. Later that same month, S\u00f8nsteby took command of the new \u201cOslo Gang\u201d of saboteurs.<\/p>\n

Ranked as a captain, S\u00f8nsteby was also the SOE point man for all their agents in eastern Norway and head of the Norwegian Independent Company 1. Among the many covert actions undertaken, S\u00f8nsteby\u2019s men stole the plates for printing Norwegian kroner from the Norwegian Central Bank, sending them to the government-in-exile in London.<\/p>\n

S\u00f8nsteby\u2019s Oslo Gang was a group of ten irregulars that was the dominant sabotage group in the Norwegian capital from May to September 1944.<\/p>\n

Their first sabotages were against the organizations that would register young men and women for labor duties. On three successive operations they twice destroyed the machines used in sorting documents and then destroyed the office itself.<\/p>\n

Over the summer, thousands of young people fled Oslo and went into the woods to avoid being drafted for labor details. The Nazis, in retribution, attempted to deny their food by withholding ration cards. In response, S\u00f8nsteby\u2019s Oslo Group conducted an armed robbery in which they held up a truck filled with ration cards. They liberated 75,000 ration cards in the operation.<\/p>\n

In June 1944 S\u00f8nsteby and his men destroyed two sulfur acid factories, denying the Germans a critical component for explosives. In August they attacked a bus factory, destroying 25 Messerschmidt fighters and 150 aircraft engines. They even re-damaged a locomotive that had been sent to Oslo for repair.<\/p>\n

After D-Day, S\u00f8nsteby focused his efforts on bombing railways, preventing the Germans from expeditiously moving troops back west. They also took out a fuel storage depot in Oslo harbor, destroying oil and specialized lubricants needed by the enemy.<\/p>\n

For S\u00f8nsteby, operating right under the nose of the Gestapo necessitated he become a master of disguise. He operated under a series of aliases, as many as 30 or 40. It wasn\u2019t until near the end of the war that the Germans even learned his true identity. Even with that, they were never able to capture him.<\/p>\n

S\u00f8nsteby credits his ability to evade capture by doing much of his work himself and on procuring his own identification documents. S\u00f8nsteby was a “master forger\u201d. It was said he \u201ccould replicate the signature of Nazi police chief Karl Marthinsen.”<\/p>\n

Through his time in occupied Norway he used between 20 and 30 different safe houses. He never stayed in one location for longer than a couple months and was at some for as few as a night.<\/p>\n

S\u00f8nsteby was described as having nerves of steel. He said, “I was so cold, that some time I didn’t react the way I should have.” As punishment for his elicit activities, the Nazis arrested S\u00f8nsteby\u2019s father, holding him in custody for almost two years. From February 1943 until December 1944, during S\u00f8nsteby\u2019s most active time antagonizing the German occupiers.<\/p>\n

Is coldness is probably best exhibited by his response to the question of assassinations of informants. At 80 years of age, with decades to reflect on it, he replied quite simply, “Of course wrong decisions were made, also by the Resistance Movement. But one must remember that war was going on. It did happen that we had to kill without being sure that the person concerned was an informant. But the decisions were correct\u2014there and then.”<\/p>\n

By war\u2019s end, the Oslo Group\u2019s ten or so men had suffered three men killed in action. Gregers Gram, Edvard Tallaksen, and Roy Nielsen were all killed by the Germans. Some of the remaining men served as guards when Crown Prince Olav returned to Norway from exile on 13 May 1945. They also served as honor guards upon the return of King Haakon VII when he too returned triumphantly the following month.<\/p>\n

S\u00f8nsteby himself led the cortege for the Crown Prince on his return and served as the Crown Prince\u2019s bodyguard at the homecoming of the King and the rest of the royal family.<\/p>\n

After the war, S\u00f8nsteby refused offers from both the British and Norwegian governments\u2019 intelligence services to continue serving. “I didn’t want any more war,” he explained. “I had had enough. I’d lost five years of my life.”<\/p>\n

Instead S\u00f8nsteby made his way to Boston, worked for the government, and attended Harvard Business School. He then went to work for Esso Oil Company, then returned to Norway in 1949. He worked in many high-level positions in private business before he retired in later life.<\/p>\n

After retiring, S\u00f8nsteby would give speeches in the hopes of passing on the lessons of the war to future generations. He said of this mission, “As long as I live, I will tell the important facts. The historians can analyze, but I was there.” He was considered a living encyclopedia by some, and would engage in fiery debates with those who equated our modern democracies with the autocratic governments he fought. Harald Stanghelle wrote that S\u00f8nsteby was said to have no stomach for “historyless historians and ignorant journalists.” Stanghelle also said that S\u00f8nsteby minimized his own contributions to the war, saying that the merchant marines had done more for the liberation of Norway than he had.<\/p>\n

At S\u00f8nsteby\u2019s death in 2012 at the age of 94 he was given a state funeral. In attendance were the King of Norway, the country\u2019s Prime Minister, the current and seven past Ministers of Defence, and the Chief of Defence. Twenty-four soldiers of the King\u2019s Guard served as the honor guard.<\/p>\n

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War Cross with Sword (S\u00f8nsteby’s medal had three swords on it)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

S\u00f8nsteby\u2019s accomplishments during the war led to many awards and decorations. He was the first, and so far only, man to receive Norway\u2019s highest award for combat bravery three times. He received the War Cross with Sword and then received two additional swords to represent two subsequent awards. The War Cross with Sword is awarded for \u201cExtraordinary brave actions or extraordinary leadership during combat.\u201d Only 290 War Crosses with Sword have ever been awarded. Many of those (126) have been awarded to non-Norwegians. Which means that S\u00f8nsteby is one of only 164 Norwegians to have received the honor.<\/p>\n

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Commander’s Neck Medal of the Order of St Olav<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

S\u00f8nsteby was a Commander of the Order of St Olav. This is the highest civil honor of the Kingdom of Norway and ranks behind only the War Cross with Swords in order of precedence. He received the Police Cross of Honor, the Defence Cross of Honor, as well as several service medals and royal anniversary medals.<\/p>\n

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Distinguished Service Order<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

From the government of the United Kingdom, S\u00f8nsteby was made a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order. The DSO at the time was the second-level award for combat gallantry for commissioned officers. The UK also gave him service medals such as the 1939-1945 Star and the Defence Medal.<\/p>\n

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Medal of Freedom with Bronze Palm<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The United States gave S\u00f8nsteby the Medal of Freedom with Silver Palm. The Medal of Freedom was the highest civil honor of the Executive Branch of the US government. It could be awarded without palm or with bronze, silver, or gold palm. The palms are considered to be higher grades of the medal. The Medal of Freedom was replaced in 1961 by the similarly named Presidential Medal of Freedom.<\/p>\n

The US Special Operations Command (SOCOM) awarded S\u00f8nsteby the SOCOM Medal, which recognizes individuals for outstanding contributions to, and in support of, special operations. He was the first foreign recipient and to date is one of only six non-American awardees.<\/p>\n

S\u00f8nsteby was survived by his wife Anne-Karin and three daughters. Anne-Karin passed away in 2020 at the age of 88. She had worked at the Norwegian Home Front Museum. No doubt educating people on the amazing exploits of her husband.<\/p>\n

S\u00f8nsteby is remembered as Norway\u2019s most-decorated man of World War II, their greatest hero of the resistance, and is one of Norway\u2019s most revered military figures. Monuments to his honor can be found in several places in the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On 9 April 1940, the Nazi German Wehrmacht launched an invasion of Norway. This was just … Valor Friday<\/span>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":664,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,130,389,217],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-125342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-historical","category-real-soldiers","category-valor","category-we-remember"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/664"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=125342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125342\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=125342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=125342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=125342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}