Night Falls on Norway

by CW Browning

  “No, of course not. No one knows I’ve been listening to the Germans. Even my friend in Sweden doesn’t know.”

  “Good. I advise you to keep it that way.” Evelyn reached for her drink. “In the meantime, even though you can’t understand them, continue to monitor the signals. I’ll contact London and see what we can find out.”

  “There’s more,” he said after a moment, and she raised her eyebrows. “I think there’s a build-up of ships happening in German ports.”

  Evelyn stared at him. “What makes you think that?”

  “After all the messages I’ve listened to, I’ve managed to pick up certain call signs and figure out where the transmitters are.” He drank some beer and lowered his voice even more. “Each branch has their own unique call signs. I’ve figured out the German navy and the Wehrmacht ones, but not the Luftwaffe.”

  “You know who you’re listening to?” Evelyn demanded, her heart thumping. “You can actually tell where the messages are coming from and going to?”

  He shrugged and nodded. “To a certain extent. I’ve learned just about all the navy call signs. I know when they are navy signals, but I can’t understand a thing they’re sending. I’ve learned most of the Wehrmacht signs, but again, I can’t understand what they’re sending.”

  “What about the diplomatic messages?” Anna asked.

  “Those are the easy ones. The embassies all have their own signs, and their messages were the ones I was able to decode. But, as I said, they’ve changed them now and I can’t understand them.”

  “But you know when it’s a diplomatic message as opposed to, say, a navy one?” Evelyn asked.

  “Yes.” Kristian smiled ruefully. “I suppose I should have told someone before now, but to be honest, I didn’t think anyone would believe me.”

  “I’m very glad you didn’t!” she said fervently.

  “I thought about telling Erik the last time I saw him,” he said, glancing at Anna. “But then something stopped me. I think I thought perhaps he would feel obligated to report it to his superiors, and then they would take my radio away.”

  Anna bit her lip thoughtfully. “I don’t honestly know what he would say,” she said slowly. “He does tend to operate very strictly in accordance with the rules, but then sometimes he surprises me. I think you did the right thing in not telling him.”

  Kristian looked at Evelyn. “And what will your government do with this information?” he asked. “Will they take my radio as well?”

  “Goodness no,” she assured him. “I don’t know how they will want to proceed, but I can guarantee that they won’t take away your radio. What would be the purpose? If you don’t have it, you can’t pass on the information.”

  “I can’t pass on the information now,” he muttered. “I don’t have any clue what they’re chattering about.”

  “You’ve managed to gather much more than you think,” Evelyn told him. “I’m not even sure where to start with all of this. I’ll contact London first thing in the morning and find out how they want to proceed. I’ll forward on everything you’ve told me.”

  “And then what?”

  “Do you have a telephone?”

  “Yes. That’s how Anna reached me.”

  “I’ll phone you tomorrow and we’ll arrange something.”

  Kristian made a slight motion with his head, his eyes over her shoulder, and Evelyn fell silent. A moment later, the waiter approached with two others and they began laying out their dinner. She watched as her dinner was set before her, her mind spinning. How on earth was she supposed to eat when her stomach was tied up in excited knots? She had never dreamed that she would hit a jackpot like this. When Anna said she knew someone who was an amateur radio operator, she certainly hadn’t been expecting this! She’d thought he might be listening to news out of Germany, but had assumed it would be the news broadcast by Goebbels’ propaganda ministry. While that still would have been helpful for gleaning information about life in Germany and possibly the true state of their economy and social structure, it would have been nothing compared to this relative cash cow of intelligence. If Kristian was able to distinguish between the diplomatic signals and the naval signals, they could begin to put together a clearer picture of what Hitler’s plans were and, more importantly, where he was building up troops.

  The waiter finished and made sure they were settled and didn’t need anything before departing once again. Evelyn picked up her knife and fork and glanced at Kristian.

  “You think they’re amassing ships in their ports?” she asked. “Tell me what makes you think that.”

  “There has been a massive increase of signals going between the naval call signs,” he said, cutting into his pork medallions. “Rostock, Stettin and Swinemünde, in particular, have seen huge amounts of traffic. The only reason I can think of for that amount of sudden traffic is an increase of ships in, or leaving, the ports. There are others, as well. Kiel has increased the traffic substantially.”

  “If that’s true, then Hitler’s definitely up to something,” Anna said with a frown. “What if he is going to attack us?”

  Kristian looked at her and they were all silent for a moment. Then he sighed.

  “I suppose we face that if it happens,” he said. “There’s nothing else we can do. Our army will defend us, but they are no match for the German forces.”

  “I think perhaps it’s a very good thing that we came down here today,” Anna said. “If they are going to attack Norway, I’d rather know what’s coming, to be honest. At least now we know that something is definitely in the wind.”

  Evelyn chewed her fish, not tasting it. If Kristian was correct and there was a build-up of ships in German ports, that could only mean that they were going to attack Norway or Sweden, unless Hitler was going to move to France next and wanted his Kriegsmarine to lend support. Of the two options, she was leaning heavily on the former. There were too many indications to support an invasion of Scandinavia to ignore them.

  “There is someone in Oslo that you might want to talk to,” Kristian said after a few minutes of silence.

  Evelyn looked up from her dinner questioningly. “Oh?”

  “His name is Peder Strand. His family has a shop on Uranienborgveien, I believe. He also has a wireless set.” He glanced at her. “I have no idea if he would be willing to assist you, but I can vouch for his skill with a radio. I trained him.”

  Anna looked up, surprised. “This isn’t the Peder that Erik got into a fight with last year, is it?”

  Kristian laughed. “I’d forgotten about that! Yes, it’s the same Peder. What was that about again? I don’t remember.”

  “Too much whiskey,” she replied with a laugh. “They were both perfectly happy the following morning. I don’t remember what sparked the argument, either. I don’t know if I ever really knew. One minute they were drinking and the next they were swinging fists outside.”

  “Well, as I said, I don’t know how he feels about the current state of affairs in Europe, but if Hitler is going to make any moves towards us, it won’t hurt to have another radio at your disposal.”

  “No, indeed,” Evelyn said with a nod. “Thank you!”

  Kristian shrugged. “No need to thank me. It is purely selfish on my part. If the German army comes, I would rather have people I trust working alongside me. At least then I know I’ll die in good company.”

  British Embassy, Oslo

  Daniel Carew strode into his office, stripping off his gloves as he went.

  “Where is it?” he demanded of the assistant who followed him.

  “On your desk, sir,” the young man replied. He wasn’t upset by the sharp words from his boss. He was getting used to that particular tone of voice. Mr. Carew was notoriously bad tempered when he was called back to the embassy late at night. “It came an hour ago. I notified you as soon as we received it.”

  “This is getting bloody ridicu
lous,” Daniel complained, tossing his gloves onto the desk and rounding the corner to pick up the sealed message sitting in the center of his blotter. “Every other day we’re getting some warning from somewhere. They all contradict each other, and no one can even agree on a location.”

  He tore open the message and scanned it quickly.

  “Is it the same as the others?” the assistant asked after a moment.

  “Just about.” Daniel dropped into his chair and reread the message before tossing it onto the desk. “A respected member of a legation in Berlin advises that an attack on Norway and Denmark is imminent.”

  “How imminent?”

  “Well, this one says the ninth,” Daniel said, glancing back at the message. “The other day it was the eighth, and last week it was Holland, and it was the tenth. As I said, this is getting ridiculous.”

  “At least we know the Germans are planning something,” the assistant pointed out.

  “Oh, they’re planning something right enough,” Daniel muttered. “The question is what and where. And when! All these reports all have different dates and different locations. The only consistent theme in any of them is that Hitler is moving. But moving where?”

  “What do the Norwegians say?”

  Daniel made a disgusted sound and looked across the room at his assistant. “They don’t believe any of it. They’re ignoring the warnings. They think the sources are unreliable, the information faulty, and they refuse to consider the possibility that their precious neutrality might be breached.”

  The assistant stared at him blankly. “But...that many reports can’t all be false,” he protested. “Where there’s smoke and all that. How can they simply ignore it?”

  “Which one would you have them act on?” Daniel rubbed his eyes tiredly. “I think it’s a mistake to dismiss all of them, but I can see their point. With this many warnings, it’s damn near impossible to pin down which ones might be true.”

  “And London? Have we heard from them?”

  “Yes. They believe an invasion is imminent. They’ve begun mining the waters off the coast to try to prevent German ships from getting too close to the shores.” Daniel looked up. “You’d better go make some tea. I’ll contact London with this latest message from Berlin and we’ll see if anything new is known.”

  “Yes, sir.” The young man turned to leave the office, but paused inside the door. “Should I call in Anna?”

  “No. She’s not in Oslo. She’s gone down to the coast.” Daniel shook his head. “This is a hell of a time to have someone from London in. Send a car round to the Kolstad’s house first thing in the morning. I’ll write out a message for Jian. She should at least be aware of this latest report.”

  “I’ll tell the driver to be ready in the morning,” the assistant said. “If you write out the message, I’ll take it personally.”

  A smile cracked Daniel’s face. “Thank you, Peterson. I don’t deserve you. Now go get that tea and let’s get to work, shall we?”

  Peterson nodded with a grin and left the office. As soon as the door closed behind him, Daniel leaned forward and picked up the message again. It had come from Berlin, from an assistant to the Danish delegation there. It was a source he had cultivated on his last visit to Copenhagen, and so far the information he’d sent to Daniel had been accurate. Daniel stared at the date typed in the message: April 9th.

  Four days from now.

  He dropped the paper on the desk again and stared across the room, his lips pressed together. This was the third time the 9th had been mentioned. Was Hitler sending his forces against Norway in four days? Or was this just another red herring?

  And if it wasn’t, how the hell was he going to get Jian out of Norway in the midst of it all?

  Chapter Twelve

  ––––––––

  Oslo, Norway

  April 6

  Evelyn looked up when Josef entered the dining room where she was sipping her morning coffee. She had finished eating her light breakfast of toast with cheese and fresh fruit, and was enjoying her coffee while she turned the pages of a newspaper.

  “This came for you just now,” he told her, holding out an envelope. “The car was from the embassy. I didn’t recognize the man who brought this. He looked young.”

  Evelyn couldn’t hide her smile at the disgruntled note in Josef’s voice. He sounded almost affronted.

  “He can’t be very young if he’s working for the embassy,” she said with a grin, taking the envelope. “They don’t hire children.”

  “Don’t they?” Josef snorted and turned to leave the room. “You could have fooled me.”

  Evelyn laughed and tore open the envelope, pulling out the single sheet of paper. None of the other guests had come down yet and she had the dining room to herself this morning. Scanning the message from Daniel, her smile faded and her brows came together sharply. After reading it twice, she swallowed the rest of her coffee and pushed her chair back quickly. Carrying it with her, she crossed the room and went out into the hall, glancing at the front door. It was closed. The messenger hadn’t waited for a reply.

  Evelyn turned and went down the short hallway to the kitchen door and poked her head inside. An older woman with dark hair beginning to streak with gray was standing at the large island chopping vegetables. When Evelyn stuck her head in, she looked up in surprise.

  “Marlene! God morgen,” she greeted her, her face breaking into a smile. “Is everything all right?”

  “Yes, thank you, Else. Everything was delicious,” Evelyn said, stepping into the kitchen. “I wonder if I can use your telephone?”

  “Yes, of course. It’s in the front parlor. I’ll show you.” Else put down her knife and wiped her hands on her apron before moving around the island towards the door. “How was your trip to Drammen yesterday? Did you enjoy yourself?”

  Evelyn smiled. “It was very nice. The scenery on the way down was wonderful. Norway is a beautiful country.”

  “Parts of it are, indeed,” Else said, leading her out of the kitchen and back down the hallway towards the front room. “If you really want to see something, go north. That’s where our real beauty lies.”

  “I don’t know if that will be possible this time, but I’ll remember it for next time. I’m on a rather tight time schedule this trip.” Especially now, she added to herself silently, glancing down at the folded paper in her hand.

  “Josef’s people are from Trondheim. Beautiful country there, but of course that’s in the central part of the country. I call it the north because I was born here in Oslo. He gets annoyed, but to me anything in that direction is north.”

  “Trondheim? Isn’t that where Anna’s brother is stationed?”

  “Yes, that’s right. There’s an army base not far from there.” She went into the front room and motioned to the desk on the other side. “There it is. I’ll close the door so you can have some privacy.”

  “Thank you.”

  Evelyn waited until Else had closed the door behind her, then crossed over to sit in the chair before the desk. Picking up the heavy handset, she listened for a dial tone and then dialed the number to Anna’s flat. A moment later, she was listening to the telephone ring on the other end. After several rings, she picked up.

  “Hallo?”

  “Anna, is that you?” Evelyn asked, frowning at the muffled voice coming through the handset. “Good heavens, I can barely make you out!”

  “I’m sorry,” Anna said, suddenly much louder and clearer. “I had a towel wrapped around my head. I just finished washing my hair. Is that better?”

  “Much! Would you like to meet for coffee? Say, in an hour?”

  There was a short pause on the line. “All right. I’ll see you in an hour.”

  Evelyn hung up and opened the paper in her hand, rereading the message swiftly. This wasn’t the first time she’d seen reports of Germany moving towards to Norway, but a
fter their talk with Kristian last night, this one gave her pause. If what Daniel had said was true, then she had three days to recruit as many people as possible, knowing that they would be thrown into action immediately. If it was another false alarm, then there was nothing to worry about, but she had no way of knowing for sure which it was, or how she was expected to proceed. She had to contact Bill in London, and she didn’t want to go through the embassy now. If Germany was about to invade, she couldn’t risk anyone learning what she was doing in Oslo.

  Getting up, Evelyn crossed the room swiftly and went out, heading for the stairs. There was one way to contact Bill, and it involved getting changed and meeting Anna for coffee in an hour.

  6th April, 1940

  Dear Evelyn,

  How’s the training in Wales? I know you won’t get this until you get back, so I hope it went well. We’re flying patrols more frequently now. Every third day we fly to the advance station on the coast and spend the day there, flying constantly over the channel and France. The other day we flew a reconnaissance flight over the North Sea. It’s all very dull, to be honest. We’re all rather keen to sight some Jerries, but so far we haven’t had even a wingtip to shoot at.

  The Yank had a spot of excitement today. He was flying back from a patrol when one of his propellers snapped clean off! He had to land at Hornchurch with only one prop. Turns out dry rot set in, so now they’re replacing all the propellers in the squadron to make sure it doesn’t happen to anyone else. The CO says we were due for the new propeller kit anyway. Chris swears that termites attacked his Spit! He really does seem to have the worst luck. Thank God he’s a good flier!

  I read in the newspaper this morning that the Dutch troops have been put on full alert along the border. It won’t be long now. Do you think Hitler will move soon? Rob thinks he will try something up in Sweden or Norway first, then turn his attention to France. I think he’ll just go straight for France. We have a small pool riding on it. Care to join? It’s a ten quid buy in, and I’ll put in for you if you tell me your choice! The pot is already over a hundred pounds.