by CW Browning
“At 4:20, the old Oscarsborg Fortress on Drøbak Sound fired on a German cruiser,” his assistant said, following him into the office. “They hit the lead ship, the first of four so far. The shots caused heavy damage, but the ship continued on until it passed the torpedo installation of the fortress. The Norwegians fired two torpedoes, hitting the cruiser again. As of the last report, it is critically damaged and sinking.”
“And the other ships?”
“They’ve retreated and are landing troops outside the range of the Oscarsborg batteries.”
Daniel tossed his coat over the back of the chair and ran a hand over his face.
“And so it begins,” he said. “Do we have any word from the palace yet? How about the installations on the west coast? What else do we know?”
“Not much yet,” the young man replied. “The phones and machines are going berserk with sightings and landings, but it’s all rather a mess. This is all we have so far.”
He handed him a stack of messages. Daniel took them and strode around his desk to his chair, flipping through them as he went.
“The King has issued orders to resist,” he said unnecessarily, dropping into his seat. “Good. That will give London and Paris time to respond.”
“Yes, sir.” His assistant cleared his throat. “Because the battery at Drøbak slowed down the initial landing in Oslo, it gives the King and his government time to evacuate before the Germans arrive.”
Daniel glanced up and nodded.
“Thank God. If the Jerries get hold of King Haakon, it’s all over. It’s amazing those old weapons at Drøbak are still functioning. Stroke of luck, that was, especially considering the entire fortress is manned by trainees and fresh recruits.” He finished scanning the messages in his hand and then tossed them onto his desk, exhaling heavily. “You’re right. These are a mess. I can’t make head or tail of where the Germans are right now. According to these, they’re everywhere.”
“Yes, sir.”
Daniel stared at the top of his desk pensively for a long moment, then looked up at his assistant.
“The Norwegians won’t be able to hold out for long,” he finally said, “if at all. The city is protected by unseasoned soldiers. All of those with any experience and training are in the north. We have to assume that Oslo will be occupied by the end of the day. We’ll proceed with the appropriate protocols. Gather anything sensitive from your office and bring it here. We’ll go through it all and destroy what we can. I’ll do the same in here.”
“What about the civilians who work with us?” The assistant asked. “Like Miss Salveson?”
Daniel glanced up and a fleeting smile crossed his lips.
“Worried about her, are you?” he asked. “Yes. I can see why. Send someone round to her apartment to get her. She will be better served to flee the city, but if she chooses to stay, she can hunker down here with us. Perhaps we can get her out when we go.”
The young man nodded and turned towards the door. Before he had gone a few steps, Daniel stopped him.
“Rodney, before you do that, ring the Kolstadts, will you? Have them send Jian here. She’ll have to come here until we can arrange something to get her out of the country.”
His assistant glanced at him sharply, then nodded and left the office. Daniel sat back in his chair with a frown. He would be very surprised if she came. She was probably making her own arrangements to get out of Norway. There could be no doubt that she knew of the invasion. Those guns at the battery had alerted half the city already. She had proven in November that she was able to escape tight situations, but she had had help from their embassies then. There was nothing he could do to help her now. As soon as the Germans entered the city, all of his power would be useless.
He got up and strode across the office to the door. Before he began sorting through his files and destroying anything that absolutely could not fall into German hands, he had to send a message to Buckley. While he had no doubt that London was being flooded with messages, Bill needed to know exactly what was going on. He would alert him to the status of the invasion, then return to get his office in order.
Shaking his head, he moved down the long corridor towards the telegraph and radio room. That last warning claiming that an invasion on Norway and Denmark was scheduled for the 9th had turned out to be the one that was correct. They had all disregarded it, along with all the others.
And now they were out of time.
London
6am
Bill scanned the decoded and typed message, his lips tightening imperceptibly. So it had begun. The Germans were invading Norway and Evelyn was caught right in the middle of it. Her communication was very much to the point. The Germans were outside Oslo and she was going north. His brows creased into a frown. Why she thought the Swedish border was in doubt was another question for another day. All that mattered was that she wasn’t in Oslo now.
“When did this come in?” he asked the young man who had handed him the message when he strode into the radio room.
“Just after one in the morning, sir.”
“So two in the morning there,” Bill murmured. “Very well. Listen for another communication. This is critical. If they contact again, I want to know immediately. And add that radio to the list of contact sources. I want to make sure their messages get through. Understood?”
“Yes, sir.”
He nodded and left the small room, striding down the long corridor towards the stairs. He had been awoken by the telephone ringing at the ungodly hour of four in the morning. Within an hour of the call, he was on his way to the building on Broadway as a gray dawn broke over the city. Marguerite had watched him get dressed, her face creased in concern. She hadn’t asked what was happening. She didn’t need to. She knew she would find out soon enough on the wireless.
Bill started up the stairs. He had known Hitler would move soon. They all had. That it was Norway shouldn’t have been a surprise, but he was conscious of a stunned feeling nonetheless. Somehow, they had all managed to convince themselves that Norway would remain safe, whether through neutrality or through England’s protection. Instead, Hitler had beat them to the punch.
His lips thinned as he approached the top of the stairs, pulling out his identification for the guard on duty. If Chamberlain hadn’t pussy-footed around with whether or not to mine the Norwegian waters, they may have been able to avoid this. But he and his war cabinet were a bunch of imbeciles, and now Norway was paying the price. It was absolutely inexcusable.
Bill held out his identification and the guard examined it, then nodded and stepped out of the way so that he could proceed to his office halfway down the hall. If he were to be honest with himself, he supposed it wasn’t entirely Chamberlain’s fault. They had certainly had enough warnings regarding a German offensive on Norway, but they had all ignored them. For one reason or another, every warning had been deemed not credible. But none of that would have mattered if Chamberlain’s cabinet had moved decisively from the very beginning, instead of hoping for peace. For that was all they had done. They had remained indecisive and inactive, all the while hoping that Hitler would just sit down and go away like a good little corporal.
Bill snorted as he unlocked his office door and went inside. As if Herr Hitler had ever had any intention of doing anything other than exactly what he was doing: spreading out and claiming more and more living space for his bloody Third Reich. He closed the door and took off his coat, hanging it on the coat rack. Hooking his hat on the knob above his coat, he turned to go to his desk.
Evelyn was moving north and, if she could stay ahead of the landing troops, they had a shot at extracting her. He had to contact Jasper. He was sure he would be able to arrange something, but until he heard from her again and had a better idea of her location, they wouldn’t be able to make any definite plans. All he could do was wait.
And pray.
Just as he was reaching for the
phone to call Jasper, his office door flew open and Wesley Fitch, his intrepid assistant, burst in out of breath, his jacket askew and his hair falling into his eyes.
“Denmark has surrendered without a fight!” he exclaimed. “They’ve accepted Hitler’s terms, and his protection.”
“And so it begins,” Bill said, sitting back. “What of Norway?”
“They refused in no uncertain terms, apparently,” Wesley told him. “Minister Koht told the German ambassador that they would not submit. What army they have will fight.”
“Thank God for that!” Bill got up and took a restless turn about his office. “And King Haakon?”
“He and his entire government have escaped Oslo.”
Bill looked at him sharply. “Oh?”
Wesley nodded. “The first German ships were engaged at the mouth of Inner Oslofjord at 4:20 this morning, their time. The batteries near Drøbak sunk the lead cruiser, forcing the rest of the ships to retreat and land their troops outside of the range of the old fortress. It cost the Germans a few hours, which the King used to get out of Oslo.”
“That’s fantastic news!” Bill exclaimed. “The Norwegian forces are loyal only to King Haakon. As long as he is alive and on the throne, they will continue to fight.”
“Yes, and I’m sure the Germans were expecting to neutralize him along with his government.”
“And they all got away? Every one? The ministers as well?”
“Yes.” Wesley cleared his throat. “That’s the good news.”
“And the bad news?”
“Reports are beginning to come in. The Germans have landed at Trondheim, Bergen and Stavanger. They also landed a large force at Narvik.”
Bill scowled. “What of the local commanders?”
“Norway is woefully unprepared to rebuff the Wehrmacht. They put up resistance, but were quickly defeated. The German forces are through and advancing already.” He paused, then cleared his throat. “In Narvik, the local commander ordered his troops to allow the Germans to land and not to resist.”
“What?!”
“That being said, I believe that the commander is a Vidkun Quisling supporter,” Wesley said. “If he is, that would explain his eagerness to let the Germans in.”
“And to lose Norway their largest port in the north!” Bill exclaimed. “Not that they could have held out for long, but every hour would help.”
“Forgive me, but help what?”
“Chamberlain will be forced to send troops now. The cabinet will approve lending aid and troops to fight with the Norwegians. Every hour the Norwegians hold on brings our boys closer to them.”
“But Narvik has already fallen and the Jerries are already advancing through the country.”
“Don’t underestimate the value of Norway,” Bill told him. “It may be small, but it is mighty in this war. Without it, Hitler can’t get his precious iron from Sweden, or have access to the North Atlantic. Even Chamberlain won’t allow it to go without a fight.”
Wesley grunted and watched as Bill went back to his seat behind his desk.
“Any word from Jian?”
“She got a message out at 2am that the Germans were outside Oslo and she was going north.” Bill shook his head. “She somehow found out before they attacked, thank God. I’m waiting to hear more.”
“At least she got out of Oslo in time. Why did she go north and not east? The Swedish border isn’t far from Oslo.”
“She said there was some doubt as to the border.” Bill frowned. “I don’t know why, but I’m sure she had her reasons. Jian may have nerves of steel, but she does tend to err on the side of caution rather than the other way around.”
The phone on Bill’s desk jangled shrilly and Wesley turned towards the door.
“I’ll let you know developments as they come in,” he said over his shoulder. “Shall I put the radio boys on alert?”
“Already done,” Bill replied, reaching for the phone. “A few earnest prayers wouldn’t be amiss, though.”
Wesley nodded grimly.
“Already done.”
Knutshø, Norway
7am
Evelyn climbed out of the back of Peder’s Volvo and shivered in the cold morning air. It was decidedly colder here than it had been in Oslo, and she quickly buttoned up her coat. Peder had pulled into a petrol station in a small town with a single main street, boasting a bakery and butcher’s shop alongside the filling station. The other stores weren’t open for business yet, and she looked towards the small building behind the gas pump.
“Do you think they know yet?” she asked Anna, nodding towards the building. Through the window, they could see a couple inside, the man behind a counter and the woman sweeping the floor near the door.
“It depends on if they have a radio,” Anna replied, climbing out of the car. “If not then no.”
“Should we tell them?”
She looked at her in amusement. “To what purpose?”
“Well, so they can leave if they want to,” Evelyn said with a shrug.
Anna’s smile grew.
“And go where? Most people have nowhere to run to,” she said. “However, if it makes you feel better, we can tell them before we leave.”
“It would, yes.”
“While we’re stopped, do you want me to try to reach London?” Peder asked over the roof of the car. “If we’re going to try, now is a good time.”
“Yes, please.” Evelyn turned to look at him. “But stretch your legs first. You’ve been driving for over four hours.”
Peder shrugged and went to open the back of the car where their suitcases and his radio were stored.
“I’m all right,” he said, pulling out his case. “I’ll see if I can get through to them. If I do, I’ll knock on the glass.”
He climbed into the backseat of the car and closed the door. Evelyn watched as he sat sideways on the seat and began to set up his radio.
“I’ll take care of the petrol,” Anna said, walking over to the pump. “Why don’t you walk for a minute and stretch your legs?”
“It’s too cold to walk far,” she retorted, burying her hands in her coat pockets. “What I wouldn’t give for some coffee!”
“We should be able to find an open café in another hour or so. We’ll stop then.” Anna glanced at her. “The further north we go, the colder it will get.”
“Don’t you know it’s supposed to be spring?”
“Not in Norway,” she retorted with a short laugh.
Evelyn shook her head and turned to walk a few feet away, loosening up muscles cramped from sitting. It could be worse, she supposed. At least Peder had this car. She could be without transportation altogether. Or without friends willing to help get her away from Oslo and the oncoming Germans. She glanced back at Anna refilling the tank of the car, and was suddenly extremely grateful for her once again. She could never have escaped Stockholm in November without the woman’s help, and now here she was, making herself invaluable once again. How could she ever repay her?
And where on earth was she going? Evelyn continued walking, her hands in her pockets and her head down against the brisk wind. They couldn’t just continue to flee north ahead of the Germans with no clear destination in mind. Eventually they would run into the advancing forces. They had to have a destination well before that happened.
She pursed her lips thoughtfully. Perhaps she should try for the Swedish border after all. Peder had been right when he said that it was unlikely for the Swedish to detain a British national. However, if Anna was correct and they refused any refugees at all, then she would be trapped at the border in the face of the advancing German army and, more importantly, the Gestapo and SS. Was it worth the risk? On the other hand, what were her options?
Evelyn exhaled and glanced back at the car. If Peder could get through to London, Bill would be able to advise her. She had no idea what the best
course of action was anymore, except to keep moving and avoid the Germans.
Strangely, she wasn’t in a panic over the thought of the advancing enemy troops. So far, aside from the sight of the silent warships in the water outside Oslo, she hadn’t seen any of the troops, nor heard any bombs or gunfire. Of course, they were nowhere near the coast where the invasion forces were undoubtedly landing, and that distance encouraged her to think that perhaps she would be able to get out of Norway without coming face to face with the Germans after all.
“Marlene!” Anna called.
Evelyn turned to find her waving her back. She hurried back to the car, her brows raised in question.
“What is it?”
Anna waved towards the car where Peder had unrolled the back window.
“The Germans have landed at Bergen and Narvik,” he said, looking up from his radio. “After we left Oslo, the batteries at Oscarsborg Fortress sunk one of the ships. The rest retreated and landed troops further south. They’ll reach the city soon.”
“Where else have they landed?” Evelyn asked, leaning against the car.
“I don’t know yet. That was all I managed to get so far. I’m still trying to get through to London, but no luck yet.”
“What if he can’t get through?” Anna asked Evelyn.
“I’ll have to keep trying as we go,” she answered with a shrug.
“My brother’s unit is near Trondheim,” Anna said slowly. “I think perhaps we should try to reach them. If nothing else, the army may have a better chance of reaching London.”
“They would have to know why and who they’re contacting, and that’s impossible,” Evelyn said, shaking her head. “No. I still think Sweden is my best course, but I want to wait and hear from London first. They may have something else in mind.”
“Yes, but in the meantime, we need to keep moving. If we head towards Trondheim, we will be moving into territory held by the Norwegian forces.”
“If they haven’t fallen,” Peder said from the car. “There’s no guarantee that Trondheim is safe. It’s a harbor, and for all we know, the Germans may have landed there.”