Operation Almenrausch

Last updated
Operation Almenrausch
Part of Second World War
Date13-14 June 1944
Location
Valdres
Result German failure to eliminate NKP leadership
Belligerents
Flag of Norway.svg Norway Flag of Germany 1933.svg Germany
Commanders and leaders
Peder Furubotn Hellmuth Reinhard
Units involved
NKP
Milorg 		SS
STAPO
Strength
Unknown At least 800 police and troops
Casualties and losses
Two killed
38 arrested, at least one of whom were later executed		 None

Operation Almenrausch was a counter-resistance operation in occupied Norway, planned and carried out by the Wehrmacht and the Nazi-controlled Norwegian Statspolitiet on 13 June 1944. It was named after the Almenrausch, an "Alpine Rose" growing in continental Europe.

Contents

The operation

The site of the operation was Valdres, where the banned Communist Party of Norway had a secret encampment from which their part of the Norwegian resistance was coordinated. The goal was to raid the main encampment in Skriulægeret in Nord-Aurdal and other places where resistance members might be. About 800 personnel participated in the operation. [1] [2]

Leading communist figure Peder Furubotn escaped, [1] so did Ørnulf Egge, Samuel Titlestad [2] and Roald Halvorsen. [3] The Germans got their hand on a sizeable amount of secret documents. [1] Eight communists were arrested; one of them was later executed. [2]

Thirty other people were arrested during the operation, as the attacking forces hit non-communist resistance fighters as well. Notably, a skirmish occurred in the valley Tapptjerndalen on 14 June, where five Milorg members were surprised and two of them were killed. [2]

Attack, escape and captures

In June 1944 Furubotn and his men were on the move. They had left Skriulægeret, and were temporarily installed at Buahaugen and Rabalden in Øystre Slidre, around twenty persons altogether. On 13 June two visitors from Oslo had been brought to the camp for a conference with the central leaders. Two of the women (Eli Aanjesen and Bergljot Løiten) walked over to another cabin about 300 metres (980 ft) apart, in order to get some more food, and there they were surprised by German troops and captured. Einar Støreng, who had been out on a mission, was surprised by Germans troops on his way back and tried to run away, but was captured after gun fire. The gun fire alarmed the remaining group at Buahaugen and Rabalden, and they made a hasty breaking up. A small group of eleven people successfully escaped, including Furubotn, his wife Gina, his daughter Magda and her three months old baby Vigdis, and seven other men. Titlestad and Arne Taraldsen were security people, armed with a revolver and machine gun. The group managed to escape through the forests, and the Communist Party later established new headquarters, first at Åstad in Vestre Slidre, and later at Hoverud near Fagernes. Among the other persons at the camp, Halvorsen managed to escape and continued his resistance work, first in Oslo and later in Sweden. Olaug Karlsen, Titlestad's girlfriend and later wife, was captured by the Germans and incarcerated at Grini concentration camp. Her sister Leikny was shot and wounded by the Germans, and brought to a local hospital, from where she later escaped. Asle Grepp, son of Kyrre and Rachel Grepp, was brought to Akershus Fortress and executed on 10 February 1945. [4] [5] [6]

Legacy

Based on Samuel Titlestad's autobiography and other sources, notably Meldungen aus Norwegen , Operation Almenrausch was made into a play by Tore Vagn Lid. It premièred at Agder Teater in October 2008. [7] The play Operasjon Almenrausch received the Hedda Award for 2009, category "Event of the year" (in Norwegian : Årets begivenhet). [8]

Further reading

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joachim Rønneberg</span> Norwegian Army officer and broadcaster

Joachim Holmboe Rønneberg was a Norwegian Army officer and broadcaster. He was known for his resistance work during World War II, most notably commanding Operation Gunnerside, and his post-war war information work.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Asbjørn Sunde</span> Norwegian politician (1909–1985)

Asbjørn Edvin Sunde was a Norwegian politician for the Communist Party of Norway, communist partisan during the Spanish Civil War, saboteur against the Nazi occupation of Norway during the Second World War, and a convicted Soviet spy. During the Second World War, from 1941 to 1944, Sunde's group, the Osvald Group, carried out approximately 39 acts of sabotage and assassination against the German occupation forces and Norwegian collaborators. In 1954 he was convicted by Eidsivating Court of Appeal of treason and espionage in favour of the Soviet Union, and sentenced to eight years in prison. He was released from prison in 1959 after serving two thirds of his sentence. He was expelled from the Communist Party of Norway in 1970.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peder Furubotn</span> Norwegian cabinetmaker, politician and resistance member

Peder Furubotn was a Norwegian cabinetmaker, politician for the Communist Party and resistance member during World War II.

The Osvald Group was a Norwegian organisation that was the most active World War II resistance group in Norway from 1941 to the summer of 1944. Numbering more than 200 members, it committed at least 110 acts of sabotage against Nazi occupying forces and the collaborationist government of Vidkun Quisling. The organisation is perhaps best known for conducting the first act of resistance against the German occupation of Norway, when on 2 February 1942, it detonated a bomb at Oslo East Station in protest against Quisling's inauguration as Minister-President.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Axel Otto Normann</span> Norwegian journalist and theatre director (1884–1962)

Axel Otto Normann was a Norwegian journalist, newspaper editor, theatre critic and theatre director.

Christian A. R. Christensen was a Norwegian newspaper editor. He is known for his work in the Norwegian resistance movement, as editor of Verdens Gang and as a historical writer. He also helped shape the Ethical Code of Practice for the Norwegian Press.

Bulletinen was an underground newspaper in Norway during World War II. Its first issue came in November 1940, and the publication continued until the end of the war. The name Bulletinen was adapted in November 1944. It was edited by central persons of the civil resistance in Norway, such as members of "Koordinasjonskomiteen" and "Kretsen" Jan Birger Jansen and Tore Gjelsvik.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quisling regime</span> Collaborationist government of Norway (1942–45)

The Quisling regime, or Quisling government are common names used to refer to the fascist collaboration government led by Vidkun Quisling in German-occupied Norway during the Second World War. The official name of the regime from 1 February 1942 until its dissolution in May 1945 was Den nasjonale regjering. Actual executive power was retained by the Reichskommissariat Norwegen, headed by Josef Terboven.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Helge Krog</span> Norwegian journalist and playwright (1889–1962)

Helge Krog was a Norwegian journalist, essayist, theatre and literary critic, translator and playwright.

Arne Laudal was a Norwegian military officer, Milorg pioneer and resistance fighter during World War II. He was arrested by the Germans, sentenced to death and executed.

Roald Rachlew Dysthe was a Norwegian businessperson and acquitted Nazi collaborator.

Operation Blumenpflücken was a counter-resistance operation in occupied Norway, planned and carried out by the Gestapo/Sicherheitspolizei in 1944 and early 1945.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roald Halvorsen</span> Norwegian politician

Roald Halvorsen was a Norwegian typographer, Communist Party politician and resistance member from World War II.

The milk strike was a strike in Nazi-occupied Oslo on 8 and 9 September 1941. It led to strong reprisals from the German occupiers, in the form of martial law, court-martial, mass arrests, two executions and several long-term jail sentences.

Odd Fossum was a Norwegian shop assistant, and leader of the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions from 1941 to 1945, under the Nazi regime during the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany. He was also the leader of NS Faggruppeorganisasjon from 12 October 1940 to September 1944, when he was succeeded by Olav M. Hoff.

Ørnulf Egge was a Norwegian politician for the Workers' Youth League and Communist Party and resistance member during World War II.

Arne Taraldsen was a Norwegian artist and resistance member during the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany. He started his drawing career with underground publications during World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Thingstad</span> Norwegian sports official and communist resistance member

Henry Thingstad was a Norwegian sports official and communist resistance member.

Aksel Henry Hansson was a Norwegian resistance member.

The theatre strike in Norway in 1941 was a conflict between Norwegian actors and Nazi authorities, during the German occupation of the country. The strike involved theatres in the cities of Oslo, Bergen and Trondheim. The strike started on 21 May 1941, as a response to the revocation of working permits for six actors, after they had refused to perform in the Nazified radio. It lasted for five weeks.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Kraglund, Ivar (1995). "Almenrausch". In Dahl, Hans Fredrik (ed.). Norsk krigsleksikon 1940-45 . Oslo: Cappelen. Archived from the original on 21 August 2011. Retrieved 1 November 2010.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Norwegian Official Report 1998:12
  3. ↑ Dahl, Hans Fredrik (1995). "Halvorsen, Roald". In Dahl, Hans Fredrik (ed.). Norsk krigsleksikon 1940-45 . Oslo: Cappelen. Archived from the original on 15 March 2012. Retrieved 1 November 2010.
  4. ↑ Titlestad, Torgrim (1977). I kamp, i krig. Peder Furubotn 1942 1945 (in Norwegian). Oslo: Gyldendal. pp. 64–71. ISBN   82-05-09295-8.
  5. ↑ Stølen, Oddvar (1969). "Arne Taraldsen: Mannen med maskingeværet". Ett minutt av krigen (in Norwegian). Oslo: Tiden. pp. 61–68.
  6. ↑ Stølen, Oddvar (1969). "Einar Støreng: Tortur". Ett minutt av krigen (in Norwegian). Oslo: Tiden. pp. 69–75.
  7. ↑ Aalen, Kristin (21 January 2009). "– Mindre kjente motstandsfolk ties ihjel". Stavanger Aftenblad (in Norwegian). Archived from the original on 22 February 2013. Retrieved 3 November 2010.
  8. ↑ "Heddaprisen 2009". Association of Norwegian Theatres and Orchestras . Retrieved 7 November 2010.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.