Map of Europe before occupation
Map of Europe after occupation
A look at the coastline of Germany shows how little access Hitler's navy had to the Atlantic. This was one of the main reasons he invaded Norway. From their coast he could attack cargo ships bringing food supplies to Britain. One of his famous destroyers, the Tirpitz, avoided bombing reprisals for attacking the food convoys by hiding in one of the deep Norwegian fiords there for more than a year. Listening to the wireless in my story, Rory and his friends hear about this.
Of course, the cargoes being brought to Britain were things like rice and sugar which we can't grow here. Lord Wooton, a clever man,sorted out how much a working man could live on and decided that everyone would have that equal share of what food was available. All of us had a ration book
A look at the map again will show that towns in the North of Scotland are nearer to Norway than to London.
Before the war, Norwegian fishermen often used the Shetland fish market for their catch. When the Germans invaded many left Norway for Scottish ports while still fishing in the North Sea.
Hearing this, our Special Operations Executive suggested they might secretly carry supplies of arms to the Norwegian Resistance. Many agreed and also brought back refugees from the Nazi regime.
Two of these boats sailed from our harbour it was however all done in secret and it was not until after the war that we discovered they'd had this side line.
Other secrets concerned actual spies. For some reason, the remote Moray coastline was chosen as a good place to drop off spies.
Three that were dropped by a flying boat at Port Soy were captured immediately, their English was so poor. Not long after, two more landed. They however went directly to the Police Station.
"We are Norwegian" they said "We want to work for you, not the Germans, so we're offering to be double agents."
When I talk to schools, they love the fact that these two chose the cover names, Mut and Jeff.
Later they were able to send messages to misdirect Hitler into thinking military manoeuvres on our village beaches were preparation for D-Day type landings on Norway.
Not all the secret goings on in our area were related to the Germans. Some were to do with the Black Market. The idea of rationing was that everyone could have enough to eat even if some people had money to buy more than their share.
Rather like smugglers in the olden days Gangs would come around offering items provided one could pay for them. Tins of Butter stolen from the RAF catering store appear in the story. Everyone knew they were illegal as the tins were marked with the Government's Arrowhead mark.
Anyone who writes needs to read to make sure they have all their facts right and check all around their subject.
There have been many films made about similar events that happened during World War II, here are links to more information about 3 films that I have watched and thoroughly enjoyed:
Suicide Mission
(1954)
"Shetlandsgjengen", which translates as "the Shetland-gang", relates the true story of the illegal traffic across the North Sea
from German occupied Norway to Shetland during World War II. A small group of Norwegian sailors loosely connected to the British
navy take refugees from Norway to Shetland in small fishing-boats, equipped only with low-caliber weapons to protect themselves
from German airplanes and patrol-boats. The film is closely based on real events, and many of the members of the gang, including
the leader, called "Shetlands-Larsen" play themselves.
Director: Michael Forlong
Stars: Leif Larsen, Palmar Bjørnøy, Anthony Oliver
Operation Crossbow
(1965)
"Allied agents attempt to infiltrate the Nazis' rocket research site.
Director: Michael Anderson
Stars: Sophia Loren, George Peppard, Trevor Howard
The Heroes of Telemark
(1965)
Norwegian resistance tries to stop German efforts to produce an atomic bomb component during World War II.
Director: Anthony Mann
Stars: Kirk Douglas, Richard Harris, Ulla Jacobsson
As I was only five when the war ended, I had to do a lot of research to make sure the background facts for my books were right.
I also visited museums like the London Imperial Museum where I checked out the surprisingly enormous size of tanks that appear in the story.
At Brooklands Museum I stood amazed at the equally enormous size of the Lancaster bomber the boys see in the RAF Hangar.
For background about the type of wooden go cart the boys make in the book I made a card board model that I take to schools.
You can also watch soapbox darbys on TV where people still race down-hill for fun in homemade karts with no engines.