1.
Norway
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The Antarctic Peter I Island and the sub-Antarctic Bouvet Island are dependent territories and thus not considered part of the Kingdom. Norway also lays claim to a section of Antarctica known as Queen Maud Land, until 1814, the kingdom included the Faroe Islands, Greenland, and Iceland. It also included Isle of Man until 1266, Shetland and Orkney until 1468, Norway has a total area of 385,252 square kilometres and a population of 5,258,317. The country shares a long border with Sweden. Norway is bordered by Finland and Russia to the north-east, Norway has an extensive coastline, facing the North Atlantic Ocean and the Barents Sea. King Harald V of the Dano-German House of Glücksburg is the current King of Norway, erna Solberg became Prime Minister in 2013, replacing Jens Stoltenberg. A constitutional monarchy, Norway divides state power between the Parliament, the Cabinet and the Supreme Court, as determined by the 1814 Constitution, the kingdom is established as a merger of several petty kingdoms. By the traditional count from the year 872, the kingdom has existed continuously for 1,144 years, Norway has both administrative and political subdivisions on two levels, counties and municipalities. The Sámi people have an amount of self-determination and influence over traditional territories through the Sámi Parliament. Norway maintains close ties with the European Union and the United States, the country maintains a combination of market economy and a Nordic welfare model with universal health care and a comprehensive social security system. Norway has extensive reserves of petroleum, natural gas, minerals, lumber, seafood, the petroleum industry accounts for around a quarter of the countrys gross domestic product. On a per-capita basis, Norway is the worlds largest producer of oil, the country has the fourth-highest per capita income in the world on the World Bank and IMF lists. On the CIAs GDP per capita list which includes territories and some regions, from 2001 to 2006, and then again from 2009 to 2017, Norway had the highest Human Development Index ranking in the world. It also has the highest inequality-adjusted ranking, Norway ranks first on the World Happiness Report, the OECD Better Life Index, the Index of Public Integrity and the Democracy Index. Norway has two names, Noreg in Nynorsk and Norge in Bokmål. The name Norway comes from the Old English word Norðrveg mentioned in 880, meaning way or way leading to the north. In contrasting with suðrvegar southern way for Germany, and austrvegr eastern way for the Baltic, the Anglo-Saxon of Britain also referred to the kingdom of Norway in 880 as Norðmanna land. This was the area of Harald Fairhair, the first king of Norway, and because of him
2.
1943 in Norway
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Events in the year 1943 in Norway. The 39 men aboard as well as six Special Operations Executive agents are killed in the sinking, the wreck of the submarine was only discovered in 1985. 22 February - The collaborationist Quisling regime approves the Lov om nasjonal arbeidsinnsats according to all men between ages 18–55 and all women between ages 21–40, are required to enlist. 24 February -158 Norwegian Jews are deported from Norway to German extermination camps,28 February - Operation Gunnerside, Six Norwegian SOE agents led by Joachim Rønneberg successfully attack the heavy water plant at Vemork. 24 July - An allied air raid destroys the aluminium and magnesium plants in Herøya being built by Norsk Hydro in cooperation with Luftwaffe-operated Nordische Aluminium Aktiengesellschaft. 28 July - MTB345, a torpedo boat operated by the exiled Royal Norwegian Navy, is captured by the Germans off Western Norway. 30 September - the sinking of the Hurtigruten passenger ship Sanct Svithun by Allied aircraft leads to protests from the Norwegian resistance movement. 16 November -160 American bombers strike a hydro-electric power facility and heavy water factory in Vemork,26 December – the German battleship Scharnhorst is sunk off of Norways North Cape after a battle against major Royal Navy forces. Kydland, economist 3 December - Ingmar Ljones, politician 5 December - Eva Joly, magistrate in France 6 December - Mette Ravn, diplomat 7 December – Per Fugelli, professor of medicine
3.
1942 in Norway
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Events in the year 1942 in Norway. 12 February - Vidkun Quisling meets Adolf Hitler,13 March - Vidkun Quisling restored the so-called Jewish paragraph of the Norwegian Constitution which forbade Jews to enter or settle in Norway. This paragraph was in force until 1945, Quisling was convicted after the war on illegal amendment of the Constitution. 15 April - About 500 Norwegian teachers are sent to forced labour in Kirkenes,25 September - Allied bombers tried to bomb the Victoria Terrasse building in Oslo, which was used as the Gestapo headquarters, but missed the target and instead hit civilian targets. 6 October - Martial law is declared in Trondheim, During this time,34 Norwegians were murdered by extrajudicial execution, see the Holocaust in Norway for more. 17 September - The prime minister Vidkun Quisling reintroduces the death penalty 24 November - All Norwegian Jewish women and children are arrested,26 November -548 Norwegian Jewish men, women and children are transported on the ship SS Donau to Stettin. And from there they were taken by train to Auschwitz concentration camp. Only eight of those deported on the SS Donau survived, bull, diplomat 24 September - Leif Lund, politician 25 September – Ragnar Pedersen, illustrator, magazine editor and revue writer
4.
1945 in Norway
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Events in the year 1945 in Norway. 9 February -29 Norwegians were executed by the Nazi regime in Norway as reprisal of Marthinsens death, among others Jon Vislie, Kaare Sundby and Haakon Sæthre. The extent and severity of the reprisals shocked the Norwegian population and government-in-exile,9 February - Black Friday, a large air battle between German and British aircraft over Sunnfjord. It was the largest aerial clash over Norway during World War II,7 May - Knut Hamsun released his obituary of Adolf Hitler. 8 May - The occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany ended as German forces agreed to an unconditional surrender,8 May - Grini concentration camp was liberated, only to be used later for treason suspects under the name Ilebu. 8 May - Josef Terboven and Wilhelm Rediess committed suicide,9 May - Vidkun Quisling was arrested. 11 May - Sverre Riisnæs gave up his entrenchment at Skallum farm, jonas Lie died during the entrenchment. 11 May - Akershus Fortress surrendered by the Germans to Terje Rollem acting on behalf of the resistance,13 May - Heinrich Fehlis was arrested and committed suicide. 14 May - Henry Rinnan was arrested,31 May - Government returned from exile in London. 6 June - King Haakon VII of Norway returned to Norway,14 June - Knut Hamsun was apprehended. 20 June - Paal Berg gave up plans to form a broad,25 June - Prime Minister Johan Nygaardsvold resigned as Haakon VII appointed Einar Gerhardsen to head an interim government composed of all political parties. 6 July - Norway declares war on Japan,25 July – Gerhardsens First Cabinet was appointed. 17 August - Reidar Haaland was executed,8 October - The 1945 Parliamentary election takes place. 24 October - Vidkun Quisling was executed by firing squad at Akershus Fortress,5 November – Gerhardsens Second Cabinet was appointed. 24 December - Henry Rinnan escaped from prison, only to be apprehended later, IG Farben was the largest stock-holder in Norsk Hydro. The two companies first formed a partnership in 1927. The newspaper Verdens Gang was founded, the periodical Kvinnen og Tiden is founded. Municipal and county elections are held throughout the country
5.
1947 in Norway
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Events in the year 1947 in Norway. 28 August - Kvitbjørn disaster, A flying boat of type Short Sandringham named Kvitbjørn crashes into a mountain near Lødingen in Norway, owned by Norsk Hydro between 1912 and 1918, the artificial fertilizer production at Glomfjord is leased back to Hydro by the Norwegian government. This activity is today Yara International, Hydro also buys the power plant. Municipal and county elections are held throughout the country, the Norwegian Writers for Children association is founded
6.
Haakon VII of Norway
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Haakon VII, known as Prince Carl of Denmark until 1905, was a Danish prince who became the first king of Norway after the 1905 dissolution of the union with Sweden. He reigned from November 1905 until his death in September 1957, as one of the few elected monarchs, Haakon quickly won the respect and affection of his people. He played a role in uniting the Norwegian nation in its resistance to the Nazi invasion. He became King of Norway before his father and older brother became kings of Denmark, during his reign, he saw his father, his brother and his nephew, Frederick IX, ascend the throne of Denmark, respectively in 1906,1912 and 1947. He died at the age of 85 on 21 September 1957 and he was succeeded by his only son, Olav V. Prince Carl of Denmark was the son of King Frederik VIII of Denmark. Furthermore, he was a brother of Christian X, a paternal grandson of King Christian IX of Denmark. Prince Carl was born at Charlottenlund Palace near Copenhagen and he belonged to the Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg branch of the House of Oldenburg. The House of Oldenburg had been the Danish royal family since 1448, the house was originally from northern Germany, where the Glucksburg branch held their small fief. The family had permanent links with Norway beginning from the late Middle Ages, several of his paternal ancestors had been kings of independent Norway. Christian Frederick, who was King of Norway briefly in 1814, Prince Carl was raised in the royal household in Copenhagen and educated at the Royal Danish Naval Academy. Their son, Prince Alexander, the future Crown Prince Olav, was born on 2 July 1903, gradually, Prince Carl became the leading candidate, largely because he was descended from independent Norwegian kings. The new royal family of Norway left Denmark on the Danish royal yacht Dannebrog, at Oscarsborg Fortress, they boarded the Norwegian naval ship Heimdal. After a three-day journey, they arrived in Kristiania early on the morning of 25 November 1905, two days later, Haakon took the oath as Norways first independent king in 518 years. The coronation of Haakon and Maud took place in Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim on 22 June 1906, King Haakon gained much sympathy from the Norwegian people. Although the Constitution of Norway vests the King with considerable executive powers, Haakon confined himself to non-partisan roles without interfering in politics, a practice continued by his son and grandson. However, his long rule gave him moral authority as a symbol of the countrys unity. Haakon, Maud and Crown Prince Olav became interested in skiing and this sport is often viewed as typically Norwegian
7.
Johan Nygaardsvold
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Johan Nygaardsvold was a Norwegian politician from the Labour Party. He was Prime Minister of Norway from 1935 to 1945, as head of the cabinet Nygaardsvold, Nygaardsvold was born in Hommelvik, the main center of the municipality of Malvik in the county of Sør-Trøndelag to a tenant farmer and his wife. His father was a member of the first labor union in the area. Nygaardsvold emigrated to Canada in 1902, where he took the name John Westby, in 1910, he was elected to the board of education for the Labour Party, and rose quickly through the ranks in local politics. In 1916, he was elected to the Norwegian parliament for the first time and he worked as a laborer in the Swedish lumber industry during the summers in the first few years. From 1920 to 1922 he served as the mayor for his town of Malvik. In 1928, Nygaardsvold was appointed minister of agriculture in the short-lived Christopher Hornsrud cabinet, from 11 January 1934 to 20 March 1935 he served as President of the Storting. In 1935, Nygaardsvold was asked to form a government and he served as prime minister until the Nazi Germany attack on Norway 9 April 1940, when the government fled to London. He retired from politics in 1949 and died of cancer in 1952, a number of progressive reforms were instituted during Nygaardsvolds time as prime minister. ”Known as Gubben in his time, Nygaardsvold had immense popular appeal and was given credit for the Labour Partys election results in 1933. Nygaardsvold was the minister in the second Labour Party cabinet in Norway. He was awarded a salary for his service in exile. Nygaardsvold announced in 1942 that he would resign as soon as the war ended, which he did
8.
Labour Party (Norway)
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The Labour Party, formerly the Norwegian Labour Party, is a social-democratic political party in Norway. It was formerly the senior partner of the governing Red-Green Coalition, the party is currently led by Jonas Gahr Støre. The Labour Party is officially committed to social-democratic ideals and its slogan since the 1930s has been everyone shall take part, and the party traditionally seeks a strong welfare state, funded through taxes and duties. During the first Stoltenberg government, the policies were inspired by Tony Blairs New Labour. The party has frequently described as increasingly neoliberal since the 1980s. The Labour Party profiles itself as a party that subscribes to cooperation on a national as well as international level. Its youth wing is the Workers Youth League, the party is a full member of the Party of European Socialists and Progressive Alliance, and is an observer member of the Socialist International. The Labour Party has always been a supporter of Norways NATO membership and has supported Norwegian membership in the European Union during two referendums. Founded in 1887, the party increased in support until it became the largest party in Norway in 1927. This year also saw the consolidation of surrounding the party during the 1920s following its membership in the Comintern from 1919 to 1923. It formed its first government in 1928, and has led the government for all but 16 years since 1935, from 1945 to 1961, the party had an absolute majority in the Norwegian parliament, the only time this has ever happened in Norwegian history. The domination by the Labour Party, during the 1960s and early 1970s, was broken by competition from the left. From the end of the 1970s however, the party started to lose voters to the right, in 2001 the party achieved its worst electoral results since 1924. Between 2005 and 2013, Labour returned to power after committing to an agreement with other parties in order to form a majority government. Since losing 9 seats in the 2013 election, Labour has been in opposition, the party was founded in 1887 in Arendal and first ran in elections to the Parliament of Norway in 1894. It entered Parliament in 1904 after the 1903 election, and steadily increased its vote until 1927, the party were members of Comintern, a Communist organisation, between 1918 and 1923. From the establishment of Vort Arbeide in 1884, the party had a growing and notable organisation of newspapers, the party press system eventually resulted in Norsk Arbeiderpresse. In January 1913 the party had 24 newspapers, and 6 more newspapers were founded in 1913, the party also had the periodical Det 20de Aarhundre
9.
Reichskommissar
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Reichskommissar, in German history, was an official gubernatorial title used for various public offices during the period of the German Empire and the Nazi Third Reich. In the unified Deutsches Reich, Reichskommissars were appointed to oversee special tasks, for instance, there was a Reichskommisar for emigration in Hamburg. On 17 July 1941, the Reichskommissariat Ostland was established, soon uniting German-occupied Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, Ostland was organized into four General Districts, only the capital city of Riga was directly administered by the Reichskommissar für das Ostland
10.
Josef Terboven
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Josef Antonius Heinrich Terboven was a Nazi leader, best known as the Reichskommissar for Norway during the German occupation of Norway and the Quisling regime. Terboven was born in Essen, Germany, as the son of landed gentry of Dutch descent. He served in the German field artillery and nascent air force in World War I and was awarded the Iron Cross and he studied law and political science at the universities of Munich and Freiburg, where he first got involved in politics. Dropping out of the university in 1923, Terboven joined the NSDAP with member number 25247, when the NSDAP was subsequently outlawed, he found work at a bank for a few years before he was laid off in 1925. He then went to work full-time for the Nazi party, Terboven helped establish the party in Essen and became Gauleiter there in 1928. From 1925 on he was part of the Sturmabteilung, in which he reached the rank of Obergruppenführer by 1936, on 29 June 1934, Terboven married Ilse Stahl, Joseph Goebbels former secretary and mistress. Adolf Hitler was the guest of honour at the wedding, Terboven was made Oberpräsident der Rheinprovinz in 1935 and developed a reputation as a petty and ruthless tyrant. Terboven was made Reichskommissar for Norway on 24 April 1940, even before the invasion was completed on 7 June 1940. He moved into the Norwegian crown princes residence at Skaugum in September 1940, Terboven only had supervisory authority over the civilian administration in Norway. The German civilian administration did not rule Norway directly, however, daily affairs were managed by the existing Norwegian state administration, headed by an acting cabinet and then by the Quisling cabinet. From 1941, he focused on crushing the irregular military resistance against the Germans, declaring martial law in Trondheim in 1942. Goebbels expressed annoyance in his diary about what he called Terbovens bullying tactics against the Norwegians, Terboven nevertheless remained in ultimate charge of Norway until the end of the war in 1945, even after the proclamation of a Norwegian puppet regime under Vidkun Quisling, the Quisling government. On 18 December 1944, Falkenhorst was dismissed from his command for opposing certain radical policies of Terboven, as the tide of the war turned against Germany, Terbovens personal aspiration was to organise a Fortress Norway for the Nazi regimes last stand. Terboven also planned concentration camps in Norway, establishing Falstad concentration camp near Levanger, on 18 July 1942 the Beisfjord massacre occurred. Terboven ordered the massacre a few days earlier, in July 1942 at least one German guard employed by the Korgen prison camp was killed. With the announcement of Germanys surrender, Terboven committed suicide on 8 May 1945 by detonating 50 kg of dynamite in a bunker on the Skaugum compound. He died alongside the body of Obergruppenführer Wilhelm Rediess, SS and Police Leader and commander of all SS troops in Norway, in the 1965 film The Heroes of Telemark, Josef Terboven was played by English actor Eric Porter. WorldStatesmen- here Norway Biography from Deutsches Historisches Museum Biography from Historisches Centrum Hagen
11.
Quisling regime
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The Quisling regime or Quisling government are common names used to refer to the collaborationist government led by Vidkun Quisling in occupied Norway during the Second World War. The official name of the regime from 1 February 1942 until its dissolution in May 1945 was Nasjonale regjering, actual executive power was detained by the Reichskommissariat Norwegen, headed by Josef Terboven. Vidkun Quisling, Fører of the Nasjonal Samling party, had first tried to out a coup against the Norwegian government on 9 April 1940. At 7,32 p. m. Quisling visited the studios of the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation and made a radio broadcast proclaiming himself Prime Minister and he announced that he and Nasjonal Samling were taking power due to Nygaardsvolds Cabinet having raised armed resistance and promptly fled. He further declared that in the present situation it was the duty, Quisling claimed that the Nygaardsvold Cabinet had given up power despite that it had only moved to Elverum, some 50 km from Oslo, and was carrying out negotiations with the Germans. The next day, German ambassador Curt Bräuer traveled to Elverum and demanded King Haakon VII, however, Haakon told the Cabinet that he could not in good conscience appoint Quisling as prime minister, and would abdicate rather than appoint a government headed by him. By this time, news of Quislings attempted coup had reached Elverum, negotiations promptly collapsed, and the government unanimously advised Haakon not to appoint Quisling as prime minister. Quisling tried to have the Nygaardsvold Cabinet arrested, but the officer he instructed to carry out the arrest ignored the warrant, attempts at gaining control over the police force in Oslo by issuing orders to the chief of police Kristian Welhaven also failed. The coup failed after six days, despite German support for the first three days, and Quisling had to step aside in the parts of Norway in favour of the Administrative Council. Terboven then appointed a group of 11 kommissariske statsråder from Nasjonal Samling to help him in governing Norway. Although the provisional councillors of state did not form a government, Vidkun Quisling was made the political head of the councillors and all members of Nasjonal Samling had to swear a personal oath of allegiance to him. Most of the councillors worked diligently at introducing Nasjonal Samling ideals, the provisional councillors of state were intended as a temporary system while Nasjonal Samling built up its organization in preparation to assume full governmental powers. On 25 September 1941, the anniversary of the councillors. With the establishment of Quislings national government, Quisling, as minister-president, in 1942, after two years of direct civilian administration by the Germans, he was finally put in charge of a collaborationist government, which was officially proclaimed on 1 February 1942. The official name of the government was Den nasjonale regjering, the Quisling government was instead given the role of an occupying authority with wide-ranging authorisations. Quisling himself viewed the creation of his government as a step on the road towards the complete independence of Norway. Although having only temporarily assumed the Kings authority, Quisling still made efforts to distance his regime from the exiled monarchy. After Quisling moved into the Royal Palace he took back into use the seal of Norway
12.
Minister-president
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It is an alternative term for prime minister, premier, chief minister or first minister, and very similar to the title of President of the Council. The German word Ministerpräsident means president of the ministers, from 1867 to 1918, the first minister of the government was known as Ministerpräsident, before that Staatskanzler. Today the head of the Austrian Federal Government is called the Bundeskanzler, while the head of a government is called the Landeshauptmann. See, List of Ministers-President of Austria, according to the Belgian constitution, the federal prime minister is appointed by the king, and approved by the federal parliament with a vote of confidence. The federal ministers later swear an oath of allegiance to the king, the ministers-president of the regions and linguistic communities are not appointed by the king, but are directly appointed by their respective parliament. Ministers of the regions and linguistic communities are not required to swear allegiance to the king, state and more closely to the premier of an Australian state or Canadian province. The feminine form Ministerpräsidentin may be used to refer to female office-holders, the constitutional position of a minister-president is comparable to the one of chancellor at the federal level. Ministers-president of the German states are elected by their respective parliaments and appoint ministers in their respective states. Along with several of their ministers, they represent their state in the Bundesrat or abroad. By virtue of their position in the Bundesrat, they can exert influence on national politics within the federal structure. The office of the minister-president is called Staatskanzlei in all non-city-states except Baden-Württemberg, despite this difference in terminology, however, the heads of government of these city-states hold the same power and position as the ministers-president of the other German states. In the Netherlands the prime minister is referred to as minister-president. His responsibilities are defined in the constitution of 1848, the title of minister-president has been in official use since 1945. In Norway, Vidkun Quisling, head of the collaborationist government from 1942 to 1945 during the German occupation in World War II, held the title of Minister-President. In Spain, the head of government is known as presidente del gobierno or President of the Government but in English, he is more commonly referred to as the prime minister
13.
Vidkun Quisling
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Quisling first came to international prominence as a close collaborator of Fridtjof Nansen, organizing humanitarian relief during the Russian famine of 1921 in Povolzhye. He was posted as a Norwegian diplomat to the Soviet Union and he returned to Norway in 1929, and served as Minister of Defence in the governments of Peder Kolstad and Jens Hundseid, representing the Farmers Party. Although Quisling achieved some popularity after his attacks on the political left, from 1942 to 1945 he served as Minister-President, heading the Norwegian state administration jointly with the German civilian administrator Josef Terboven. His pro-Nazi puppet government, known as the Quisling regime, was dominated by ministers from Nasjonal Samling, the collaborationist government participated in Germanys genocidal Final Solution. He was executed by firing squad at Akershus Fortress, Oslo, the word quisling has since become a synonym for collaborator or traitor, reflecting the very poor light in which Quislings actions were seen, both at the time and since his death. Vidkun Abraham Lauritz Jonssøn Quisling was born on 18 July 1887 in Fyresdal, the elder Quisling had lectured in Grimstad in the 1870s, one of his pupils was Bang, whom he married on 28 May 1886, following a long engagement. The newly-wed couple promptly moved to Fyresdal, where Vidkun and his siblings were born. The family name derives from Quislinus, a Latinised name invented by Quislings ancestor Lauritz Ibsen Quislin, based on the village of Kvislemark in Jutland, Denmark, whence he had emigrated. Having two brothers and a sister, the young Quisling was shy and quiet but also loyal and helpful, private letters later found by historians also indicate a warm and affectionate relationship between the family members. From 1893 to 1900, his father was a chaplain for the Strømsø borough in Drammen, here, Vidkun went to school for the first time. He was bullied by students at the school for his Telemark dialect. In 1900, the moved to Skien when his father was appointed provost of the city. Academically Quisling proved talented in humanities, particularly history, and natural sciences, at this point, however, his life had no clear direction. In 1905, Quisling enrolled at the Norwegian Military Academy, having received the highest entrance examination score of the 250 applicants that year. Transferring in 1906 to the Norwegian Military College, he graduated with the highest score since the inception in 1817. On 1 November 1911, he joined the army General Staff, Norway was neutral in the First World War, Quisling detested the peace movement, though the high human cost of the war did temper his views. In March 1918, he was sent to Russia as an attaché at the Norwegian legation in Petrograd, when the legation was recalled in December 1918, Quisling became the Norwegian militarys expert on Russian affairs. In September 1919, Quisling departed Norway to become an officer with the Norwegian delegation in Helsinki
14.
Nasjonal Samling
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Nasjonal Samling, abbreviated NS, was a Norwegian fascist party active from 1933 to 1945. The party celebrated its founding on 17 May, Norways national holiday, the party never gained direct political influence, but it made its mark on Norwegian politics nonetheless. Despite the fact that it never managed to get more than 2. 5% of the vote and failed to even one candidate to the Storting. The established parties in Norway viewed it as a Norwegian version of the German Nazis, several of its marches and rallies before the war were either banned, or marred by violence when communists and socialists clashed with the Hird. A significant trait of the party throughout its existence was a high level of internal conflict. Antisemitism, anti-Masonry, and differing views on religion, as well as the association with the Nazis and Germany were hotly debated. By the time the Second World War broke out, the party had been reduced to a sect with hardly any real activity. Strong belief in Norse Paganism, Romantic nationalism, authoritarianism, republicanism and corporatism dominated NS ideology and it also relied heavily on Nordic symbolism, using Vikings, pre-Christian religion and runes in its propaganda and speeches. It asserted that its symbol, a sun cross on a red background, had been the symbol of St. Olaf. However, King Haakon VII, in unoccupied territory along with the legitimate government, the existing government refused to step down in Quislings favour or serve under him, and confirmed that resistance was to be continued. With no popular support, the German forces of occupation quickly thrust Quisling aside, in April 1940 the party probably only had a few hundred members, but membership rose to 22,000 in December the same year, and peaked with 43,400 in November 1943. After a brief period with a caretaker government appointed by the Supreme Court. He appointed a government responsible to himself, with most ministers from the ranks of Nasjonal Samling, the NS administration had a certain amount of autonomy in purely civilian matters, but it was in reality controlled by the Reichskommissar as head of state, subordinate only to Adolf Hitler. The post-war authorities proscribed the party and prosecuted its members as collaborators, nearly 50,000 were brought to trial, approximately half of whom received prison sentences. The authorities executed Quisling for treason as well as a few other high-profile NS members, another issue of post-war treatment has been the ongoing Hamsun debate in Norway. The internationally renowned author Knut Hamsun, although never a member, was a well-known NS sympathiser, after the war, Hamsun was, however, deemed mentally unfit to stand trial, and the issue of his links to the party has never been properly resolved
15.
German battleship Tirpitz
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Tirpitz was the second of two Bismarck-class battleships built for Nazi Germanys Kriegsmarine during World War II. Work was completed in February 1941, when she was commissioned into the German fleet, like her sister ship Bismarck, Tirpitz was armed with a main battery of eight 38-centimetre guns in four twin turrets. After a series of wartime modifications she was 2,000 tonnes heavier than Bismarck, after completing sea trials in early 1941, Tirpitz briefly served as the centrepiece of the Baltic Fleet, which was intended to prevent a possible break-out attempt by the Soviet Baltic Fleet. In early 1942, the sailed to Norway to act as a deterrent against an Allied invasion. While stationed in Norway, Tirpitz was also intended to be used to intercept Allied convoys to the Soviet Union and this was the only feasible role for her, since the St Nazaire Raid had made operations against the Atlantic convoy lanes too risky. Tirpitz acted as a fleet in being, forcing the British Royal Navy to retain significant naval forces in the area to contain the battleship. In September 1943, Tirpitz, along with the battleship Scharnhorst, bombarded Allied positions on Spitzbergen, shortly thereafter, the ship was damaged in an attack by British mini-submarines and subsequently subjected to a series of large-scale air raids. On 12 November 1944, British Lancaster bombers equipped with 12, a deck fire spread to the ammunition magazine for one of the main battery turrets, which caused a large explosion. Figures for the number of men killed in the range from 950 to 1,204. Between 1948 and 1957 the wreck was broken up by a joint Norwegian and German salvage operation, Tirpitz was ordered as Ersatz Schleswig-Holstein as a replacement for the old pre-dreadnought Schleswig-Holstein, under the contract name G. The Kriegsmarinewerft shipyard in Wilhelmshaven was awarded the contract, where the keel was laid on 20 October 1936, the hull was launched on 1 April 1939, during the elaborate ceremonies, the ship was christened by the daughter of Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz, the ships namesake. Adolf von Trotha, an admiral in the Imperial German Navy, spoke at the ships launching. Fitting-out work followed her launch, and was completed by February 1941, British bombers repeatedly attacked the harbour in which the ship was being built, no bombs struck Tirpitz, but the attacks did slow construction work. Tirpitz was commissioned into the fleet on 25 February for sea trials, Tirpitz displaced 42,900 t as built and 52,600 tonnes fully loaded, with a length of 251 m, a beam of 36 m and a maximum draft of 10.60 m. Her standard crew numbered 103 officers and 1,962 enlisted men, as built, Tirpitz was equipped with Model 23 search radars mounted on the forward, foretop, and rear rangefinders. These were later replaced with Model 27 and then Model 26 radars, a Model 30 radar, known as the Hohentwiel, was mounted in 1944 in her topmast, and a Model 213 Würzburg fire-control radar was added on her stern 10.5 cm Flak rangefinders. She was armed with eight 38 cm SK C/34 L/52 guns arranged in four gun turrets. Her secondary armament consisted of twelve 15 cm L/55 guns, sixteen 10.5 cm L/65 and sixteen 3.7 cm L/83, the number of 2 cm guns was eventually increased to 58
16.
Operation Tungsten
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Operation Tungsten was a Second World War Royal Navy air raid that targeted the German battleship Tirpitz. The operation sought to damage or destroy Tirpitz at her base in Kaafjord in the far north of Norway before she could become operational again following a period of repairs. The British decision to strike Kaafjord was motivated by fears that the battleship, upon re-entering service, removing the threat posed by Tirpitz would also allow the Allies to redeploy the capital ships which had to be held in the North Sea to counter her. After four months of training and preparations, the British Home Fleet sailed on 30 March 1944, the raid achieved surprise, and the British aircraft met little opposition. Fifteen bombs hit the battleship, and strafing by fighter aircraft inflicted heavy casualties on her gun crews, four British aircraft and nine airmen were lost during the operation. The German Kriegsmarine decided to repair the battleship, and works were completed by mid-July, the British conducted further carrier raids against Tirpitz between April and August 1944 in the hope of prolonging the period she was out of service, but none was successful. Tirpitz was eventually disabled and then sunk by Royal Air Force heavy bombers in late 1944, the threat Tirpitz had an important influence on British naval strategy during the Second World War. She was commissioned in February 1941 and completed her crew training late that year and these convoys carried large quantities of war material from ports in the UK and Iceland, and were frequently attacked by the German air and naval units stationed in Norway. Tirpitz arrived in Norway in January 1942 and operated from anchorages located in fjords, the British attacked Tirpitz several times during 1942 and 1943. When the battleship sortied to intercept Convoy PQ12 on 6 March 1942 HMS Victorious and these aircraft launched twenty torpedoes at the battleship but all missed. On several occasions during 1942 and 1943 bombers from the Royal Air Force and this attack caused extensive damage to Tirpitz, putting her out of service for six months. Repairs to Tirpitz were carried out using improvised facilities at Kaafjord as it was considered too risky to attempt to move the damaged warship to Germany, instead, equipment and work crews were shipped to the fjord from German ports. On the night of 10/11 February 1944,15 Soviet aircraft attacked the battleship, by 17 March, the repairs to Tirpitzs armament, machinery and hull were complete, but several minor repair tasks were outstanding. During the period the ship was under repair, Scharnhorst, the remaining operational German battleship, was sunk on 26 December during the Battle of the North Cape. Following this engagement the Royal Navy stopped deploying battleships to cover convoys travelling to, by this stage of the war the Allies also had large numbers of anti-submarine and anti-aircraft escort ships available, and were able to assign strong forces to protect all of the Arctic convoys. German submarines operating in the Norwegian Sea were rarely able to evade the convoy escorts, the British Government and Royal Navy were concerned about the threat Tirpitz posed once she re-entered service. Allied intelligence tracked the progress of work on the battleship using decrypted German radio signals, photo reconnaissance flights and it was feared the battleship could sortie and attack convoys in the Norwegian Sea or Atlantic Ocean after the repairs were completed. The need to guard against this possibility would also occupy warships needed to support the invasion of France
17.
Alta, Norway
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Alta is the most populated municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Alta, some of the main villages in the municipality include Kåfjord, Komagfjord, Kvenvik, Langfjordbotn, Leirbotn, Rafsbotn, Talvik, and Tverrelvdalen. The municipality of Alten-Talvig was established on 1 January 1838, on 1 January 1863, the municipality was divided into two, Talvik to the north and Alta to the south. On 1 January 1964, the two municipalities were merged together to form the new, larger municipality of Alta. Prior to the merger, Alta had 6,629 residents, the borders have not changed since that time. The municipality is named after the local Altafjorden. The name possibly comes from the Old Norse which refers to a swan or it is a Norwegianization of the Finnish word which refers to a lowland, prior to 1918, the name was written Alten. The coat-of-arms is from modern times and they were granted on 9 July 1976. The arms show an arrow point on a blue background. The arrow is derived from the findings of quartzite arrow points dating back to the late Stone Age, the quartzite was quarried in the municipality and tools made from it were used all over Northern Norway. The Church of Norway has two parishes within the municipality of Alta and it is part of the Alta deanery in the Diocese of Nord-Hålogaland. The Rock carvings at Alta, dating from c.4200 BC to 500 BC, are on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites, the Komsa culture was named after the Komsa mountain in Alta municipality, where the first archeological remains of this culture were discovered. In the aftermath of the Sami Kautokeino rebellion of 1852, rebel leaders Mons Aslaksen Somby and Aslak Jacobsen Hætta were decapitated at Elvebakken in Alta, on 14 October 1854. During World War II, the German battleship Tirpitz used the Kåfjorden, an arm of Altafjorden, as a harbour, the town Alta was seriously destroyed by fire near the end of the World War II. It was rebuilt in subsequent years, the Altasaken in 1979 made headlines for weeks, as many people demonstrated and used civil disobedience to prevent the building of a dam on the river Altaelva in order to produce hydropower. The dam was built, however, and the river offers good salmon fishing. The king of Norway usually visits the river once in the summer to fish, the urban area made up of Bossekop, Elvebakken, and Bukta, also known collectively as Alta became a town on 1 January 2000. The population has been growing steadily for many years, the municipality is governed by a municipal council of elected representatives, which in turn elect a mayor
18.
ST Voorbode
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The Dutch steam trawler Voorbode was a fishing vessel, until it was confiscated by the Germans during World War II and used for military transport. In April 1944, it was on its way from Oslo to Kirkenes when it faced problems, forcing it to seek repair in Bergen. On April 20 at 8,39, the ship exploded at the quay in the center of Bergen, the force of the explosion caused a water column that was hundreds of metres high, spreading heavy debris. Several ships were thrown on land and Voorbodes anchor was found on the 417-metre-high mountain Sandviksfjellet at 60. 41756°N5. 34043°E /60.41756,5.34043. The Nykirken was among the buildings which were severely damaged, the Germans initially tried to conceal the extent of the catastrophe, probably because it exposed their failure to maintain security regulations. Because the explosion occurred on Adolf Hitlers birthday, there was suspicion of sabotage. Rescue efforts after the event were extensive and have well documented. Archived from the original on 2007-09-30, archived from the original on 2011-08-11
19.
Western Norway
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Western Norway is the region along the Atlantic coast of southern Norway. It consists of the counties Rogaland, Hordaland, Sogn og Fjordane, the region has a population of approximately 1.3 million people. The largest city is Bergen and the second-largest is Stavanger, historically the regions of Agder, Vest-Telemark, Hallingdal, Valdres and northern parts of Gudbrandsdal have been included in Western Norway. Western Norway, as well as parts of historical regions of Norway, shares a common history with Denmark. For example, the Icelandic horse is a relative of the Fjord horse. In early Norse times, people from Western Norway became settlers at the Western Isles in the Northern Atlantic, so that the Orkneys, Shetland, during the Viking age settlements were made at the Hebrides, Man and Ireland proper. In early modern time, Western Norway has had much emigration to the United States, Canada and this applies particularly to the US states of Minnesota, North Dakota, Wisconsin, Montana, and South Dakota. The Icelandic and Faroese people, and many people in the British Isles, are descendants of Norsemen, on the other hand, thousands of Western Norwegians are descendants of Dutch and German traders who arrived in the 16th and the 17th centuries, especially in Bergen. Western Norway has the lowest unemployment rates, lowest crime rates, smallest public sector, fewest people on welfare and it is generally regarded as Norways most functional region. Vestlandet is also the chosen for a future administrative region consisting of two of the four counties, viz. Hordaland and Sogn og Fjordane. The two counties will be re-merged after having split in 1763. Norways history begins on the west coast, particularly in Rogaland, excavations and rock art tells us that it was in Rogaland that the first humans settled in Norway, when the ice retreated after the last ice age ca.10,000 years ago. There are many artifacts from the Stone Age in Rogaland, the preliminary oldest traces of humans are found in a settlement on Galta, Rennesøy, near the ferry terminal Mortavika and Vista on Randaberg. In the beginning there has been sure short visits by people from the south who hunted along the coast and it is thought that people came from Doggerland, the North Sea land area between Denmark and England, which disappeared when the ice retreated and sea levels rose. The people who lived there must now find a new land, some retreated south again, while a few passed the Norwegian Trench in its hunt for deer and the new country. The region includes most of the scope of the old Gulating and these were Sunnmørafylke, Firda County, Sygna County, Hordafylke, Rygjafylke and Egdafylke. Before the millennium, iron was introduced and used in agriculture, in the same period, the kings’ power increased, and large tax claims caused many to seek freedom and fortune abroad. Many emigrated, and looting became a source of income
20.
Bergen
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Bergen, historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Hordaland on the west coast of Norway. At the end of the first quarter of 2016, the population was 278,121. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway, the municipality covers 465 square kilometres and is on the peninsula of Bergenshalvøyen. The city centre and northern neighbourhoods are on Byfjorden, the city fjord, many of the extra-municipal suburbs are on islands. Bergen is the centre of Hordaland and consists of eight boroughs—Arna, Bergenhus, Fana, Fyllingsdalen, Laksevåg, Ytrebygda, Årstad. Trading in Bergen may have started as early as the 1020s, according to tradition, the city was founded in 1070 by king Olav Kyrre, its name was Bjørgvin, the green meadow among the mountains. It served as Norways capital in the 13th century, and from the end of the 13th century became a city of the Hanseatic League. Until 1789, Bergen enjoyed exclusive rights to trade between Northern Norway and abroad and it was the largest city in Norway until the 1830s when it was surpassed by the capital. What remains of the quays, Bryggen, is a World Heritage Site, the city was hit by numerous fires over the years. The Bergen School of Meteorology was developed at the Geophysical Institute beginning in 1917, the Norwegian School of Economics was founded in 1936, from 1831 to 1972, Bergen was its own county. In 1972 the municipality absorbed four surrounding municipalities and became a part of Hordaland county, the city is an international centre for aquaculture, shipping, offshore petroleum industry and subsea technology, and a national centre for higher education, media, tourism and finance. Bergen Port is Norways busiest in both freight and passengers with over 300 cruise ship calls a year bringing nearly a half a million passengers to Bergen, almost half of the passengers are German or British. The citys main team is SK Brann and the citys unique tradition is the buekorps. Natives speak the distinct Bergensk dialect, the city features Bergen Airport, Flesland, Bergen Light Rail, and is the terminus of the Bergen Line. Four large bridges connect Bergen to its suburban municipalities, Bergen is well known for having a mild winter climate, though with a lot of precipitation. In December - March, the difference between Bergen and Oslo can be up to 30 degrees Celsius, despite the fact that both cities are at approximately 60 degrees North. The Gulf Stream keeps the sea relatively warm, considering the latitude, the city of Bergen was traditionally thought to have been founded by king Olav Kyrre, son of Harald Hardråde in 1070 AD, four years after the Viking Age ended with the Battle of Hastings. Modern research has, however, discovered that a settlement was established already during the 1020s or 1030s
21.
Harbor
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A harbor or harbour, or haven, is a body of water where ships, boats and barges seek shelter from stormy weather, or are stored for future use. Ports are often located in harbors, harbors can be natural or artificial. An artificial harbor can have deliberately constructed breakwaters, sea walls, or jettys, or they can be constructed by dredging, in contrast, a natural harbor is surrounded on several sides by prominences of land. Examples of natural harbors include Sydney Harbour, Australia and Trincomalee Harbour in Sri Lanka, artificial harbors are frequently built for use as ports. The oldest artificial harbor known is the Ancient Egyptian site at Wadi al-Jarf, on the Red Sea coast, the largest artificially created harbor is Jebel Ali in Dubai. The Ancient Carthaginians constructed fortified, artificial harbors called cothons, a natural harbor is a landform where a part of a body of water is protected and deep enough to furnish anchorage. Natural harbors have long been of great strategic naval and economic importance, having a protected harbor reduces or eliminates the need for breakwaters as it will result in calmer waves inside the harbor. For harbors near the North and South Poles, being ice-free is an important advantage, the worlds southmost harbor, located at Antarcticas Winter Quarters Bay, is potentially ice-free, depending on the summertime pack ice conditions. Although the worlds busiest port is a hotly contested title, in 2006 the worlds busiest harbor by cargo tonnage was the Port of Shanghai
22.
Red Army
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The Workers and Peasants Red Army was the army and the air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, and after 1922 the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The army was established immediately after the 1917 October Revolution, the Bolsheviks raised an army to oppose the military confederations of their adversaries during the Russian Civil War. The Red Army is credited as being the land force in the Allied victory in the European theatre of World War II. During operations on the Eastern Front, it fought 75%–80% of the German land forces deployed in the war, inflicting the vast majority of all German losses and ultimately capturing the German capital. In September 1917, Vladimir Lenin wrote, There is only one way to prevent the restoration of the police, at the time, the Imperial Russian Army had started to collapse. The Tsarist general Nikolay Dukhonin estimated that there had been 2 million deserters,1.8 million dead,5 million wounded and 2 million prisoners and he estimated the remaining troops as numbering 10 million. Therefore, the Council of Peoples Commissars decided to form the Red Army on 28 January 1918 and they envisioned a body formed from the class-conscious and best elements of the working classes. All citizens of the Russian republic aged 18 or older were eligible, in the event of an entire unit wanting to join the Red Army, a collective guarantee and the affirmative vote of all its members would be necessary. Because the Red Army was composed mainly of peasants, the families of those who served were guaranteed rations, some peasants who remained at home yearned to join the Army, men, along with some women, flooded the recruitment centres. If they were turned away they would collect scrap metal and prepare care-packages, in some cases the money they earned would go towards tanks for the Army. Nikolai Krylenko was the supreme commander-in-chief, with Aleksandr Myasnikyan as deputy, Nikolai Podvoisky became the commissar for war, Pavel Dybenko, commissar for the fleet. Proshyan, Samoisky, Steinberg were also specified as peoples commissars as well as Vladimir Bonch-Bruyevich from the Bureau of Commissars, at a joint meeting of Bolsheviks and Left Socialist-Revolutionaries, held on 22 February 1918, Krylenko remarked, We have no army. The Red Guard units are brushed aside like flies and we have no power to stay the enemy, only an immediate signing of the peace treaty will save us from destruction. This provoked the insurrection of General Alexey Maximovich Kaledins Volunteer Army in the River Don region, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk aggravated Russian internal politics. The situation encouraged direct Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War, a series of engagements resulted, involving, amongst others, the Czechoslovak Legion, the Polish 5th Rifle Division, and the pro-Bolshevik Red Latvian Riflemen. The Whites defeated the Red Army on each front, Leon Trotsky reformed and counterattacked, the Red Army repelled Admiral Kolchaks army in June, and the armies of General Denikin and General Yudenich in October. By mid-November the White armies were all almost completely exhausted, in January 1920, Budennys First Cavalry Army entered Rostov-on-Don. 1919 to 1923 At the wars start, the Red Army consisted of 299 infantry regiments, Civil war intensified after Lenin dissolved the Russian Constituent Assembly and the Soviet government signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, removing Russia from the Great War
23.
Kirkenes
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Kirkenes is a town in Sør-Varanger Municipality in Finnmark county, in the far northeastern part of Norway. The town lies on a peninsula along the Bøkfjorden, an arm of the large Varangerfjorden, the main church for Kirkenes is Kirkenes Church, located in the Haganes area of the town. The 2. 15-square-kilometre town has a population of 3,498, when the neighbouring suburban villages of Hesseng, Sandnes, and Bjørnevatn are all included with Kirkenes, the urban area reaches a total population of almost 8,000 people. The area around Kirkenes was a common Norwegian–Russian district until 1826, the original name of the peninsula was Piselvnes, but this was changed to Kirkenes after the Kirkenes Church was built here in 1862. Reportedly, Kirkenes is second after Malta on a list of European towns experiencing air-raid alarms and attacks, the town was taken over by the Red Army on 25 October 1944 when the German Wehrmacht was pushed out and fled the area after having destroyed most of the remaining infrastructure. Only 13 houses survived the war, close to the town there is a memorial to 11 freedom fighters who helped the partisans collect information about the German occupation. In the summer of 1943, their activities were discovered and many of them were sent to a camp near Kirkenes. Following a court-martial the 11 were sentenced to death and were killed near the spot on 18 August 1943. When the common grave was opened in 1946 it was found that the men had beaten to death. Following the post mortem and memorial service, the bodies were returned to their homesteads, the majority of the inhabitants of Kirkenes are of a Norwegian background, and a minority is Sami. Others are originally from Finland, either members of the Kven population or of an influx of more or less recent Finnish immigrants. Also, about 500 people are relatively recent Russian immigrants, the town has also become a major border crossing point for Syrian refugees, with hundreds per week crossing the border on bikes. Kirkenes is located in the northeastern part of Norway on the Bøkfjorden, a branch of the Varangerfjorden. The town is situated about 400 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle, Kirkenes is located just east of the 30th meridian east. As a result, it is further east than Istanbul, which one of the European borders with Asia. The easternmost point of Norway and the municipality is also at a point further east than Saint Petersburg, unlike the vast majority of Norway, Kirkenes is located east of the neighbouring country of Finland. Because of this, travelling directly west from Kirkenes actually changes the time zone forward instead of backward, travelling directly east from Kirkenes changes the time zone forward by an hour in summer, but by two in winter. It also shares time zones with Galicia in Spain, in spite of a time difference of 2½ hours
24.
Royal Air Force
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The Royal Air Force is the United Kingdoms aerial warfare force. Formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, following victory over the Central Powers in 1918 the RAF emerged as, at the time, the largest air force in the world. The RAF describe its mission statement as, an agile, adaptable and capable Air Force that, person for person, is second to none, and that makes a decisive air power contribution in support of the UK Defence Mission. The mission statement is supported by the RAFs definition of air power, Air power is defined as the ability to project power from the air and space to influence the behaviour of people or the course of events. Today the Royal Air Force maintains a fleet of various types of aircraft. The majority of the RAFs rotary-wing aircraft form part of the tri-service Joint Helicopter Command in support of ground forces, most of the RAFs aircraft and personnel are based in the UK, with many others serving on operations or at long-established overseas bases. It was founded on 1 April 1918, with headquarters located in the former Hotel Cecil, during the First World War, by the amalgamation of the Royal Flying Corps, at that time it was the largest air force in the world. The RAFs naval aviation branch, the Fleet Air Arm, was founded in 1924, the RAF developed the doctrine of strategic bombing which led to the construction of long-range bombers and became its main bombing strategy in the Second World War. The RAF underwent rapid expansion prior to and during the Second World War, under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan of December 1939, the air forces of British Commonwealth countries trained and formed Article XV squadrons for service with RAF formations. Many individual personnel from countries, and exiles from occupied Europe. By the end of the war the Royal Canadian Air Force had contributed more than 30 squadrons to serve in RAF formations, additionally, the Royal Australian Air Force represented around nine percent of all RAF personnel who served in the European and Mediterranean theatres. In the Battle of Britain in 1940, the RAF defended the skies over Britain against the numerically superior German Luftwaffe, the largest RAF effort during the war was the strategic bombing campaign against Germany by Bomber Command. Following victory in the Second World War, the RAF underwent significant re-organisation, during the early stages of the Cold War, one of the first major operations undertaken by the Royal Air Force was in 1948 and the Berlin Airlift, codenamed Operation Plainfire. Before Britain developed its own nuclear weapons the RAF was provided with American nuclear weapons under Project E and these were initially armed with nuclear gravity bombs, later being equipped with the Blue Steel missile. Following the development of the Royal Navys Polaris submarines, the nuclear deterrent passed to the navys submarines on 30 June 1969. With the introduction of Polaris, the RAFs strategic nuclear role was reduced to a tactical one and this tactical role was continued by the V bombers into the 1980s and until 1998 by Tornado GR1s. For much of the Cold War the primary role of the RAF was the defence of Western Europe against potential attack by the Soviet Union, with many squadrons based in West Germany. With the decline of the British Empire, global operations were scaled back, despite this, the RAF fought in many battles in the Cold War period
25.
Avro Lancaster
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The Avro Lancaster is a British four-engined Second World War heavy bomber designed and built by Avro for the Royal Air Force. The Lanc, as it was known, thus became one of the more famous and most successful of the Second World War night bombers. The Lancaster, an evolution of the troublesome Avro Manchester, was designed by Roy Chadwick and was powered by four Rolls-Royce Merlins, or, in one version and this was the largest payload of any bomber in the war. In 1943, a Lancaster was converted to become an engine test bed for the Metropolitan-Vickers F.2 turbojet, Lancasters were later used to test other engines, including the Armstrong Siddeley Mamba and Rolls-Royce Dart turboprops, and the Avro Canada Orenda and STAL Dovern turbojets. Postwar, the Lancaster was supplanted as the RAFs main strategic bomber by the Avro Lincoln, the Lancaster took on the role of long range anti-submarine patrol aircraft and air-sea rescue. In March 1946, a Lancastrian of BSAA flew the first scheduled flight from the new London Heathrow Airport, the resulting aircraft was the Manchester, which, although a capable aircraft, was underpowered and troubled by the unreliability of the Vulture engine. Only 200 Manchesters were built, with the type withdrawn from service in 1942, at first the aircraft was called Avro Type 683 Manchester III and later renamed the Lancaster. The prototype aircraft BT308 was assembled by the Avro experimental flight department at Ringway Airport, test pilot H. A. Bill Thorn took the controls for its first flight at Ringway, on Thursday,9 January 1941. The aircraft proved to be an improvement on its predecessor. Some of the orders for Manchesters were changed in favour of Lancasters. The Lancaster discarded the stubby central third tail fin of the early Manchesters and used the wider span tailplane, the majority of Lancasters built during the war years were manufactured by Avro at their factory at Chadderton near Oldham, Greater Manchester and test flown from Woodford Aerodrome in Cheshire. Other Lancasters were built by Metropolitan-Vickers and Armstrong Whitworth, the Lancaster B III had Packard Merlin engines but was otherwise identical to contemporary B Is, with 3,030 B IIIs built, almost all at Avros Newton Heath factory. The B I and B III were built concurrently and minor modifications were made to both marks as new batches were ordered, of later variants, only the Canadian-built Lancaster B X, manufactured by Victory Aircraft in Malton, Ontario, was produced in significant numbers. The first Lancaster produced in Canada was named the Ruhr Express, the first batch of Canadian Lancasters delivered to England suffered from faulty ailerons. This was traced to the use of unskilled labourers, the Lancaster is a mid-wing cantilever monoplane with an oval all-metal fuselage. The wing was constructed in five sections, the fuselage in five sections. All wing and fuselage sections were built separately and fitted all the required equipment before final assembly. The tail unit had twin fins and rudders
26.
Tallboy (bomb)
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It was effective against hardened structures against which prior, smaller bombs had proved ineffective. As such, the RAF used bombs that they had not bought and this situation was normalised once their capabilities were recognised. The last of the Kriegsmarines Bismarck-class battleships the Tirpitz was sunk by an air attack using Tallboys, most large Allied World War II aircraft bombs had very thin skins to maximize the weight of explosive that a bomber could carry. This was an improvement on the part of the war. To be able to penetrate the earth without breaking apart, the casing of the Tallboy had to be strong, each was cast in one piece of high-tensile steel that would enable it to survive the impact before detonation. In the final design, the No.78 Mark I tail of the bomb was about half the length of the finished weapon. Initially, the bomb had a tendency to tumble, so the tail was modified, the gyroscopic effect thus generated stopped the pitching and yawing, improved the aerodynamics, and improved accuracy. Tallboy was designed to be dropped from an altitude of 18,000 ft at a forward speed of 170 mph. It made a crater 80 ft deep and 100 ft across, the weight of the Tallboy and the high altitude required of the bombing aircraft meant that the Avro Lancasters used had to be specially adapted. Armour plating and even defensive armament were removed to reduce weight, at the same time, No.617 Dambusters Squadron were trained in the use of a special bombsight, the Stabilizing Automatic Bomb Sight. For accuracy, multiple corrections had to be made for temperature, wind speed and it was only effective if the target could be identified, and several missions were cancelled or unsuccessful because of difficulty in accurately identifying and marking the targets. For use on targets, the bomb was fitted with three separate inertia No.58 Mark I Tail Pistols. These triggered detonation after a delay, which gave the bomb sufficient time to penetrate the target before exploding. Depending on mission requirements, the delay could be set to 30 seconds or 30 minutes after impact. To guarantee detonation, a total of three separate Type 47 long delay fuzes were fitted inside the rear of the bomb and this dramatically improved reliability of the weapon, even if two of the fuses failed to function, the third would trigger detonation. Despite this elaborate system, at least one Tallboy failed to explode during the attack on the Sorpe dam and was found during repairs in late 1958 when the reservoir was emptied. The bomb was aimed at the target during an operation and proved capable of penetrating deep into hardened reinforced concrete when it hit and this, however, was not the primary intention of Barnes Walliss design. An earthquake impact shook the whole target, and caused structural damage to all parts of it
27.
MS Rigel
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MS Rigel was a Norwegian vessel built in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1924. The ship was used as a German prisoner of war transport during World War II, Rigel was originally a motorship owned by the Bergen Steamship Company. The vessel was named after the brightest star in the Orion constellation, the ships had been requisitioned by the German occupation authorities in Norway in 1940 to transport Allied PoWs. According to Norwegian sources Rigel, under the command of Captain Heinrich Rhode with a German crew, at Narvik a further 349 PoWs were loaded plus 95 German deserters and 8 Norwegian prisoners arrested by the German police. The ship then proceeded in convoy with some vessels to Tømmerneset where 948 more PoWs were loaded into the cargo holds. Rigel called next at the port of Bodø, when the ship left Bodø on 26 November Captain Rhode reported 2838 persons on board. There were 2,248 Soviet, Polish and Serbian prisoners of war with the 95 German deserters and 8 Norwegian prisoners, in addition there were 455 German soldiers and the normal ships crew of 29 plus three coastal pilots. One of the pilots and one crew member were Norwegians. With many people on deck the vessel probably looked like a troopship to the attackers, the convoy was attacked by Supermarine Seafire fighters and Fairey Firefly dive-bombers from Implacable, which was taking part in Operation Provident. The attack took place between the islands of Rosøya and Tjøtta south of the port of Sandnessjøen in Nordland county, after the attack the German captain grounded the badly damaged Rigel on the island of Rosøya, which probably saved the lives of the 267 survivors. The number of casualties is 2571, including seven Norwegians, also heavily damaged and grounded was the collier Korsnes, built in 1936 for the Bergen company Kr. There were six casualties on this ship, which was salvaged in 1946, the wreck remained half-sunk until 1969, when it was demolished and the remains of the dead buried in the Tjøtta International War Cemetery on the island of Tjøtta. The cemetery was consecrated in 1970, in memory of those killed on the Rigel, all the graves are anonymous, but a memorial stone in the form of a cross has been erected on the site. Also in 1970, a based on the story of the Rigel was released by the American psychedelic folk group Pearls Before Swine on their album The Use of Ashes. The Norwegian broadcaster NRK produced a news video in 2004 to mark the 60th anniversary of the disaster, with an interview with one of the survivors. Three weeks later, having told his story, Schultz died, the video contains some underwater footage of the wreck. In a radio broadcast in 1966 Schultz said that the convoy had come under attack at about 11.00 by about 40 aircraft, many prisoners escaped from the ship only to drown while trying to reach land, he said
28.
Fleet Air Arm
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The Fleet Air Arm is the branch of the British Royal Navy responsible for the operation of naval aircraft. The Fleet Air Arm currently operates the AgustaWestland Merlin, Westland Sea King, and AgustaWestland Wildcat helicopters, helicopters such as the Lynx and Westland Wasp have been deployed on smaller vessels since 1964, taking over the roles once performed by biplanes such as the Fairey Swordfish. During the Second World War, the Fleet Air Arm operated aircraft on ships as well as land-based aircraft that defended the Royal Navys shore establishments, British naval flying started in 1909, with the construction of an airship for naval duties. The Naval Wing of the RFC lasted until July 1914 when the Royal Navy reformed its air branch, under the Air Department of the Admiralty, naming it the Royal Naval Air Service. By the outbreak of the First World War, in August 1914, the RNAS had more aircraft under its control than the remaining RFC. In April 1918 the RNAS, which at this time had 67,000 officers and men,2,949 aircraft,103 airships and 126 coastal stations, merged with the RFC to form the Royal Air Force. On 1 April 1924, the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Air Force was formed, encompassing those RAF units that normally embarked on aircraft carriers, over the following months RAF Fleet Air Arm Fairey IIID reconnaissance biplanes operated off Hermes, conducting flying trials. On 24 May 1939 the Fleet Air Arm was returned to Admiralty control under the Inskip Award, at the onset of the Second World War, the Fleet Air Arm consisted of 20 squadrons with only 232 aircraft. By the end of the war the strength of the Fleet Air Arm was 59 aircraft carriers,3,700 aircraft,72,000 officers and men. During the war, the FAA operated fighters, torpedo bombers, following the Dunkirk evacuation and the commencement of the Battle of Britain, the Royal Air Force soon found itself critically short of fighter pilots. In the summer of 1940, the RAF had little more than 800 fighter pilots, with this desperate situation the RAF was forced to call upon the Admiralty for Fleet Air Arm assistance. The aircraft carrier had replaced the battleship as the Fleets capital ship, the top scoring fighter ace with 17 victories was Commander Stanley Orr, the Royal Marine ace was Ronald Cuthbert Hay with 13 victories. A number of Royal Marines served as FAA pilots during the war, after the war the FAA needed to fly jet aircraft from their carriers. The jet aircraft of the era were considerably less effective at low speeds than propeller aircraft, the FAA took on its first jet, the Sea Vampire, in the late 1940s. The Sea Vampire was the first jet credited with taking off, the Air Arm continued with high-powered prop aircraft alongside the new jets resulting in the FAA being woefully outpowered during the Korean War. Nevertheless, jets were not yet wholly superior to propeller aircraft, as jets became larger, more powerful and faster they required more space to take off and land. The US Navy simply built much larger carriers, the Royal Navy had a few large carriers built and completed after the end of the war but another solution was sought. An associated British invention, intended to more precise optical guidance to aircraft on final approaching the deck, was the Fresnel lens optical landing aid
29.
Victoria Terrasse
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Victoria Terrasse is a building complex in central Oslo, Norway. Built in the 1880s by architect Henrik Thrap-Meyer, it was taken over by the Norwegian government in 1913 and put to use by the police, infamously, it was taken over by the occupying Nazi Sicherheitspolizei and Sicherheitsdienst in April 1940, serving as headquarters during the war years. The offices held the centre for all prisoners in Oslo. On occasion prisoners jumped out of windows to their death while waiting to be interrogated, allied bombers tried to destroy Victoria Terrasse on 25 September 1942 and 31 December 1944 but missed the complex and instead hit civilian targets. The complex now houses the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
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Gestapo
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The Gestapo, abbreviation of Geheime Staatspolizei, or the Secret State Police, was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various security agencies of Prussia into one organization. Then from 27 September 1939 forward, it was administered by the Reichssicherheitshauptamt and was considered an organization to the SS Sicherheitsdienst. This gave Göring command of the largest police force in Germany, soon afterward, Göring detached the political and intelligence sections from the police and filled their ranks with Nazis. On 26 April 1933, Göring merged the two units as the Geheime Staatspolizei, which was abbreviated for a stamp and became known as the Gestapo. He originally wanted to name it the Secret Police Office, and its first commander was Rudolf Diels, a protégé of Göring. Diels was appointed with the title of chief of Abteilung Ia of the Political Police of the Prussian Interior Ministry, Diels was best known as the primary interrogator of Marinus van der Lubbe after the Reichstag fire. In late 1933, the Reich Interior Minister Wilhelm Frick wanted to integrate all the forces of the German states under his control. Göring outflanked him by removing the Prussian political and intelligence departments from the interior ministry. Göring himself took over the Gestapo in 1934 and urged Hitler to extend the agencys authority throughout Germany and this represented a radical departure from German tradition, which held that law enforcement was a Land and local matter. In this, he ran into conflict with Heinrich Himmler, who was chief of the second most powerful German state. Frick did not have the muscle to take on Göring by himself so he allied with Himmler, with Fricks support, Himmler took over the political police of state after state. Concerned that Diels was not ruthless enough to counteract the power of the Sturmabteilung, Göring handed over control of the Gestapo to Himmler on 20 April 1934. Also on that date, Hitler appointed Himmler chief of all German police outside Prussia, Heydrich, named chief of the Gestapo by Himmler on 22 April 1934, also continued as head of the SS Security Service. Himmler wanted to free himself entirely from Roehm, who he viewed as an obstacle, roehms position was menacing as upwards of over 4. Several Nazi chieftains, among them Goering, Joseph Goebbels, Rudolf Hess, both the SD and Gestapo released information concerning an imminent putsch by the SA. Once persuaded, Hitler acted by setting Himmlers SS into action, on 17 June 1936, Hitler decreed the unification of all police forces in the Reich and named Himmler as Chief of German Police. This action effectively merged the police into the SS and removed it from Fricks control, Himmler was nominally subordinate to Frick as police chief, but as Reichsführer-SS, he answered only to Hitler
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Edvard Grieg
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Edvard Hagerup Grieg was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is widely considered one of the leading Romantic era composers, the Edvard Grieg Museum in Troldhaugen is dedicated to his legacy. Edvard Hagerup Grieg was born in Bergen, Norway, on 15 June 1843 and his parents were Alexander Grieg, a merchant and vice-consul in Bergen, and Gesine Judithe Hagerup, a music teacher and daughter of Edvard Hagerup. The family name, originally spelled Greig, has Scottish origins, after the Battle of Culloden in 1746, Griegs great-grandfather, Alexander Greig, traveled widely, settling in Norway about 1770, and establishing business interests in Bergen. Edvard Grieg was raised in a musical milieu and his mother was his first piano teacher and taught him to play at the age of six. Grieg studied in schools, including Tanks Upper School, Tanks School. In the summer of 1858, Grieg met the eminent Norwegian violinist Ole Bull, Bull recognized the 15-year-old boys talent and persuaded his parents to send him to the Leipzig Conservatory, the piano department of which was directed by Ignaz Moscheles. Grieg enrolled in the conservatory, concentrating on the piano, and enjoyed the many concerts and he disliked the discipline of the conservatory course of study. An exception was the organ, which was mandatory for piano students, in the spring of 1860, he survived two life-threatening lung diseases, pleurisy and tuberculosis. Throughout his life, Griegs health was impaired by a left lung. He suffered from respiratory infections, and ultimately developed combined lung. Grieg was admitted many times to spas and sanatoria both in Norway and abroad, several of his doctors became his personal friends. In 1861, Grieg made his debut as a concert pianist in Karlshamn, in 1862, he finished his studies in Leipzig and held his first concert in his home town, where his programme included Beethovens Pathétique sonata. In 1863, Grieg went to Copenhagen, Denmark, and stayed there for three years and he met the Danish composers J. P. E. Hartmann and Niels Gade. He also met his fellow Norwegian composer Rikard Nordraak, who became a good friend, Nordraak died in 1866, and Grieg composed a funeral march in his honor. On 11 June 1867, Grieg married his first cousin, Nina Hagerup, the next year, their only child, Alexandra, was born. Alexandra died in 1869 from meningitis, in the summer of 1868, Grieg wrote his Piano Concerto in A minor while on holiday in Denmark. Edmund Neupert gave the concerto its premiere performance on 3 April 1869 in the Casino Theater in Copenhagen, Grieg himself was unable to be there due to conducting commitments in Christiania
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Jon Bing
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Jon Bing was a Norwegian writer and law professor at the Norwegian Research Center for Computers and Law, and the Faculty of Law at the University of Oslo. Bing was considered a pioneer in international IT and information law and he held honorary doctorates from the University of Stockholm and the University of Copenhagen, and was a Visiting Professor at Kings College, University of London. Bing was part of The Protection of Privacy Committee, from 1979 to 1981 he was head of Norsk Filmråd. Between 1981 and 1982 he was the head of Council of Europe Committee on Legal Data Processing, between 1993 and 2000, he headed Norsk kulturråd. He was a member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, together with Tor Åge Bringsværd and other students at the University in Oslo, Jon Bing started the Aniara society, a club for science fiction fans. He was often profiled in the media around the topic and he published several books, both fiction and non-fiction specialist literature. His first published work was the story collection Around the sun in a circle, co-written with Bringsværd. Bing was a fiction author, often collaborating with other authors. Bing was engaged with many subjects, especially in the field of technology and he was featured on television on the anniversary of the first Personal Computer in Norway, for example. He was a public figure, often offering opinions on digital media, copyright, science fiction. He was outspoken about cases concerning ethics in technology, copyright, and his style of writing was calm, and at times dreamy. He wrote about people who stand outside of society. In the short story Riestopher Josef from Around the sun in a circle he wrote about a boy who cant leave his house due to skin disease, the short story is about Riestopher who builds himself a spaceship and goes to the sun to capture a sunbeam. He died at the age of 69 in 2014,1985 – Tanz - Planet of Riddles 1986 – Hvadata
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Jon Michelet
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Jon Michelet is a Norwegian novelist. He has had experience in various lines of work, including sailor and brewery worker, hes well known for his action-thriller novel Orions Belt. The novel was adapted into a 1985 film by the same name and he was the editor-in-chief of the Norwegian far-left daily Klassekampen from 1997 to 2002. He has had positions of trust, including being a member of the board of Norsk Styrmandsforening. He resides in Larkollen, and has been a minor candidate for the Red Party. He has a daughter, Marte Michelet, who is married to Ali Esbati—a MP in Sweden as of 2014
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