Operation Martin

Operation Martin
Part of World War II
DateMarch 1943
Location
Rebbenesøya, Norway
Result The vessel sunk. Crew and soldiers executed. Mission failed.
Belligerents
 Norway  Nazi Germany
Strength
12 Company Linge R56 and Gestapo
Casualties and losses
11 1

Operation Martin (Red) was an Allied clandestine operation of the Second World War to destroy a German airfield control tower at Bardufoss and organise secret military resistance groups in Tromsø in German-occupied Norway in 1943.

The operation consisted of twelve Norwegian nationals falling under the Company Linge group, who had been trained by the British in Scotland and returned to Norway in March 1943. This mission was compromised when the Norwegian operatives, seeking a trusted local resistance contact, accidentally met an unaligned civilian shopkeeper with the same name as their contact, who reported them to the Germans.

The escape failed when the group's vessel MK Bratholm I was detected and attacked by the German frigate Räumboot R56. To escape, MK Bratholm I was scuttled by its Norwegian crew by detonating 8 t (7.9 long tons) explosives with a time delay fuse. The crew fled in a small boat, which was promptly sunk by the Germans. Eleven Norwegian soldiers from the Company Linge died; one was shot at the site, ten were captured, interrogated and tortured by the Gestapo and then executed in Tromsø. Jan Baalsrud managed to escape from Rebbenesøya to neutral Sweden; his three-month escape was made through Lyngen and Manndalen with the help of local villagers, during which he amputated nine toes to avoid the spread of gangrene.

Operation Members
  • Løytnant Sigurd Eskeland
  • Fenrik Jan Baalsrud
  • Fenrik Per Blindheim
  • Kaptein Sverre Odd Kverhellen
  • Erik Reichelt
  • Harald Peter Ratvik
  • Bjørn Normann Bolstad
  • Gabriel Salvesen
  • Magnus Johan Kvalvik
  • Frithjof M. Haugland
  • Sjur Ludvigsen Trovaag
  • Alfred A. Vik
  • Cyrill J. Banzon

Posting

The executions of the prisoners in Tromsø were investigated after the war under the case of Toftefjordsaken.

The Gestapo officers who tortured and executed eight of the MK "Bratholm 1" crew were ordered in the late summer of 1945 to dig up the bodies from the mass grave at Grønnåsen Skytebane, first with spades, then by hand, so as to not damage the bodies. They also had to wash the bodies before placing them in coffins.

The prosecution after the war became problematic as the main target, Kurt Stage, was not in Norwegian custody. Stage was executed in 1947 in Slovenia for war crimes there; no criminal proceedings were brought against the four others who were charged in the case.[1]

Two films have been made based on Operation Martin: the 1957 Ni Liv (Nine Lives) and the 2017 Den 12. Mann (The 12th Man). The latter, directed by the Norwegian director Harald Zwart, stars Thomas Gullestad as Jan Baalsrud and Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Kurt Stage.[2]

gollark: > how goes it?It goes very something-ly.
gollark: No, I mean you literally cannot prove that.
gollark: Somewhat relatedly, proving you've deleted something makes *no sense*.
gollark: Merry birthday!
gollark: Not that that's particularly a bad thing as it does look very cool.

References
  1. Berit Nøkleby War crimes – Breach of the law of war in Norway 1940–45 (2004) Pax Forlag, s. 82–85.
  2. "Incredibly, the jaw-dropping scenes in this vivid WWII survivalist film are true". Times of Israel. Retrieved 9 October 2018.

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