The Shetland Bus

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Odd Strand (1987) Hitra: Med Ingvald Eidsheim og hans menn pa krigstokt løpet Nordsjøen (J.W. Eide) ( (in Norwegian)) Under the cover of darkness, a group of small boats, collectively known as the Shetland Bus, ferried people and weapons between Norway and the isles. ZetTrans recognises that public bus services must be effective in providing for a number of different needs beyond those of the daily commute. With this in mind, ZetTrans is committed to ensuring that the public bus service seeks to meet the needs of all its users while remaining affordable and being better integrated with inter-island ferry and plane services. Timetable Information

Jim Tait (15 April 2014). "Wreaths laid at Scalloway's Shetland Bus Memorial". The Shetland Times . Retrieved 10 October 2019. Irvine, James W. (1991). The Giving Years: Shetland and Shetlanders, 1939–1945 (Shetland Publishing) ISBN 978-0906736159 On 9 May 1945, Vigra, commanded by Larsen, and Hitra, by Eidsheim, entered the harbour of Lyngøy near Bergen in free Norway. The group had made 198 trips to Norway in fishing boats and submarine chasers, Leif Larsen completing 52 of them. The "Shetland Bus" had transported 192 agents and 383 long tons (389t) of weapons and supplies to Norway and had brought out 73 agents and 373 refugees. Forty-four members of the group were killed. Kompani Linge’s most praised contribution to World War II was certainly Operation Gunnerside , the destruction of the heavy water plant in Vemork. The Nazis had plans to develop a nuclear bomb, and Norwegian commandos were sent to destroy the plant. They parachuted from an RAF plane, skied snowy hills, crossed icy rivers, detonated explosives to erase the entire inventory, and journeyed 400 kilometers to Sweden — completely undetected. The German occupation of Norway had other numerous pronounced effects on the country. Prior to the occupation, Norway had a strong economy with numerous trading partners throughout Europe. Almost immediately after German troops set foot on Norwegian soil, all of that stopped. She lost all of her major trading partners. Her only trading partner after April 1940 was Nazi Germany. But it was not a profitable partnership for Norway, as all Germany did was take by way of confiscation.Shetland Islands Council also provide a Voicebank for School Transport, available on 01595 745743. Public Holidays

Shetlopedia.com - The Shetland Bus - Detailed information about the Shetland Bus operation, including information on boats and people lost Lunna House was the first headquarter for the Shetland Bus operations during World War II. Photo courtesy of Aldebaran/Wikimedia Commons.The Shetland Bus Memorial is likely the centerpiece of this legacy, consisting of a small metal sculpture representing one of these fishing boats. Other features in the area include a concrete plaque, along with information boards on the windows of nearby buildings. Eventually the risks became so great and the Germans so suspicious of fishing boats that the group began looking for other alternatives. They were given a few American-made submarine chasers and finished out the war using those with great success. The castle is typical of Scottish castles of the time. There were four storeys and an attic, but the most impressive space is undoubtedly the great hall, which occupies the first floor and was apparently richly decorated in its day. As a "Shetland Bus", the Heland made several tours to Norway, mostly skippered by August Nerø, but with other skippers too. There were many narrow escapes, but the vessel always returned safely to Shetland. In 1943, when the submarine chasers arrived, the Heland became a reserve vessel and made transport voyages to Scotland.

Popularly known as Shetlands Larsen, Leif Larsen was a highly decorated Norwegian sailor. He was arguably the most famous of all who operated the route. Of the 198 trips to Norway, Larsen completed 52 of them. Leif Larsen led the Norwegian bus operations in World War II T he Shetland Bus operation may be considered successful in that it supplied Norwegian resistance movements with weapons and took many refugees from Norway to Shetland, and that it managed to bind just shy of 300,000 German troops in Norway. However, because of this operation, forty-four men lost their lives, and the Norwegian public may not have been too happy having a huge number of German men patrolling their country. It could have been due to this operation that D-Day was an Allied victory, and many other key areas throughout Western Europe could have been hugely affected by the influence of the Shetland Bus. This small operation, secret to almost everybody, could have played a major role in these battles, influencing the course of the entire war itself. This could be an exaggeration, but the implications of the operation may well have had an effect this big. No British-made boat could successfully sneak into the harbors without raising an eyebrow. If a British sailor fluent in Norwegian were to be questioned, he would certainly garner an accent. The value in using Norwegian sailors was that they countered avoidable risks; local knowledge to distinguish manmade flaws in the landscape — a sentry, perhaps, or a new fixture designed to overwatch the coast — was a priceless asset. Plus, each knew the route from memory and had unmatched seamanship fishing off the shores of Greenland and Iceland during the summer. In the early weeks of April 1940, the first combat air assault in history saw German paratroopers , or Fallschirmjägers , leap from Junkers Ju-52s onto Aalborg Airport in Denmark and the Sola Air Station in Norway. Nazi Germany launched Operation Weserübung , the first major invasion to strike from the air, land, and sea. The tactic was so effective that Norway surrendered within two months. Their leadership, along with leaders of other European nations, was forced into exile in Great Britain. The Vita arrived at Shetland on 9 May 1940 with four Norwegian Navy officers and two other refugees aboard. The Vita started as a "Bus" boat before the "Shetland Bus" was officially established. Her first voyage to Norway was on 22 December 1940, skippered by Hilmar Langøy. The next was on 27 March 1941, this time skippered by Ingvald Johansen, who became her skipper for the rest of her missions. Johansen's crew were; Åge Sandvik, H.W. Olsen, Jens Haldorsen and J. Hermansen.

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They parachuted from an RAF plane, skied snowy hills, crossed icy rivers, detonated explosives to erase the entire inventory, and journeyed 400 kilometers to Sweden — completely undetected. The boats were crewed by young albeit expert sailors and fishermen with extensive local knowledge. Many brought their own vessels but some used boats that were “stolen”, with the owner's permission, of course.

I continually had to remind myself that the Norwegians involved were not only volunteers, but were also civilians. These were patriots who wanted to see their country free of the German occupiers and would do anything to help, even something as seemingly small as transporting undercover agents in their fishing boats. Several crews were killed during these operations, yet the remaining crews never faltered in their commitment to the cause.A mission on the horizon in 1942 to target the German battleship Tirpitz was given to the only skipper bold enough to carry it out. The Tirpitz looked like a skyscraper on its side, outfitted with the biggest guns the German Navy had ever built. To say it was enormous would be an understatement. Strategically placed at the Trondheim fjord, British destroyers and aircraft carriers were occupied in its surveillance but were desperately needed elsewhere. Stories told include a mission to sink the German battleship Tirpitz, the journey of a single survivor of a mission as he treks over the frozen Scandinavian ice and snow towards neutral Sweden, and descriptions of missions to drop off agents, weapons, and rescue partisans and those in danger of capture by the German secret police. In The Shetland Bus, David Howarth, who was second in command of the Shetland base, recounts the hundreds of trips made by fishing boats in the dark of Arctic winter to resist the Nazi onslaught. I can assure you and Dwight that the Shetland Bus is far from forgotten in the village of Scalloway where it was based. There are people still living in the village who remeber it well. Several Shetland Bus personnel married local women and the descendants of some of them still live here.