The Direction-Finders Close In — Occupied Norway
A clandestine radio operator of , the Norwegian resistance's military organisation, has lived for months by the rhythm of his transmissions to London. From a room or an attic in Bergen, he enciphers by hand the intelligence gathered by his network, then taps out the key at agreed hours to the stations of Britain's , the special operations service that arms and trains the resistance.
The information he sends is valuable: movements of Kriegsmarine ships along the fjords, positions of coastal batteries, sightings of German units. But every transmission is a risk. German direction-finding vans crisscross the city, triangulating clandestine signals street by street, and the , backed by the state police of and his party, hunts transmitting sets relentlessly. Several comrades have already vanished.
The readings of the past few days leave no doubt: the direction-finders are closing in on his district. He must decide without delay. Keep transmitting to London despite imminent detection, so the intelligence does not go stale; stop all transmission at once and go to ground to protect the rest of the network; or dismantle the set and move it to a mountain cache, at the risk of being caught in transit with the transmitter in his hands.
Bergen, February 1942, clandestine Milorg radio operator: how should he act as detection tightens around his set?
In occupied Norway, many operators chose to keep transmitting as long as the link held, judging the intelligence too precious for silence. The radio war there was ferocious: German detection services, backed by the and Quisling's police, located and dismantled many sets. Dozens of and operators were captured, tortured to give up codes and accomplices, then imprisoned or executed. The intelligence sent through nonetheless remained vital — especially the naval reports on Kriegsmarine movements in the fjords, which fed Allied attacks on targets such as the Tirpitz. When a sector became untenable, wanted operators and agents were evacuated by sea to the Shetlands aboard the fishing boats of the "Shetland Bus", the line that also carried weapons and fresh sets to the coast.
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