From today you can go online and read more than seventy reports written by Norwegian wartime pilots after raids along the Norwegian coast. The reports contain detailed descriptions, drawings and photos from attacks on German submarines, ships and aircraft at a number of locations along the Norwegian coast. This is a unique documentation of Norwegian war drama," says Øyvind Ødegaard, Director of the National Archives.
Today, for the first time, nearly seventy historical flight reports have been made available to the general public online at digitalarkivet.no.
The reports are published as a foretaste of the National Archives' record-breaking spring release of material from World War II tomorrow, April 9. More than 300,000 pages of documents, personal registers, photographs, diaries and letters from the occupation period will be published online.
German submarines sunk and damaged
- "We're starting by posting the airmen's reports because they provide a unique insight into the history of the war. They feel so close to the war, you can almost smell it," says Ødegaard.
During the war, Norwegian airmen operated in the UK with missions on the Norwegian coast. The unit known as 333 Squadron was tasked with patrolling over the Norwegian Sea, the North Sea and along the Norwegian coast. The squadron was formally established in May 1943 and based in Scotland.
By the end of the war, the squadron's Mosquito aircraft had sunk two and damaged seven German submarines, destroyed 18 and damaged five German aircraft and also damaged a number of ships. The squadron lost 23 aircraft and had 29 casualties.
Snapping pictures from the air
After each flight, the pilot and navigator submitted a written report. These reports are quite detailed with information about where they flew and about any German ships, submarines or aircraft they came into combat with. During attacks on German units, photographs were often taken to document the events. After the raid, sketch maps of the clash were drawn.
- This gives a very close connection to the material. Imagine, the navigator has snapped pictures while the bombs are being dropped and the pilots have written down their experiences right after they happened. They have even illustrated with drawings," says Ødegaard.
-Heartbreaking heroism
Ødegaard calls the reports a unique documentation of Norwegian war drama.
- I think many would agree that Norwegian airmen are among our greatest war heroes. As one, they went into this knowing that their final hour might lie ahead of them. The heroism the airmen showed, and the loss figures they had, are heartbreaking.
Ødegaard says that, in a way, the reports are happy stories.
-The fact that they are written means that someone came back.
The reports are taken from two archive boxes in the 333 Squadron archive. In the Digital Archive there are tables of contents for the documents from each box. For each flight, the date, location and pilot's name are given, as well as the image number where each report starts.
Facts: More about Arkivverket's spring release
In the spring releases, the National Archives publishes important documents from World War II on the Digital Archive. They are taken from archives that have recently been received, recently arranged or where confidentiality has recently lapsed.
This year's spring release is devoted to Norway's presence in the UK during World War II. It contains diaries of 12 important people, letters from King Haakon and dramatic pilot reports.
At the same time, many registers of Norwegians who were in the UK can now be looked up and exciting photographs can be studied.
With more than 300,000 document pages, this is by far the largest spring release ever from the National Archives.
The archives will be opened on the night of April 9, and will be announced on Arkivverket's website.
