The Shetland bus was the name given to a clandestine special operations group that made a permanent link between Shetland, Scotland, and German-occupied Norway. From mid-1941 until the end of the war it operated a number of vessels, mostly Norwegian fishing boats.^[1]

Germany launched their invasion of Norway on 9 April 1940, and despite the efforts of the Norwegians and the British, the Germans controlled most of the country by the beginning of May. The occupation of Norway and the oppression which followed immediately prompted a number of Norwegians to escape and make landfall in the Orkney and Shetland Islands.

Only a few weeks after the occupation began, the first boats of an "armada" of fishing vessels and other boats began to arrive in Shetland. Many of these boats made several journeys across the North Sea carrying refugees. The boats were of many types and shapes, but most of those later used as the "Shetland Bus", were from 50 to 70 feet (21 m), with two masts and equipped with a 30 to 70 hp (52 kW) single-cylinder semi-diesel engine, which made the characteristic 'tonk-tonk' sound. They had a maximum speed of 9 knots (17 km/h).

These engines were very unusual, and spare parts were not available in Britain, but that was easily solved. Norway's largest engine factory, Wichmann Diesel, at the time under German control, was located at Bømlo, near Bergen. The agents in the area received messages about which parts were needed, workers in the factory, many of them active members of the Resistance Movement, smuggled them out, and the parts were sent to Shetland with the next "Bus".

There were "Hardanger Cutters", with a straight bow and long stern from the Bergen area, and the more rounded "Møre Cutters" from the area around Ålesund. It appeared that the "Møre Cutter" was the strongest and best fitted for the heavy weather in the North Sea. Most of their crossings were done in the dark winter months with storms and heavy seas.

Although these crossings were, by their nature, carried out in a manner to avoid enemy contact. The crews managed to equip the boats with several concealed weapons. David Howarth, who was with Special Operations Executive and Norwegian seaman, Per Blystad (1911-1942) invented many of these constructions. The most ingenious of these was a concrete-lined oil drum bolted to the deck. When the removable lid was lifted, a pair of ready loaded Lewis Guns were telescoped into firing position, with the aid of a counterweight below decks. A steel shield came automatically up to protect the gunner. Oil drums were a natural thing to carry on a fishing boat's deck. Once in the North Sea, one of the boats was inspected by a suspicious British Navy ship, all other weapons were confiscated, but they did not find the two twin machine guns mounted on deck! Special low mountings for twin 0.50" Colt machine guns were mounted in the netroom, at the aft of the boat. These were not totally hidden, but with the use of folding handles, triggers, aims and shields they managed to keep them just above the edge of the gunwale, and they were easy to camouflage with a net. A similar construction was mounted in the bow, with a tarpaulin over, of the same shape as the covering of the whaling harpoons many of the Norwegian fishing boats had in the bow. At last all of the Bus boats carried seven or eight mounted, ready armed machine guns, and were able to protect themselves against enemy aircraft attacks.

In October 1943 three American submarine chasers, Hitra, Vigra and Hessa, were delivered, which made the journeys across the North Sea much safer. The submarine chasers made more than 100 crossings with no losses of ships or men. The only damage that occurred on the boats was when the Hessa was attacked by an Allied aircraft.^[2]

M/S Vita (H95B), September 1941

Skippered by Ingvald Johannesen. Seized by Germans in Rekøy, Norway. Crew arrested.

Nordsjøen, 20 October 1941

Nordsjøen, a minelayer, skippered by Gjertsen, was sunk in heavy weather off the coast of West Norway. All the crew survived and returned to Shetland on 31 October aboard the M/K Arthur.

M/K Blia (H197S), 14 November 1941

Skippered by Ingvald Lerøy she disappeared in a storm on the way from Norway to Shetland. The crew of seven and 35 Norwegian refugees were lost. In the same storm, one man was blown overboard and lost from M/K Arthur, skippered by Leif Larsen.

Sjø, August/September 1942

Sjø, a 28-foot (8.5 m) open boat, with Per Blystad and Mindor Berge was in Norway on a reconnaissance mission. They were taken prisoners by the Germans and later shot.

M/K Arthur (M192B), October 1942

Skippered by Leif Larsen she was scuttled in the Trondheimsfjord after a failed attempt to attack the German battleship Tirpitz during Operation Title. Larsen and his crew escaped overland to Sweden, but a British Royal Navy sailor following them was taken prisoner by Germans and shot.

M/K Aksel (M40G), 8 December 1942

Skippered by Bård Grotle. Sunk in the North Sea on the way back to Shetland. All six men lost their lives.

M/B Sandøy, 10 December 1942

Skippered by Harald Dyb, was attacked by German aircraft and sunk. Seven men were lost.

M/B Feiøy (H10AM), January 1943

Skippered by Ole Grotle. Disappeared on the way to Norway. Eight men were lost.

M/K Bergholm, 23 March 1943

Skippered by Leif Larsen. Was attacked by German aircraft and sunk. One man was killed in the attack. Larsen and six men, some wounded, managed to reach the coast of Norway by boat, and returned to Shetland later.

M/K Brattholm (M172HØ), 30 March 1943

Skippered by Sverre Kverhellen. Attacked by a German torpedo boat. Of the crew of eight and four agents, only one, Jan Baalsrud, survived. The rest were either killed in the attack or taken prisoner by the Germans, tortured, and shot in prison.

Those boats are the ten "Shetland Bus" boats that were lost from the base in Scalloway. For different reasons, there were some boats that started out from a base in Peterhead, and some of them were also lost.

M/B Frøya (M32G)

A rather new 70-foot (21 m) "Møre cutter" which had arrived at Shetland on 16 March 1942, with the agent Knut Årsæter and four other men from the Ålesund area. Towards the end of April, the vessel was sent out on a special mission to Troms, North Norway with a crew of seven and two agents. Off the coast of Trøndelag, the Frøya was bombed by a German aircraft, and began to sink. They had a small lifeboat, only 12-foot (4 m) long, and the skipper decided that only five men could board the boat. They made a raft of empty oil barrels for the others, and the skipper joined the men on the raft.

The five men in the lifeboat soon lost all their provisions, as they were washed out in the heavy sea, and they had to keep up a continuous bailing. They had a sail and tried to steer for Shetland. After several days, with no food and only the rainwater they could collect to drink, they sighted Muckle Flugga. Soon after they were picked up by a ship and told about the four men on the raft. Ships and planes were sent out searching.

Two of the men from the lifeboat were in a very bad condition, and were sent to hospital, while the other three were sent to the refugee camp in Lerwick. After a 24-hour sleep, these three men went out with the Olaf to help search for the raft. They were again attacked by German aircraft, and hardly made it back to Baltasound. One of the three men later died of the wounds sustained in the attack.

Everyone believed that the four men on the raft were lost, but when the war ended, it was discovered that they had all survived. After drifting for twelve days in heavy weather in the North Sea, they were spotted by a German aircraft and rescued. They said that they were ordinary Norwegian shipwrecked fishermen, and were put in a German POW camp, where they stayed until the end of the war.

M/B Streif (H261B)

The Streif was sent out on a mission to Trøndelag, with an agent and supplies. The crew were that of the Harald, which had an engine failure. They went out with no navigator, because he had fallen ill, and there was no other available. The voyage to Norway went well, but on their return, the engine stopped, and they started drifting. After some days they managed to start the engine again, but they had no idea where they were. One day they saw a British plane, and flashed a signal. The plane turned eastward, and they believed that they were west of Shetland, and steered south, as they were bound for Peterhead.

After some time, they grounded on a sandbank. They realized that they had reached the coast of the Netherlands, and managed to get rid of their weapons and other suspicious items before the Germans arrived. They told a story about escaping from the British who wanted their vessel. The story was believed, and all were sent to an ordinary POW camp. If not, they surely would have been executed. By coincidence they met the crew from the Frøya raft in the camp, and joined them until the war ended.

The Streif stayed in The Netherlands, and the owner's son has said that long after the war, he received letters with questions about the engine.

Bodø

The fishing vessel Bodø was sent out from Peterhead to South Norway on 1 January 1943, with commandos for "Operation Carhampton". On her return, the Bodø hit a mine near the Scottish coast, and the whole crew were lost. One of her crew, Olaf Skarpenes, has his name on the monument in Scalloway.