Book 1 toppled – a story of bravery, loyalty and resiliance

During WW2 exiled men from Norway were inserted back into their occupied country via fishing boat from Scotland in order to assist the resistance and carry out raids against the Germans. These were very brave and patriotic people because they knew that were they to be captured they would be tortured and killed, and also because they knew that some of their fellow countrymen were collaborators. We Die Alone by David Howarth is a story about one of these raids that went tragically wrong.

I bought this book in a charity shop a year or so ago – I think it was in Penrith. The book was originally published in the 1950s and mine is a very early edition so it is a small hardback with a dustcover. I picked it up because in my teenaged years I had a great love of factual books about people during the war, especially in prisoner of war camps, and I still have a small collection of this type of book and thought that this one would fit well with them, if I enjoyed it. As I read the story I realised that I had read it before – there’s one scene concerning toes that it is hard to forget. I once owned a set of omnibus books called things like “Great War Stories” and “Great Adventure Stories” which my parents bought me for presents (could it have been from Marks and Spencer ?) and this book must have been included in one of the volumes – I gave the books away when I realised that they had abridged the source material. Apart from the scene with the toes, which occurs late in the story, I remembered nothing about the story but I think that is only to be expected when over forty years have passed since I last read it.

The story which the book tells is that of Jan Baalstrud who was one of four operatives and a crew of people who travelled, by fishing boat, to the very north of Norway on a secret mission. They were betrayed and Jan was the only person from the boat to escape. Although it was only about 30 miles to neutral Sweden his route to freedom took him over high mountains, across fjords and into occupied territory. The only way that he could survive was to depend on local people, especially when he became incapacitated by illness. It is the people who helped Jan who were brave because they risked their lives and the lives of their families if they were caught. Transporting Jan took several months and it looked impossible, on occasion, that he would survive the journey.

This is a remarkable story. The author knew Jan and made a point of meeting most of the people mentioned in the story to confirm the events. He also saw the terrain and was able to describe it well enough that the reader grasps the situation and the difficulty of what was undertaken – my copy also included a map and photographs. The book is written in a very matter of fact manner but the author doesn’t underestimate the courage of those involved. To read this book is to be absolutely gripped by the story and, on occasion, even to feel the cold of the Norwegian mountains where the events took place.

This book was written in the 1950s, as I said, and thus it isn’t very critical of anybody or anything – accounts of this time which are written now tend to be more analytical and, with the passing of the years, they can be more truthful about the motives and actions of individuals who are now long dead. I don’t know if a modern telling of this story might not be as kind to all the participants – certainly the author does leave a few noticeable gaps in the narrative and a modern writer would probably not be so patronising about the Lapp people. I do, however, think that this is a wonderful story of bravery, courage, resilience and loyalty.

This book has been placed on my bookshelves with my small collection of similar tales.