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Thamshavn Line sabotage

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at five in the morning. The commander in the area, Hauptmann Møbius, had been out drinking the evening before, and was not able to organise an efficient search or investigation. Unfortunately for Deinboll he had miscalculated the time before the explosion and was spotted by German troops and a chase was organised, but the troops failed to find him. He caught a ride with a fishing boat to
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were to stop the train, chase the staff and blow up the train and track. But things went wrong, the explosives were miscalculated and Odd Nilsen was killed. At the same time an attempt to blow up a rail car at Løkken failed, again due to miscalculation in the explosive timing. After this the saboteurs left the area, but Paal Skjærpe was arrested in
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After the 1942 attack on the railway transformer, Chief of Electrical Engineering at the mine, Petter Deinboll's own father, engineer Petter Blessing Deinboll, was assigned the task of restoring power. He eventually decided to flee with his family to Sweden, where he worked for the resistance. On his
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The final attempt to close down the export came in 1944 when three men returned, via Sweden, to blow up the remaining locomotives. On 9 May they stopped a train at Hongslomælen, the crew was chased away and the train blown up. This was repeated on 31 May when they blew up the last rail car. But the
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The night before 4 May 1942 the three men arrived at Orkdal where they targeted the transformer station. While they were installing the explosives German soldiers passed by, but failed their duty by not checking inside the station and thus were not able to stop the sabotage. The explosion went off
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and one rail car and two Westinghouse locomotives at Thamshavn. But not all the locomotives were located where the saboteurs thought they were and only four were blown up. This was not good enough for Deinboll, and it was decided that a new sabotage was to be performed at Klinghåmmår'n where they
375:) continue extraction, since most of the export had been going to Germany anyway. The company obliged, since they saw no advantage in disobeying, which would only have resulted in the German forces themselves taking over the operation of the mine. 402:
both Løkken Verk and Thamshavn. The resistance protested, and felt that by using sabotage the civilian losses could be minimised. It was decided to attempt to stop the mining through targeted sabotage on key infrastructure along the railway.
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return at the end of the war, Chief Engineer Deinboll was refused reinstatement in his job, he and his family were blamed for the wartime destruction, his house was taken over by others, and his properties auctioned off.
700:. Sabotage was chosen in lieu of bombing in order to safeguard the civilian population. Yet the attacks on the mine created a complex conflict of interest, as the operation of the mine nominally remained in local hands. 479:
The second target for sabotage was the port at Thamshavn and was performed by Deinboll, Bjørn Pedersen and Olav Sættem. At first they lived at Deinboll's parents' home at Thamshavn, but later they moved to a
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in the forest, receiving supplies from local resistance members. They figured, due to heavy security, that it would be impossible to blow up the factory itself, so instead they chose to blow up the ship
423:, removing the power source would make it impossible to operate it. Three soldiers from Company Linge were chosen for the action: Torleif Grong, Per Getz, and their leader Lieutenant 364: 673:
on the standard gauge track and the railway cars on the narrow gauge tracks. No standard gauge locomotives were acquired and the third track was removed after the war.
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with one of them. When a truck offered them a lift they accepted, and the officer on board offered to sit in the back and watch their backpacks—which were filled with
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Neither of the two first sabotages had resulted in especially large problems that could not be fixed, and the resistance decided that the third target was to be the
829: 37: 669:, so the line had three parallel tracks, one in metre gauge and one in standard gauge. This would allow the Germans to operate steam engines from the 661:
power supply in combination with metre gauge, and so the Germans had to acquire steam locomotives. A total of seven were brought up from Germany and
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issued an apology for their treatment of Petter Deinboll's family, and a commemorative bronze sculpture of the wartime saboteur was unveiled in
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was moved out into the fjord. Because of this the timing mechanism became inaccurate and just when the explosives attached to the ship blew, a
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to fasten explosives to the ship, timed to go off at 16:00 the next day. But the next day another ship arrived at the port and
650:). So acquisition of engines had to be done from the continent. And the railway was the only one in the world to use 25  565:
in Trondheim. But he did not talk, and was scheduled for execution on 17 May 1945, only days after peace came to Norway.
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at Svorkdalskjølen and hid in cabins in the forest. But they were soon discovered, and chose to move to Skjenalddalen.
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came by and managed to haul the wreck to land. The three each travelled to Trondheim, with plans to go to Sweden via
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One of the great logistical problems of the Germans was that Thamshavnbanen operated on a
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Bombing eller sabotasje? En ung pikes krigsopplevelser og en motstandsfamilies skjebne.
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in 1940 German forces secured control over the mine, but let the operating company
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in the mine. Secondarily, if it failed, the saboteurs were to take out all of the
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railway, unlike the rest of the Norwegian network, that operated on
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and Norway's first electric railway that connected the mine to the
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decided that it was important to stop the Germans from obtaining
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had been operated since 1654, and in 1908 it was modernised with
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where he rendezvoused with Grong and Getz and they drove to
690: 655: 549: 455:. Luckily for the saboteurs the backpacks were not seized. 352: 315:. There were four separate sabotages, all performed by 241: 768: 749: 730: 665:. Also, the Germans chose to rebuild the railway with 544:
On 31 October 1943 the group planned to blow up one
806: 830:Military history of Norway during World War II 548:locomotive and one rail car at Løkken and one 574:Germans took countermeasures, and brought up 31: 45: 509:, but their contact in Steinkjer had been 38: 24: 331:that were being extracted at the mine at 419:. Since the railway operated solely on 807: 781: 406: 19: 513:and instead they had to travel via 367:(that since has developed into the 13: 578:from Germany to operate the line. 14: 856: 787:Jenssen, Lita Deinboll (1997). 769:Thamshavnbanens Venner (1983). 750:Thamshavnbanens Venner (1983). 731:Thamshavnbanens Venner (1983). 568: 105:Martial law in Trondheim (1942) 762: 743: 724: 520: 1: 840:Norwegian resistance movement 718: 698:Norwegian resistance movement 380:Norwegian government-in-exile 338: 777:: Kaare Grytten. p. 50. 758:: Kaare Grytten. p. 48. 739:: Kaare Grytten. p. 46. 696:was a key objective for the 676: 474: 7: 415:station for the railway at 359:25 km away. After the 10: 861: 398:) and initially suggested 435:and were put to shore at 411:The first target was the 365:Orkla Gruber-Aktieselskab 229: 133: 57: 648:3 ft 6 in 443:and traveled by foot to 221:Nikolaus von Falkenhorst 427:. They traveled with a 390:from the mines and the 290:Thamshavn Line sabotage 120:Liberation of Finnmark 689:and Thamshavn to the 319:in an attempt by the 166:Carl Gustav Fleischer 75:Elverum Authorization 681:Halting the flow of 546:British Westinghouse 421:electric locomotives 321:Norwegian resistance 277:Sonderabteilung Lola 176:Jens Christian Hauge 115:Heavy water sabotage 65:Operation Weserübung 407:Transformer station 394:at Thamshavn (now 151:Johan Nygaardsvold 70:Norwegian campaign 825:Conflicts in 1944 820:Conflicts in 1943 815:Conflicts in 1942 576:steam locomotives 327:from getting the 285: 284: 146:Crown Prince Olav 852: 845:Acts of sabotage 800: 791:Snøfugl forlag. 785: 779: 778: 766: 760: 759: 747: 741: 740: 728: 649: 644: 637:or conventional 636: 630: 628: 627: 623: 620: 612: 608: 602: 600: 599: 595: 592: 584: 561:and tortured by 349:electric pumping 292:was a series of 262:Nasjonal Samling 110:Festung Norwegen 40: 33: 26: 17: 16: 860: 859: 855: 854: 853: 851: 850: 849: 805: 804: 803: 786: 782: 767: 763: 748: 744: 729: 725: 721: 679: 647: 642: 632: 625: 621: 618: 616: 615:4 ft  614: 610: 604: 597: 593: 590: 588: 587:3 ft  586: 582: 571: 523: 477: 409: 396:Elkem Thamshavn 361:German invasion 341: 286: 281: 225: 211:Wilhelm Rediess 186:Vidkun Quisling 181:Gunnar Sønsteby 129: 53: 44: 12: 11: 5: 858: 848: 847: 842: 837: 832: 827: 822: 817: 802: 801: 780: 771:Thamshavnbanen 761: 752:Thamshavnbanen 742: 733:Thamshavnbanen 722: 720: 717: 678: 675: 634:standard gauge 570: 567: 522: 519: 476: 473: 425:Peter Deinboll 408: 405: 340: 337: 301:Thamshavn Line 283: 282: 280: 279: 274: 269: 264: 259: 254: 249: 244: 239: 233: 231: 227: 226: 224: 223: 218: 213: 208: 206:Josef Terboven 203: 201:Sverre Riisnæs 198: 196:Gulbrand Lunde 193: 188: 183: 178: 173: 168: 163: 158: 153: 148: 143: 137: 135: 131: 130: 128: 127: 125:Post-war purge 122: 117: 112: 107: 102: 97: 92: 87: 82: 77: 72: 67: 61: 59: 55: 54: 43: 42: 35: 28: 20: 9: 6: 4: 3: 2: 857: 846: 843: 841: 838: 836: 833: 831: 828: 826: 823: 821: 818: 816: 813: 812: 810: 798: 797:82-7083-216-2 794: 790: 784: 776: 772: 765: 757: 753: 746: 738: 734: 727: 723: 716: 714: 710: 705: 701: 699: 695: 692: 688: 684: 674: 672: 668: 664: 660: 657: 653: 645: 643:1,067 mm 640: 635: 611:1,435 mm 607: 583:1,000 mm 579: 577: 566: 564: 560: 555: 551: 547: 542: 540: 536: 533:able to pull 532: 528: 518: 516: 512: 508: 504: 500: 496: 492: 488: 487:D/S Nordfahrt 483: 472: 470: 466: 462: 456: 454: 450: 446: 442: 438: 434: 430: 426: 422: 418: 414: 404: 401: 397: 393: 389: 385: 381: 376: 374: 370: 366: 362: 358: 354: 350: 346: 336: 334: 330: 326: 322: 318: 317:Company Linge 314: 310: 306: 302: 299: 295: 291: 278: 275: 273: 272:Statspolitiet 270: 268: 265: 263: 260: 258: 255: 253: 250: 248: 245: 243: 240: 238: 235: 234: 232: 230:Organizations 228: 222: 219: 217: 214: 212: 209: 207: 204: 202: 199: 197: 194: 192: 189: 187: 184: 182: 179: 177: 174: 172: 169: 167: 164: 162: 159: 157: 154: 152: 149: 147: 144: 142: 139: 138: 136: 132: 126: 123: 121: 118: 116: 113: 111: 108: 106: 103: 101: 98: 96: 95:The Holocaust 93: 91: 88: 86: 83: 81: 78: 76: 73: 71: 68: 66: 63: 62: 60: 56: 52: 48: 41: 36: 34: 29: 27: 22: 21: 18: 788: 783: 770: 764: 751: 745: 732: 726: 706: 702: 680: 639:narrow gauge 580: 572: 569:Last attempt 543: 535:railway cars 524: 494: 486: 478: 457: 429:fishing boat 410: 377: 342: 313:World War II 296:against the 289: 287: 252:Osvald Group 216:Henry Rinnan 161:C. J. Hambro 156:Halvdan Koht 51:World War II 709:Orkla Group 687:Løkken Verk 606:metre gauge 531:locomotives 521:Locomotives 449:hitch hiked 413:transformer 373:Orkla Group 345:Løkken Mine 333:Løkken Verk 323:to prevent 809:Categories 719:References 671:Dovre Line 667:dual gauge 453:explosives 445:Namdalseid 369:Forbes 500 339:Background 257:Nortraship 141:Haakon VII 85:Resistance 80:Occupation 58:Key events 835:Orkla ASA 707:In 2003, 694:Wehrmacht 685:ore from 677:Aftermath 654:6.6  539:parachute 527:rack lift 503:Steinkjer 495:Nordfahrt 475:Thamshavn 461:Trondheim 417:Bårdshaug 371:-company 357:Thamshavn 294:sabotages 191:Jonas Lie 171:Otto Ruge 775:Orkanger 756:Orkanger 737:Orkanger 629: in 601: in 554:Orkanger 511:arrested 491:row boat 392:smelters 624:⁄ 596:⁄ 563:Gestapo 499:tugboat 469:Meråker 437:Bjørnør 433:England 400:bombing 329:pyrites 325:Germany 311:during 298:railway 100:Telavåg 795:  713:Orkdal 683:pyrite 663:France 507:Ogndal 465:Sweden 388:sulfur 384:copper 309:Norway 305:Orkdal 267:Hirden 237:Milorg 134:People 47:Norway 559:Hovin 515:Selbu 482:cabin 441:Fosen 431:from 247:Linge 90:Camps 793:ISBN 691:Nazi 550:ASEA 505:and 467:via 386:and 378:The 353:port 343:The 288:The 49:and 552:at 439:on 355:at 303:in 811:: 773:. 754:. 735:. 715:. 659:AC 656:kV 652:Hz 631:) 603:) 517:. 471:. 335:. 307:, 242:XU 799:. 646:( 626:2 622:1 619:+ 617:8 613:( 598:8 594:3 591:+ 589:3 585:( 39:e 32:t 25:v

Index

v
t
e
Norway
World War II
Operation Weserübung
Norwegian campaign
Elverum Authorization
Occupation
Resistance
Camps
The Holocaust
Telavåg
Martial law in Trondheim (1942)
Festung Norwegen
Heavy water sabotage
Liberation of Finnmark
Post-war purge
Haakon VII
Crown Prince Olav
Johan Nygaardsvold
Halvdan Koht
C. J. Hambro
Carl Gustav Fleischer
Otto Ruge
Jens Christian Hauge
Gunnar Sønsteby
Vidkun Quisling
Jonas Lie
Gulbrand Lunde

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