The Shetland Bus

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The Shetland Bus plays a role in the plot of mystery novel, Red Bones by Ann Cleeves, and in the BBC television series based on Cleeves' novels, Shetland, episodes 1 and 2, "Red Bones". [15] See also [ edit ] Initially it operated informally, and then became a formal part of the war effort completing more than 200 trips. Not all of those trips were successful, and 44 lives were lost during the crossings. Every time they geared up to go overseas to Norway you never new what was going to happen - did I mention they’re using modified fishing boats? They don’t have any major military support. If I remember correctly I think only one guy on the whole base is even a military officer. The Vita arrived at Shetland on 9 May 1940 with four Norwegian Navy officers and two other refugees aboard. The Vita started as a "Bus" boat before the "Shetland Bus" was officially established. Her first voyage to Norway was on 22 December 1940, skippered by Hilmar Langøy. The next was on 27 March 1941, this time skippered by Ingvald Johansen, who became her skipper for the rest of her missions. Johansen's crew were; Åge Sandvik, H.W. Olsen, Jens Haldorsen and J. Hermansen. The boats were crewed by young albeit expert sailors and fishermen with extensive local knowledge. Many brought their own vessels but some used boats that were “stolen”, with the owner's permission, of course.

By then, the original museum had outgrown its old premises on Main Street, and so the Society instigated a six-year project to fund and create the current museum in larger premises adjacent to the castle. I continually had to remind myself that the Norwegians involved were not only volunteers, but were also civilians. These were patriots who wanted to see their country free of the German occupiers and would do anything to help, even something as seemingly small as transporting undercover agents in their fishing boats. Several crews were killed during these operations, yet the remaining crews never faltered in their commitment to the cause. Eventually the risks became so great and the Germans so suspicious of fishing boats that the group began looking for other alternatives. They were given a few American-made submarine chasers and finished out the war using those with great success. Stories told include a mission to sink the German battleship Tirpitz, the journey of a single survivor of a mission as he treks over the frozen Scandinavian ice and snow towards neutral Sweden, and descriptions of missions to drop off agents, weapons, and rescue partisans and those in danger of capture by the German secret police.This is a part of the war I remember hearing nothing about. The work done in such harsh conditions. The danger from the elements as well as trying to avoid detection from the enemy. So many of their men lost at sea or killed or captured by the Germans.

Shetland's bus services are specified and financed by ZetTrans and are operated by a number of different bus companies. The Telavåg Tragedy highlights the risks took by anyone travelling the route or assisting the operation. In 1942, locals in the small Norwegian village hid two British agents. T he Shetland Bus operation may be considered successful in that it supplied Norwegian resistance movements with weapons and took many refugees from Norway to Shetland, and that it managed to bind just shy of 300,000 German troops in Norway. However, because of this operation, forty-four men lost their lives, and the Norwegian public may not have been too happy having a huge number of German men patrolling their country. It could have been due to this operation that D-Day was an Allied victory, and many other key areas throughout Western Europe could have been hugely affected by the influence of the Shetland Bus. This small operation, secret to almost everybody, could have played a major role in these battles, influencing the course of the entire war itself. This could be an exaggeration, but the implications of the operation may well have had an effect this big.

The occupation of Western Europe and Scandinavia in the spring of 1940 crippled Britain's ability to gather intelligence information. After the Germans invaded Norway, many Norwegians knew that small boats were constantly sailing from the Shetland Islands to land weapons, supplies, and agents and to rescue refugees. 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. Jim Tait (15 April 2014). "Wreaths laid at Scalloway's Shetland Bus Memorial". The Shetland Times . Retrieved 10 October 2019.