- Jan Baalsrud
Infobox Military Person
name=Jan Baalsrud
caption=
allegiance=Norway
rank=Fenrik
commands=
unit=Company Linge
family=
nickname=
lived= birth date|1917|12|13|df=y — death date and age|1988|12|30|1917|12|13|df=y
placeofbirth=Kristiania ,Norway
placeofdeath=Kongsvinger ,Norway
currentlyresides=
serviceyears=1940 – 1943
laterwork=Chairman of the Norwegian Disabled Veterans Union (1957 — 1964)
battles=
awards=flagicon|UKOrder of the British Empire (MBE)
flagicon|NorwaySt Olav's medal
portrayedby=Jack Fjeldstad in the Oscar nominated movieNi liv (Nine lives)Jan S. Baalsrud (born
December 13 ,1917 inKristiania ,Norway – diedDecember 30 ,1988 inKongsvinger , Norway) was acommando in the Norwegian resistance trained by the British.Biography
Early life
Jan Baalsrud was born in
Kristiania (now Oslo), and moved toKolbotn in the early 1930s, where he lived until the 1950s. He graduated as a instrument-maker in 1939.World War II
During the German invasion of Norway in 1940, he fought in Vestfold. He later escaped to
Sweden , but he was convicted of espionage and expelled from the country. He eventually arrived in Britain in 1941, after having travelled through theUSSR ,Africa andUSA , where he joined the NorwegianCompany Linge . In early 1943, he and numerous other commandos embarked on a dangerous mission to destroy a German air control tower and recruit for theresistance movement . This mission was compromised when he and his fellow soldiers, seeking a trusted resistance contact, accidentally made contact with an ordinary civilian who betrayed them to the Nazis who were occupying their country.The morning after their blunder, on
March 29 , their boat – containing 8 tons ofexplosive s intended to destroy the air control tower – was attacked by a German vessel. The Norwegians scuttled their boat by exploding their payload, and fled in a small boat, however the boat was promptly sunk by the Nazis.Jan and others swam ashore in ice cold
arctic waters. Jan was the only soldier to escape the Nazi attack alive and, soaking wet and missing one shoe, he escaped up into aravine , where he shot and killed the leading German officer with his pistol. He evaded capture for roughly two months, suffering fromfrostbite andsnow blindness . His deteriorating physical condition forced him to rely on the assistance of Norwegian patriots. It was during this time in a wooden hut, he called Hotel Savoy, that Jan was forced to amputate nine toes to stop the spread of gangrene. Not long after that Jan was left on a high plateau on a stretcher in the snow for eighteen days, his survival hanging in a thin thread. After that it was thanks to the efforts of his fellow Norwegians that Jan was transported by stretcher towards the border with Finland. Then he was put in the care of some Sami (the native tribe of the scandinavian arctic) who with reindeeer pulled him on a sledge across Finland and into neutral Sweden where he was safe at last. From Saarikoski in northern Sweden he was collected by a seaplane of the Red Cross and flown toBoden .He spent seven months in a Swedish hospital in Boden before he was flown back to Britain in a Mosquito aircraft of the RAF. He soon went to Scotland to help train other Norwegian patriots who were going back to Norway to continue the fight against the Germans. However, the damage suffered during his escape from Norway left him disabled, and he never returned to active duty.
He was awarded the
MBE by the British (London Gazette: 27th April, 1944). From Norway, he received theSanctolavsmedaljen med Ekegren (the medal of St. Olav, with oakleaves). He was a Second Lieutenant (Fenrik ).Later years and death
After the war Baalsrud made a substantial contribution to the local scout and football associations in addition to the Norwegian Disabled Veterans Union of which he was chairman from 1957 to 1964. In 1962 he moved to
Tenerife ,Spain where he lived for the most of the remainder of his life. He returned to Norway during his final years, and lived here until his death on 30th December 1988. He was 71 years old. His ashes are buried in Manndalen near the grave of Aslak Fossvoll and others whose efforts made his successful escape to Sweden possible.An annual remembrance march in his honour takes place in
Troms onJuly 25 where the participants follow his escape route for nine days. A meadow in Oppegård is named "Baalsrud plass" in his honour.Books
* "", by David Howarth – 1955 – ISBN 1-55821-973-0
* "Defiant Courage - Norway's Longest WW2 Escape" by Astrid Karlsen Scott and Tore Haug (authors), Nordic Adventures, 2001. ISBN-10: 0963433989; ISBN-13: 978-0963433985Movies
* "
Ni Liv " (en. "Nine Lives") – 1957External links
* [http://www.godoy.no/weber/2verdskrigweb/Sara03/index.htm A school paper on Baalsrud (Norwegian)]
* [http://karlsoy.com/baalsrud/ About the remebrance march (Norwegian)]
* [http://www.nvg.ntnu.no/film/tfk/v95/omtaler/0508-NiLiv.html About the 1957 film (Norwegian)]References
* "Ultimate Survival: Defiant Courage", The
History Channel
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