- Sverre Granlund
Corporal Sverre Granlund (1918-1943) was a Norwegian commando during the
Second World War .Life
He was born on November 9th 1918 in Sauherad, Norway. He lived initially in
Saltdal and later, Bodø.He was a member of SOE/Linge Company. His first operation was in May 1941 when he set the
Frostfile machine room of the factory inBodø on fire.Operation Musketoon
In 1942 he participated in the commando raid against the
Glomfjord generator plant inOperation Musketoon . Granlund and Cpl.Erling Djupdraet were the two Norwegians in the twelve man team, the rest of whom were British. He and Captain Joseph Houghton had the role of scouts, ascending the Black Glacier. Granlund was the only member of the team who had to kill a German, shooting a guard at the plant. After the explosions had torn apart the local dam, he sought refuge at "Fykandalen", a mountain resort where he was given a map to a bridge that would lead him further up on the mountain. Unable to find the bridge by nightfall, he met up with Houghton and Corporal Erling Djupdraet and the three returned to the resort where a scuffle broke out between the group and some Germans who had come to question the owners. After the fight, with Djupdraet wounded by a bayonet, Trigg, O'Brien, Granlund and Fairclough split off and managed to avoid capture, escaping toStockholm , thenLondon . Corporal Erling Magnus Djupdraet died on September 24th at the hospital in Bodø and of the rest, only O`Brien and Fairclough survived the war.The distance fromBjærangfjord toSweden walked on foot by Granlund was 250 kilometers and took him over seven days.In 1942, Granlund was awarded Norways's highest decoration for military gallantry, the "Krigskorset med Sverd" or
War Cross with sword .Operation Seagull
He died, at sea, on the 10th February, 1943, in transit to Norway, when the Norwegian submarine KNM "Uredd" hit a German minefield southwest of
Fugløyvær , carrying his team as part ofOperation Seagull . He was was 25. The mines had been laid by the German minelayer "COBRA" and some years after the end of the war, theNorwegian Navy located KNM "Uredd" inFugløyfjord southwest of Bodø, by studying German maps of minefields along the Norwegian coast.Granlud particularly enjoyed poems, especially those written by
Nordahl Grieg , who also lost his life in 1943.In 1995, Norwegian artist
Laila Lorentzen commemorated his role in the war with a statue built forSaltdal museum inRognan .
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