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Praetorium Honoris

Tuesday, July 12, 2022

Fish Oil?

(Do chase this Source, it's the basis for this part of the story!)
Newly-promoted Unteroffizier Georg Schülze stood by the window to the small office in the building they used as their headquarters. It was snowing, again.

January 1941 was three weeks old and all was quiet. Leutnant Bär, though a continuing pain in Schülze's arse, hadn't bothered the locals all that much during his tenure in Litenhavn¹. The town was far too small for Bär's ambitions, he spent most of his time in Oslo, "consulting" with his superiors. At least someone in that city recognized that Schülze was the de facto face of the German occupation in this small slice of Norway, hence the promotion.

Winter and Ahrens were in the village's sole business, a combination café, dry goods shop, and apothecary. Birgitte Otness, or Enke² Otness as the villagers called her, was a fetching lady in her early-forties, both Winter and Ahrens were trying to win her favor. The men who covered the overnight hours would have probably been vying for her affections as well, but when they were on duty the widow was either asleep or tending bar in the café. With not much else to do in the village, most of the menfolk were also in that bar. Looking askance at any German who paid too much attention to her.

Schülze liked the pace of life in this small place, cold and forbidding though it was in winter. The people, while not overly friendly, were at least respectful. The Germans left them to their fishing, making scant demands upon either their property or their livelihood. The dispatch on his desk, brought in before the snowstorm, might change all that.

"Fish oil," he mused. He had a rough idea of its many uses but why would the Reichsministerium für Rüstung und Kriegsproduktion³ be interested in how many barrels of fish oil were produced in Litenhavn?


Major Thomas Gillespie, formerly of the Grenadier Guards, sat up at his desk. He had been working in signals intelligence since the beginning of the war had recalled him to active service. A field posting was right out, missing a hand and an eye certainly made one ineligible for service in the field.

He had been put on half-pay as a captain after his wounding in 1918. He had enough family money to not work but he had grown bored with managing the family estate and when the war had started up, he had pulled strings at Horse Guards to get this posting.

Though he was horrible with mathematics and couldn't break a code if his life depended on it, someone had to decipher all of the material the code breakers passed along. One thing Gillespie had was a phenomenal memory.

Berlin was inquiring of its outposts in Norway about the production of fish oil. Gillespie knew that one of Norway's big industries was fishing, they must produce a lot of fish oil, but why would Berlin care?

Walking over to one of the many file cabinets in the office he used the hook on his left hand to pull the cabinet open. Rifling through the files he couldn't find what he was looking for, so he called out to Mary Whitworth, his assistant.

"Mary, do you remember that report we intercepted regarding production of artillery shells? Believe it was in '38 as I recall."

Mary Whitworth hustled into the room and noticed that the major was in the wrong cabinet. "It's over here Major, that cabinet concerns requests from the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht⁴ to its field units not involved in operations, this cabinet, " she said as she opened a drawer, looked inside and pulled a file from within, "is where we file information concerning their Production Ministry.

Gillespie cocked an eyebrow in Whitworth's direction, she turned and said, "I saw that Major, don't question our filing methods, they have worked well for us. If you can't find something, ask."

Gillespie, suitably chastised, nodded and said, "My apologies ma'am." Then he bowed from the waist and swept his hand from left to right. A member of Louis XIV's court would have approved.

This time Whitworth cocked an eyebrow as she handed the file over to the Major, "And it's a wonder you never married ..."


Gillespie, after reading the file to refresh his memory, went upstairs to his boss, Group Captain Roger Kensington.

"Sir, you need to see this." Gillespie said, handing over the file.

Kensington let his spectacles slide down his nose and looked over them to read the file. "Bloody specs, still not used to 'em. Eyesight is fine close in, can't see a sodding thing at any distance. Age ya know. Gets to all of us."

"Some sooner that others. Sir."

Kensington looked up, smiling, "You always were a cheeky bastard Tommy. What have we here?" The Group Captain focused on the document for a long few minutes. Gillespie waited, patiently, Kensington was a thorough man, a clever man, which is probably why he held his current post in Intelligence.

"Hhmm, why d'ya suppose the Huns are worried about ammunition production? Bombs I can understand, but this document expresses a lot of worry over artillery ammunition. Why does the bugger need more artillery shells, d'ya think?"

"Russia, Sir."

"But those buggers Hitler and Stalin are allies ain't they?" Kensington liked to play things close to the vest, he liked letting his subordinates come to the same conclusion he had. Or disagree if they could make a case for it.

"Hitler's been an anti-Communist his entire life. Have you read Mein Kampf⁵, Sir?" Gillespie asked.

"Turgid bloody mess, I tried to, couldn't get through the damned thing. But one of my aides read it and gave me a damned good summary. You're right, this Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact is a marriage of convenience. Bastard's planning to invade, isn't he?"

"That's my thinking, Sir."

"Fish oil?"

"Glycerin Sir, you can distill fish oil to make it, and from that ..."

"Nitroglycerin! Have you run this by the boffins⁶?"

"Not yet, Sir. But this report, " he handed Kensington another folder, "confirms that. A scientist before the war indicated that we should be careful with Norway. As he put it, "Sweden has the ingredients for steel, Norway for explosives." He made a rather convincing case, which someone from the War Ministry didn't agree with, so the file was archived."

"Mary found that one, didn't she?"

"She did Sir, the lady is brilliant. We don't pay her enough."

"You'll get no argument from me on that score. I need to get this off to SOE, an operation like this would be right up their alley."

"Sir?"

"Forget it Major, forget what I just said."

"Very good, Sir."


In the Scottish hills above Achnacarry, Private Damian Krempa, late of the Polish Army, late of the French Army, turned to his Sergeant, Bartosz Podbielski, and groaned, "Is that the only word that bastard knows in Polish?" As Corporal Bill Winston of His Majesty's Royal Commandos barked out, "Szybciej, szybciej!"

"Let us not find out," Podbielski answered in English, a language he was learning fast, though his accent was still very heavy.

The five Poles and their French companion, who pretended to be a Pole, had heard of the commando forces being formed. They had all volunteered, for as Jean-Yves (Jan-Iwo in Polish) Cahun had said, "We will never get back to kill Nazis at the rate things are going, these commandos will go in sooner, of this I am sure."

All he really had to say was "kill Nazis" and they would have volunteered, but the kicker is that the British were looking for tough men who knew how to operate behind the lines and get home again. Something the little band of Poles and one Frenchman had already done.

Little did they know that within a few weeks, they would be returning to the Continent, to perhaps not kill Germans but to get intelligence on, of all things, stocks of fish oil in Norwegian ports.

Of course, if they could get away with it ...




¹ Literally "Little Harbor," a fictional fishing village in Norway. It's the same fishing village I've mentioned earlier, I just decided to name it.
² Widow (Norwegian)
³ Reich Ministry of Armaments and War Production
⁴ High Command of the Armed Forces
⁵ Book written by Hitler before the war, he basically laid out his plans for Europe in it. Hard to read.
⁶ British slang for a scientist or technical expert.
⁷ SOE - Special Operations Executive was a secret British Second World War organization created in July 1940. Following the fall of France in June 1940, Prime Minister Winston Churchill tasked Hugh Dalton with forming SOE with the instruction to 'set Europe ablaze' by helping local resistance movements and conducting espionage and sabotage in enemy-held territories. (Source)
⁸ Faster, faster! (Polish)

48 comments:

  1. Following your Muse on this WWII series has certainly increased my knowledge base of that conflict. Always wondered why so many Germans were garrisoned in Norway and the fish oil raids were an eye opener Sarge.

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    1. I try to educate as well as entertain. I only learned of the fish oil raids recently, pretty interesting.

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  2. Inserted by MGB, and if they find what they were looking for, a week of so later, a visit by a couple of TRIBALs?

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    1. StB 1 - When has the Muse ever followed a script?

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    2. StB 2 - Yes, I read the material at the source as well.

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    3. I was reminded of the raid, about a month ago, when I read a book on the TRIBALS, BATTLES, and DARINGS, and the development of the modern RN destroyer.

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  3. Fascinating Sarge. It really does point out that in most things, there are always clues. One just need to be smart enough (or at least remember where one filed the information!) to puzzle it out.

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    1. It's one thing to get the data, quite another to figure out what it means!

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  4. So, our merry little band from Poland by way of France have found themselves in a Commando. Good fit, both ways. Certainly "the only game in town" for such soldiers at this point in the war; hope they avoid Dieppe.
    The recruitment of Norse soldiers during the raids would provide some cover for the families " They were taken away by the British" could imply prisoners of hostages just as well as volunteers.
    Boat Guy

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    1. That's an aspect I need to look into, did Norwegians leave during the Occupation to fight with the British? And in what numbers? Might be another story line there.

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    2. Source noted Brits left with recruits
      BG

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    3. Photo in Sources source show Norse women and a child aboard ship too. Smart gals, those.
      BG

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    4. Guess I was too focused on fish oil!

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    5. Ah, I didn't burrow down into the detailed article noted in the source. A very good one (time constraints dontcha know?) It's here for those who wish to read the whole story of a raid. It's worth your time!

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  5. Dots I never connected in my mind. Thank you.

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  6. Sarge,
    Very well written stage setting chapter. Well done! Looking forward to the next section.

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    1. The Muse was inspired by having the weekend off!

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  7. Look up the Shetland Bus. There were other ways to insert agents into Norway, but this one is most legendary

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  8. The other important story line related to Norway and weapons production had to do with 'heavy' water...

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    1. Yes indeed, but I doubt we'll get there in this tale. (But never say never!)

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    2. Fish oil played its bit in denying heavy water to the Germans. The Norwegian plant engineers at Norsk Hydro found that adding a small amount of fish oil to the inlet water stream would hopelessly contaminate the electrolysis cells producing heavy water, requiring days of extensive cleaning each time...

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  9. S.O.E. ! Lots of good books and movies there. Thanks for the ride, Sarge.

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  10. I just remembered some books I read back in the 80s about WWII by W.E.B. Griffin. He has a couple series that had a similar style as yours. Ever read them?

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    1. He wrote a lot of books, his work spanned at least the 80s, 90s, 00s, probably the teens as well. Guy was a prolific (and talented) author. I've read a few of his books.

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    2. Loved the several Griffin books though they got to be somewhat formulaic.
      Stage is frankly writing better stuff.
      Boat Guy

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    3. "Stage"??? Damn spell check. Sorry Sarge.
      BG

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    4. BG #1 - (Didn't see these comments until late, sorry!) High praise for whoever that "Stage" guy is. 🤣🤣🤣

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    5. BG #2 - Sorry, couldn't resist the urge to be a smart ass above. I let spellcheck tell me something might be wrong (which does happen) but I turn off the autocorrect "feature." Gargle has a rather limited vocabulary.

      But thanks for the good words. Really appreciate it.

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  11. Dang rabbit holes! I chased Sarge's links under the opening picture, and in his later comment- and well worth the time. The latter included a pic of vets returning for a visit in 2005 on a fully restored WW2 gunboat necessitated a search for HNoMS Hitra, which turned out to be a USN 110 foot subchaser (1 of 3) we gave the Norwegians in 1943. Lots more history there, of course two years after Sarge's tale, but the war was far from over.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HNoMS_Hitra

    Fully restored... reminds me of Leo Goolden and the Tally Ho restoration, where he will have another video this coming weekend.
    See, those dang rabbit holes!
    John Blackshoe

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    1. Edward Stafford wrote an excellent book on being the CO of a 110" SC. Called ironically enough, SUBCHASER. his Little Ship, Big War, about the JOHN C BUTLER Class DE ABERCROMBIE, is also very much worth reading.

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    2. So many books, so little time ...

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    3. Stafford is a "rabbit hole" worth diving into. Read "Subchaser" if nothing else.
      Boat Guy

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  12. My, how your muse entertains me. Keep it up OAFS. The things I find out here…..

    Franknbean

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  13. Hah, fish oil. Now explain the Soviets destroying the environment to grow cotton... And you know the answer.

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