military and special operations forces to organize and prepare to counter near-peer competitors. The 2018 National Defense Strategy, directs conventional U.S. The Shetland Bus boats were crewed by Norwegian sailors and supported by a staff of two British military officers, three British non-commissioned officers, three cooks, and a civilian cipherer. The organization totaled less than 100 men in the first years and never exceeded 150 men. They used boats between 50 and 70 feet in length and 18 feet wide, which traveled up to eight knots. In Howarth’s words, the bus line was designed as “a means for regular transport between Great Britain and Norway for sending messengers, leaders, instructors, trained radio operators and saboteurs, and cargoes of weapons.”īetween 1941 and -1945, the Shetland Bus vessels sailed over 90,000 miles, delivered more than 400 tons of arms and explosives, transported equipment to establish 60 covert radio transmitters, and smuggled refugees to England and agents to and from Norway. Howarth’s book is the largest single source for information on the campaign, and I rely upon it extensively in this article. David Howarth became the second-in-command of this covert fleet, called the Shetland Bus, and wrote the definitive history of the program. In early 1941, Mitchell was joined by a Naval sublieutenant who spoke Norwegian, had spent holidays along the coast, and sailed small boats. The first operations under British auspices began in December 1940. His task was to organize an impromptu flow of Norwegian fishing vessels, which had agreed to make return trips to drop off saboteurs and equipment after evacuating refugees.

Mitchell, to the Shetland Islands off of Scotland’s east coast. In the winter of 1940, the Special Operations Executive sent an Army officer, Maj. If it overcame hazardous weather, treacherous currents, potential mechanical mishaps, and enemy patrols, the crew of fishermen could take credit for another successful delivery made by the “ Shetland Bus. In the distance, he could still make out the fishing boat that had brought him to the Norwegian coast as it headed into winter storms and rough seas, towards the safety of British waters hundreds of miles distant. The saboteur beached his small motorized launch in the darkness of an Arctic winter, climbing ashore through a frozen scree.

The shetland bus david howarth