Flight of The Norwegian National Treasury - The Flight

The Flight

At Lillehammer, the gold stayed for a few days until reports came in that the advancing Germans were approaching. It was decided that the gold was to be loaded onto the train that was also to carry the King and the government of Norway. The Germans were now aware of the dignitaries and treasure stationed at Lillehammer, and a group of Fallschirmjägers decided not to sit by idly while the King, the Government and the Treasury fled. They massed on buses and raced for Lillehammer, but were stopped by a motley collection of Norwegian soldiers at Midtskogen. Some soldiers from Jørstadmoen were ordered to go to Lillehammer to guard the train. Among them was the poet Nordahl Grieg, who was the only private travelling with the Treasury who was aware of the crates' contents, hinted at only by the letters 'NB'; civilians were typically told that they contained ammunition.

The train left on Friday, April 19, and arrived in Åndalsnes on Saturday, April 20. The Germans realised that there was something special about the train, and Åndalsnes was bombed several times, without resultant damage to the train. It then moved on to Romsdalshorn station, outside of Åndalsnes, to secure it from further bombing raids. Åndalsnes proper was bombed to destruction.

In addition to hosting the King, the Government and the National Treasury, Åndalsnes was a staging area for British expeditionary troops, who landed at the town and were moved by train south-eastward to meet the Germans in Gudbrandsdalen. The British military authorities were told about the Treasury at this point, and greeted with delight news of its flight from Oslo with hours to spare. The Norwegians requested that the gold should be carried by ship to Britain and perhaps onwards to America to secure it. It was decided to spread the risk and load the gold into three different ships. The first, the British cruiser HMS Galatea departed from Åndalsnes on Thursday, 25 April, with 200 crates, according to Aftenposten.

It was decided that Åndalsnes was now too risky a place to keep the deposit, as furious air raids from the Germans continued and the German troops were approaching the town with great speed along Gudbrandsdalen. The well-equipped, well-trained German troops cut through the lightly armed and poorly trained infantry units from Britain and Norway. Some 23-28 lorries were requisitioned from the surrounding area and the gold loaded into these. They were driven to Molde, where the British cruiser HMS Glasgow was to take the King, the government and the gold to Tromsø, and from there take the gold to Britain. When they arrived in Molde, the city was being bombed to ruins, but the managers of the deposit were able to load 756 crates and all 39 barrels on board Glasgow before, late on Monday April 29, Captain Pegram judged they could wait no longer and departed on the long journey north to Tromsø.

301 large crates and 246 smaller ones totalling 18 tons were left on the quayside in Molde, according to Aftenposten. It was decided that these should go to Tromsø using coastal transportation. The coastal steamer Driva was brought to Molde and most of the cargo was rapidly loaded before German bombing put an end to the work; fires and severe damage to the docks posed a severe risk and thirty crates were left in Molde when the Driva shipped out. These were loaded on to lorries to rendezvous with Driva at Gjemnes.

Driva was attacked by German planes several times, and was beached by her captain to avoid sinking. Five fishing vessels from Bud and Hustad were then requisitioned to take the gold onwards to Gjemnes, in the hope that the Germans would not suspect them. The five boats were Heimdal, Barden, Svanen, Leif and Gudrun. Their skippers were Hans M. Inderhaug, Harald Tungehaug, Engvald Sunde, Emil Skottheim and Alfred Skottheim. They arrived at Gjemnes without incident where they met the lorries and picked up the thirty crates brought by road.

The five boats continued north to Titran, arriving at the island of Frøya in Trøndelag on Saturday, 3 May. At this point the soldiers from Jørstadmoen were sent home and the fishing vessels relieved of duty. Two larger fishing vessels were requisitioned to continue the journey north with the 18 tons of gold, leaving on May 4 and arriving four days later according to Aftenposten.

In Tromsø the cargo was loaded on the British cruiser HMS Enterprise which departed for the south, calling at Harstad where it left on May 25, first sailing to Scapa Flow, surviving two German air attacks on the way, then proceeded to Greenock, where the gold was brought ashore. Once in Britain, it was rapidly brought by train to London and stored in the vault of the Bank of England. It was later decided to take the gold to America, and it was shipped over the Atlantic by instalments and arrived in Canada. The Norwegian Minister of Finance happily reported to the government that of the 50 tons of gold that initially left Oslo, only 297 gold coins were missing (because a barrel was damaged during transportation in a British vessel).

The gold remained in America, and was gradually sold there - partly to fund operations of government in exile. Ten tonnes of gold coins were taken to Norway in 1987.