The Commando Who Refused to Die: The World War II Story of Odd Bjerke, 5 Troop, No. 10 (Inter-Allied) Commando

A gripping account details covert missions, training, and perilous operations amid Nazi occupation, highlighting resilience, tactical ingenuity, and exceptional courage.

When the Germans invaded Norway in 1940, teenager Odd Bjerke bid his family farewell and confidently made his way to Sweden alone, on skis, with the intention of traveling to Britain to fight for his country. His wartime odyssey began when he joined the Norwegian Free Army in Scotland in 1940. He trained troops in skiing and winter warfare in Iceland; then was selected to go to the remote and barren island of Jan Mayen to help sustain the strategically important weather station there; before returning to Scotland where he would become a member of 5 Troop (Norwegian) No. 10 (Inter-Allied) Commando.

With his comrades in arms, he would go on to engage in sabotage and underground resistance training missions in Norway and in combined operations in Lapland before his wartime service ended was ended by the severe wounds he received at the battle of Kapelsche Veer in Holland. Rescued by resistance fighters, Bjerke was hospitalized in Scotland before returning to Norway after the end of the war. He would go on to a new, initially covert, life in America, drawing on his wartime experiences to train USAF crews in survival and evasion.

Reconstructing Bjerke’s unpublished biographical account, this book captures in meticulous detail the training, planning and preparation for complex covert missions in occupied territories, and the unpredictable violence and dreadful consequences of their execution. It also evokes the constant, pernicious tension of life under Nazi rule, and the oddities of daily existence in wartime Britain. His self-deprecating manner highlights the bravery of adventurous people in exceptional circumstances. Gripping from the first page, this account of a fearless Norwegian patriot must rank among the very best accounts of British/Norwegian special operations in World War II.

Table of Contents

Foreword
Prologue
1. Growing up in Norway
2. Escape from Norway
3. Basic Training in England
4. The Men on Jan Mayen
5. Iceland
6. Convoy to Britain
7. Commando Training
8. Sabotage in Norway
9. Eastbourne
10. The Supplies Drop in Norway
11. The Archives Sabotage in Norway
12. The Bridge near Bergen
13. Lapland and the USSR
14. Operation Horse – Kapelsche Veer
15. The War is over
Epilogue
Bibliography
Index

Odd Valentino Bjerke was born in Oslo, Norway in October 1924. In 1940, after the Germans occupied his country, he found his way to Britain where he joined the Norwegian Free Army. After his basic military training in the Scottish Highlands he was assigned to the 4th Mountain Company, stationed in Dumfries. In January 1941, he was transferred to the “Norwegian Ski Troop” based in Iceland. His duties were to train Allied ski troops in skiing and winter warfare. In early 1941 he was selected, with a team of meteorologists and soldiers, to occupy the barren arctic island of Jan Mayen to maintain and protect a crucial weather station. In late 1942, he was transferred back to Scotland where he was inducted into 5 Troop (Norwegian) No. 10 (Inter-Allied) Commando, with whom he would serve until the end of the war in Europe. His commando activities saw him serving in Norway, Lapland and Holland. He was shot several times at the battle of Kapelsche Veer in Holland in 1945, ending his wartime activities. He would go on to a new, initially covert, life in America, drawing on his wartime experiences to train USAF crews in survival and evasion.