Operation VP

Does anyone have information on the Operation VPs that were carried out in Norway? I am aware that Bjorn Pedersen took part in a raid on shipping in Bergen, but other than that I have few details.

I am interested in all aspects of the ops including the names of Norwegians involved, the raids and the organisation behind it all. Were the raids successful? What were the losses? And was there any connections between the various secret organisations - SOE, SIS, XU, 30 AU etc.

Many thanks in advance.

Bob Pearson

If you will give a date and year for the operation, it is much easier to check in various books.

Hi Alt For Norge,

The dates appear to be 1943-1945. From what I can make out there appears to be no exact date - day, month etc. Lt Bjon Pedersen carried out his attack in Bergen Harbour in Spring 1945.

It's possible that behind the ops is an organisation called 30 NID, who may well have planned the raids.

On another note: of particular interest to me is Patrick Dalzel-Job. This man was in Noway prior to invasion and then again in the Narvik area. There may well be links to Op VP, but I cannot be sure. PDJ later joined 30 AU, which was the deep penetration group from 30 NID.

In short, are there any connections to the above.

Cheers

Bob

Hei.
VP-operations were planned and carried out by Combined Ops and the ACOS' staff. Eight ops were planned but only one, VP 101 Barbara, was carried out. You wil find a useful summary of this ops
if you search for Welman submarine on Wikipedia, only to make clear that the two Norw. officers Lt Bjørn Pedersen and Lt. Carsten Anker Johnsen both came from Linge Coy.

I believe to have seen somewhere that Lt. Dalziel Job was involved in planning these ops, but can not remember the scourse for the moment

mvh hoh

hoh did beat me with some minutes.

Here you will find thousands of links to the Wellman submarine

http://www.google.com/search?q=Welman+submarine&rls=com.microsoft:nn-no:IE-Address&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7&rlz=

Hallo HOH og Alt For Norge,

Mange Takk for informasjon.

The Welman link is certainly a good start. The link gave Gosport Musuem as the place for the only surving Welman sub, so i will give them a call on Monday. The strands are coming together.

Takk igjen.

Mvh

Bob

I wil give you a Norwegian proverb: Det flasker seg

Bob Pearson wrote:Does anyone have information on the Operation VPs that were carried out in Norway? I am aware that Bjorn Pedersen took part in a raid on shipping in Bergen, but other than that I have few details.

I am interested in all aspects of the ops including the names of Norwegians involved, the raids and the organisation behind it all. Were the raids successful? What were the losses? And was there any connections between the various secret organisations - SOE, SIS, XU, 30 AU etc.

Many thanks in advance.

Bob Pearson

November 1943? Is this the right one?

Barbara I (Lt. C. Johnsen, Lt. B. Pedersen. Lt. B. Marris RNVR, Lt. J. Holmes, RN)
The object of the ‘Barbara’ operations was to sink enemy shipping in Norwegian coastal waters using ‘Welmans’, the one-man submersible craft.
On 20 November 4 ‘Welmans’ and 2 British and 2 Norwegian officers were transported to the west coast with the intention of sinking shipping or the floating dock in Bergen harbour. The ‘Welmans’ penetrated the inner harbour but the lead vessel was discovered and 2nd Lieutenant Pedersen captured. The other officers escaped after sinking their vessels and were eventually picked up on 5 February 1944.

Dear Sepals,

Great info - many thanks. The names will give me a good lead on what happened.

Takk igjen

Hilsen

Bob

December 1943

Barbara II The remaining Norwegians trained for Welman operations were: 2./Lt. R. Larsen, Sgt. Ø. Hansen, Cpl. N. Olsen, Sgt. F. Kayser, Sgt. J. Akslen

The aim was to attack the anchorage at Askvoll.

A SOE observer was landed on the island of Atløy, and a second attempt was made to land another two observers further south. At the end of January 1944, however, after the operation had failed to get underway, both sets of observers were picked up and the operation abandoned.

Barbara III (Trace)

February 1944

Harald Svindseth, Ragnar Ulstein
The aim was to attack shipping in Gulenfjord.

An advanced party, ‘Trace’, was landed on 6 February 1944 and began sending messages by W/T. The ‘Welman’ party sailed on 13 February but was forced back by bad weather. The operation was eventually abandoned although the ‘Trace’ party continued to send messages until it was picked-up on 16 March by sub-chaser.

You might give him a call?

And the observer, wasn't that Patrick Dalzel-Job?

hoh

P.S. exelent info from sepals

Mange takk for informasjon fra Sepals og HOH.

I will act upon the information. Hopefully, the National Archives will be able to provide further ideatils on the operations.

Takk igjen,

Bob