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Osvald Group
The Osvald Group was a Norwegian organisation that was the most active World War II resistance group in Norway from 1941 to the summer of 1944. Numbering more than 200 members, it committed at least 110 acts of sabotage against Nazi occupying forces and the collaborationist government of Vidkun Quisling. The organisation is perhaps best known for conducting the first act of resistance against the German occupation of Norway, when on 2 February 1942, it detonated a bomb at Oslo East Station in protest against Quisling's inauguration as Minister-President.
The Osvald Group was originally the Norwegian branch of the "Organisation Against Fascism and in Support of the USSR", better known as the Wollweber League, an anti-fascist group founded in 1936 by German communist Ernst Wollweber, with the support and direction of the Soviet secret police, the NKVD. Norwegian communist Martin Rasmussen Hjelmen was its first leader, whose pseudonym Osvald became the group's namesake. Following Hjelmen's arrest in 1938[dubious – discuss] by Swedish authorities, Asbjørn Sunde, who used Osvald as a cover name, led the group through the end of the German occupation. The Osvald Group became independent in 1940 after the Wollweber League dissolved following Wollweber's arrest.
Historian Lars Borgersrud says about the origins of the group's name, that "The Norwegian section of Wollweber's sabotage instrument was called 'the Osvald Group' («Osvald-gruppa») after the pseudonym of the leader, Martin Hjelmen"—Osvald. Osvald was also one of the pseudonyms used by Asbjørn Sunde.
The occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany began on 9 April 1940 after Operation Weserübung. Conventional armed resistance to the German invasion ended on 10 June 1940.
After the 1940 arrest of Ernst Wollweber and the revelation of the Wollweber League, the Osvald Group was intact in Oslo but had lost contact with Moscow, and had no funding. The group stored explosives around the country. The group only initiated their sabotage activities after Operation Barbarossa, the German attack on the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941, and continued until the Osvald Group was demobilised in 1944 by orders from Moscow. The group undertook its first railway sabotage mission on 20 July 1941, the explosion of a Wehrmacht train at Nyland Station in Oslo. In July 1942 Sunde held his first sabotage course at Rukkedalen (where the group had their headquarters). "A short time later he actioned against German friendly" companies in Hadeland.
The Osvald group's active resistance policy was in opposition to the Communist Party of Norway (NKP), Milorg, and other organizations that preferred a more passive resistance. The group cooperated with the group 2A and 2A's police group, as well as with Milorg, SOE and XU.
In the winter of 1942, NKP formed military groups, and Sunde met with their leader Peder Furubotn. Sunde established a sabotage training center in Rukkedalen and recruited a network of saboteurs in the Torpo-Gol and Nesbyen area—and through Hallingdal and towards Oslo and Bergen. In September 1942, Sunde agreed to supply guards at the communist party's central camp in Hemsedal in exchange for practical and financial support. Sunde became NKP's military leader, and the organisation became more efficient.
In 1944 there was a break between the group and NKP's leader Peder Furubotn when Furubotn demanded that the group subordinate itself to his leadership.
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Osvald Group
The Osvald Group was a Norwegian organisation that was the most active World War II resistance group in Norway from 1941 to the summer of 1944. Numbering more than 200 members, it committed at least 110 acts of sabotage against Nazi occupying forces and the collaborationist government of Vidkun Quisling. The organisation is perhaps best known for conducting the first act of resistance against the German occupation of Norway, when on 2 February 1942, it detonated a bomb at Oslo East Station in protest against Quisling's inauguration as Minister-President.
The Osvald Group was originally the Norwegian branch of the "Organisation Against Fascism and in Support of the USSR", better known as the Wollweber League, an anti-fascist group founded in 1936 by German communist Ernst Wollweber, with the support and direction of the Soviet secret police, the NKVD. Norwegian communist Martin Rasmussen Hjelmen was its first leader, whose pseudonym Osvald became the group's namesake. Following Hjelmen's arrest in 1938[dubious – discuss] by Swedish authorities, Asbjørn Sunde, who used Osvald as a cover name, led the group through the end of the German occupation. The Osvald Group became independent in 1940 after the Wollweber League dissolved following Wollweber's arrest.
Historian Lars Borgersrud says about the origins of the group's name, that "The Norwegian section of Wollweber's sabotage instrument was called 'the Osvald Group' («Osvald-gruppa») after the pseudonym of the leader, Martin Hjelmen"—Osvald. Osvald was also one of the pseudonyms used by Asbjørn Sunde.
The occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany began on 9 April 1940 after Operation Weserübung. Conventional armed resistance to the German invasion ended on 10 June 1940.
After the 1940 arrest of Ernst Wollweber and the revelation of the Wollweber League, the Osvald Group was intact in Oslo but had lost contact with Moscow, and had no funding. The group stored explosives around the country. The group only initiated their sabotage activities after Operation Barbarossa, the German attack on the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941, and continued until the Osvald Group was demobilised in 1944 by orders from Moscow. The group undertook its first railway sabotage mission on 20 July 1941, the explosion of a Wehrmacht train at Nyland Station in Oslo. In July 1942 Sunde held his first sabotage course at Rukkedalen (where the group had their headquarters). "A short time later he actioned against German friendly" companies in Hadeland.
The Osvald group's active resistance policy was in opposition to the Communist Party of Norway (NKP), Milorg, and other organizations that preferred a more passive resistance. The group cooperated with the group 2A and 2A's police group, as well as with Milorg, SOE and XU.
In the winter of 1942, NKP formed military groups, and Sunde met with their leader Peder Furubotn. Sunde established a sabotage training center in Rukkedalen and recruited a network of saboteurs in the Torpo-Gol and Nesbyen area—and through Hallingdal and towards Oslo and Bergen. In September 1942, Sunde agreed to supply guards at the communist party's central camp in Hemsedal in exchange for practical and financial support. Sunde became NKP's military leader, and the organisation became more efficient.
In 1944 there was a break between the group and NKP's leader Peder Furubotn when Furubotn demanded that the group subordinate itself to his leadership.