Problem norweskiej floty handlowej w okresie niemieckiej inwazji na Norwegię

• Authors: Jordan Siemianowski

Title variants

EN

The problem of the Norwegian merchant shipping during the German invasion of Norway

• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

The Norwegian merchant shipping, which at the beginning of World War II measured 4.8 million GRT, occupied the fourth place in the world ranking. When the Germans invaded Norway as many as four bodies attempted to keep the Norwegian merchant shipping for their own use. They were: the Norwegian government, the British government, a group of Norwegian diplomats conducting activities outside Norway (particularly diplomats residing in London and Stockholm), and the authorities of the third Reich. The fact that Norway possessed a significant tonnage of modern tankers was of great importance to countries fighting in WW II. Erik Andreas Colban, a Norwegian diplomat in London, made the greatest effort to protect the Norwegian merchant shipping against the British and Germans. A Norwegian shipowner, Ingolf Hysing Olsen, joined him and both of them started a very close cooperation with the British authorities. Both E. A. Colban and I. Hysing Olsen worked to guarantee the Norwegian flag for native ships and to establish the Norwegian navigational organization which would play the role of headquarters for the Norwegian sea freight. Eventually, on 26 April 1940 such a sea association was set up and it was called the Norwegian Shipping and Trade Mission, known also as Nortraship. At the same time, the Norwegian government, escaping to the north of Norway, started significant actions in favour of the Norwegian freight, which led to issuing the Temporary Order of Stuguflåt, thanks to which the Norwegian government commandeered all Norwegian ships with the cargo capacity over 500 GRT, and it decided to establish a Norwegian navigational organization in London with Øivind Lorentz as its head. Øivind Lorentz, who had all the government’s instructions and letters of authorization, went together with his staff to London, where he found Nortraship already thriving.

Keywords

EN

World War II; Norway; navigational organizations; the Norwegian merchant shipping; Great Britain’s policy towards Norway

• Publisher: Towarzystwo Naukowe w Toruniu
• Journal: Zapiski Historyczne
• Year: 2011
• Volume: 76
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 51-75

Contributors

author

Jordan Siemianowski

• Instytut Historii i Archiwistyki, Uniwersytet Mikołaja Kopernika