From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Roy Nielsen
Roy Nielsen
Roy Nielsen (27 March 1916 – 4 April 1945) was a Nor- and Manus were kept safe by undercover pier worker
wegian resistance member during World War II, a mem- Kåre Halvorsen, who also had made the hole in the floor.
ber of Milorg and involved in propaganda and sabotage. The bombs went off at 2300hrs when Donau was outside
Among his sabotage operations was the destruction of 25 Drøbak, instead of in open sea as planned, and the cap-
Messerschmitt fighter aircraft and 150 engines stored in tain managed to beach her.[6][7][11][12][13] Later during
a bus garage in Oslo, on 14 August 1944, together with the night Donau slipped off land and into somewhat deep-
Max Manus, Gunnar Sønsteby and others.[1][2][3][4] To- er waters before settling. After the explosions on Donau
gether with Max Manus he succeeded in sinking the Ger- the Germans feared that saboteurs had placed limpets
man troop ship SS Donau in the Oslofjord 16 January 1945, on more ships and towed Rolandseck away from the pier
by placing magnetic limpet mines with time delay on the and searched the ship side from rowing boats. No explo-
ship’s side.[5][6][7] sives were found and the loading of Rolandseck contin-
ued from a short time until the limpet exploded. The Ger-
Personal life mans were prepared for such a possibility and plugged
the resulting hole with a large mat, saving the ship and
Nielsen was born in Kristiania as the son of Christian and allowing her to later be placed in dry-dock.[13]
Signe Nielsen, and he married Helen Næss in 1941.[2] He On 14 August 1944, Nielsen initiated the sabotage
was an active amateur boxer in the club Fagforeningenes against the Luftwaffe’s depot at Bjølsen, where the Luft-
IF av 1926.[8] waffe had confiscated part of a bus garage belonging to
Oslo Sporveier. The depot had been moved there from
World War II Kjeller in fear of air strikes. Nielsen extracted informa-
tion about the location from a contact in Oslo Sporveier,
and also came along due to Gregers Gram’s stay in Swe-
Sabotage den at the time. The saboteurs sneaked into Oslo
During World War II he was a member of the armed Nor- Sporveier’s part of the garage, and stole keys from a night
wegian resistance organization Milorg.[2] He cooperated watch without drama. Nielsen kept guard in the night
with Kompani Linge soldier Max Manus in the SOE Oper- watch office; the other participants were Max Manus,
ation Bundle, sabotage missions directed towards German Gunnar Sønsteby, Andreas Aubert, Henrik Hop, William
ships. The group experimented with home-made torpe- Houlder and Erik Hansen Bakke. 120 kilograms (260 lb) of
does. An attempt to hit a troop ship in Oslofjord was plastic explosives, carried to the garage in four suitcas-
a failure, but a later attempt, in summer 1944, to hit es, and a sack with 30 kilograms (66 lb) of dynamite were
a destroyer outside Moss was a partial success, as the detonated. There was a fire lasting three days in which
ship was seriously damaged and out of action for seven the Luftwaffe lost 25 Messerschmitt Bf 109’s, 150 aircraft
months.[9][10] engines and their largest store of spare parts for fighters
Operation Bundle’s greatest success was the sabotage in Norway.[1][14]
against the German troop ship SS Donau in Oslofjord in Nielsen was also in charge of the sabotage of Arbei-
January, 1945. The intelligence organization RMO man- dstjenesten’s office in Wergelandsveien 3. He obtained a
aged to find a weak point in the German guarding of the copy of the door key (via an imprint in plastilina) togeth-
ship during docking time. From beneath a defunct goods er with Dick Zeiner-Henriksen, but the actual sabotage
lift in a building on the pier it was possible to reach the mission was called off because there were people present
sea, by making a hole in the floor. A rubber boat and at the office.[15]
equipment was smuggled in by Alf Borgen in advance,
and Nielsen and Manus came by to inflate the rubber boat Propaganda
some days before the arrival of SS Donau. When the ship
Nielsen came to be one of the leaders of the propaganda
arrived on 15 January, Nielsen and Manus simply walked
organization Operation Derby when it was reorganized
into the pier area, passing the control point with ease
after the death of Gregers Gram in November 1944. Oper-
as Nielsen deliberately slipped and fell right outside the
ation Derby initially focused on black propaganda direct-
gate. The two then entered the building, climbed down
ed towards German soldiers, but they also issued the un-
into the rubber boat, and placed ten limpet mines on-
dercover magazine Fritt Land, and distributed the bi-
to the side of the ship. One limpet mine was placed on
weekly magazine Håndslag (produced in Sweden) and the
a smaller vessel Rolandseck. During the sabotage Nielsen
1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Roy Nielsen
monthly magazine Det frie Norge (from the Norwegian m1.html#manus-max. Retrieved 28 December
government in London).[16] 2009.
[6] ^ Hjeltnes, Guri (1995). "Donau, D/S". In Dahl, Hans
Death Fredrik (in Norwegian). Norsk krigsleksikon 1940-45.
On 4 April 1945 a German crackdown against Operation Oslo: Cappelen. ISBN 82-02-14138-9.
Derby took place. The home of Kolbein and Kari Lauring http://mediabase1.uib.no/krigslex/d/
was surrounded by German forces, whereupon Kari tele- d3.html#donau. Retrieved 28 December 2008.
phoned Max Manus who in turn notified other resistance [7] ^ Manus, Max (1946). "Slaveskipet Donau" (in
members. All resistance members would need to go in Norwegian). Det blir alvor. Oslo: Reenskaug.
hiding at various cover-up apartments scattered around pp. 135–156.
the city. Nielsen went to the address Bygdøy allé 117, to [8] Larsen, Petter (1979) (in Norwegian). Med AIF-
what he assumed to be a safe house, but was surprised stjerna på brystet. Oslo: Tiden. p. 162.
by German forces there and fatally shot while escaping. ISBN 82-10-01853-1.
The same thing had happened to fellow resistance fighter [9] Jensen, Erling; Ratvik, Per; Ulstein, Ragnar, ed
Olav Ringdal earlier that day.[17] Kolbein Lauring and (1948). "Hjemmegjorte torpedoer" (in Norwegian).
Manus managed to escape from their respective loca- Kompani Linge. 1. Oslo: Gyldendal. p. 326.
tions, whereas Kari Lauring was arrested. [10] Manus, Max (1946). "Destroyeren i Mossesundet"
(in Norwegian). Det blir alvor. Oslo: Reenskaug.
pp. 80–92.
References [11] Jensen, Erling; Ratvik, Per; Ulstein, Ragnar, ed
[1] ^ Voksø, Per; Berg, John (1994) (in Norwegian). (1948). "Donaus siste dager" (in Norwegian).
Krigens dagbok - Norge 1940-1945. Oslo: Forlaget Det Kompani Linge. 1. Oslo: Gyldendal. pp. 326–330.
Beste. p. 447. ISBN 8270101664. [12] Christensen, Jan (2006). Oslogjengen. Oslo: Orion.
[2] ^ Ording, Arne; Johnson, Gudrun and Garder, Johan pp. 265–266. ISBN 82-458-0714-1.
(1950). "Nielsen, Roy" (in Norwegian). Våre falne [13] ^ Voksø 1994: 493
1939-1945. 3. Oslo: The State of Norway. p. 373. [14] Christensen, 2006: pp. 13–17
http://da2.uib.no/cgi-win/ [15] Christensen, 2006: pp. 207–210
[16] Manus,
WebBok.exe?slag=lesside&bokid=vaarefalne3&sideid=374&storleik=. Max (1946). "De ofret alt" (in Norwegian).
Retrieved 23 January 2010. Det blir alvor. Oslo: Reenskaug. pp. 109–122.
[3] Manus, Max (1946). "Korsvoll Flyfabrikk" (in [17] Christensen 2006, p. 280
Norwegian). Det blir alvor. Oslo: Reenskaug. Persondata
pp. 60–69. Name Nielsen, Roy
[4] Sønsteby, Gunnar (1960). "Det smeller i
Alternative names
sporveishallen og på Skabo" (in Norwegian).
Rapport fra "Nr. 24". Oslo: Ernst G. Mortensen. Short description
pp. 179–182. Date of birth 27 March 1916
[5] Moland, Arnfinn (1995). "Manus, Max". In Dahl, Place of birth
Hans Fredrik (in Norwegian). Norsk krigsleksikon
1940-45. Oslo: Cappelen. ISBN 82-02-14138-9. Date of death 4 April 1945
http://mediabase1.uib.no/krigslex/m/ Place of death
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Roy_Nielsen&oldid=452823241"
Categories:
• 1916 births
• 1945 deaths
• Norwegian resistance members
• Resistance members killed by Nazi Germany
• Norwegian civilians killed in World War II
• People from Oslo
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