Re: SOE (Special Operations Executive)
I'm really looking forward to the movie "The Twelft Man". It stars Johnathan Rhys Meyer as the regional Gestapo commander and a Norwegian rapper (really
) as the SOE agent he's chasing. It's a true story. You can read it in David Howarth's "We die alone" and an Oscar nominated movie was made in 1957.
Here is the story in brief: Jan Ballsrud was one of 12 SOE agents sent to northern Norway well above the arctic circle to train, organise and equip resistance fighters there. They were snitched on and eleven of them were killed as the boat was about to put them on land.
Still photo from the 1957 movie "Nine lives". The fishing vessel used by the agents in the foreground,
the attacking German naval vessel behind it.
The Germans belived Baalsrud must had drowned after trying to escape swiming in the freezing fjord, but the Gestapo commander insisted on finding the twelft man dead or alive.
What followed was an epic chase going through a landscape both stanning and extremely challinging, making the natural condition an even greater danger than the large Nazi forces chasing him. The local population, including Sami reindeer herders, helped Baalsrud in his escape to Sweden knowing full well the danger they put themselves and their families in.
The real Jan Baalsrud:
Here is the new trailer of "The Twelft Man". The Reindeer herd scenes are shot at the shooting ranges I used during my military service. Even if your Norwegian and German might be a little bit rusty you can follow the story.
Looks really good.
Unfortunately my schoolboy German let me down so I found a trailer on YouTube with English subtitles