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Inside Fortress Norway: Bjorn West, a Norwegian Guerrilla Base, 1944 - 1945

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Thomas Nielsen draws upon his service with the Norwegian Resistance during World War II for Inside Fortress Norway: Bjorn West - Norwegian Guerrilla Base, 1944-1945. This insider's account of partisan life is as definitive and comprehensive as it is engaging and informative. The accounts of preparation for, and engagement with, German attacks, behind the lines forays, and other aspects of the clandestine guerrilla movement in the mountains of western Norway is nothing short of riveting. A "must" for military buffs and academic reference collections, Inside Fortress Norway is a welcome and much appreciated contribution to the growing body of literature dealing with the World War II's European Theater.

Thomas Nielson's "Inside Fortress Norway" is a superb account of the last months of the Second World War inside a guerilla base of the Norwegian resistance. "Bjorn West" was a place to organize and train resistance fighters against the day of liberation, and was under constant German military pressure. The last half of the book centers on the defense of Bjorn West against a German counterinsurgency campaign while the resistance was attempting to negotiate the surrender of German forces in Norway. Nielson describes the difficulties of life on the run from the German occupation forces in the snow-covered mountains of western Norway. He provides intimate details of the harsh life of the resistance fighters, holed up in small, drafty cabins in the high mountains, dependent upon airdrops of supplies from Great Britain to feed and arm themselves. He also provides a sense of the challenges for the Norwegian resistance of being outnumbered by the German occupation force and of being under some restraints in its actions to avoid provoking retaliatory atrocities by the Germans against Norwegian civilians. What emerges is a vivid portrait of the patriotism and valor of the Norwegians under terrible circumstances, and of their sustaining partnership with the Allied leadership in Great Britain. This book will appeal to students of the Second World War, especially those interested in national resistance, and to those with ties to Norway. The book does presuppose some knowledge of the Second World War and some familiarity with the challenging geography of western Norway. It is a translation from Norwegian and the language can appear awkward in a few places. Nielson includes some wonderful photographs illustrating the terrain and the men with whom he served. I highly recommend this book as a counterpoint to the numerious histories of conventional combat in the Second World War.