page_title: Milorg
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Milorg / History
caption_attribution_description: Norwegian underground army of the Second World War - Milorg - on parade in front of the Royal Palace in 1945.
context_page_description: Milorg was the main Norwegian resistance movement during World War II. Resistance work included intelligence gathering, sabotage, supply-missions, raids, espionage, transport of goods imported to the country, release of Norwegian prisoners and escort for citizens fleeing the border to neutral Sweden.
context_section_description: Following the German occupation of Norway in April 1940, Milorg was formed in May 1941 as a way of organizing the various groups that wanted to participate in an internal military resistance. At first, Milorg was not well coordinated with the Special Operations Executive (SOE), the British organization to plan and lead resistance in occupied countries. In November 1941 the Milorg became integrated with the High Command of the Norwegian government in exile in London, answering to the British Army's Department British Field Office IV, which dealt with sabotage operations, but Milorg's British counterpart, SOE, was still operating independently. This lack of coordination led to a number of tragic incidents, creating bitterness within Milorg. SOE changed its policy at the end of 1942, and from then on Milorg and SOE efforts were coordinated.
  Mainly for fear of retaliation, like the Telavåg tragedy in 1942, Milorg kept a low profile at first. But they became more active as the war progressed.
  Its first permanent bases were established in the summer of 1944. At the time of the German capitulation on 8 May 1945, Milorg had been able to train and supply 40,000 soldiers. They then also played an important part in stabilizing the country.
caption: Milorg District 12 on parade on Slottsplassen in front of the Royal Palace in 1945.
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