Shetland bus The Shetland Bus was the nickname of a clandestine special operations group that made a permanent link between Shetland , Scotland , and German - occupied Norway from 1941 until the German occupation ended on 8 May 1945 . From mid - 1942 the official name of the group was " Norwegian Naval Independent Unit " ( NNIU ) . In October 1943 it became an official part of the Royal Norwegian Navy , and was renamed the " Royal Norwegian Naval Special Unit " ( RNNSU ) . The unit was operated initially by a large number of small fishing boat s , and later augmented by three fast and well - armed submarine chaser s – , and . Crossings were mostly made during the winter under the cover of darkness . This meant that the crews and passengers had to endure very heavy North Sea conditions , with no lights , and constant risk of discovery by German aircraft or patrol boats . There was also the possibility of being captured whilst carrying out the mission on the Norwegian coast . However , early on it was decided that camouflage was the best defence and the boats were disguised as working fishing boat s , with the crew as fishermen . The fishing boats were armed with light machine gun s concealed inside oil drums placed on deck . The operation was under constant threat from German forces , and several missions went awry , of which the Telavåg tragedy is a prime example . Several fishing boats were lost during the initial operations , but after receiving the three submarine chasers there were no more losses . Leif Andreas Larsen ( popularly known as " Shetland Larsen " ) was perhaps the most famous of the Shetland Bus men . In all he made 52 trips to Norway , and became the most highly - decorated Allied naval officer of the Second World War . History . Establishment of the Shetland bus . In late 1940 , both the Secret Intelligence Service ( SIS ) and the Special Operations Executive ( SOE ) Norwegian Naval Independent Unit ( not to be confused with another SOE Norwegian unit : the Norwegian Independent Coy . No . 1 , or " Kompani Linge " ) , established a base in Lerwick . SIS later moved to Peterhead . They asked some of the skippers of the boats that were coming from Norway , if they would return to deliver agents and bring others back to Shetland . This went on throughout the winter of 1940 - 41 . In early 1941 it was decided to formally establish a group of men and boats to assist the SIS and the SOE . The main purpose of the group was to transfer agents in and out of Norway and supply them with weapons , radios and other supplies . They would also bring out Norwegians who feared arrest by the Germans . Sometimes the group was involved in special operations , like the failed attack on the German battleship , and the raids on Måløy and Lofoten . The men put in charge of organizing the group were a British Army officer , Major Leslie H . Mitchell and his assistant , Lieutenant David Howarth . Upon their arrival in Shetland they commandeered Flemington House , ( later named " Kergord " ) , in Weisdale , for their headquarters and they found a perfect location in Lunna Ness north of Lerwick , from which the boats could operate . Before then the boats had been moored in Cat Firth . Lunna Ness had a sheltered harbour and a small population that were not too curious about what was going on . Lunna House was used as accommodation for the boat crews . Whilst Mitchell stayed in Flemington , Howarth set up headquarters in Lunna House . Their whole staff consisted of three British sergeants ; Almond , Sherwood and Olsen ; Norman Edwards , a stenographer ; Harald Albertsen , a Norwegian cook at Lunna and two maids in Flemington . During the first winter Flemington House was used to train saboteurs and house agents and also accommodate incoming Norwegian refugees . Later all refugees were received in a special camp at the James Sutherland Herring Factory in Lerwick . The camp was administered by James Adie and his Norwegian - born wife . Facilities . The lack of a slipway and other repair facilities , meant that at first the boats had to be repaired at Malakoff ' s in Lerwick . Later they moved the boats and crews to Scalloway , where William Moore & Son had a mechanical workshop and where " Prince Olav ' s Slipway " was built . Harald Angeltveit and Johan Haldorsen were the head mechanics and Severin Roald became leader of the carpenters . All repairs on the ships were done there but Lunna Voe was still used for preparing special operations . Dinapore House was headquarters for the base in Scalloway , while Flemington House became quarters for agents awaiting transport to Norway , or for de - brief on return . A former net loft , owned by Nicolson & Co . became accommodation for the boat crews and was named " Norway House " . Sevrin Roald ' s wife , Inga Roald , was housekeeper there . Flemington House was also on occasion visited by high - ranking officers like the Commander - in - chief , Scottish Command and the Admiral Commanding Orkney and Shetland . The most prominent guest was HKH Crown Prince Olav of Norway who visited in October 1942 . Mitchell left the base in Scalloway in December 1942 and Captain Arthur William Sclater , known as " Rogers " , became leader of operations and his Norwegian - born wife , Alice , acted as welfare officer for the crews . Operations of the Shetland bus . In the beginning , there were fourteen fishing boats of various sizes available . The first Shetland Bus boat , the " Aksel " , skippered by August Nærøy , departed for Bergen , from Hamna Voe , on the west side of Lunna Ness , on 30 August 1941 . The other crewmen on this first tour were : Mindor Berge , Ivar Brekke , Andreas Gjertsen and Bård Grotle . The boats used at the start were ordinary fishing boats but after some loss of men and boats , it was decided that they needed faster vessels . On 26 October 1943 the US Navy officially transferred three submarine chasers to the Shetland Bus operation . They were the " Hitra " , " Vigra " and " Hessa " . These craft were long and powered by two 1 , 200 hp diesel engines . They were capable of a top speed of , with a normal cruising speed of 17 knots . When the submarine chasers arrived , the group became an official part of the Royal Norwegian Navy and was renamed : " Royal Norwegian Naval Special Unit " ( RNNSU ) . They carried out more than 100 tours to Norway , with no loss of men or ships . On 9 May 1945 , " Vigra " , with Larsen in command and " Hitra " with Eidsheim , entered the harbour of Lyngøy near Bergen in free Norway . The group had made a total of 198 tours to Norway , with fishing boats and submarine chasers and one man , Leif Larsen , did 52 of them . The " Shetland Bus " had transported 192 agents and 383 tons of weapons and supplies to Norway and had brought out 73 agents and 373 refugees . Forty - four members of the group were killed . The crews . The crews of the Shetland Bus were men of the coast , fishermen and sailors with detailed local knowledge . They knew who was to be trusted , important when something went wrong . Most of them came over after the occupation , some with their own vessels , others with vessels that were " stolen " with the owner ' s approval . They were young men , most of them in their twenties , some even younger . Many of them did several tours in the spring and summer of 1940 , evacuating British soldiers who had been left in Norway after the battles of April – May , and other British citizens living in Norway . Leif Larsen . Leif Andreas Larsen , known as " Shetlands Larsen " , ( 9 January 1906 – 12 October 1990 ) , was born in Bergen . He joined the Norwegian volunteers during the Finnish Winter War . Soon after the war in Finland ended , Norway was invaded by Germany . A Swedish officer , Benckert , set up a company of volunteers who made their way to Norway and fought in eastern Norway until 8 June 1940 , until the war was officially over . Larsen arrived in Shetland with the boat M / B " Motig I " , on 11 February 1941 . After training with " Kompani Linge " in England and Scotland , Larsen returned to Lerwick in the " St Magnus " on 19 August 1941 . He did his first Shetland Bus tour with M / B " Siglaos " , skippered by Petter Salen , on 14 September 1941 . After the loss of the minelayer " Nordsjøen " , where Larsen was second in command , he became a skipper and could choose his own crew . His first crew was Palmer Bjørnøy , Leif Kinn , Arne Kinn , Kåre Iversen , Karsten Sangolt , Nils Nipen and Otto Pletten . His first boat was M / K " Arthur " , the boat he " requisitioned " and escaped from Norway with after the wrecking of " Nordsjøen " . On 8 November 1941 , Larsen sailed from Shetland on his first tour as skipper . On their return to Shetland , they ran into a storm and Karsten Sangolt was blown overboard and drowned . Larsen made several tours with the " Arthur " but he also skippered other boats , like M / B " Siglaos " and M / B " Feie " . In October 1942 , he had to scuttle the " Arthur " in Throndheimsfjord after a failed attempt to attack the German warship " Tirpitz " . He and the crew escaped to Sweden but a British agent , A . B . Evans , was arrested and later shot . On 23 March 1943 , returning from Træna , Nordland , with M / K " Bergholm " , they were attacked by German aircraft . The boat was sunk but Larsen and the crew , many of them wounded , rowed for several days until they reached the coast of Norway , near Ålesund . One man , Nils Vika , died of his wounds . The other crew were : Andreas Færøy , Johannes Kalvø , Finn Clausen , Gunnar Clausen , Odd Hansen and William Enoksen . After hiding in different places , they were rescued on 14 April by a MTB from Lerwick with Lieut . Broberg in command . In October 1943 , the new submarine chasers arrived and Larsen became commander of " Vigra " , with the rank of Sub - Lieutenant . In total he made 52 tours to Norway in fishing vessels and submarine chasers . British awards : Norwegian awards : Kåre Iversen . Kåre Emil Iversen , ( 10 October 1918 – 2001 ) , was born in Flatanger , Norway . He was the son of a sea pilot and had joined his father on the pilot boat . When the Germans attacked Norway he was a fisherman and soon joined the underground army . His activities were discovered by the Germans and he had to leave the country . He and three other men escaped to Shetland in August 1941 with his father ' s boat , the 42 - foot " Villa II " . From Shetland he was transferred to England were he joined and trained with the " Kompani Linge " . He was among the men Larsen choose as crew on M / B " Arthur " and sailed several tours with Larsen . He was crewman on M / B " Siglaos " , M / B " Feie " , M / B " Harald " and M / B " Heland " . In December 1943 , he joined the crew on the submarine chaser " Hessa " as engineer under command of Petter Salen . When " Hessa " was under repair , Iversen served as engineer on " Vigra " and did one tour on a Norwegian Navy MTB . When " Hessa " was back again he rejoined the crew and stayed there until the war ended . Kåre Iversen did 57 tours across the North Sea , most of them as engineer . On 6 December 1944 , he married the Scalloway girl Christine ' Cissie ' Slater . They stayed in Scalloway after the war and had three daughters . In 1996 , Shetland Times Ltd . published Iverson ' s memoirs , " I Was a Shetland Bus Man " . It was reprinted in 2004 , with a new introduction and the title " Shetland Bus Man " . Losses . The first of the Shetland Bus men to lose his life was Nils Nesse , 23 , from Bremnes on the island Bømlo south of Bergen . He was killed on 28 October 1941 when German aircraft attacked the " Siglaos " on its way to Shetland from Norway . Nesse was buried at Lunna Kirk churchyard with a Scottish ceremony , because there was no Norwegian clergyman to conduct the funeral . His body was moved to his home in Norway in 1948 , but there is still a cross marking his grave at Lunna . Nesse was the second Norwegian buried at Lunna Kirk . The first was an unknown sailor buried on 5 February 1940 . He was probably from the cargo ship " Hop " , that had left Bergen on 2 February 1940 and was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine . The third man was buried 9 June 1942 . He was found drifting in the sea by a local crofter , John Johnson from Lunna . The " Shetland – Norwegian Friendship Society " has set up a plaque on the churchyard wall in remembrance to these two unknown men . David Howarth ( 1912 – 2 July 1991 ) , requested that his ashes be scattered over the water at Lunna Voe . A memorial plaque is mounted on the churchyard wall at Lunna Kirk . The boats . When Germany launched their invasion of Norway on 9 April 1940 British troops and ships were sent to help the Norwegians . Several coastal towns were bombed and destroyed by the Germans and during April and May , the British ships had to retreat from mid - Norway . On 29 April , left a devastated Molde with King Haakon VII , Crown Prince Olav , members of the Norwegian Government and most of the gold from the Norwegian National Bank . In northern Norway , the fighting lasted for another month . Only a few weeks after the occupation began , the first boats of an " armada " of fishing vessels and other boats began to arrive in Shetland . Many of these boats made several journeys across the North Sea carrying refugees . Many were " Hardanger Cutters " , with a straight bow and long stern from the Bergen area , others the more rounded " Møre Cutters " from the area around Ålesund . It appeared that the " Møre Cutter " was the strongest and best - fitted for the heavy weather in the North Sea . The boats were of many kinds and shapes but most of those used as a " Shetland Bus " , were from in length , with two masts and equipped with a 30 to 70 hp single - cylinder semi - diesel engine , which made the characteristic " tonk - tonk " sound .