Asbjørn Sunde Asbjørn Edvin Sunde ( 12 December 1909 – 23 April 1985 ) was a Norwegian sailor , communist , and a saboteur against the Nazi occupation of Norway during the Second World War . During the war , from 1941 to 1944 , Sunde ' s group - the " Osvald Group " - carried out approximately 200 acts of sabotage and assassination against the German occupation forces and collaborators . Many of the actions were carried out on order from the Norwegian exile government in London . In 1954 he was convicted for treason and espionage in favour of the Soviet Union , but released from prison before due time , after political pressure to have him released . Early life . Sunde had served a 30 - month stint in the Royal Norwegian Navy , rising to non - commissioned officer rank in 1930 . He was trained as both a first mate , a navigator and a gunner . He was married , and the father of one son . For several years he sailed in the Norwegian merchant marine . In the years preceding the Second World War , Sunde joined the Communist Party of Norway , wrote for the communist daily " Arbeideren " and was involved with work to aid and support the labourers and unemployed in his home town Horten . Spanish Civil War . Following the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 , Sunde played a central role in the early efforts of the Communist Party of Norway in support of the Spanish Republic . In January 1937 Sunde led a group of four volunteers he had personally recruited from Oslo to the headquarters of the International Brigades in Albacete , Spain . Sunde , who spoke Spanish , first served as an front line ambulance driver in Spain , before requesting transfer to a Republican special operations unit as a saboteur and partisan , operating behind Nationalist lines . Among the tasks Sunde carried out in the unit was railway sabotage . While in Spain he also wrote letters , describing his experiences and the situation in Spain , that were published in " Arbeideren " . Sunde left Spain in the summer of 1938 , returning to Norway . Wollweber League . From 1938 he was the leader of the Norwegian branch of Ernst Wollweber ' s secret sabotage organization , whose actions were directed against Fascist - controlled shipping . The Wollweber League had been established as an initiative of the Soviet NKVD . Second World War . Following the German attack on the Soviet Union in June 1941 , Sunde ' s group initiated sabotage activities in Norway . The group , consisting predominately of sailors , dockworkers and industrial labourers , was responsible for some 200 known actions between July 1941 and July 1944 , dominating sabotage activity in Norway during this period . One of Sunde ' s cover name s was " Osvald " , and his group became known as the Osvald Group ( " Osvald - gruppen " ) . The groups main area of operations was Buskerud . According to historian Lars Borgersrud , Sunde ' s renown as an aggressive and daring saboteur , led other resistance organisations to approach him to carry out particularly delicate missions , in particular assassinations . After attacking the Oslo and Aker offices of the State Police 21 August 1942 , a reward of 50 , 000 NOK was offered for information that would lead to his capture . Post - war activities . After the war Sunde wrote the book " Menn i mørket " ( 1947 ) ( Men in the Darkness ) , describing his wartime activities . Neither Sunde nor his organization received any award or recognition from the post - war Norwegian government for their contributions during the war , due to the political climate at the time , and the group ' s relation to the Soviet secret police organisation , the NKVD . The more famous and acknowledged partisan Gunnar Sønsteby unsuccessfully spoke in favour of giving Sunde a war pension , which was given to both the merchant sailors and the military branch of the resistance . Sunde died without receiving any official recognition for his war - time contributions to Norway . Sunde played a central role in the internal conflicts of the Communist Party of Norway in the late 1940s . The struggle culminated with the expulsion of former chairman Peder Furubotn and a number of other so - called " Titoists " in 1949 / 1950 . Conviction for treason and espionage . From 1949 the Norwegian Police Surveillance Agency began a surveillance operation against Sunde , leading to his arrest five years later on suspicion of espionage . In 1954 Sunde was convicted for treason and espionage for the Soviet Union , and sentenced to 8 years imprisonment . After serving two thirds of his sentence , he was released from prison ca . 1960 . After his release , he lived a quiet life .