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8. The National Archives, Kew: Admiral Submarines: Pa-
trol reports of HM Submarines TAKU and THUNDER-
BOLT, TAKU’s 2nd war patrol, ADM 199/1846.
9. : Lfd. Nr. : 05204.
10. A. Hjorth Rasmussen: Det er nødvendigt at sejle, p.15ff
og p. 46 ff.
11. Osvald Olesen, april 1985.
12. The National Archives, Kew: Admiral Submarines:
Patrol reports of HM Submarines TRIAD, TRIBUNE and
TRITON, TRITON’s 10th war patrol, ADM 199/1847.
13. A. Hjorth Rasmussen: Det er nødvendigt at sejle, p. 65ff.
14. The National Archives, Kew, Admiral Submarines: Patrol
reports of HM Submarines TALISMAN, TRAVELLER and
TETRARCH, TETRACH’s 2nd war patrol, ADM 199/1849.
15. Osvald Olesen, april 1985.
16. Knud J.V. Jespersen: Med hjælp fra England II, Odense
Universitetsforlag 2000, p. 447.
17. A. Hjorth Rasmussen: Det er nødvendigt at sejle, p. 103 ff.
18. Knud J.V. Jespersen: Med hjælp fra England II, Odense
Universitetsforlag 2000, p. 218.
19. Verner Jensen: Frederikshavn under besættelsen, Bangs-
bomuseet 1985, p. 92 ff.
20. Ministeriet for Handel, Industri og Søfart: Danmarks
Skibsliste 1946, p. 156.
21. Forfatterens Interview med Børge Winkel, april 1985.
22. Ibid.
23. Forfatterens Interview med Evald Henriksen, april 1985.
24. Osvald Olesen og Børge Winkel, april 1985.
25. Forfatterens Interview med Holger Gregersen, april 1985.
26. Osvald Olesen, april 1985.
27. Børge Winkel, april 1985.
28. Harald Sandbæk og N. J. Rald: Den danske kirke under be-
sættelsen, H. Hirschsprungs Forlag, København 1945, p. 256 ff.
29. Børge Winkel, april 1985.
30. Osvald Olesen, april 1985.
Summary
During World War II, 127 Danish fishermen lost their lives
in the North Sea and the Skagerrak. They came under fire
from German and British aircraft, were seized by the British
and sunk by the Germans, and throughout the war they had
to live with the risk of mines.
The article describes the conditions seen through the
eyes of the Danish skipper Osvald Olesen. In May 1940
a naval battle took place around him, when the submarine
HM TAKU, Lt.Cdr. Voltelin James Howard Van der Byl, at-
tacked a German convoy and sank the destroyer MÖWE.
On the next trip, Olesen’s ship was shot at by a German air-
craft and then intercepted by the submarine HM TRITON,
Lt.Cdr. Edward Fowle Pizey. Osvald Olesen was ordered on
board the submarine, where he was questioned in a friendly
atmosphere. As a young man, Olesen had been fishing out
of Hull and spoke excellent English, and the next day he was
allowed to sail again.
In the spring of 1945 he was one of the Danish fisher-
men who shipped weapons and ammunition to the Danish
resistance movement. At a fishing ground off the Humber,
he met with a supply ship from SOE and had his dangerous
cargo transferred. He then went on fishing for a few more
days and covered the cargo with fish before he again headed
for his Danish home port.
Here he had to pass a rigorous German inspection, where
the hold was investigated thoroughly, and once the examina-
tion had started, there was no escape. He could neither fly
nor shoot his way out. His only chance was to bluff his way
through.
The transports came too late and were met with many
difficulties, and in total only eight shiploads reached Den-
mark in this way. Sources do not agree on the amount, but
in total the Danish fishermen only brought somewhere be-
tween 16 and 32 tons of weapons and ammunition across
the North Sea.
It was far too little to have any significant military im-
portance, but the transports testify to the great personal
courage of the participating fishermen. They risked their
lives and their livelihood, and they never received the recog-
nition they deserved. After the war a very large fine was im-
posed on Osvald Olesen by the Danish Ministry of Fisheries
for having violated a German ban on export of fish, and he
was subsequently stripped of his civil rights.
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