Through Hell and Wild Water

By Bill Corfield

The Germans invaded the south coast of Norway in 1940 and moved so rapidly to the capital Oslo that the King and Government moved north and ordered the gold treasury evacuated to Britain for safe-keeping. Soldeirs and volunteers fought to move 58-tons of ingots to the north coast. The British cruiser sailed under air attack and 18 ingots were left behind. Ole Ibsen, son Christian and Major Erik Lendl, gold convoy commander, loaded them on the sloop Bara and sailed for England. The Bara foundered in a storm off theCornish coast.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bill Corfield
• Release date: Sep 25, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301231935

Bill Corfield

Bill Corfield is The Canadian Storyteller with over twenty titles in print of military,naval and corporate history, biographies, fictional novels and memoirs. He is a retired public relations consultant and lives in London, Canada.

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Through Hell and Wild Water

By Bill Corfield

The Canadian Storyteller

Copyright 2013 Bill Corfield

Published on Smashwords

Formatted by eBooksMade4You

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All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

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Chapter One

The wind shrieked from the snowy crags of Morefjell, funnelled through the valley of Gausta and tore along the streets of Oslo. Pedestrians leaned against it, cursed it, scrambled out of it, as they had for centuries, but this day in April 1940 there were no rosy faces making rugged smiles, no Nordic eyes glistening with pleasure, only dull-eyed shock and disbelief. Although this seemed to be a very severe storm when people would be expected to be in their homes keeping warm, the sidewalks were crowded. There appeared to be an unnatural combination of desperate purpose and uncertain confusion. There was an indication of panic around the parliament buildings where trucks were being loaded as fast as men could work. Most of the stores were closed except for a few that sold fuel and winter clothing. These were jammed. A steady procession of worshippers entered and left the cathedral. Occasionally a military vehicle moved along, tires squealing in the snow but family cars were few.

The Germans were invading Norway and the defences to the south were rapidly crumbling!

Evacuation was under way!

Shadowy figures in military uniforms moved at the rear of the dimly-lit Bank of Norway building on the main street. Every few minutes an army truck came out of the alley and ground away through the deepening drifts. Major Eric Lendl watched and wondered where the frantic efforts would end. He rubbed his cheek where the frigid wind was making his empty eye socket ache. He was commanding one of Norway’s elite combat units when an errant mortar shell during an