Flight of the Norwegian National Treasury

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The National Treasury of Norway consisted of 240 million NOK of 1940 value worth of gold, weighing around 50 tons. The entire gold deposit was stored at Norges Bank's main vault at their headquarters in Oslo. During the increasing tension of the 1930s, plans were made to make the deposit more mobile. When WWII broke out, these plans were accelerated and the gold was packed into 818 crates of 40kg, 685 crates of 25kg and 39 barrels of gold coins, weighing 80kg each.

[edit] Invasion

When news reached the government that the guard ship Pol III had been sunk and that enemy ships were approaching Oslo, orders went out to evacuate the deposit to the vault in Lillehammer. Civilian transports were commandeered and some strong workers from nearby businesses were called in to help load the gold onto the trucks. The trucks left one after the other as they were fully loaded, some far over their max weight. Just as the last trucks left Oslo, the Germans marched into the city.

[edit] The Flight

At Lillehammer, the gold stayed for a few days, until reports came in that the Germans were approaching. It was decided that the gold was to be loaded onto the train that was also to carry the King and the government of Norway. The Germans are now aware of the important people and especially the treasure at Lillehammer, and a small group of soldiers decide to not sit idly by while the King, the government and the treasury flee. They mass on buses and race for Lillehammer, but are stopped at Midtskogen. Some soldiers from Jørstadmoen are ordered to Lillehammer to guard the train. Among these soldiers is the famous poet Nordahl Grieg, who is the only private travelling with the treasury who knows what the crates marked "NB" actually contain; civilians often told it contains ammunition. The train leaves at Friday, April 19.

It arrives in Åndalsnes at Saturday, April 20. The Germans realize there is something special about the train, and Åndalsnes is bombed several times, without any damage done to the train itself. The train is moved to Romsdalshorn station, a bit outside Åndalsnes, to secure it from more bombing raids. Åndalsnes proper is now bombed to ruins.

Åndalsnes was, in addition to storing the King, the government and the national treasury, a staging area for British expeditionary troops, which swarmed the town and was continuously moved by train southeastward to meet the Germans in Gudbrandsdalen. The British are told about the treasury at this point, and are enthusiastic when they hear how the Norwegians got the gold out of Oslo, beating the Germans by a few hours. They are told that the gold should be carried by ship to Britain and perhaps onwards to America to secure it. It is decided to spread the risk and load the gold onto three different ships. The first, the British cruiser Galathea, ships out of Åndalsnes on Thursday, April 25.

It is decided that Åndalsnes is now too risky a place to keep the deposit, as furious air raids from the Germans continue, and the German troops are fast approaching the town from Gudbrandsdalen, the well-equipped, well-trained German troops cutting through simple infantry units from Britain and Norway. 23-28 Trucks are commandeered from the surrounding area and the gold loaded into these. They are to be driven to Molde, where the British cruiser Glasgow will take the king, the government and the gold to Tromsø, and from there to Britain. Once they arrive in Molde, the city is terror-bombed to ruins. The managers of the deposit are able to load half of the gold onboard Glasgow. It ships out on Monday, April 29, leaving a great deal of gold in Molde.

It is now decided to bring the rest of the gold north to Tromsø using coastal transportation. The coastal steamer Driva is brought to Molde and ten tons of gold is rapidly loaded. German bombing puts and end to this loading, fires and severe damage to the docks pose a risk the Norwegians are not willing to take. 30 crates are left in Molde when Driva ships out. They are loaded on trucks to be driven north and meet up with Driva at Gjemnes.

Driva is attacked by German planes several times, and is grounded by its captain to escape sinking. Five fishing vessels are now commandeered to bring the gold to Gjemnes, hopes are that the Germans won't suspect them. The gold arrives at Gjemnes without incident. The gold from the trucks are now loaded in the vessels and they continue north to Titran at the island Frøya in Trøndelag on Saturday, May 3. Here the soldiers from Jørstadmoen are sent home and the vessels relieved of duty. Two larger vessels are commandeered to continue the journey.

The two fishing vessels arrive in Tromsø on Saturday, May 24. Here it is loaded on the British cruiser Enterprise and taken to Plymouth. Once in Britain, it is rapidly brought by train to London and stored in the vault of the Bank of England. It is later decided to bring the gold to America, and it's shipped over the Atlantic in parts and arrives in Canada. The Norwegian Minister of Finance happily reports to the government that of the 50 tons of gold initially leaving Oslo, only 297 gold coins are missing (because a barrel got damaged during transportation in a British vessel).