Hjelm Waage Thurn-Basberg (3 November 1917 – 29 November 2006) was a Norwegian resistance member during World War II. He fled Norway twice due to his resistance to the German occupation, but returned both times to work with intelligence for the British

Secret Intelligence Service The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...

(MI6).

World War II

Thurn-Basberg was born in Kristiania. When World War II reached Norway in 1940, he fought for his country as part of the Norwegian Campaign. When fighting subsided he joined the Norwegian resistance movement Milorg. He fled to Sweden in 1943, but soon returned to participate in illegal radio and intelligence work for the Norwegian

. His

nom de guerre A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

was "Per", a common Norwegian variant of the name Peter. Thurn-Basberg was first based in Kristiansand to work with Oluf Reed-Olsen. In the autumn of 1943 he operated the radio station codenamed ''Meton'' together with Reed-Olsen in

Lommedalen Lommedalen is a rural community in a small valley in Bærum municipality in the county of Akershus, Norway. The population is about 3,000 people. Lommedalen valley opens up at Bærums Verk and runs about 5 kilometers to the north. Lommedalen incl ...

. After fleeing again, to England, in January 1944 via Sweden, he received parachute training and returned to Bærum. Thurn-Basberg was then in charge of the radio station ''Gullfaks'', named after Gullfaxi of

Norse mythology Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia, and into the Nordic folklore of the modern period ...

. It was operated from different places in Bærumsmarka and Nordmarka until the liberation on 8 May 1945.Christensen, 1995: p. 102 He especially became known for a telegram sent in June 1944, where he described how the Wehrmacht believed false reports that the Allies were planning an invasion in central Norway, and thus kept large German forces away from the actual war theatre in continental Europe.

Later life

After the war Thurn-Basberg co-founded a Norwegian stay-behind group, as a part of the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

. He was active in this group for 28 years. In his civil life he worked as a small-scale businessman, with import of French wine (inherited from his father) as well as miscellaneous

gas station A filling station, also known as a gas station () or petrol station (), is a facility that sells fuel and engine lubricants for motor vehicles. The most common fuels sold in the 2010s were gasoline (or petrol) and diesel fuel. Gasoline ...

equipment. He lived in Ullern, Oslo, and died in November 2006, 89 years old.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thurn-Basberg, Hjelm Waage Norwegian resistance members Businesspeople from Oslo 1917 births 2006 deaths