Martin Jensen Linge, (11 December 1894 – 27 December 1941) was a Norwegian actor who, in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, became the commander of the

Norwegian Independent Company 1 Norwegian Independent Company 1 (NOR.I.C.1, pronounced ''Norisén'' (approx. "noor-ee-sehn") in Norwegian) was a British Special Operations Executive (SOE) group formed in March 1941 originally for the purpose of performing commando raids during ...

(NOR.I.C.1) (pronounced as ''Norisen'' by the Norwegians), formed in March 1941 for operations on behalf of the

Special Operations Executive The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a secret British World War II organisation. It was officially formed on 22 July 1940 under Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton, from the amalgamation of three existing secret organisations. Its pu ...

Biography

Martin Linge was born in Norddal, Møre og Romsdal County, Norway. In 1915 he graduated as a non-commissioned officer from the military school in

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, and ...

. He subsequently studied at the Trondheim Theatre (1917–1918). He debuted on the stage at the Central Theatre in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

in 1921 and appeared in both theatre and films during the 1920s and 1930s. Martin Linge was father of

Jan Herman Linge Jan Herman Linge (28 January 1922 in Trondheim, Norway – 25 June 2007 Asker, Norway) was a Norwegian engineer and boat designer. Early life and career Linge was born in Trondheim, Norway. He was the son of Martin Linge Martin Jen ...

, an engineer and boat designer. He was also the grandfather of Norwegian novelist

Espen Haavardsholm Espen Haavardsholm (born 10 February 1945, in Oslo) is a Norwegian novelist, poet, biographer and essayist. He made his literary debut in 1966 with the collection of short stories, ''Tidevann''. He was one of the central writers in the modernist ...

, who wrote about his grandfather in ''Martin Linge – min morfar. Familieroman med fotografier'' (Gyldendal norsk forlag. 1993).

Military career

Shortly after the German attack on Norway on 9 April 1940 he traveled to

Åndalsnes is a town in Rauma Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. Åndalsnes is in the administrative center of Rauma Municipality. It is located along the Isfjorden, at the mouth of the river Rauma, at the north end of the Romsdalen valley. ...

to join his regiment. He had previously attained the rank of Lieutenant (in the reserve forces), and was also one of the first Norwegians to obtain a pilot's licence. When British troops landed at Åndalsnes from 17 April, Linge became

liaison officer A Liaison officer is a person who liaises between two or more organizations to communicate and coordinate their activities on a matter of mutual concern. Generally, liaison officers are used for achieving the best utilization of resources, or empl ...

between the local regiment and the British. Åndalsnes (and other towns in

Møre og Romsdal Møre og Romsdal (; en, Møre and Romsdal) is a county in the northernmost part of Western Norway. It borders the counties of Trøndelag, Innlandet, and Vestland. The county administration is located in the town of Molde, while Ålesund is the ...

county) was at this time still unoccupied territory and the only port with railway connections to the East Norway and the campaign there. The

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

, the crown prince, the

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

, Norway's gold and cash holdings, and finally general

Otto Ruge Otto Ruge (9 January 1882 – 15 August 1961) was a Norwegian general. Ruge was Commander-in-chief of the Royal Norwegian Armed Forces after Nazi Germany's assault on Norway in April 1940. Early career Ruge grew up in Kristiania (Oslo) i ...

with staff, escaped through Åndalsnes.

Trygve Lie Trygve Halvdan Lie ( , ; 16 July 1896 – 30 December 1968) was a Norwegians, Norwegian politician, labour leader, government official and author. He served as Norwegian foreign minister during the critical years of the Nygaardsvold's Cabinet, N ...

in his memoirs recalls meeting Linge at Åndalsnes. During German air bombing of a makeshift airfield at Setnesmoen, he was wounded and evacuated by boat to Britain. He was the first wounded Norwegian soldier to arrive in Britain.Haavardsholm, Espen: '' Martin Linge – min morfar. Familieroman med fotografier.'' Oktober forlag, 2007 Among exiled Norwegians, Linge along with

Nordahl Grieg Johan Nordahl Brun Grieg (1 November 1902 – 2 December 1943) was a Norwegian poet, novelist, dramatist, journalist and political activist. He was a popular author and a controversial public figure. He served in World War II as a war corresponde ...

and

Olav Rytter Olav Rytter (29 January 1903 – 7 June 1992) was a Norwegian newspaper editor, radio personality, foreign correspondent, philologist and translator. Biography Olav was born in Kristiansund as the son of writer Henrik Rytter. He took his phil ...

were the first to propose ideas for resistance against the German occupation. "Our land is perfect for secret resistance and guerrilla warfare" he declared in June 1940. In August 1940 he was appointed as liaison officer to the

War Office The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...

and soon began recruiting men and organizing what became Norwegian Independent Company 1. Linge was killed during

Operation Archery Operation Archery, also known as the Måløy Raid, was a British Combined Operations raid during World War II against German positions on the island of Vågsøy, Norway, on 27 December 1941. British Commandos of No. 3 Commando, two troops of ...

, a British Combined Operations raid at

Måløy Måløy () is a town in the municipality of Kinn in Vestland county, Norway. Måløy is located on the southeastern side of the island of Vågsøy, about northeast of the village of Holvika and about south of the village of Raudeberg. The M� ...

against German military positions on Vågsøy Island. During the

Occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany The occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany during the Second World War began on 9 April 1940 after Operation Weserübung. Conventional armed resistance to the German invasion ended on 10 June 1940, and Nazi Germany controlled Norway until the ...

, Måløy was used as a German coastal fortress, which had led to the eradication of all settlement on the island to make room for the fortress. His body is buried at the

Vestre gravlund Vestre Gravlund is a cemetery in the Frogner borough of Oslo, Norway. It is located next to the Borgen metro station. At , it is the largest cemetery in Norway. It was inaugurated in September 1902 and also contains a crematorium (''Vestre kr ...

(Western Cemetery) in Oslo. Subsequently, the unit he had led was named ''

Kompani Linge Norwegian Independent Company 1 (NOR.I.C.1, pronounced ''Norisén'' (approx. "noor-ee-sehn") in Norwegian) was a British Special Operations Executive (SOE) group formed in March 1941 originally for the purpose of performing commando raids during ...

'' in his honor. ''Linge Company'' was more formally known as Lingekompaniet (''The Linge Company'') ('-et' being the

definite article An article is any member of a class of dedicated words that are used with noun phrases to mark the identifiability of the referents of the noun phrases. The category of articles constitutes a part of speech. In English, both "the" and "a(n)" ar ...

suffix In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns, adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can carry ...

), by Norwegians. He was awarded Norway's highest military decoration for gallantry, the

War Cross with sword The War Cross with Sword (Norwegian Bokmål: ''Krigskorset med sverd, '' Norwegian Nynorsk: ''Krigskrossen med sverd'') is the highest ranking Norwegian gallantry decoration. It is awarded for extraordinary brave actions or extraordinary leadersh ...

Filmography

*1926 - '' Vägarnas kung'' – Ola, a farm boy *1935 - '' Samhold må til'' – Warden *1938 - ''

Det drønner gjennom dalen ''Det drønner gjennom dalen'' (English: ''A Boom through the Valley'') is a 1938 Norwegian drama film written and directed by Olav Dalgard, starring Tryggve Larssen and Ragnhild Hald. It follows the trials and tribulations of contemporary lumber ...

'' – Policeman (Lensmannsbetjent) *1938 - '' Bør Børson Jr.'' – Nils Bækken *1939 - ''

Gjest Baardsen Gjest Baardsen (1791 – 13 May 1849) was a Norwegian outlaw, jail-breaker, non-fiction writer, songwriter and memoirist. He was among the most notorious criminals in Norway in the 19th century. Personal life Baardsen was born in Sogndalsfjør ...

'' – Fisherman

Legacy

Martin Linge and his life are portrayed in the 1 hour documentary ''Martin Linge - skuespiller og legende'' (Martin Linge: Actor and Legend), which aired on

NRK1 NRK1 (pronounced as ''"NRK en"'' or ''"- ein"'') is the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation's (NRK) main television channel. History Test broadcasts started on 12 January 1954, regular test broadcasts started on 13 April 1958 and regular broadca ...

Fakta på Lørdag on 8 May 2004, produced by XpoMedia and Forsvarets Mediesenter (armed forces media center), directed by Mary Ann Myrvang and Runar Skjong, based on a concept, research, and script by Mary Ann Myrvang. Martin Linge is portrayed by the Norwegian actor

Petter Næss Petter Næss (born 14 March 1960 in Oslo, Norway) is a Norwegian actor and film director. His first film as a director was the comedy '' Absolutt blåmandag'' in 1999. Næss is best known for his work directing two of the three films about Ingv ...

in the 2008 movie ''

Max Manus Maximo Guillermo "Max" Manus DSO, MC & Bar (9 December 1914 – 20 September 1996) was a Norwegian resistance fighter during World War II, specialising in sabotage in occupied Norway. After the war he wrote several books about his adventure ...

''.

Memorials

*Statue in the Linge park in

* Crown Prince Olav unveiled a memorial stone and plaque at the Linge farm in Norddal on 17 June 1946. *An oil field in North Sea is named after him. The oil field was previously named Hild.

Streets named in his honour

*Kaptein Linges vei,

Ålesund Ålesund () sometimes spelled Aalesund in English, is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal County, Norway. It is part of the traditional district of Sunnmøre and the centre of the Ålesund Region. The town of Ålesund is the administrative ...

*Kompani Linges vei,

Stavanger Stavanger (, , American English, US usually , ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Norway. It is the fourth largest city and third largest metropolitan area in Norway (through conurbation with neighboring Sandnes) and the a ...

*Martin Linges vei,

Snarøya Snarøya is a populated peninsula in the inner Oslofjord in Norway. It belongs to Bærum municipality in Viken (formerly Akershus) county. It is located south of the districts Lysaker, Lagåsen and Fornebu, and has 2,940 inhabitants. History ...

*Martin Linges vei,

Strømmen Strømmen is a town in Lillestrøm municipality, Viken county, Norway. It is about twenty kilometers east of Oslo, and considered part of Greater Oslo. It has around 11,400 residents. The town has its origins from floating lumber and sawmills alon ...

*Martin Linges veg,

Moss Mosses are small, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic division Bryophyta (, ) '' sensu stricto''. Bryophyta (''sensu lato'', Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryophytes, which comprise liverworts, mosses, and hor ...

*Martin Linges veg,

Heimdal Heimdal is a borough in the city of Trondheim in the municipality of Trondheim in Trøndelag county, Norway. It covers the western and southwestern parts of the municipality. The village area that is also called Heimdal is located in the southe ...

*Martin Linges gate,

Haugesund Haugesund () is a municipality on the North Sea in Rogaland county, Norway. While the population is greater in the neighboring Karmøy municipality, the main commercial and economic centre of the Haugaland region in northern Rogaland and southern ...

References

Other sources

*Ford, Ken (2011) ''Operation Archery - The Commandos and the Vaagso Raid 1942'' (Osprey Publishing) *Devins, Joseph H., Jr. (1983) ''The Vaagso Raid'' (Bantam Books)

External links

*
Linge memorial at Måløy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Linge, Martin 1894 births 1941 deaths Norwegian male stage actors Norwegian male film actors Norwegian male silent film actors 20th-century Norwegian male actors Norwegian Army personnel of World War II Norwegian Special Operations Executive personnel People from Møre og Romsdal Norwegian military personnel killed in World War II Special Operations Executive personnel killed in World War II Recipients of the War Cross with Sword (Norway) Recipients of the Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom) Burials at Vestre gravlund