RMO was a Norwegian clandestine organization for naval intelligence during World War II, led from Oslo. The organization operated from Spring 1942 until the end of the war in the spring of 1945.

Establishment

RMO was established by Kapteinløytnant Andreas Rygg, as an initiative from naval attaché Hans Henriksen at the Norwegian legation in Stockholm. Because of the German mass arrest of Norwegian military officers in 1943, Rygg fled to Sweden, and the organization was subsequently led by

Martin Siem Ole Martin Siem (6 January 1915 – 3 November 1996) was a Norwegian businessperson and World War II resistance member. He was born in Horten as a son of naval commander Ole Siem (1882–1979) and Marie Augusta Ursin Holm (1888–1961). The ...

and Sigurd Sverdrup.

Network

RMO's primary goal was to establish contacts in the cities along the Norwegian coast. The contact persons were typically harbourmasters, maritime pilots and other sea workers or harbour workers. Siem and Sverdrup had earlier cooperated with Gunnar Sønsteby, and this cooperation continued after RMO was formed. RMO used Sønsteby's courier network to bring messages to Stockholm, and Sønsteby's organization obtained reliable information on ships and traffic. In addition to Oslo, ROM had branches in cities such as Halden, Kristiansand,

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 ...

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 ...

, Bergen, Trondheim and Tromsø. When Rygg moved to Stockholm in 1943, he was employed as second-in-command at the office ''MI II'', the section for military intelligence at the Norwegian legation in Stockholm, and from then on it was possible to coordinate XU's and RMO's activities in the seaport towns. RMO also cooperated with the Milorg department for naval intelligence ''EV 13''. The initial Trondheim group was destroyed by the Gestapo during 1943, but another group with contacts at Trondheim harbour and the submarine harbour was initiated in 1944. In Oslo RMO also had contacts at the Norwegian Maritime Directorate, the

Norwegian Hydrographic Service Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

, the

Lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid, for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Lighthouses mar ...

administration, the Railways and the Telegraph.

Intelligence

Most of the information collected by RMO was of a static nature. Some also had operative value. Information from Oslo harbour provided by RMO was important for the sabotage missions against German ships in Oslo, carried out by

SOE SOE may refer to: Organizations * State-owned enterprise * Special Operations Executive, a British World War II clandestine sabotage and resistance organisation ** Special Operations Executive in the Netherlands, or Englandspiel * Society of Opera ...

( NOR.I.C.1) agents Max Manus, Gregers Gram and others.

Post war

RMO was intact until the end of World War II. After the war the organization was supposed to be dissolved, along with other intelligence networks such as XU and Zero. During 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 ...

agents from the war period might have been recruited to intelligence networks or Stay-behind groups.

References

{{Reflist Norwegian resistance movement World War II espionage