Skorpa is an

uninhabited island A desert island, deserted island, or uninhabited island, is an island, islet or atoll that is not permanently populated by humans. Uninhabited islands are often depicted in films or stories about shipwrecked people, and are also used as stereotype ...

in the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

of Herøy in Møre og Romsdal

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

. Skorpa lies directly west of the island of Nerlandsøya, across the Skorpesund, about west of the town of

Fosnavåg is a town in the municipality of Herøy in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is the administrative center of the municipality of Herøy. The town is located on the island of Bergsøya, and it includes the Eggesbønes area on the south side ...

. The island of Gurskøya lies to the southeast, across the Herøyfjorden. The Svinøy lighthouse is located to the east. The terrain is steep and rugged, the highest point being the mountain, Keipen, at a height of above sea level. There are no longer any permanent residents on the island, and today Skorpa is best known for vacation cottages and the herd of wild goats that live there. The farm '' Matrikkelgård'' on Skorpa has the Norwegian farm registration number 1.

World War II

Skorpa was an important contact point for the

Shetland bus The Shetland Bus (Norwegian Bokmål: ''Shetlandsbussene'', def. pl.) was the nickname of a clandestine special operations group that made a permanent link between Mainland Shetland in Scotland and German-occupied Norway from 1941 until the su ...

and for other allied military traffic during

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 opposing ...

. The island served as a station for agents and resistance personnel both to meet and to hide. Instructors, weapons, and sabotage material were transported to the Norwegian resistance forces. For many who departed to

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

this was the last stop, just as it was the first stop for many agents on the way into Norway. In 1940, retreating

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

soldiers were hidden here, before being evacuated to Shetland in fishing boats. 1941 was the first year that Norwegian boats covered the route between Norway and Shetland.

Leif Larsen Leif Andreas Larsen DSO, DSC, CGM, DSM and Bar (9 January 1906 – 12 October 1990), popularly known as "Shetlands Larsen", was a highly decorated Norwegian sailor. He was arguably the most famous of the men who operated the Shetland bus es ...

(popularly known as ''Shetland Larsen''), a famous ''

Shetland Bus The Shetland Bus (Norwegian Bokmål: ''Shetlandsbussene'', def. pl.) was the nickname of a clandestine special operations group that made a permanent link between Mainland Shetland in Scotland and German-occupied Norway from 1941 until the su ...

'' captain, was the first captain on this route. On November 17, 1943, the

HNoMS Hitra HNoMS ''Hitra'' is a Royal Norwegian Navy submarine chaser that saw action during World War II. She is named after the Norwegian island of Hitra. History Wartime service ''Hitra'' was originally built as a SC-497 class submarine chaser for th ...

, a converted U.S. submarine chaser, began to cover the route, shortly joined by the MS Bergholm. Most allied activities on the northern coast lasted only 7–8 months, but Skorpa operated throughout the war.

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

soldiers made many house-to-house inspections, but never found any illegal equipment such as radios. A number of the residents were notably active in the resistance, including Gerhard and Sina Skorpen, who departed to England under the cover that they had drowned. Gerhard afterwards became a crew member of another converted U.S. submarine chaser, the KNM Vigra, upon which Leif Larsen served as skipper. At the close of the war they returned to Skorpa.

References

Herøy, Møre og Romsdal Islands of Møre og Romsdal Military history of Norway during World War II Uninhabited islands of Norway Sunnmøre {{World-War-II-stub

World War II

See also

References