New Shetland Bus film

Pam, I know you already mentioned this film to me, but I had to jump in here and just say thank you again for pointing this out. I'm so excited about seeing this! I've been fascinated by the Shetland Bus ever since I first heard about it on an episode of "Shetland." It's such an interesting history of a very sad time.

And thanks for the mention of the book. I keep forgetting about that, and I need to get a copy so I can read it.

Pam, thanks for sharing this. I've added it to my list. There are so many fascinating layers in the history of WWII.

according to the webpage linked by Pam the film will be available from 7pm UK time (2pm EDT), tomorrow, Friday the 25th, and will be called Hearts Across the Sea.

In the meantime there is a very good 8:47 minute YouTube from 8 years ago which sets the scene. It is https://youtu.be/G9IGFKKDcKQ?si=kJgF30eks82MjC4r and called The Shetland Bus

Thanks, Nigel, I will check that out as well!

Mardee, when I first went to Shetland in 2023 I had not watched the TV series but I knew about the Shetland Bus from something Mark had posted. The book is an easy read and very interesting as the author was the Commander (???? don't remember the actual rank) of the whole operation for a time.

Jeanm, it is so astonishing to me to run in to little pockets of history about which I had no knowledge. I feel like for an American I am pretty well-informed about the European theater of WWII but this was a surprise to me. I hope you enjoy it! BTW, until I got to Orkney and Shetland I had NO IDEA of the close tie they maintain with Norway. Also....when I visited the Scalloway Museum the 1st time in 2023, the docent was VERY talkative, hahaha, and said the Queen of Norway had visited on a non-state/private citizen visit a few weeks before just to pay homage to the Norwegians who has participated and lost their lives.

Nigel, Thanks so much for the trailer links! And, just a general curiosity question for you....when you were in school studying WWII history, was the Shetland Bus mentioned?

BTW, until I got to Orkney and Shetland I had NO IDEA of the close tie they maintain with Norway.

Pam, I didn't have any idea of it either until I was actually in Norway this summer. We were at the Norwegian Resistance Museum in Oslo, which was a fascinating museum, and their exhibits had a lot of information about how Norway worked with the UK, even though Norway was occupied by the Germans. I never realized how much the Norwegians helped the British keep the Nazis at bay.

"I never realized how much the Norwegians helped the British keep the Nazis at bay."

I'm sure that museum was fabulous!

And also how much the Brits helped Norway. Did you know that Norway sends the Giant Norway Spruce to UK each year to erect in Trafalgar Square as a thank you?

Oh gosh....just read the Wiki article on the Trafalgar Square Christmas Tree.

In 1942 "A Norwegian commando ... arrived in London shortly before Christmas with two spruce trees, felled during a raid on Stord.... One of the trees was intended as a gift to the Norwegian king, Haakon VII, who was in exile in Britain, but the other was erected in Trafalgar Square by a group of officers from British naval intelligence and a couple of Norwegian commandos after a dinner at the Savoy. One of the naval intelligence officers was Commander *Ian Fleming** and another was Lieutenant Commander Norman Denning.*"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trafalgar_Square_Christmas_tree

And for anyone visiting Shetland there is a commemorative monument in Scalloway along the shore and boat docks just near where the HQ was for the operation. There is also an awesome small museum next to the castle which has information about the Shetland Bus.

Pam, I don't remember - it has been a few years.

I remember reading books about the Norwegian Resistance and the Commando raids. I was particularly interested in Commando operations because my father was a Commando. We knew about the great work done by the Norwegians and there is the annual gift of the Trafalgar Square Christmas Tree.

How much was learned at school and how much over the family dinner table and how much from watching the Beeb I couldn't possibly say.

As a point of memory I do remember a real focus on North Atlantic convoys, and into the Baltic, and stories of North Africa (my uncle was a tank commander against Rommel and landed in Normandy on D-Day Plus 2), but I really don't remember studying much about D-Day.

Rationing didn't end in England until after I was born and memories of the was were still quite raw - we even still had plenty of bomb sites. My grandparents (my father's parents) in Cheltenham were bombed out THREE times!

I actually think that times were pretty tough - unlike the boom in the US - and most people just wanted to get on with life.

I wonder if most Americans know that while enemy countries received rebuilding as a gift, the funds and weapons etc., provided to the UK in Lend - Lease and other programs had to all be repaid with interest to the US.

... and also the various memorials at Lunna, and the memorial at the Scottish mainland Shetland bus base at Burghead.

I'm supposed to be going back to photograph that slipway and check on the memorials at Lunna, now the Church is sold-a lot of money and effort to spend for little obvious return.

There are lots of these unknown stories- few people have heard of the Free Danish Fishing Fleet. When Denmark was invaded much of the fishing fleet was at sea, so they chose to come to the UK for the duration, rather than return to an occupied land- https://2ndww.blogspot.com/2010/08/free-danish-fishing-fleet-in-ww2.html

(Whitehaven on the edge of the Lake District still has a significant Danish population as a result, and for decades after the war had an Honorary Danish Consulate).

Fishing was a dangerous occupation- the UK lost about 1,200 fishermen in the war to enemy action.

What was left of the fishing fleet in Denmark evacuated around 8,000 Danish Jews to neutral Sweden in October 1943- another of those largely unknown stories outside Denmark- https://historicsidenotes.com/world-war-ii/danish-fishing-boat-exodus/

And also how much the Brits helped Norway. Did you know that Norway sends the Giant Norway Spruce to UK each year to erect in Trafalgar Square as a thank you?

No, I did not know that—that's so wonderful!

“I wonder if most Americans know that while enemy countries received rebuilding as a gift, the funds and weapons etc., provided to the UK in Lend - Lease and other programs had to all be repaid with interest to the US.”

Appallingly, yes, I did know that.

Fascinating, Nigel about your Dad being a commando. As a boy (or adult) was that hard for you to imagine? For the last decade of our Dad’s life my brother and I swapped off taking him to his fighter pilot group reunions. It was always hilarious to see these frail-ish 90 year olds together and reminiscing about being hot shot 20-something P47 pilots.

And Stuart, I’d forgotten about Lunna. I’ve never stopped there. That was the first Shetland Bus dock area, right?

Yes, Lunna was the first Shetland bus base- the reason being that it was already being used by the SOE (Special Operations Executive), who continued to use it after the Shetland bus operation had moved to Scalloway for reasons of practicality.

Lunna House has it's own fascinating past going centuries back, but like many of the 'big houses' requisitioned in the war was left in a very poor condition by the military, and could easily have been lost. Now it is actually owned by the son of someone who served in SOE there. As far as I know you can still stay there. Long before the current house there was a Viking longhouse on the site, and there is a ruined iron age broch close by.

Yes, I have been to Lunna, and actually on the bus- which really runs as a connection to Whalsay and the Out Skerries.

It has had to be by bus because something has to give in terms of cost to me. Each of my visits to Shetland and Orkney has been work first and holiday second, but with no expense account. It costs so much to get there and stay there that the idea of hiring a car has had to be treated as a nice to have, but impossible to afford.

Burghead is only about 60 to 90 minutes drive (or hourly bus) from Inverness but I have never seen mentioned on here. It has pictish origins (although now largely lost)- pictish grave slabs (the Burghead Bulls) are in the local museum, at Edinburgh and at the British Museum. By a strange coincidence, given the Shetland bus link, the town also has a fire festival on the day of Old Yule (11 January)- a lot easier to reach than Up Helly Aa.

I just have to say there was all kinds of history I came across in both Shetland and Orkney that I had no idea about. I still need to do catch up reading and this thread will help fill the gaps in my knowledge (which are many).

What was left of the fishing fleet in Denmark evacuated around 8,000
Danish Jews to neutral Sweden in October 1943- another of those
largely unknown stories outside Denmark-
https://historicsidenotes.com/world-war-ii/danish-fishing-boat-exodus/

Thank you, I was just going to mention it! Actually, my American Jewish girlfriend reminded me of this story I'd heard here in Sweden. Approximately 92% of Danish Jews escaped to Sweden transported by fishermen. https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/rescue-in-denmark

(Sorry to digress from your story of The Shetland Bus, Pam!)