Måløy raid Centre

A bit of war history

On the third day of Christmas 1941 at 09:48, the first bomb fell on Måløy and within 10 minutes 560 grenades fell on Moldøen. A total of 576 Allied commandos, of these 33 Norwegians, were killed.

People fled into their basements, and in the streets, soldiers fought to the death. Six hours later, large parts of Måløy were destroyed.

Operation Archery, better known as the Måløy Raid, was a British-led operation against German forces on Vågsøy. The raid was carried out by British command, navy and air forces. Norwegian Independence Company 1 also participated in the raid. Central to the operation was the destruction of fish and oil production and storage that German forces used to produce high explosives.

Another intention was to get German forces to increase their presence in Norway, forces that would otherwise have been used on the eastern front.

British forces had a loss of 22 deaths, including Captain Martin Linge who led a British force after the troop commander fell during the landing. Linge fell later that day in a fight outside Ulvesund hotel in Måløy centre. Norwegian Independent Company 1 was later renamed, Kompani Linge.

Måløy Raid centre is located in the centre of Måløy and is a living story of what happened on Vågsøy those Christmas days. The centre comprises three floors including a bunker that was built by the Germans and used for sanitary bunkers after the Måløy raid.

The unique exhibition is chronologically and thematically structured. And you can not help but be touched by the vivid compilation of sound, images, film, the smell of gunpowder smoke and impressive amounts of original material. A documentation of our history of such quality you cannot find. Perhaps of greater importance is the remembrance of what occurred, and even to learn.

References

• www.forsvaret.no

• www.allkunne.no