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We Die Alone: A WWII Epic of Escape and Endurance
The incredible story of a Norwegian commando saved from the Nazis by residents of a small arctic village--an astonishing true story of heroism and endurance. Photos throughout.
Paperback, 232 pages
Published
June 1st 2007
by Lyons Press
(first published November 30th 1954)
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I was not even aware the Nazis had occupied Norway in WWII (that far north??). This book tells the true story of a group of expatriate Norwegian commandos who sailed in a fishing boat from northern England to arctic Norway, with the aim of organizing and supplying the Norwegian resistance. They were betrayed soon after arrival; the Nazis ambushed them and only one man, Jan Baalsrud, survived (though wounded) and escaped. The book tells the story of his flight across Norway to exile in Sweden. Ba...more
Anything with endurance in the title gets my attention, especially when it's a tale of survival. Add that to the fact that I was planning a winter trip to Norway, and this was the perfect winter read.
The tale begins 1943, in Nazi-occupied Norway, with a group of young men of the Norwegian resistance planning a mission to attack of German air base. The mission comes to a bad end, and three of the resistance fighters are killed, leaving the central character, Jan Baalsrud, injured ...more
The tale begins 1943, in Nazi-occupied Norway, with a group of young men of the Norwegian resistance planning a mission to attack of German air base. The mission comes to a bad end, and three of the resistance fighters are killed, leaving the central character, Jan Baalsrud, injured ...more
Kristine Bagnara
rated it
·
review of another edition
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review of another edition
Recommends it for:
travelers to Norway, WWII buffs
Shelves:
adventure
Loving world travel, the experience is always enhanced by good airplane reading that helps me learn more about the destination. Named after my Norweigan great-grandmother, I know the source of my stoicism -- yet this book taught me so much more about Norway during WWII and how herioc individuals fought and resisted occupation while the allied leaders deployed troops elsewhere. A fictional account of endurance like this would not be believed. This book -- and these people -- are worth reading ...more
Erik Graff
rated it
·
review of another edition
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review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Norwegians
Recommended to Erik by:
Fin Graff
Shelves:
history
Throughout childhood books along the lines of "Norway and the Norwegians" were recommended to me by parents, grandparents, collateral relatives and friends of the family. This was particularly the case when I was in Norway itself, visiting Mom's parents.
Fin Graff, Mom's dad, had been born in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. When his dad, Dr. Harald Graff, committed suicide by shoving a amputation blade into his heart, his mother, Olga, lacking the means to support her three childre...more
Fin Graff, Mom's dad, had been born in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. When his dad, Dr. Harald Graff, committed suicide by shoving a amputation blade into his heart, his mother, Olga, lacking the means to support her three childre...more
"If Jan had stopped to think, everything would have seemed hopeless. He was alone, in uniform, on a small bare island, hunted by about fifty Germans. He left a deep track as he waded through the snow which anyone could follow. He was wet through and had one bare foot, which was wounded, and it was freezing hard. The island was separated from the mainland by two sounds, each several miles wide and patrolled by the enemy, and all his money and papers had been blown up in the boat."
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This story was amazing! It was recommended by my friend Martha as a book club selection and because I'm not that into non-fiction, much less war stories, I was kind of hesitant to read it. I'm glad she recommended it and I'm glad I read it - I've recommended or talked about this book so much since then!
This guy's story is so unbelievable that if it were fiction, or a Hollywood movie, you'd turn it off b/c it would seems like total bullshit. But he went through some impossible odds in...more
This guy's story is so unbelievable that if it were fiction, or a Hollywood movie, you'd turn it off b/c it would seems like total bullshit. But he went through some impossible odds in...more
Just finished listening to this on a long drive home from vacation. Wow. There were several points where I had to pause my iPod and simply marvel at this story. Some of the things that Jan Baalsrud experienced are completely beyond belief. In fact the author knew this, which is why he opened the book stating that it is a true book, that he visited most of the locations with Jan, and that the supporting characters collaborated the story.
But what made this story really ring true fo...more
But what made this story really ring true fo...more
If this weren’t a true story, no one would buy it as fiction. The book opens in the spring of 1943, as Norway is suffering under Nazi occupation. Four ex-pat Norwegian commandos are heading to the coast with the intent of recruiting and training saboteurs – their ultimate goal is a German airbase, as the Allies desperately need a sea route to Russia. The mission is compromised, and young Jan Baalsrud is left on a tiny, snowy island in the Arctic Circle, drenched, shot, bleeding, unarmed, with on...more
The story of Jan Baalsrud may be the most extraordinary I have ever read...ever. This true account of a Norwegian British special forces solider in WWII and his survival of a botched secret mission is not only amazing, it is unbelievable.
The story revolves around a 12 man covert mission to northern Norway, intended to knock out a remote Nazi position. A strange turn of events gives away their position, and all but one man (Baalsrud) is either killed or captured. Thus begins a long j...more
The story revolves around a 12 man covert mission to northern Norway, intended to knock out a remote Nazi position. A strange turn of events gives away their position, and all but one man (Baalsrud) is either killed or captured. Thus begins a long j...more
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Devowasright
rated it
·
review of another edition
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
owen
Shelves:
history,
world-war-2
i can't believe i forgot about this book!
one of the most vivid and heroic personal histories from the Second World War.
A Norwegian special forces agent, trained in Britain, is inserted behind the German lines in Norway, and the strangest group of coincidence and random chance lead to the teams discovery, and his attempt to escape back to friendly or at least neutral lines...
you will never, ever think you are tough after reading this. Ever.
one of the most vivid and heroic personal histories from the Second World War.
A Norwegian special forces agent, trained in Britain, is inserted behind the German lines in Norway, and the strangest group of coincidence and random chance lead to the teams discovery, and his attempt to escape back to friendly or at least neutral lines...
you will never, ever think you are tough after reading this. Ever.
The story here is excellent. Norway isn't really one of those areas that comes up a lot in WWII history and the exploits of their resistance to Nazi occupation would be some worthwhile reading. This really is an exceptional story of a bunch of extraordinary people...and I think the writing lets it down a lot. It tells you the basics of what's going on at any given time, but never places it in much context or fits the story into the wider sweep of history and at any given time, it's hard to keep ...more
Jan and his mates were headed to a small island in Norway during WWII. They were fighting against the Nazis and they knew their mission could prove lethal. After contacting whom they thought was part of the resistance, the man turned them in and they were ambushed as they made landfall. Only Jan got away. His task was to escape his would-be captors and cross the borders into Sweden. In his escape, he is lost in a blizzard, nursed to health by strangers and at the mercy of others to keep him hid...more
This book was written in 1955, just a little over a decade since the events it recounts occurred. The writing style is not remarkable, and I regret that it doesn't measure up in the categories of excitement and suspense as set by current best-selling masters of non-fiction (David Grann, Dava Sobel, Steven Johnson, Nathaniel Philbrick, and Erik Larson). In fact, author David Howarth's voice sounds as though a translator rushed the job for him -- even though (I believe) the piece was originally wr...more
This is a remarkable story! It's devastating, inspiring, and almost unbelievable. Jan's sheer strength of spirit and survival instinct, not to mention his ability to withstand extreme cold temperatures is beyond comprehension. And the lengths to which people went to save his life, despite the danger to themselves and their families was truly heartwarming. I never knew about the extent of the Nazi occupation in Germany, so this was a good history lesson for me as well. Amazing!
I ...more
I ...more
This story really is incredible. The fact that this man made it out alive is unbelievable. The only complaint I have is that there seemed to be an absurd amount of typos in the book. Was it just me?
Long before 127 Hours there was Jan Baalsrud, a Norwegian, trained as a commando in England during WWII who was taken to Norway with 3 other commandos to set up staging for an invasion.Tipped off by a frightened storekeeper the other 3 commandos and the boat crew who delivered them were all killed upon arrival. This book details the survival experience of one man in Nazi held Norway. It took 2 1/2 months for him to eventually arrive in neutral Sweden. Along the way he met many brave Norwegians w...more
The Publisher's review on the book jacket compares this saga favorably to Shackleton's miraculous survival story at the South Pole, and to Krakauer's Mt. Everest adventure tale "Into Thin Air". I wouldn't go that far, and would recommend both Krakauer's book and Caroline Alexander's "The Endurance" over this. But those books are both highly regarded adventure stories, and coming in third to those two is no slight. "We Die Alone" is still a drammatic story of hard...more
I read this book - I found out about it as Good Reads recommended it based on other books I have read - I think specifically Unbroken - unless Good Reads found out about my connectioon to Norway.
Since this is about a Norweigan and takes place in Norway I really enjoyed reading it and couldn't (and still can't) quite understand how he survived. Now I have a better understanding of how the older Norweigans I met still talk with dislike (I think hate it too strong) about the German occu...more
Since this is about a Norweigan and takes place in Norway I really enjoyed reading it and couldn't (and still can't) quite understand how he survived. Now I have a better understanding of how the older Norweigans I met still talk with dislike (I think hate it too strong) about the German occu...more
I heard about this book in a NYT op-ed piece by David Brooks, of all people. He wrote it in the context of how amazing the Norwegians are on skis in the winter Olympics. I think he needed to make a deadline, so he summarized a book he read once. Kind of lame, but still, it pointed me to an amazing story.
Toward the end of WWII, Jan Baalsrud was one of a group of Norwegian commandos who trained in Scotland and traveled to the northern coast of Norway with the intention of working with ...more
Toward the end of WWII, Jan Baalsrud was one of a group of Norwegian commandos who trained in Scotland and traveled to the northern coast of Norway with the intention of working with ...more
Great story of survival and the will to live. I was fascinated that the Germans were as far north as Norway, the country sounds beautiful. Also interesting that he was able to survive for a full week buried in the snow with the inside of his snow coffin being a balmy 0 degrees! He did mention that the natives gave him cod liver oil, I'm sure this aided in his survival. Usually God comes into play with these survival stories but the only mention he gave a higher power is that he didn't think ...more
One of the most engaging books I have ever read! It is a non-fiction account of a failed plan by a small group of Norwegians to sneak into the northern part of Germany, organize an undergound action and to destroy a German airstrip used to control access to Russian ports.
The attempt fails and all but one member is killed. The survivor suffers unimaginable deprivation and hardship in an effort to get to neutral Sweden assisted by the patriotic villagers of this arctic region. It is a...more
The attempt fails and all but one member is killed. The survivor suffers unimaginable deprivation and hardship in an effort to get to neutral Sweden assisted by the patriotic villagers of this arctic region. It is a...more
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Loved it! When you take each individual event in the story, there are some truly amazing facts about Jan Baalsrud's fight for survival, but none that are too fantastic to believe. However, when you add all of the events together one can see why this story has been labeled "unbelievable". Jan's will to survive is incredible, and the determination of those that helped him is the type of commitment I would like to say that I possess (but I sadly admit that I do not). I can say that th...more
Lynne
rated it
·
review of another edition
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
people willing to stick it out through murderously dull prose
Shelves:
biography-autobiography
Amazing story, badly written. Howarth takes what should be a fascinating account of a man's survival and manages to make it almost unbearable to read because of the book's lack of organization and sloppy sentence structure. I admit that I was also only able to read it a bit at a time because Jan's story is so painful to read. I rated the book only three stars because the story deserved better treatment than Howarth gave it. If you liked books like Slavomir Rawicz's The Long Walk you'll want...more
WOW!!!
This is a fantastic book...it reads like something straight out of a novel, yet it is a true story.
The pain & suffering that Jan Baalsrud endured as he willed himself to live during his daring escape from Nazi held Norway. I won't spoil the book...but it was hard to put down.
I'm having all of my kids read it...it really makes one grateful for the time in which we live (the antics of the federal gov't not withstanding).
This book is well wor...more
This is a fantastic book...it reads like something straight out of a novel, yet it is a true story.
The pain & suffering that Jan Baalsrud endured as he willed himself to live during his daring escape from Nazi held Norway. I won't spoil the book...but it was hard to put down.
I'm having all of my kids read it...it really makes one grateful for the time in which we live (the antics of the federal gov't not withstanding).
This book is well wor...more
"We Die Alone" had been on my "To Read" shelf for, oh..., about 10 years! I originally pulled the title from a National Geographic list showcasing their, "Top 100 Adventure Stories." I think I took a pass on it because of the desperate title. "We Die Alone" sounds like such a guy-guy, survival book cliche'! I can just picture the park bench conversation, “Hey Dave, what’cha reading?” With my brow furrowed, I’d grit my teeth and half whisper, half growl, “....more
As humans we consistently underestimate our own capacities. This story illustrates this misconception.
Set in WWII, the book tells the story of Jan Baalsrud, a Norwegian who after receiving training in Britain attempted to return to Norway to undermine the German occupation of his homeland. Intercepted by the Germans before they even were able to unload their cargo (in disguise as a fishing vessel) Jan was the only of his team to evade capture, escape to neutral Sweden and ultimatel...more
Set in WWII, the book tells the story of Jan Baalsrud, a Norwegian who after receiving training in Britain attempted to return to Norway to undermine the German occupation of his homeland. Intercepted by the Germans before they even were able to unload their cargo (in disguise as a fishing vessel) Jan was the only of his team to evade capture, escape to neutral Sweden and ultimatel...more
I know some people get tired of WWII stories, but if you have any interest in that era, you have to read this. If it wasn't for the introduction that tells you the story is true and the main character did survive, you would think it was pure fiction. The circumstances Jan Baalsrud went through would've killed 999 men out of 1000.
It's a little difficult to get into as it is only about one man for the most part and so its mostly a narrative, but again, if you have any interest in WWII...more
It's a little difficult to get into as it is only about one man for the most part and so its mostly a narrative, but again, if you have any interest in WWII...more
Originally published in 1955, We Die Alone chronicles the dramatic story of Jan Baalstrud, a lone survivor from a team of Norwegian commandos who sailed from northern England to Nazi-occupied Norway to organize, supply and train the Norwegian resistance. Locals betrayed the small team, however, and only Baalstrud escaped the Nazi surprise attack.
Left all alone, with only a pistol and no food, water, or adequate protection from the frigid Arctic countryside, Baalstrud struck out for a desp...more
Left all alone, with only a pistol and no food, water, or adequate protection from the frigid Arctic countryside, Baalstrud struck out for a desp...more
Even though I read this in 1975 I am adding this because this book was such an amazing read. At that time I was living in Norway and had heard about the Norwegian resistance groups that had operated during the war, and this book was recommended to me. It is now published under the title of We Die Alone, an account of how Jan Baalsrud manages to elude the Nazis against incredible odds and with much-needed assistance from locals along the way. Particularly, it is an amazing tale of endurance.
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David Howarth (1912 – 1991) was a British historian and author. After graduating from Cambridge University, he was a radio war correspondent for BBC at the start of the Second World War. Howarth joined the Navy after the fall of France. He became involved in the Special Operations Executive (SOE) and ultimately in the Shetland Bus, an SOE operation manned by Norwegians running a clandestine route ...more
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