The shooting phase of the Second World War started on the 1st of September, 1939, with the German invasion of Poland. Britain declared war on Germany on September 3rd and Canada followed suit on September 9th. The fall and winter of 1939/40 was the period of the so-called phoney war when there was not much happening on the ground in Europe. However, in the spring of 1940 it was a different story. The Germans invaded and occupied Denmark and Norway, overran the Netherlands and Belgium, drove the British from the continent at Dunkirk and defeated France. For our purposes, the key date is April 9th 1940, the day the Germans invaded Denmark and Norway. Denmark was quickly overrun and occupied but that was not the case in Norway. Though ill-prepared to face the might of the German military machine, the King and government rejected calls to surrender and resisted the invasion with whatever resources they could muster. They managed to hold out for two months but eventually had to accept the reality that they couldn't stand up to the Third Reich.
On the day of the invasion the King, Haakon VII, and his government headed northward, stopping at various places along the way until forced to move on. Eventually, on June 7th, the King and Queen with the Crown Prince and the government were evacuated from Norway to Britain on the British cruiser HMS Devonshire. They quickly set up a Government-in-exile in London and prepared to continue the fight, which they did to good effect. At the outbreak of the war, Norway had a population of around 3 million (it's only a little over 4 million today) but she had the third largest ocean-going merchant fleet in the world. As a neutral nation, she could charter her ships to anyone and did so, mainly to the Allies. A flag of neutrality was a poor defence and from September 1939 to April 1940, neutral Norway lost 50 ships, mostly to German submarines. When the invasion took place, more than 1000 of the country's 1100 ships were at sea. The King immediately sent out radio message to all ships ordering them to go to a British or Allied port. At the same time, the German-backed government that had been set up in Oslo under Vidkun Quisling, was broadcasting orders for the ships to return home. Not a single one did so and Norway's great merchant fleet was now at the disposal of the Allies. This is where Nova Scotia comes in to play. At that time, whaling was a very big industry and the Norwegians were very big players. When the country was invaded there was a whaling fleet, consisting of seven factory ships and a large number of smaller whale catchers, en route home from the Antarctic. This fleet was diverted to various ports to unload their cargoes. The oil that the factory ships carried was unloaded in New Orleans or New York and the ships then proceeded on to Halifax. During the spring and summer of 1940, seven factory ships and 22 or 23 whale catchers with upwards of 2,000 men on board arrived in Halifax and anchored in Bedford Basin.
The factory ships were to be used as tankers and the catchers were to be converted into patrol vessels and minesweepers for the Royal Norwegian Navy. There was a problem, however. When the ships arrived in Halifax, the Canadian authorities would not let the men come ashore. This decision was apparently based, at least partly, on reports from Norway by an American reporter, Leland Stowe, who incorrectly (some say maliciously) reported that the Norwegian population had accepted the occupation of their country passively and some even welcomed it. The Canadian government therefore feared that there might be fifth columnists or Quislings among the crews and refused them permission to leave their ships unless they signed on another Norwegian merchant ship that was leaving town. Morale on the ships that Summer was very low. This is not surprising when you take into consideration their plight. These men had been away from their homeland for almost a year and were now trapped in a foreign country and totally cut off from their families with no way of knowing how they were faring under foreign military occupation.
One of the first things the Norwegian Government-in-exile did after arriving in London was to establish an organisation - roughly the equivalent of a Canadian Crown Corporation - called Nortraship and authorised it to requisition and operate all Norwegian merchant ships in the service of the Allies. Nortraship planned to use the factory ships as tankers but there were more men on board than would be needed. What to do with them? They couldn't go home; they couldn't come ashore and they weren't needed at sea.
The Norwegian Navy had sent an officer to Halifax to take over sixteen of the whale catchers for naval service and he became involved in trying to get these men ashore. The Canadian authorities were reluctant at first but after some negotiation it was agreed that they could leave the ships on a few conditions; a camp would have to be built and paid for by the Norwegian authorities and the unemployed whalers would have to be brought there to live under Norwegian military control. Also, because Halifax Harbour was a collection point for transatlantic convoys, the base could not be located in or near the city. The late J.J. Kinley, then Member of Parliament for Lunenburg and later Senator, stepped in and, in the end, the Government agreed that the base could be established in Lunenburg. The town had shipbuilding facilities, a good harbour, and was connected to Halifax and other towns by a railway.
Construction started as soon as negotiations with the town were concluded and a piece of land purchased. Incidentally, during the negotiations the Canadians imposed an unexpected condition on the Norwegians by demanding that they post a $5000 bond for the support of any children that might result from liaisons between their men and any of the local maidens. As far as we know, there was only one such incident.
On September 2nd 1940, the Norwegians moved to Lunenburg and were housed in the curling rink while the camp was being constructed. They did a lot of the work themselves since they had carpenters, pipefitters and other tradesmen in their whaling crews.
The camp, called Camp Norway, was officially opened on Friday, Nov 29th, 1940, and consisted of a barracks to house about 800 men located on a two-acre site on the south side of the town. Later, a mess hall, two storage buildings, a garage and a carpentry shop were added. The original buildings still exist and are owned and occupied by ABCO Industries and the metal sign over the main gate still proclaims it to be Camp Norway. The camp was primarily a Royal Norwegian Navy training depot for seamen and whalers who were being taken into the navy. Norway has compulsory military service for so most of these men had been through basic training and were listed as reservists. At the same time, merchant ships were being equipped, as fast as possible, with some armament, usually a 4-inch gun on the stern and pom-poms on the upper superstructure. Trained gunners were obviously needed and at first the gun crews on Norwegian ships were British army or navy. No doubt there was a language problem - and probably food problems as well - and Norwegian skippers were soon crying out for Norwegian gunners. Consequently, Camp Norway took on the additional task of training gunners for the merchant fleet. When the organisational dust had settled the Norwegians had established quite a presence in Nova Scotia. In Halifax there was the Royal Norwegian Naval Service at 183-189 Hollis Street, a Norwegian Health Service centre at 435 Barrington; a sick bay for minor ailments at 25 Kent Street; a seamen's home at 34 Tobin Street; and a church at 106 Dresden Row. On the South Shore there was Camp Norway itself in Lunenburg, a hospital and convalescent home in the Hackmatack Inn in Chester; an officers rest & recuperation home, and thanks to a couple of enterprising Norwegians, the Prince Olav Cafe in Lunenburg. There was also a Norwegian Club established by the Norwegian civilians. Once the Canadian government became convinced that the Norwegians could be trusted, they were allowed ashore and out of the camp. The young and fit men were absorbed by the Norwegians themselves as crew members for the converted whale catchers or merchant ships and as recruits for the Norwegian Armed Services. Those men who were too old or otherwise unfit for military or sea duty were allowed to take up other employment and found jobs in shipbuilding and repair, forestry, agriculture, or fishing. Those with appropriate skills worked in shipyards in Lunenburg, Halifax, Dartmouth, Liverpool or Dayspring and 20 or 30 were employed in the Lunenburg Foundry. They could live "ashore" as it were but they had to report to Camp Norway once a month.
The camp had a training ship, the Moss, and a variety of weaponry. With the permission of the Canadian authorities the Norwegians placed two 76mm. guns to cover the entrance to Lunenburg harbour and then, at the request of the Canadians, Camp Norway was incorporated into the Canadian coastal defence system. The Norwegians became integrated into both the civilian and military sectors of Nova Scotian and Canadian society.
Another small group of Norwegians about whom little is known also graced Lunenburg with their presence for a short time - from March 1942 to May 1943. These were Norwegian Army personnel - staff and students of a training camp that was set up to provide basic training to army recruits.
It was known that at the beginning of the war there were about 1,000 Norwegian citizens of compulsory military service age in the U.S.A. and 1600 in Canada so it was decided to set up a base in Canada, start an officers training school and establish Army companies. Unfortunately, the laws of both Canada and the U.S.A. prohibited foreign nationals residing in these two countries from being drafted into the forces of their homelands. The Army therefore had to depend on volunteers. By the winter of 1942, some 75 volunteers had been assembled and were temporarily housed in Camp Norway. However, there were no officers or NCO's among them so in March 1942 twenty-two men were sent over from the Norwegian Brigade in Scotland. Eventually, the strength reached about 100 men and they carried out their training in and around Lunenburg. The expected large influx of volunteers never did materialise, partly because the American Army established its own "Norwegian" battalion where personnel were granted American citizenship on enlistment. At the end of May, 1943, the Army base was closed and most of the men transferred to Norwegian army companies in Britain but nine were selected for training as radio operators and sent to Little Norway in Ontario.
Camp Norway lasted from September 1940 until the Gunnery School was transferred to Travers Island, New York, in June 1943. By that time it had trained about 450 men as crew members for the converted whale catchers and other vessels and 635 gunners for armed merchant ships. The Royal Norwegian Naval Service in Halifax was disbanded in August, 1944.