Operation Woodlark

The Jørstad River bridge sabotage was an operation carried out on 13 January 1945 by members of the Norwegian Independent Company 1 during World War II. The operation bore the code-name "Woodlark". The aim was to blow up a railway bridge in order to disrupt the railway Nordland Line in Snåsa, Norway. Six hours after the bridge had been destroyed, a military troop train unaware of the sabotage derailed and crashed into the river below, killing 70-80 people (among them two Norwegians) and injuring some 100 more. It remains the single most deadly rail incident ever in Norway.^[1]

In the aftermath of the disaster, there were fights between German and US soldiers in the Snåsa mountains, the only fights in Norway between these two countries during the occupation. A war memorial of the sabotage was raised in 1995 at the site.^[2] Four out of the five saboteurs who had participated in the sabotage were present at the dedication of the memorial. ^[3] Commanding officer Major William Colby lead the NORSO I - troops which mainly where of Norwegian heritage. ^[4]

References

1. ^ List of rail accidents and disasters in Norway (Norwegian)
2. ^ NAF road handbook Trondheim-Mosjøen-Kirkenes. Jørstad river sabotage and memorial mentioned on pages 431 and 433 (Norwegian)
3. ^ Hommelvikulykken m.m. (Hommelvik accident and others), Svein Sando (Norwegian)
4. ^ OSS - Operational groups Operation Rype

• Samfunnsmagasinet Fra Vidkun Quisling til Einar Gerhardsen, published April 21, 2006. Incident is mentioned in the section "Fra Quisling til Gerhardsen". (Norwegian)