Fire and Ice

The Nazis' Scorched Earth Campaign in Norway

The scorched earth policy—an attempt to obliterate anything which might be useful to one's enemies—used in Norway by Hitler led to ruined cities, forced evacuations, and destroyed livesThe German occupation of Norway began on on April 9, 1940, and ended on May 8, 1945, after the capitulation of German forces in Europe. Hitler's scorched earth policy in northern Norway in 1944 flattened every building and forced 50,000 people from their homes in an Arctic winter. Some Norwegians escaped the evacuation, with whole communities sheltering in caves in sometimes desperate conditions. This book presents stories never before told in English using new interviews from families caught in the scorched earth policy. Contributors include Soroya Island refugees rescued from starvation by the Royal Navy and the sons of six fishermen murdered by Nazi commandos hours before the war ended. After the war, many returned to rebuild their obliterated communities. Their stories sit alongside the testimony at Nuremberg of the generals who devastated their land, plus long-forgotten evidence of unspeakable Nazi cruelty towards Russian POWs in Norway.