An Cosantóir

www.military.ie THE DEFENCE FORCES MAGAZINE | 31 Trevor met Jennie while stationed with the Royal Engineers at Fort Carlisle (now Fort Davis), White- gate, Co Cork, which was one of the Treaty Ports that remained in British hands up to 1938. Launches regularly brought the soldiers across the harbour to Cóbh, which had a cinema, cafés and dance halls, and a regular train and bus service to nearby Cork City. During service in Aden, Trevor kept in contact with Jennie, and they married in St Colman's Cathedral, Cóbh, on 11th July 1942. Within a fortnight, Trevor re-joined his unit in England. They never saw each other again. The mission soon became hampered by severe weather condi- tions. As they neared their destination they encountered dense, freezing fog and the planes and the gliders began to ice up. The tow-rope of the first aircraft froze solid and as it reached its objective the rope snapped, causing the glider to plummet into a mountainside north of Stavanger. Eight of the 17 men inside were killed, and four were badly injured, including Masters. The Halifax limped back to Scotland, landing on its last drop of fuel. Meanwhile, some of the surviving soldiers made their way down the mountainside and sought help from a farmer, who said he would inform the Norwegian police, who would be in a better position to help. The police thought it impossible to keep medical assistance secret, and, with the consent of the commandos, sent word to the nearest German garrison. While they were waiting, Hjordis Espedal, the daughter of a local official, who was do- ing her best to treat the badly injured soldiers, recalled Masters showing her a picture of his pregnant wife. The second Halifax and its glider crash landed at Helleland in southwest Norway, killing the Halifax crew instantly, along with three commandos in the glider. Of the remaining 14 survivors, 11 were practically unhurt. In the middle of the night two of them made it down the valley to the local police station. Again, the police said the Germans would have to be informed if a viable rescue mission was to be launched. Upon arriving at the two crash sites, the Germans quickly concluded that their captives were commandos, having discovered sabotage equipment in the wreckage, a silk map displaying the Vermok plant circled in blue and with the escape route marked, as well as finding that the British soldiers were wearing shabby civilian clothing under their uniforms. Although none of the captured soldiers was aware of it, they now came under the jurisdiction of Hitler's infamous 'Com- mando Order', which had come into effect just one month before, and which prescribed the death sentence for anyone apprehended while participating in a com- mando raid. Hitler had specifically said: "Comman- dos are to be annihilated to the last man." The group were imprisoned at Lagardsveien Gaol, where 14 men from the Helleland crash were shot. Of the remainder, those who were not badly injured in the crashes were sent to a concentration camp at Grini, near Oslo, where, after intense interroga- tion, they were killed in January 1943. The four badly wounded who remained, including Trevor Louis Masters, were given lethal injections. After lapsing into semi- consciousness, they were subjected to abuse by the Gestapo; three being strangled and the fourth shot in the head. On the morning of 25th November 1942, the remains were collected by truck and driven to the quayside where a boat awaited. The four bodies were committed to the sea in deep water off the island of Kvitsoy. They have never been recovered. Three months later, in one of the most physically challeng- ing covert operations of WWII, a team of Norwegian Resistance fighters infiltrated the Vemork plant and caused significant dam- age with plastic explosives, and successfully withdrew without a shot being fired. Later, in February 1944, when the Nazis decided to transfer the remaining heavy water to the relative safety of Germany, the Resistance blew up the ferry and its cargo over the deepest part of Lake Tinn, where they repose to this day. On 8th May 1985 in Stavanger, on the 40th anniversary of Norway´s liberation, memorial services for the 41 who died in Operation Freshman were held in the presence of Princess Astrid of Norway, the British Ambassador, Norwegian dignitaries, and members of the 1st Airborne Division, including its former commander, Maj Gen RE Urquhart. Among the distinguished attendance was Jean Dahill (née Masters), accompanied by her husband, Bernard, and Hjordis Espedal, who had given succour to her grievously injured father almost 43 years previously. Jennie, who never remarried, passed away in 1964, and their daughter Jean died in May 2014. The compiler is indebted to the O'Connor family of Cóbh for assistance with this article. The memorial at RAF Skitten in Scotland to the fallen of Operation Freshman. The nominal list on the memorial. Trevor and Jennie on their wedding day. Jean Dahill (née Masters, right), and Hjordis Espedal in Norway, 1985.

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