Snow Treasures
Janet Voke describes how fifty tons of gold were evacuated from Norway four hours ahead of the Nazi invasion in spring 1940.
On a snowy night, April 29th, 1940, at the wooden quayside of Molde on Norway’s west coast, the night sky was red from the flames of a village ablaze from intense German bombardment. The wooden buildings, boathouses and small farms of this picturesque country burned as the terrified residents fled from the Romsdal fjord to the mountains. A select group of passengers was trying, with great difficulty, to reach the British cruiser HMS Glasgow, sent at the specific order of George VI. The group had sheltered waist-deep in snow in a forest, forced out of their farmhouse hideout as bombs fell in their pursuit.
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