Birger Rasmussen MC & Bar (23 August 1920 – 6 December 2007) was a Norwegian businessman, director of Katfos Fabriker, manager of

Borregaard Borregaard is a Norwegian company, established in 1889 in the southeastern town of Sarpsborg in Østfold county. Its main products were traditionally pulp and paper. The company later started producing chemicals based on timber as a raw ma ...

pulp and paper The pulp and paper industry comprises companies that use wood as raw material and produce pulp, paper, paperboard and other cellulose-based products. Manufacturing process The pulp is fed to a paper machine where it is formed as a paper web a ...

section, director of

Follum Fabrikker Norske Skog Follum is a paper mill located in Follum in Norway. The mill is part of the Norske Skog Corporation and opened in 1873 with the name Follum Fabrikker (also Follum træsliberi). It has three paper machines and produces 410,000 tonnes ...

, and president of the

Federation of Norwegian Industries The Federation of Norwegian Industries ( no, Norsk Industri) is an employers' organisation in Norway, organized under the national Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise. It was established on 1 January 2006 as a merger of the Federation of Norweg ...

. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, Rasmussen was member of the British

Special Operations Executive The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a secret British World War II organisation. It was officially formed on 22 July 1940 under Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton, from the amalgamation of three existing secret organisations. Its pu ...

(SOE) group

Kompani Linge Norwegian Independent Company 1 (NOR.I.C.1, pronounced ''Norisén'' (approx. "noor-ee-sehn") in Norwegian) was a British Special Operations Executive (SOE) group formed in March 1941 originally for the purpose of performing commando raids during ...

, and eventually the sabotage group

Oslogjengen Oslogjengen (lit. ''The Oslo Gang'', also called Kompani Linge's Oslo Detachment) was a sabotage group operating in Oslo from May 1944 to May 1945, during the last year of the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany. The group had its basis in both th ...

. He received both British and Norwegian decorations for his war contributions.

Personal life

Rasmussen was born in

Drammen Drammen () is a city and municipality in Viken, Norway. The port and river city of Drammen is centrally located in the south-eastern and most populated part of Norway. Drammen municipality also includes smaller towns and villages such as Konner ...

to Birger Rasmussen and Lilly Bruusgaard, and finished his secondary education in 1939. He was married to Anne Sophie Braathen, daughter of Ludvig G. Braathen.

Career

World War II

During the

German occupation of Norway The occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany during the Second World War began on 9 April 1940 after Operation Weserübung. Conventional armed resistance to the German invasion ended on 10 June 1940, and Nazi Germany controlled Norway until the ...

, Rasmussen received military training with the

Norwegian Independent Company 1 Norwegian Independent Company 1 (NOR.I.C.1, pronounced ''Norisén'' (approx. "noor-ee-sehn") in Norwegian) was a British Special Operations Executive (SOE) group formed in March 1941 originally for the purpose of performing commando raids during ...

(Nor.I.C.1) in Scotland. In 1941 he joined a group of people sailing from Norway to

Shetland Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is a subarctic archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands and Norway. It is the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the ...

, and was recruited to the Nor.I.C.1 by

Martin Linge Martin Jensen Linge, (11 December 1894 – 27 December 1941) was a Norwegian actor who, in World War II, became the commander of the Norwegian Independent Company 1 (NOR.I.C.1) (pronounced as ''Norisen'' by the Norwegians), formed in March 194 ...

. In November 1943 he parachuted over Norway, together with his companions

Edvard Tallaksen Johan Edvard Tallaksen MC & Bar (17 August 1918 – 29 November 1944) was a Norwegian resistance member during World War II, serving as an ensign in the Oslo Gang and Norwegian Independent Company 1. Early life Tallaksen grew up with an older ...

and Armand Trønnes. On 21 November, they accomplished "Operation Company", where several

transformer A transformer is a passive component that transfers electrical energy from one electrical circuit to another circuit, or multiple circuits. A varying current in any coil of the transformer produces a varying magnetic flux in the transformer' ...

s at Arendal Smelters were blown up. He then joined "Operation Goldfinch" and trained local

Milorg Milorg (abbreviation of militær organisasjon – military organization) was the main Norwegian resistance movement during World War II. Resistance work included intelligence gathering, sabotage, supply-missions, raids, espionage, transport of ...

troops. From 1944 Rasmussen was part of the sabotage group called

, and took part in many operations in the

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

district. He was leading an operation in

Hønefoss __NOTOC__ Hønefoss is a List of cities in Norway, town and the administrative center of the municipalities of Norway, municipality of Ringerike (municipality), Ringerike in Buskerud county, Norway. Hønefoss is an industrial center of inner Østl ...

against labour duty () during the night between 4 and 5 May 1944. He further took part in follow-up operations to destroy machinery for sorting registration cards located at the insurance company Norske Folk. During a sabotage operation against Skabo Jernbanevognfabrikk in September 1944, where a special locomotive designed for the

Thamshavn Line , logo = , logo_width = , logo_alt = , image_name = Bårdshaug stasjon.jpeg , image_width = , image_alt = , caption = Passenger train at Bårdshaug Station in 191 ...

had been repaired (a follow-up on the previous

Thamshavn Line sabotage The Thamshavn Line sabotage was a series of sabotages against the railway Thamshavn Line in Orkdal, Norway during World War II. There were four separate sabotages, all performed by Company Linge in an attempt by the Norwegian resistance to prevent ...

), Rasmussen broke his arm in a fall accident. In January 1945 he led a sabotage operation destroying a large supply of stored ball bearings, and later the same month he took part in an operation which resulted in destruction of a storage of 1,800 barrels of special oil. When Rasmussen was injured in a gunfight in Oslo in March 1945, he subsequently received undercover treatment.

Post war

Rasmussen was assigned with Hunsfos Fabrikker from 1946 to 1948. He spent the period from 1948 to 1950 as a student in the United States and France. From 1951 he was assigned with Katfos Fabriker in

Modum Modum is a municipality in Buskerud in Viken county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Vikersund. The municipality of Modum was established on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). The area has a long tr ...

, and was leader of the factory from 1956 to 1968. He was then manager of

section for seven years, and from 1975 to 1987 he was director of

. From 1985 to 1987 he chaired the

Honours and awards

Rasmussen was awarded the highest Norwegian military award, the

War Cross with sword The War Cross with Sword ( Norwegian Bokmål: ''Krigskorset med sverd, '' Norwegian Nynorsk: ''Krigskrossen med sverd'') is the highest ranking Norwegian gallantry decoration. It is awarded for extraordinary brave actions or extraordinary leader ...

. In addition to the British

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level pre-1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries. The MC i ...

and

Bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (un ...

, he also received St. Olav's Medal With Oak Branch, the

Defence Medal 1940 - 1945 Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense indust ...

, and

Haakon VII 70th Anniversary Medal Haakon VII 70th Anniversary Medal is a Norwegian military award, which was instituted by King Haakon VII of Norway on 27 October 1942. It was awarded in recognition of military personnel who served in the Norwegian armed forces in Britain on the ...

. He died on 6 December 2007.

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rasmussen, Birger 1920 births 2007 deaths People from Drammen 20th-century Norwegian businesspeople Norwegian expatriates in the United Kingdom