Sgt Per Bergsland (17 January 1918 – 9 June 1992) was a Norwegian fighter pilot and

POW POW is "prisoner of war", a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict. POW or pow may also refer to: Music * P.O.W (Bullet for My Valentine song), "P.O.W" (Bull ...

in the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

POW camp A prisoner-of-war camp (often abbreviated as POW camp) is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured as prisoners of war by a belligerent power in time of war. There are significant differences among POW camps, internment camps, an ...

Stalag Luft III Stalag Luft III (; literally "Main Camp, Air, III"; SL III) was a ''Luftwaffe''-run prisoner-of-war (POW) camp during the Second World War, which held captured Western Allied air force personnel. The camp was established in March 1942 near th ...

and one of only three men to escape to freedom in the " Great Escape".

Sports career

During the 1930s Bergsland competed in

orienteering Orienteering is a group of sports that involve using a map and compass to navigation, navigate from point to point in diverse and usually unfamiliar terrain whilst moving at speed. Participants are given a topographical map, usually a specia ...

, representing the club

IL Heming Idrettslaget Heming is a Norway, Norwegian sports club from Slemdal, Oslo. It has sections for association football, Nordic skiing, alpine skiing, orienteering and tennis, previously also for bandy. General history It was founded on 25 May 1916, ...

. In 1939 he placed second at the individual Norwegian championship in orienteering held at

Modum Modum is a municipality in Buskerud 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 tradition of ...

. He was born in Bærum, but resided at

Ullern Ullern is a List of boroughs of Oslo, borough of the city of Oslo, Norway. History The borough has its name from an old farm, Old Norse language, Norse ''Ullarin''. The first element is the genitive case of the name of the Norse god Ullr. The l ...

åsen, Oslo.

World War II

Per Bergsland received training as a pilot in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. He transferred to the RAF in 1942, where he was assigned to fly with a combat unit. As a member of No. 332 Squadron RAF stationed at

North Weald North Weald Bassett, or simply North Weald ( ), is a village and civil parish in the Epping Forest district of Essex, England. The village is within the North Weald Ridges and Valleys landscape area. A market is held every Saturday and Bank Ho ...

airfield, Bergsland's Supermarine Spitfire Mk.Vb, (serial no AB269, coded AH:D) was shot down by a German

Focke-Wulf Fw 190 The Focke-Wulf Fw 190, nicknamed ''Würger'' (Shrike) is a German single-seat, single-engine fighter aircraft designed by Kurt Tank at Focke-Wulf in the late 1930s and widely used during World War II. Along with its well-known counterpart, the ...

during the

Dieppe Raid Operation Jubilee or the Dieppe Raid (19 August 1942) was a disastrous Allied amphibious attack on the German-occupied port of Dieppe in northern France, during the Second World War. Over 6,050 infantry, predominantly Canadian, supported by a ...

on 19 August 1942. After arriving at the POW camp, he gave his name as "Peter Rockland" (''Per'' = Petrus, meaning rock in

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

, and ''Berg'' meaning mountain or rock in Norwegian), in order to protect his family in Norway from German persecution. Model Stalag Luft III

In what later became known as the "Great Escape", he was escapee #43 among the 76 prisoners of war who managed to escape from the camp via tunnel with another Norwegian pilot, escapee #44 Jens Müller, Bergsland and Müller made it to the nearby town of Sagan, where they caught a train to

Stettin Szczecin ( , , ; ; ; or ) is the capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the German border, it is a major seaport, the largest city of northwestern Poland, and se ...

in Germany (now:

Szczecin Szczecin ( , , ; ; ; or ) is the capital city, capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the Poland-Germany border, German border, it is a major port, seaport, the la ...

, Poland). At the port, the pair were snuck onto a neutral Swedish ship by friendly sailors and made it to the safety of

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

. There, they entered the British consulate, who arranged travel by train to

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

, where they were flown to

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

from the

Bromma Bromma () is a Boroughs of Stockholm, borough (''stadsdelsområde'') in the western part of Stockholm, Sweden, forming part of the Stockholm Municipality. Bromma is primarily made up of Bromma Parish and Västerled Parish. The fourth largest airpo ...

airport. From there they were sent by train to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and shortly afterwards to '

Little Norway Little Norway (), officially (FTL, "Air Force Training Camp"), was a Norwegian Army Air Service/Royal Norwegian Air Force training camp in southern Ontario during the Second World War. Origins When Nazi Germany attacked Norway on 9 April 1940, ...

' in Canada. In total, only three POWs from Stalag Luft III made it to

neutral countries A neutral country is a state that is neutral towards belligerents in a specific war or holds itself as permanently neutral in all future conflicts (including avoiding entering into military alliances such as NATO, CSTO or the SCO). As a type o ...

and freedom. The third escapee was the Dutchman

Bram van der Stok Abraham Lamertus "Bram" van der Stok, (13 October 1915 – 8 February 1993), also known as Bob van der Stok, was a World War II fighter pilot and flying ace, and is the most decorated aviator in Dutch history. In March 1944, he broke out of Sta ...

, who crossed most of occupied Europe and escaped to Spain with the help of the

French resistance The French Resistance ( ) was a collection of groups that fought the German military administration in occupied France during World War II, Nazi occupation and the Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy#France, collaborationist Vic ...

. The remaining 73 escapees were captured.

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

wanted to

execute Execution, in capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence (law), s ...

them all, but

Hermann Göring Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician, aviator, military leader, and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which gov ...

persuaded him not to: in the end, fifty were shot as an example. The remaining 23 were held in the custody of the

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

before being sent off to other camps. 17 were returned to

, four were sent to Sachsenhausen, and two to

Colditz Castle Colditz Castle (or ''Schloss Colditz'' in German) is a Renaissance architecture, Renaissance castle in the town of Colditz near Leipzig, Dresden and Chemnitz in the States of Germany, state of Saxony in Germany. The castle is between the towns o ...

Postwar career

In 1946, Per Bergsland began as a pilot in

Fred Olsen Air Transport A/S Fred. Olsens Flyselskap (FOF), trading internationally as Fred. Olsen Airtransport, was a Norway, Norwegian charter airline which operated between 1946 and 1997, largely operating cargo aircraft. Based at Oslo Airport, Fornebu, it was created ...

. He later became Chief Pilot and Operational Manager. He became CEO of Fred Olsen Air Transport in 1968 and CEO of regional airline

Widerøe Widerøes Flyveselskap AS, trading as Widerøe, is a Norwegian airline, and the largest regional airline operating in the Nordic countries. The airline's fleet of 48 aircraft includes 45 De Havilland Dash 8 turboprops as well as 3 Embraer 1 ...

from 1970 to 1981.

References

External links

Museum of Allied Prisoners of War Martyrdom
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bergsland, Per 1918 births 1992 deaths Norwegian Army Air Service personnel of World War II Norwegian World War II pilots Norwegian Royal Air Force pilots of World War II Shot-down aviators Norwegian prisoners of war in World War II World War II prisoners of war held by Germany Norwegian escapees Participants in the Great Escape from Stalag Luft III Norwegian airline chief executives Norwegian male orienteers Norwegian expatriates in Canada People from Bærum Businesspeople from Oslo 20th-century Norwegian businesspeople 20th-century Norwegian sportsmen

Sports career

World War II

Postwar career

See also

References

Related reading

External links