ib & Evelyn and torpedoed the Norwegian ship Regin.
1916 Apr 16,
In Norway Lars Korvald (d.2006), later prime minister
(1972-1973) was born on a farm near the southeastern village of
Nedre Eiker. He graduated from the Norwegian Agricultural College in
1943, and became an agriculture teacher.
1916 Sep 13, Roald Dahl
(d.1990), son of Norwegian immigrants, was born in Llandaff, Wales.
He is best known for his children’s books such as "James and the
1917 Jan, In Norway a piece of
sugar containing anthrax bacilli was found in the luggage of Baron
Otto Karl von Rosen, when he was apprehended in Karasjok for
suspected espionage and sabotage.
(NH, 10/98, p.18)
1917 Dec 6, In Nova Scotia some
2000 people were killed and thousands wounded following an explosion
in Halifax harbor. The Imo, a Norwegian freighter ship, had collided
with the French munitions ship Mont Blanc and a fire soon caused a
massive explosion. A local court found Captain Le Medec of the Mont
Blanc and other defendants guilty of the collision. Canada’s Supreme
Court ruled that the captains of both ships were equally to blame. A
Privy Council in London ruled that Le Medec had done nothing
(EWH, 4th ed, p.1054)(ON, 7/05, p.7)(AP, 12/6/07)
1919 The Versailles conference
gave Norway sovereignty over the island of Svalbard, but allowed
other countries to establish settlements there.
(Econ, 10/2/04, p.52)
1920 Knut Hamsun (1859-1952),
Norwegian writer, won the Nobel Prize in literature for his work
"The Growth of the Soil."
(Econ, 11/7/09, p.79)
1920 A treaty between Norway
and Russia allowed Russia to pursue mining in the Svalbard islands
(WSJ, 9/19/97, p.A1)(Econ, 10/11/08, p.70)
1922 Fridtjof Nansen, Norwegian
Arctic explorer (1893-1896), was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace.
(ON, 7/05, p.5)
1924 Jul 10, Denmark took
Greenland as Norway ended its claim.
1926 Erik Rotheim of Norway
invented the aerosol can.
(SFEC, 1/17/99, Z1 p.1)
1828 Mar 20, Henrik Ibsen
(d.1906), Norwegian dramatist (Peer Gynt, Hedda Gabler), was born.
(HFA, '96, p.26)(HN, 3/20/98)
1928 Jun 18, Norwegian explorer
Roald Amundsen (b.1872) flew to the North Pole with a crew of
rescuers to search for the survivors of the dirigible Italia. They
were never seen again.
(ON, 10/00, p.8)(Ind, 4/27/02,
1930 Feb 5, Sonja Henie (17),
Norwegian figure skating star, won her fourth consecutive world's
amateur singles championship.
(NY Times, 2/6/1930, p.30)
1930 May 13, Fridtjof Nansen
(68), Norwegian Arctic explorer (1893-1896), died in Oslo.
(ON, 7/05, p.5)
1931 Nov 30, The submarine
Nautilus was sunk near Bergen, Norway. Hubert Wilkins, Australian
explorer, had used the ship in a failed attempt to sail beneath the
(ON, 1/02, p.8)
1940 Apr 8, British troops
landed at Narwik to mine Norway’s territorial waters.
(ON, 11/05, p.3)
1940 Apr 9, The Nazi army
invaded and occupied Denmark and Norway. German forces landed along
the Norwegian coast and made a paratrooper assault on Oslo and
(WSJ, 4/29/96, p.C-1)(SFEC, 1/26/97, p.A14)(AP,
4/9/97)(ON, 11/05, p.3)
1940 Apr 10, Vidkun Quisling
formed a Norwegian pro-Nazi "national government."
1940 Apr 10, The HMS Hunter, a
British destroyer, went down with 110 men in the fist Battle of
Narvik as the Royal Navy tried to keep German forces from
overrunning a strategic Norwegian port. Germany lost 4 destroyers in
the battle. In 2008 a Norwegian minehunter found the wreck
1940 Apr 14, Allied troops
landed in Norway.
1940 Apr 15, French and British
troops landed at Narvik, Norway.
1940 Apr 29, Norwegian King
Haakon and government fled to England.
1940 May 5, Norwegian
government in exile formed in London.
1940 May 7-1940 May 8, The
British House of Commons debated the disastrous Norwegian campaign.
1940 May 10, Winston Churchill
took office as PM. Churchill formed a new government and served as
the Conservative head of a coalition government with the opposition
Labor Party. The debate over the Norway campaign led directly to
Churchill replacing Chamberlain.
(WSJ, 9/3/98, p.A6)(PCh, 1992, p.864)(Econ,
1940 Jun 9, Norway surrendered
to the Nazis during World War II, effective a