This is event is hosted by the National Army Museum on behalf of the Chelsea History Festival

In this talk, Dr Tony Insall will provide a remarkable insight into the Anglo-Norwegian relationship which led to one of the most successful resistance movements of the Second World War.

Using previously unpublished archival material from London, Oslo and Moscow, Dr Insall will describe how SIS and SOE agents developed links with their Norwegian counterparts. This included a network of coast-watching resistance fighters. They reported on the movements of Nazi warships threatening Allied convoys, and led to counter-strikes which damaged or sank many ships, most notably the Tirpitzin November 1944.

He will also examine the crucial role of intelligence officers from the Security Service and Bletchley Park who supported their sabotage operations.

Dr Tony Insall spent more than 30 years working for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, serving in Nigeria, Hong Kong, China and Malaysia before spending five years in Norway. He was an associate editor of FCO Historians and has published several books and articles on Norwegian History. He is currently a senior visiting fellow in the Department of War Studies at King’s College London and a fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

Secret Alliances: British Special Operations and Intelligence in Norway, 1940-45