Filipstad Explosion 1943 and Ships help request

[Nord-13]

Hello from the UK,

My father was an escape Dutchman, sailing as an undercover escaper on board a ship, The Nord 13, from Aarhus in Denmark to Oslo Norway. He was moored next to other ships when the Filipstad explosion happened on 19th December 1943.
He left a very detailed description of this event in his written memoirs, written in 1946/7. He mentions two ships, the Johann Faulbaums and the Selma, both of which I can find records about but I cannot find anything about the 'Nord 13', the ship he was on, shipping cement as a cargo.

Warsailers forum posters Trygve and Erling Skjold, post in 2004 the names of ships that we in the harbour, listing some 23 vessels in total. Where would this reference list have come from, a newspaper or harbour records?

In this list are the Nord 11, 12, 13, 106, 424, 504, 523, 525 and 527 which is great but what are these ships? WHO was the Nord operator? Can anyone help?

Due to the number of Nord vessels and the numbering sequence, it suggests a large fleet. Would this be anything to do with Transportflotte Speer, the shipping arm of The Organisation Todt? My father ship was working for The O.T at the time.
Any help would be very much appreciated.
I am also looking for guidance on Oslo based resistance people as a group of these helped my father escape to Sweden and I have list of these people. Again and help or pointers to research records would be helpful.

Thank you, Andries.

[maurice]

Hello,

Following my information the NORD 13 was the former Belgian RIJN-SCHELDE 5. This ship was in Trömsö at the end of the war.
NORD is probably for NORD REEDEREI

Here a link with more infos about the history of this unit.


http://www.debinnenvaart.nl/schip_detail/3001/

Regards
Maurice

[maurice]

Here a list of the vessels in Trömsö at the end of the war (source: Strandgut)

[maurice]

Here another link:

https://dewiki.de/Lexikon/Nord-Reederei

[Erling Skjold]

Hi Andries,
maurice has already given some very good answers
It's in general very difficult to find details about vessels operating for Nord Reederei, as they operated what ever they managed to get their hands on, both inland vessels and coasters.
The ones with low numbers 1 to around 200 were former European river barges with engines. Those from 400 and upwards were generally coasters. All their vessels were renamed Nord and a number, but the coasters kept their previous name too.
Nord Reederei operated the same kind of vessels as Speerflotte, and both companies operated for O.T. They are 2 seperate organisations, but very much the same.
The 2004 list is collected from several sources such as damage reports, harbour protocols, war diaries and so on.

Here is a list with identity of the Nord vessels damaged by the explosion:
MS Nord-11 (1905/548dw)
MS Nord-12 (1936/325)
MS Nord-13 (1911/555dw)
MS Nord-106 (unknown year/84)
MS Nord-424 - Margaretha (1928/91)
MS Nord-504 - Gertrud (1928/60)
MS Nord-523 – Reinhard (1932/34)
MS Nord-525 - Emma (1908/60)
MS Nord-527 - Frida (1899/66)

To obtain information about those who assisted your father, I would recomend you to contact the Norwegian Resistance Museum in Oslo: http://www.forsvaretsmuseer.no/Hjemmefr ... in-English

Best regards,
Erling

[Nord-13]

Hello Erling and Maurice,

Thank you for the excellent information and the time and effort taken in responding. It is much appreciated.
I now am beginning to understand more about the Transportflotte Speer and its role in shipping materials for Organisation Todt.
My fathers memoir mentions shipping cement as a cargo on the Nord 13.
I have an Oslo dockyard pass allowing him out of the harbour area. This is an OT pass with 'N.S.K.K - Holl Leg'. printed on top.
This makes sense as '..Kraftfahrer Korp, Holland. and then maybe Leg(ion)'? for those workers who came from the Netherlands .

Did port or harbour authorities keep arrival or leaving records for when the ships docked and sailed? If so, do you think there would be any records in an archive somewhere?
Would there be any more detailed account of the Filipstad explosion I could reference? Maybe in a state or newspaper archive does anyone think?

Thank you for information and guidance on where to start for Norwegian resistance research.
Thanks again for your help,

Andries.

[Erling Skjold]

Just found some details about this incident in the German "war risk insurance" (Kriegsschädenamt) files at Staatsarchiv Hamburg.
Nord 13 had some minor damages to her bridge in the explosion. No serious damage to her.

Best regards,
Erling