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My fathers story:
[the text in brackets are added by me] People in Ekse and Gullbraa saw the plane passing over in low hight that evening 27th of December with course south/southeast in the direction of Voss, and with the landing lights turn on. Later it was told that the plane had been on a raid to Iceland. Olav Gullbraa was on his way home to Gullbraa in Eksingedalen, skiing via the Naerafjellet mountain (from the Teigdalen valley, and Evanger). Which day this was I don't know. This could have been the day after the plain crashed, but most likely some days later. [On January 6th a message was received from captain Gebhard that he was on his way to Stamnes with the two survivors]. [Nils N Nesheim dates this to 31/12, four days after the crash. See his story below]. When he should pass the mountain pasture of the farm Ekse, Eksestoelen, a German came out from one of the huts there, with a pistol in his hand. This was one of the survivors [this must have been Walter Schwarze]. Olav and the German went down to Ekse together. People from Ekse and Gullbraa started to seek for more survivors in the mountains. One more vas found in a hut in Torvedalen (Ekses Torvedalen) [this must have been Fritz Albrechts, described as hardly injuried], another mountain pasture near by Eksesstoelen. Later they also found the plane and the 4 of the crew who was killed. The body of the plane was relative complete. The path the two survivors climbed down from the place where the plane crashed was very dangerous, and only to be used for people knowing that area very well. So they were lucky to survive the climb, in addition to surviving the crash. The bodies of the dead were brought down to Gullbraa, and further down to Nesheim by horses and sledges, one driven by "Daoe" [Nils N Nesheim is telling that this was Lars Ekse], one by Andreas. [From there the transport went by horses and sledges to Stamnes and by boat to Bergen. They are buried at the cemetery of Solheim in Bergen.] [A girl living at Nesheim told later about the sinister feeling with the dead bodies laying outside overnight, for further transportation the day after. My mother told me that story.] People from Trefall: my father and Gunnar, and people from Ekse and Gullbraa, were ordered by the Germans to bring parts of the wreck from the mountain Kvitanosi down to Gullbraa. They used a new sledge made by Johannes Fosse, owned by Andreas, which the German saw and demanded. The parts brought down were instruments, fuel tanks with rubber surface inside preventing fuel leakage if a bullet went through, and other "confidential" things, rumors talked about later by the people in the valley. These wreck parts were also transported to Nesheim for further transportation to Stamnes and Bergen. The Germans wanted to take down the four motors. Trying to get down the first one on the sledge used for the purpose, failed. The sledge and the motor rushed downhill in Veslelia out of control and the sledge was smashed against some trees. Further attempt to get down the motors was abandoned. This motor was blown up soon afterwards [parts could still be seen on the place, I will locate them with GPS position the coming summer]. My father also went with the Germans on the last hike. This time they blew up the three other motors, together with some other parts of the plane. "After the explosives where strapped to motors we where ordered to seek shelter. We were hiding behind some rocks. It rained with metal pieces all over the place, but luckily no one were hurt". |
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Last updated 17th of April 2023
