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Book Review for
The Sledge Patrol -- A WWII Epic of Escape, Survival, and Victory
by David Howarth
How a handful of Danes and Norwegians on dog sleds patrolled a
500-mile
perimeter of the Greenland coast to keep watch for Nazi invaders.
Greenland
was strategic for making
weather forecasts in the Atlantic,
knowledge that was
equally valuable
to both German submarines and
British convoys. Using their
hunting skills, knowledge of the Arctic terrain,
and their superior survival skills in
subzero temperatures, the unarmed
and unaggressive band of Danes, Norwegians
and Eskimos were able to
elude and outdistance the better-equipped Germans.
Sometimes they
would walk the 56 miles back to base without even a coat to
bring
word of the Germans' movements.
Author David Howarth, a British naval officer, was among the leaders of
the Shetland Bus operation, the nickname given to the Norwegian fishing
fleet, which was used to shuttle refugees secretly to freedom and bring
supplies and intelligence to the Allied forces. This gave him first-hand
knowledge of this story to do what Howarth does best -- weave a
gripping account of heroism and survival.