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Cockaigne or Cockayne is a land of plenty in medieval myth, an imaginary place of extreme luxury and ease where physical comforts and pleasures are always immediately at hand and where the harshness of medieval peasant life does not exist. Specifically, in poems like The Land of Cockaigne, it is a land of contraries, where all the restrictions of society are defied (abbots beaten by their monks), sexual liberty is open (nuns flipped over to show their bottoms), and food is plentiful (skies that rain cheese).
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(NOTE: If you want to skip to the spicy battles scroll down to Saule and keep reading from there)
This is a very large post by the way.
Alluding to the original post;
Been interested in the baltic crusades for the past years, and how it developed, it is very deep in terms of historical research. Generally the situation of the baltic from the 400s to the ~1500s (A.D)
Giving historical backing:
The baltic tribes had existed since the bronze age, being influenced majorly by northern culture. Ethnically they were the balts, descending from Indo-Europeans. Majorly, settlements were in the Daugava river which crosses nowadays Riga and pretty much all of Latvia. The most noticeable cultural influence was from the Narva culture, (5300-7000 BC), giving initiations to pottery and ornamentation.
The balts continued their existance during these early years. In ages of the Roman Empire, the balts had already stablished trade deals with said Romans and other civilizations or cultures. Before year 1 AD had begun, the baltic population saw a decrease in volume due to invasions or plagues, something common during those ages.
After these periods were over, it continued normally. 2 major tribes could be diferenciated by the Middle Ages, or as the photo indicates: Prussians and Lithuanians. There were multiple, in fact, Prussia wasn't just one tribe, it consisted of others, such as Sudovia or Jutvingia, Nadruvians and Scalvians, Sambians and others. By the northern tribes existed the Curonians, which had a bit of influence from the Prūs. This tribe had its reputation for being extremely good sailors and warriors, in fact, they kind of are considered Vikings. They were so good at this that even the vikings themselves feared the Curonians, even ornaments and rings were created in hopes of them being protected. Clashes between each of them were so far that after the vikings had burned one Curonian village, the Curonians burned what is nowadays Stockholm. It is uncertain whether this had happened or not, but it seems it's been majorly confirmed.
To the other side are Semigalians, they were amongst one or just the richest tribe in the entire baltic and the most culturally open one. They are characteristic for their gold ornamentation, being this a common thing throughout the baltic.
By these times the balts were of a pagan religion, Lithuanians had the Romuve and what is modern day Latvia had what is now the Dievturiba. The prussians had their own version as far as I know.
By the 1100's the northern crusades had already begun, but it wasn't certainly in the baltic region. By the 1200's, A crusade was launched to Livonia, or what was Terra Mariana for the christians. From now on, it is a strange period, yet before this is an explanation to the outcome of the crusades, described perfectly by an article I found:
"Europe was flooded with soldiers, mercenaries and simple fortune seekers, who were ready to fight wherever the luck and money could be found. Also there were military factions like the Teutonic Order, who had not achieved much success in the Holy Land as compared to the Templars or Hospitallers, and now they were looking for an opportunity to get a new place of establishment.
This entire time Baltic pagan tribes were separated from the rest of Europe behind thick forests and swamps and still lived by their own old ways handed over from generation to generation. Though armed conflicts and invasions did often occur, they had no any significant impact on culture and life in general.
During many decades Vikings tried to conquer and establish their control over the Baltic shores. However, their endeavours had not much of success as they were soon either overthrown and driven away, or stayed on to mix in with the local tribes".
This all would change when in 1193 Pope Celestine III called out for a new crusade against pagan Balts and Baltic Finns.
I'm not going to go deep into it, I'll just detail the biggest battles fought during this period:
Battle of Saule, 1236:
The battle of Saule, or in latvian, Saules Kauja, in lithuanian Saulės mūšis was fought on September 22nd 1236 between the Livonian Brothers of the Sword (Schwertbrüderorden) and pagan Samogitians (Žemaičai).
Between 40-70 knights were killed including the Livonian master Volkwin, 2700 out of 3000 crusaders died and out of 5000 pagans led by Vykintas only 1200 died. It was the first large scale defeat of the crusaders in baltic lands (covered musically by an album of Skyforger called "Kauja pie Saules" if you want to listen, 2nd song).
The Sword Order was humilliatingly defeated, and the remnants of it were annexed into the Teutonic Order in 1237. The battle inspired rebellions all over the baltic.
In the fall of 1236, the christian army, under the command of Volkwin, after a series of raids, pillages and small clashes, decided to march southward, into Samogitia, a region of Lithuania. They raided and plundered local settlements, having these locals a few days to defend themselves. Although, when the christians marched northwards, they encountered a group of Samogitians at a river crossing. Unwilling to risk their horses at the swamp, they were forced to stay in their camp... Bad decision.
The next morning, on the day of Saint Maurice, the main pagan army led by Duke Vykintas arrived at the camp. The lithuanian cavalry stormed in with javelins, demolishing the unprotected christian cavalry, and, to add, the swampy terrain gave the Samogitians a crucial advantage. After a short time, the main bulk of the army arrived, slaughtering the christians alongside Volkwin. In fact, it was such a huge slaughter that the confusion in the christian ranks itself made the battle go from worse to terrific. The survivors, light infantry, fled to Riga, but they were killed. Only a few returned home.
"The Battle of Saule was an epic event, which halted the Crusaders advance for decades. Semigallians were in peace for some years, but Lithuanians showed that they were too strong to be easily taken. The Order of Brotherhood of Sword ceased to exist because of the enormous causalities.
It was enough to halt advance on Lithuania, but not enough to stop advance against Curonians and Semigalians. Surviving Brothers were incorporated into the Order of Teutonic Knights in the following year, and from that point on they became known as the Livonian Order".
Battle of Garoza Forest, 1287
Things were looking from bad to worse for the Semigallians (pagans) at that time, as the surrounding tribes had already doblegated to the christians, beggining their oppression (Curonians, Latgalians, Livs and Estonians), except for Lithuanians, they were pretty strong, and would last up to the 1500's and more. The yet again rebuilt Livonian Military Order finally had time and resources to focus on Zemgale, as they were still free, and pagan.
The christians would subsequently invade, after many attempts, Tērvete, a stronghold of the Semigallians was conquered. Part of Semigalia was conquered by then.
A note about Tērvete:
"Inhabitants of the Tērvete castle, when they saw that there is no hope to drive off attackers who built the stone castle on across the hill, they burned down Tērvete and went away to other castles like Rakte".
By this time, the greatest Semigallian warchief, known as Nameiks (Nameisis) already had left to Lithuania in a hope from there to fight back the Livonians and the Teutonics, united with Lithuanians. None the less, Semigallians still valiantly holded the christians.
In the beggining of 1287, they dared to attack the heart of the Livonians, Riga. They did not besiege it or anything by the such, but they caused heavy damage with night attacks. Soon after, in March, they attacked Ikšķile, burning suburbs and killing christians. Due to this attack, the Livonians saw it as an opportunity to demonstrate their strenght and attack the Semigalians, gathering 450 soldiers, 40 being heavily armored knights.
After looting Ikšķile, the Semigallians were on their way to home, and made a night camp in some random forest. The christian forces had intensely chased them and made their night camp not far from the Semigalians, by the bank of the river. In the next morning, the 26th of March, Semigallian scouts reported their leader about close enemy, and afterwards all the loot gained from Ikšķile was returned to home, marching against Willekin's army alongside unsaddled horses. Soon the battle would commence, christians scouts already spotted the pagan forces, and the massacre was about to begin.
When it begun, Semigallians attacked Volmar and his men, Volmar was the only knight that day that fought on a horseback, by the way. Semigallians made a maneuver of a false retreat, and when attacked by Volmar for a second time, he was the first to be killed. Many men fell with him.
The crusaders were fighting on feet, they ordered a small group to sneak around and steal their horses, a wise maneuver. The rest of the troops were sent to encircle the crusaders.
The Livonians were always good at defending or besieging castles, but weak at fighting in open fields, nearly always being defeated by pagans. They had bad organization, maneuvering, and knights always fought individually. The pagans got used to this tactic, they would kill the horse and finish off the fallen knight.
The battle was fierce and devastating for the Order. In the end, the Semigallians killed Master Willekin, Ambassador Volmar and 33 heavy knights out of 40, 6 were wounded and captured. Unknown numbers of light infantry and local militiamen were killed or captured, and only a few escaped back home alive. The Semigallians also suffered loses, losing their unknown, but brave, leader.
After the battle, Semigallians sacrificed one knight to the Pagan Gods, and burned him alive. Another one was executed on place, and the rest 4 were taken to Zemgale as prisoners, later freed.
It was a great victory for the Semigallians, but unfortunately, the future for the victorious Semigallians wasn't so bright.
~40.000 Polish-Lithuanian men fought against ~30.000 Teutonics. The losses are unknown, but it's estimated that around 300 teutonic knights were killed. (Conclusions of this at the end).
In the morning of the 15th of July, 1410, both armies found each other in the localities of Grunwald, Tannenberg and Ludwigsdorf. The heavy polish cavalry charged, forming a left flank, while the light lithuanian cavalry formed a right flank. The polish-lithuanian men were organized in 3 ranks of formations in a wedge formation, 20 men width.
The teutonic forces concentrated their elite heavy cavalry, commanded by Ordenmarschall Frederic von Wallenrode, against the lithuanians. The teutonic knights, the first to be organized in the battle, hoped to provoke the polish or lithuanians to attack first. Their troops, that wore heavy armor, stood on-foot under the baking sun for many hours, waiting an attack.
A chronic suggests that there were pits where the attacking army would fall. They also tried using campaign artillery, but a light rain made the powder wet and only 2 cannons were fired. Seeing that Władysław II delayed everything, a Hochmeister sent two messagers with two swords, to "Help Władysław and Vytautas in battle".
This was seen as an insult and provocation for the polish and lithuanians, known as the Grunwald swords, they'd become a national symbol.
Apparently, by a Polish writer, the Lithuanian cavalry attacked the teutonic forces. After more than an hour of intense combats, the cavalry began to fall back, this was described as "a complete annihilation of the lithuanian cavalry". The teutonic knights knew that victory was theirs, and broke the formation to, without organization, search the lithuanians that were retreating, and grab loot to then fight the polish. The lithuanians, though, would later come back to the battle.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/battle-of-grunwald-large-56a61c1f5f9b58b7d0dff668.jpg)
Yet, this isn't really real. It was proposed in 1910 that the retreat was a tactical maneuver, beggining one in the previous Vorskla river in 1399, where the lithuanian army was defeated, and Vytautas luckily made it out.
While the lithuanians were retreating, the polish and teutonic forces clashed intensely. An objective for the teutonics was Krakow's banner. The teutonic knights were winning the game, when in a moment, this banner was lost. However, it was soon re-taken and the fight continued. Władysław II depleted his reserves in the third line of his army.
Melee combat came to the polish command, and a teutonic knight, known as Lupold of Kökeritz fought the Polish king. A secretary of Władysław II saved his life.
When a renowned leader, Von Jungingen, who was leading the troop in this clash, tried to break the lithuanian lines, being killed himself. Apparently, a spear was thrown at his neck by Dobiesław Of Olenisca
.
Surrounded, and without leaders, the teutonic knights commenced to fall back. Part of the defeated units tried to retreat to the camp, failing, when the men who followed to the camps rebelled against their lords, and joined the persecution. The teutonic knights tried to build an improvisede fort with carts that surrounded the camp, however, this defense was soon broken and the camp was devastated. According to a chronic, more teutonic knights died there than in the actual battlefield.
The battle lasted 10 hours.
Messangers from the king Segismund of Luxembourg mentioned that 8000 men died in each side. However, this redaction is vague, and is not clear whether it meaned 8.000 or 16.000.
A papal bull in 1412 said that 18.000 christians died. In two letters written inmediately after the battle, Władysław II mentioned that the polish losses were minimal, and that only 12 polish knights died.
The Teutonic defeat was huge, only 1400 men reported to Mariemburg to reclaim their paycheck. Of 1200 men sent to Danzig, only 300 came back. Out of 270 knights, 211 knights died, in between them, a huge part of the teutonic command.
In a nutshell: big graves
P.S: I used some backing from historical articles.
This is a very large post by the way.
Alluding to the original post;
Been interested in the baltic crusades for the past years, and how it developed, it is very deep in terms of historical research. Generally the situation of the baltic from the 400s to the ~1500s (A.D)
Giving historical backing:
The balts continued their existance during these early years. In ages of the Roman Empire, the balts had already stablished trade deals with said Romans and other civilizations or cultures. Before year 1 AD had begun, the baltic population saw a decrease in volume due to invasions or plagues, something common during those ages.
After these periods were over, it continued normally. 2 major tribes could be diferenciated by the Middle Ages, or as the photo indicates: Prussians and Lithuanians. There were multiple, in fact, Prussia wasn't just one tribe, it consisted of others, such as Sudovia or Jutvingia, Nadruvians and Scalvians, Sambians and others. By the northern tribes existed the Curonians, which had a bit of influence from the Prūs. This tribe had its reputation for being extremely good sailors and warriors, in fact, they kind of are considered Vikings. They were so good at this that even the vikings themselves feared the Curonians, even ornaments and rings were created in hopes of them being protected. Clashes between each of them were so far that after the vikings had burned one Curonian village, the Curonians burned what is nowadays Stockholm. It is uncertain whether this had happened or not, but it seems it's been majorly confirmed.
To the other side are Semigalians, they were amongst one or just the richest tribe in the entire baltic and the most culturally open one. They are characteristic for their gold ornamentation, being this a common thing throughout the baltic.
By these times the balts were of a pagan religion, Lithuanians had the Romuve and what is modern day Latvia had what is now the Dievturiba. The prussians had their own version as far as I know.
By the 1100's the northern crusades had already begun, but it wasn't certainly in the baltic region. By the 1200's, A crusade was launched to Livonia, or what was Terra Mariana for the christians. From now on, it is a strange period, yet before this is an explanation to the outcome of the crusades, described perfectly by an article I found:
"Europe was flooded with soldiers, mercenaries and simple fortune seekers, who were ready to fight wherever the luck and money could be found. Also there were military factions like the Teutonic Order, who had not achieved much success in the Holy Land as compared to the Templars or Hospitallers, and now they were looking for an opportunity to get a new place of establishment.
This entire time Baltic pagan tribes were separated from the rest of Europe behind thick forests and swamps and still lived by their own old ways handed over from generation to generation. Though armed conflicts and invasions did often occur, they had no any significant impact on culture and life in general.
During many decades Vikings tried to conquer and establish their control over the Baltic shores. However, their endeavours had not much of success as they were soon either overthrown and driven away, or stayed on to mix in with the local tribes".
This all would change when in 1193 Pope Celestine III called out for a new crusade against pagan Balts and Baltic Finns.
I'm not going to go deep into it, I'll just detail the biggest battles fought during this period:
Battle of Saule, 1236:
Between 40-70 knights were killed including the Livonian master Volkwin, 2700 out of 3000 crusaders died and out of 5000 pagans led by Vykintas only 1200 died. It was the first large scale defeat of the crusaders in baltic lands (covered musically by an album of Skyforger called "Kauja pie Saules" if you want to listen, 2nd song).
The Sword Order was humilliatingly defeated, and the remnants of it were annexed into the Teutonic Order in 1237. The battle inspired rebellions all over the baltic.
In the fall of 1236, the christian army, under the command of Volkwin, after a series of raids, pillages and small clashes, decided to march southward, into Samogitia, a region of Lithuania. They raided and plundered local settlements, having these locals a few days to defend themselves. Although, when the christians marched northwards, they encountered a group of Samogitians at a river crossing. Unwilling to risk their horses at the swamp, they were forced to stay in their camp... Bad decision.
The next morning, on the day of Saint Maurice, the main pagan army led by Duke Vykintas arrived at the camp. The lithuanian cavalry stormed in with javelins, demolishing the unprotected christian cavalry, and, to add, the swampy terrain gave the Samogitians a crucial advantage. After a short time, the main bulk of the army arrived, slaughtering the christians alongside Volkwin. In fact, it was such a huge slaughter that the confusion in the christian ranks itself made the battle go from worse to terrific. The survivors, light infantry, fled to Riga, but they were killed. Only a few returned home.
"The Battle of Saule was an epic event, which halted the Crusaders advance for decades. Semigallians were in peace for some years, but Lithuanians showed that they were too strong to be easily taken. The Order of Brotherhood of Sword ceased to exist because of the enormous causalities.
It was enough to halt advance on Lithuania, but not enough to stop advance against Curonians and Semigalians. Surviving Brothers were incorporated into the Order of Teutonic Knights in the following year, and from that point on they became known as the Livonian Order".
Battle of Garoza Forest, 1287
The christians would subsequently invade, after many attempts, Tērvete, a stronghold of the Semigallians was conquered. Part of Semigalia was conquered by then.
A note about Tērvete:
"Inhabitants of the Tērvete castle, when they saw that there is no hope to drive off attackers who built the stone castle on across the hill, they burned down Tērvete and went away to other castles like Rakte".
By this time, the greatest Semigallian warchief, known as Nameiks (Nameisis) already had left to Lithuania in a hope from there to fight back the Livonians and the Teutonics, united with Lithuanians. None the less, Semigallians still valiantly holded the christians.
In the beggining of 1287, they dared to attack the heart of the Livonians, Riga. They did not besiege it or anything by the such, but they caused heavy damage with night attacks. Soon after, in March, they attacked Ikšķile, burning suburbs and killing christians. Due to this attack, the Livonians saw it as an opportunity to demonstrate their strenght and attack the Semigalians, gathering 450 soldiers, 40 being heavily armored knights.
Battle
After looting Ikšķile, the Semigallians were on their way to home, and made a night camp in some random forest. The christian forces had intensely chased them and made their night camp not far from the Semigalians, by the bank of the river. In the next morning, the 26th of March, Semigallian scouts reported their leader about close enemy, and afterwards all the loot gained from Ikšķile was returned to home, marching against Willekin's army alongside unsaddled horses. Soon the battle would commence, christians scouts already spotted the pagan forces, and the massacre was about to begin.
When it begun, Semigallians attacked Volmar and his men, Volmar was the only knight that day that fought on a horseback, by the way. Semigallians made a maneuver of a false retreat, and when attacked by Volmar for a second time, he was the first to be killed. Many men fell with him.
The crusaders were fighting on feet, they ordered a small group to sneak around and steal their horses, a wise maneuver. The rest of the troops were sent to encircle the crusaders.
The Livonians were always good at defending or besieging castles, but weak at fighting in open fields, nearly always being defeated by pagans. They had bad organization, maneuvering, and knights always fought individually. The pagans got used to this tactic, they would kill the horse and finish off the fallen knight.
The battle was fierce and devastating for the Order. In the end, the Semigallians killed Master Willekin, Ambassador Volmar and 33 heavy knights out of 40, 6 were wounded and captured. Unknown numbers of light infantry and local militiamen were killed or captured, and only a few escaped back home alive. The Semigallians also suffered loses, losing their unknown, but brave, leader.
After the battle, Semigallians sacrificed one knight to the Pagan Gods, and burned him alive. Another one was executed on place, and the rest 4 were taken to Zemgale as prisoners, later freed.
It was a great victory for the Semigallians, but unfortunately, the future for the victorious Semigallians wasn't so bright.
The battle of Grünwald / 1st Battle of Tannenberg
Center : Vytautas. This painting in real life is more than 10 meters long.
One of the most important battles in all of Medieval Europe, and the most important in the history of Lithuania and Poland, happening in 1410, where these would win against the Teutonic Order, putting an end to their expansion.
Center : Vytautas. This painting in real life is more than 10 meters long.
~40.000 Polish-Lithuanian men fought against ~30.000 Teutonics. The losses are unknown, but it's estimated that around 300 teutonic knights were killed. (Conclusions of this at the end).
In the morning of the 15th of July, 1410, both armies found each other in the localities of Grunwald, Tannenberg and Ludwigsdorf. The heavy polish cavalry charged, forming a left flank, while the light lithuanian cavalry formed a right flank. The polish-lithuanian men were organized in 3 ranks of formations in a wedge formation, 20 men width.
The teutonic forces concentrated their elite heavy cavalry, commanded by Ordenmarschall Frederic von Wallenrode, against the lithuanians. The teutonic knights, the first to be organized in the battle, hoped to provoke the polish or lithuanians to attack first. Their troops, that wore heavy armor, stood on-foot under the baking sun for many hours, waiting an attack.
A chronic suggests that there were pits where the attacking army would fall. They also tried using campaign artillery, but a light rain made the powder wet and only 2 cannons were fired. Seeing that Władysław II delayed everything, a Hochmeister sent two messagers with two swords, to "Help Władysław and Vytautas in battle".
This was seen as an insult and provocation for the polish and lithuanians, known as the Grunwald swords, they'd become a national symbol.
Apparently, by a Polish writer, the Lithuanian cavalry attacked the teutonic forces. After more than an hour of intense combats, the cavalry began to fall back, this was described as "a complete annihilation of the lithuanian cavalry". The teutonic knights knew that victory was theirs, and broke the formation to, without organization, search the lithuanians that were retreating, and grab loot to then fight the polish. The lithuanians, though, would later come back to the battle.
While the lithuanians were retreating, the polish and teutonic forces clashed intensely. An objective for the teutonics was Krakow's banner. The teutonic knights were winning the game, when in a moment, this banner was lost. However, it was soon re-taken and the fight continued. Władysław II depleted his reserves in the third line of his army.
Melee combat came to the polish command, and a teutonic knight, known as Lupold of Kökeritz fought the Polish king. A secretary of Władysław II saved his life.
Teutonic Defeat
The lithuanians, re-organized, came back to the battle and attacked from the rear. The teutonic forces were outnumbered by the mixture of polish knights and the advance of the lithuanian cavalry.
.
Surrounded, and without leaders, the teutonic knights commenced to fall back. Part of the defeated units tried to retreat to the camp, failing, when the men who followed to the camps rebelled against their lords, and joined the persecution. The teutonic knights tried to build an improvisede fort with carts that surrounded the camp, however, this defense was soon broken and the camp was devastated. According to a chronic, more teutonic knights died there than in the actual battlefield.
The battle lasted 10 hours.
Messangers from the king Segismund of Luxembourg mentioned that 8000 men died in each side. However, this redaction is vague, and is not clear whether it meaned 8.000 or 16.000.
A papal bull in 1412 said that 18.000 christians died. In two letters written inmediately after the battle, Władysław II mentioned that the polish losses were minimal, and that only 12 polish knights died.
The Teutonic defeat was huge, only 1400 men reported to Mariemburg to reclaim their paycheck. Of 1200 men sent to Danzig, only 300 came back. Out of 270 knights, 211 knights died, in between them, a huge part of the teutonic command.
- Hochmeister Ulrich von Jungingen
- Ordensmarschall Friedrich von Wallenrode
- Großgebietiger Kuno von Lichtenstein
- Große Schatzmeister Thomas von Merheim
- Großkomtur Albrecht von Schwartzburg
- Ten Komtur
In a nutshell: big graves
P.S: I used some backing from historical articles.
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-snip for overly long quote-
I forgot to mention how Prussia has never been german in origins
That was their flag. They had their culture and language, and were of baltic descent.
A wiki article covers it fairly good:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Prussians
I forgot to mention how Prussia has never been german in origins
That was their flag. They had their culture and language, and were of baltic descent.
A wiki article covers it fairly good:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Prussians
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Jan Baalsrud
In 1941, he arrived in Britain after having travelled through the Soviet Union, Africa, and the US. He joined the Norwegian Company Linge, and in early 1943, he, three other commandos, and a boat crew of eight, all Norwegians, embarked on a mission to destroy a German air control tower at Bardufoss, and recruit for the Norwegian resistance movement.
This mission, Operation Martin, was compromised when Baalsrud and his fellow soldiers, seeking a trusted Resistance contact, accidentally made contact with an unaligned civilian shopkeeper, with the same name as their contact, who betrayed them to the Germans.
The morning after their blunder, on March 29, their fishing boat Brattholm – containing 8 tons of explosives intended to destroy the air control tower – was attacked by a German vessel. The Norwegians scuttled their boat by detonating the 8 tons of explosive using a time delay fuse, and fled in a small boat. However, the small boat was promptly sunk by the Germans.
Baalsrud and others swam ashore in ice cold Arctic waters. Baalsrud was the only commando to evade capture and, soaking wet and missing one sea boot, he escaped up into a snow gully, where he shot and killed a German Gestapo officer with his pistol.
He evaded capture for approximately two months, suffering from frostbite and snow blindness. His deteriorating physical condition forced him to rely on the assistance of Norwegian patriots.
It was during this time, in a wooden hut at Revdal, which he called Hotel Savoy, that Baalsrud was forced to operate on his legs with a pocket knife. He believed he had blood poisoning and that drawing the blood out would help.
Not long after that, Baalsrud was left close to death on a high plateau, on a stretcher in the snow, for 27 days due to weather and German patrols in the town of Manndalen, Kåfjord. It was during this time, while he lay behind a snow wall built round a rock to shelter him, that Baalsrud amputated nine of his toes to stop the spread of gangrene, an action which saved his feet.
Fellow Norwegians transported Baalsrud by stretcher towards the border with Finland. Then, he was put in the care of some Sami (the native people of northern Fenno-Scandinavia) who, with reindeer, pulled him on a sled across Finland and into neutral Sweden. From Saarikoski, in northern Sweden, he was collected by a Red Cross seaplane and flown to Boden.
Baalsrud spent seven months in a Swedish hospital in Boden before he was flown back to Britain in an RAF de Havilland Mosquito aircraft. He soon went to Scotland to help train other Norwegian patriots who were going back to Norway to continue the fight against the Germans.
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