When the Knigsbergradio came to the
farm.
(2003[1])
by
Svenn
Martinsen
If you come to Norways capital city Oslo, and take the
subway line no.2 going eastwards to Ellingsrudsen, and then go off at Tveita
station, youll be in the middle of a large suburban center, typical of many
European countries.
Most of the large number of people going through the mall
every day wont have the slightest idea that just behind the centre, a very strange
radio station was operated by the German Occupation Forces during the Second
World War.
It was one of 23 mobile German broadcast stations spread
across Europe, 22 in trucks and 1 in a train. The station we are dealing with
in this essay was called Sender L or Transmitter L.[2]
Previously it was used in Rovaniemi in Finland, operating as Laplandsender.
Even if the station seems to have been mothballed after the
Nazi regime was conquered and peace came to the European War Theatre, it was in
existence all of summer 1945, and a smiling German Military Station Manager
even proudly received foreign journalists pointing machine guns at them!
This then is what is known from several sources so far of
the story of the Knigsbergradio at Tveten farm.
Source 1. A Crystal receiver in the loft.
FromGroruddalsungdom i krigstid, p.109.[3]
By kind permission from the author: Bjrn H. Syversen, Groruddalen historielag.
Karl-Henrik Amundsen, a former employe of Telenor has told
about a German-controlled radio station operating in Oslo, Norway possibly from
as early as 1942, when he was 15 years old.
This was not identical to the regular
Oslo LKO Longwave station at nearby Lambertseter, operating on 260 kHz, also in
German(Der Osloer sender) and Nazi Government hands at the time. The site was
heavily guarded, and also had been equipped with jamming equipment.
The source received the transmissions on a self-built
crystal receiver well hidden in the loft at his home in the village of Godlia.
The propaganda transmissions were both in Norwegian and German, but mostly with
a lot of dance music. The station identified as Radio Norden or similar.
Picture: Radio listening in the bunker. Typical
German radio set for use in the field. Note the dial markers for German
stations like the Knigsbergradio. This set was found in the Siegfried bunker
in Bud.
The Godlia source also says that the German occupation
forces established a Medium Wave broadcasting station at a field belonging to
Tveten farm. Behind one of the large Tveita blocks today, there still is a
large hill, that local people think may hide the remnants of a bunker,
containing most of the installation. Visible were the three 60 metres
custom-built wooden antenna masts, each wrapped with additional planks painted
with two red and two white fields also having an inside ladder. Local kids
dared to climb to the top after the Germans had left. As far as Mr.Amundsen can
remember, the guy wires were cut and the towers felled relatively soon after
Norway regained her freedom in May 1945. I do not know who did this, Milorg(The
Resistance) or others, he added.
Incidentially, at this time, there were largely open fields
between the radio station and Godlias Stordam Road. A maid, living in one of
the houses there, had a terrible experience late one night. She was abruptly
awakened by a shot, and saw there was a bullet hole in the window. It emerged
the Germans had a party[4], and
drunken as they were, had their fun by firing shots in every direction. The
bullet was later found in the girls room.
Picture: Note the anti-Semitic tone in this
typical Have a think about it poster issued by the Norways Quisling fascist
government during WW2 warning against listening to the BBC.
Comment: Norwegians could not listen to the
radio at this time without risking their freedom, and most radios had been
confiscated since 1941. There were however, quite many illegal listeners,
including publishers of illegal papers often listening to the news from London
Radio(BBC in Norwegian).
Source 2. Diary of Sender L (Lappland).
From Rundfunksender auf Rdern. Die fahrbaren Rundfunksendeanlagen der
Deutschen Reichspost in den Jahren 1932 bis 1945"(2003)[5]
By kind permission from the author: Bernd-Andreas Mller, Chemnitz, Germany.
October 28th 1940: Check up by Post Office-RPZ.
January 1941: Measurements on DRP site in Teltow near
Berlin; antenna tests on January 16th.
February 1941: Drive from Berlin via Magdeburg; Dsseldorf;
Tilburg; Steenbergen to the Dutch island Schouwen in the Rhein-Schelde Estuary
to be used as beacon "Schwerst-Funkfeuer Fritz.
October 1942: Drive to Potsdam. On a train through Denmark
and Sweden to Tornio in Lappland.
December 1942: Set up of transmitter 10 km SE of Rovaniemi
on the road to Ranua and of studios in a barrack in Korvanniemi, approx. 3 km S
of the centre of Rovaniemi.
December15th 1942: Start of test transmissions.
December 24th 1942: At 19:30 hrs the official start of
"Soldatensender Lappland; ran by a propaganda unit (PK 680).
Transmissions from an outside broadcast vehicle. Antenna between two wooden
masts. Power supply from a diesel engine.Three days transmissions, then break
to December 31st 1942.
January 10th 1943: Barrack destroyed by fire. At 17:00 hrs
transmissions from a temporary studio in a farm house.
February/March 1943:
The Lappland-Kurier of the PK 680 mentioned these
transmission hours: 12:30 to 15:30 and 20:00 (Sundays also19:00) to 23:00
(Saturdays also 24:00) hrs on 297 kHz.
Approx. May 1943: Connection with the Rovaniemi power plant.
End of May 1943: Transmission times on 297kHz now 06:00
(Sundays 07:00) to 08:00; 12:30 to 15:30 and 20:00 (Sundays 19:00) to 23:00
(Saturdays 24:00) hrs.
Beginning of September 1943: According to a schedule
"Soldatensender Lappland transmitting 06:30 to 08:00 (Sundays 07:00 to
09:00); 12:30 to 15:30 and 18:30 (Sundays 18:00) to 23:30 (Saturdays 24:00) hrs
on 297 kHz.
Approx. 1944: Often music to 04:00 hrs as beacon for the air
force.
February 20th 1944: Connection with the German modulation cable
network via
Knigsberg-lnsterburg-Tilsit-Schaulen-Riga-Pernau-Reval-Rohuneeme-Porkkala-Helsinki.
There was also a connection to the Finnish modulation cable network.
February 23rd 1944: The "Lappland-Kurier reported cuts
of transmission times in the last weeks because of technical problems. Now
transmissions 06:00 to 08:00, 12:00 to 15:30 and 21:00 to 01:00 hrs on 297 kHz.
End of April 1944: New schedule: 06:30 to 08:00 (Sundays
07:00 to 09:00), 13:00 (Sundays 13:30) to 14:30 and 20:00 (Sundays 19:00) to
23:00 hrs on 297 kHz.
Beginning of July 1944: Now transmissions 06:00 to 08:00
(Sundays 07:00 to 09:00), 12:00 to 15:30 and 18:00 to 24:00 hrs on 297 kHz.
Approx. September 1944: Start of Finnish language news.
Not later as mid-October 1944: Drive to Troms, then to
Narvik, then with ship to Mosjen. Drive to Drontheim(Trondheim) in heavy snow.
From Drontheim on a train to Oslo.
January 1945: Set up in Hellerud on a hill.
Approx. the beginning of February 1945: Transmission of the
Sweden program on 297 kHz. Antenna: probably 3 T-antennas on 3 steel or wooden
masts, a Dreieckflchenantenne. Studio in southern Norway.
May 8th 1945: Surrender of German forces in Norway, station
taken over by British troops and remains there.
Comment: Shortwave transmissions with the title Frohe Musik
nach Mitternacht auf kurzer Welle are documented in
February 1944.[6]
Source 3. Rster i Radio Winter 1943.
Just before the New Year a new Soldatensender
appeared on Short-and Longwaves. The Longwave station is not too strong in
Stockholm, but has a very good signal into Norrbotten. The shortwave signals on
25,4 and 45,5 metres are well heard in Stockholm, but are not logged in
Northern Sweden so far.
Programming is light, and consists of gramophone
jazz, ouvertures, musical potpourris, radio drama, as well as re-transmissions
of Deutschlandsender and the Wehrmachtbericht. One is not sure of the location
of this sender, but it might be in Troms, Bod, Vads or elsewhere in Northern
Norway.
Picture: The actual Rster i Radio article(21/1943?)
relating about Laplandsender in 1943.
Comment: Rster i Radio is the Swedish
equivalent to Radio Times and Programbladet.
Source 4. Jan Erik Rf, Arctic Radio Club, Sweden
http://www.stellamaris.no/mv.htm
From MV-DXingens historia: MV-DXingens historia fram till 1950-talet:
Swedish listeners were towards the end of 1943 able to
receive a new Longwave station on 1010 metres calling itself Soldatensender
Lappland. In the county of Norrbotten the reception quality was good, but it
also used some Short Wave transmitters that were possible to hear from more
Southern locations. It targetted German soldiers stationed in Norway and
Finland. It broadcast a lot of gramophone records, but also re-transmitted
Deutschlandsender in Berlin as well as the inevitable Wehrmachtbericht, the war
news.
From MV-DXingens historia: Andra vrldskrigets slut:
Hier spricht der Knigsbergsradio/
Hr talar Knigsbergsradion
Another example of the will to fight is what happened to the
Swedish programs transmitted from Knigsberg in East Prussia, today known as
the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, on 868 and 224 kHz.[7]
When the Soviet Army captured the city, a substitute to this
station suddenly surfaced at the end of April 1945, when everything was quite
hopeless for the Germans. Now, however, the station was heard from Norway, on
1010 metres longwave. In the last shaky minutes of the war a station somewhere
in Eastern Norway had been established, complete with the Swedish editorial
staff from Knigsberg. I heard it myself several times around April 25, as a
newspaper article of April 23rd had informed that the station had been on the
air for some days.
Comment: The Wavelength table of Rster
i Radio for March 26th, 1944 has a
listing of Rovaniemi on 1220 metres, 246 kHz. This was the domestic Finnish
service. Their station in Rovaniemi opened September 19th, 1943.[8]
Source 5: Dagens Nyheter April 23rd, 1945:
New Knigsberg in Southern Norway.
Picture: The actual newspaper article relating about Yngve
Hugo detecting the new Knigsberg.
The Germans have re-activated the Swedish-language programs
on the radio, mainly with the same personnel that took care of the Knigsberg
programs.
On Radiotjnst-where by the way chief director Yngve Hugo
discovered the new transmitter- a direction finder has been used and the
station is considered to be situated 265 degrees westwards from Stockholm,
which should account for it being in Southern Norway, maybe Kristiansand.
A female speaker, whose voice was identified as one of the
Knigsberg voices, announced a large concert. At 2215 hours there was a Swedish
news bulletin. The entire program was in the old Knigsberg style[9],
with two male speakers, also recognized from the Knigsberg voices.
The news bulletin mentioned Goebbels Saturday speech and
mentioned Berlin as a front city and the target of the Red Army. The
transmission was noted for its anti-Russian propaganda. The station transmits
on the wavelength of 1010 metres and the call sign is Hallo Norden. The news
bulletin was later suddenly abrupted, and dance music continued, without there
being further announcements.
Source 6. Rster i Radio no.31, July
29th, 1945
Storstation p hjul. Propagandasndare avsljats.
In Rster i Radio July 29th, 1945
there was large coverage on the Norwegian Knigsbergradio. The explanation of
how Knigsbergsradion as it was known in Swedish might be able to come
back from Norway was now given. The journalist had gained approval to visit the
site, and he was consequently let through the barbed wire while a machine gun
was pointing at him.
Picture from Rster i Radio July 29th, 1945. Giant station
on wheels. Propaganda station revealed.
A 20 kilowatt mobile radiostation had been placed on a hill
outside of Oslo, in 6 Mercedes 6-ton trucks complete with necessary equipment
and a telescopic aerial being 46 metres high. When it was in operation, the
cars would park side by side, and a gangway with accordeon tarpaulin walls
put up between each unit. One unit had a studio, as automated as possible, in
order that amateurs might operate it if necessary. The transmitter mast was
placed on the last car in the row. In addition a 13-ton car and six utility
cars, with a workshop, etc. The station, only being able to use longwaves
between 600 and 2000 metres, was possible to erect and be on the air after 2
1/2 hours. Frequency changes were done in 2 1/2 minutes.
Picture from Rster i Radio July 29th, 1945.
The German Officer who proudly showed the station to the
RiR-journalist indicated it had cost 2 1/2 Million Reichsmark. Goebbels was the
information genius of Hitler and even that early prepared the propaganda
offensive necessary for the coming German expansion. He also said that the
Germans had six larger mobile transmitters as well as twelve ligther ones for
Medium Waves. It was said that they also had 100 kW-transmitters in railway
wagons.
Picture from Rster i Radio July 29th, 1945. The Mercedes trucks are lined up.
When the Swedish journalist asked why the transmitters had
been built already 1937, the Lieutnant replied that it was for transmissions
from Parteitagen and other strange happenings in the country.
Picture from Rster i Radio July 29th, 1945. Drawing of
Rovaniemi/Radio Norden Longwave station.
I am sure you didnt need so many transmitters for this
use? Wasnt it rather an unit for defence purposes? Then the Lieutnant
laughed.
The proud station caretaker also said the station had not
only been used in Rovaniemi as Soldatensender Lappland, but before that on an
island off the Dutch Coast!
Comment: The photo
coverage of Rster i Radio from July 29th, 1945 shows more radio masts than the
one that belonged to the Rovaniemi equipment according to a drawing in the same
magazine.[10]
Source 7. From AWR Bandscan and Kurier.
https://www.radioheritage.com/german-army-radio/
In 1942, a mobile radio station, housed in 7 seven railway
vans, was taken to Rovianemi (ROE-vee-AH-na-mee) in Finland where it was placed
on air from the German army barracks 10 kms out of town. This army
entertainment station was on the air for nearly three years.
The daily schedule from Laplandsender consisted of variety
programming, news bulletins, and Finnish language lessons. The final broadcast
from this unit was in November 1944.
When German forces withdrew from Finland to Norway, they
took their mobile radio station with them. However, after a further withdrawal,
the station was abandoned and it is now on display in the Radio Museum in
Bergen, Norway.
Lapland German mobile transmitters in reserve;
Lapland Sender at Rovaniemi 1942-November 1944,
Studio & offices in barracks.
10 kM from Rovaniemi in 7 railway wagons,
1 1st stage
2 1st stage
3 Modulator
4 Final stage
5 Equalizer
6 Antenna and masts
7 Longwave antenna
Variety programming, news, Finnish language lessons; Kurier
Last broadcast Nov 1944, withdrawn to Norway.
Abandoned in Bergen, now in Radio Museum.[11]
Comment: The information above that this
transmitter went to the Bergen Radio Museum at LKB Asky is very probably not
correct. [12]
Source
8. DX-ListenersClub,
Norway. Bernt Erfjord.
http://www.stellamaris.no/bernt.htm
From
Norske
Kringkastingsendere.(Norwegian Broadcasting
Stations, about mostly vintage Norwegian AM Transmitters. Bernt
Erfjord, DXLC 1996 rev.2001 by this writer.)
lesund, Vigra: 623230N/060324E. Call sign LKA.
1945-1948: 20 kW German mobile field station, that
came from Finland, captured by Norwegian Forces after the war. Consisted of
mobile units driven near each other with a roof added. If the Montreux Plan had been activated,
Vigra would have used 708 kHz. However, it was logged in Sweden on 629 kHz in
October 1945. (Rster i Radio 43/45)But Longwave 282 kHz is mentioned in list
from 1946, this also being the frequency late 1945.[13] 1947: 629 kHz 20
kW. (This is the frequency from the
Copenhagen Plan not officially implemented before March 15th, 1950!)
Source 9. Norsk Radiohistorisk Forening.
(Norwegian Radiohistoric Society. )Just Quigstad:
http://www.nrhf.no/nrhf-sendere-AM.html#vigra
After the war the reserve transmitter of 1 KW,
was substituted by a 20 kW mobile broadcast station taken over by the Germans.
The booty, originally from Finland, consisted of several mobile units that were
linked and a roof was built over them. This started transmissions at Vigra as
LKA from Oct. 25th, 1945, synchronized with Bergen I on LW 282 kHz. From 1947
on 629 kHz.
Comment: The Wavelength table of Rster
i Radio for March 10th, 1946 has LKA Vigra still on 629 kHz, synchronized with
LKT Trondheim-Tyholt. LKB Bergen is the only one listed on 282 kHz.
Source 10. NRKs tekniske tjeneste og
beredskapstjenesten, by ystein Halvorsen, in Kringkastingens tekniske
historie. En artikkelsamling, p.272-273. NRK 1999ISBN 82-7118-260-9.
In this book, what
was Sender L is dealt with under the subject of reserve transmitters after
the war. No mention is made of any appearance at LKA Vigra or LKB Bergen. The
complete station was mothballed in a garage at Nordseter, Lillehammer. The
Telegrafverket(later: Televerket, Telenor) took it for granted than they owned
it. In 1949, 3 of the trucks, including the one with the temporary antenna,
were sold on the civilian market. An inspection was held the next year, and
established that 6 of the units, including the transmitter and permanent
antenna were intact. In addition, a diesel generator truck was found at
Raufoss, with considerable damage.
A lot of discussion
followed regarding ownership, use and responsibility, and it was not before
1954 that the Defence Staff decided the station to be given to the NRK complete
and cost free.
Then it was up to
the NRK to continue the discussions. Some of the ideas for use that came up
were reserve for LKO Lambertseter 218 kHz(later at Klfta) or as a new relay
for the NRK at Andoeya in Northern Norway.
It would appear that
nothing at all came out of this, and what was the 2,5 Million Mark Sender L ,
now at LKF in Fredrikstad, was scrapped in the early 60s.
Comment: The story
is not unlike what happened to 200 kW LKO Klfta 216 kHz where the two towers
were felled 1995, or the sad fate of most of the Decca station sites from 1998
onwards. It would seem that many decision makers cannot have had a clear
understanding of the potential of AM broadcasting, and what it could mean for
the country.
Picture: Sender L was mothballed after the war.
Picture: The late Erik Julsruds collection.
Final comment: Hitlers Airwaves
The book Hitlers
Airwaves(The inside book of Nazi Radio Broadcasting and Propaganda Swing)
might describe some of the background of the above story. In chapter 8: The
Battle Stations and Radio Arnhem(The latter also heard by Jan Erik Rf) it is
indicated on p.224 that several mobile transmitters were establishedin
co-operation with units of the Wehrmacht propaganda Department(OKW/WPr) and the
SS-Standarte Kurt Eggers, which had a broadcasting section of its own[14](Horst
J.P.Bergmeier and Rainer E.Lotz: Hitlers Airwaves, Yale University Press, New
Haven, CT/London, UK, ISBN 0-300-06709-7)
Picture: News item
from DX-Radio 1944 about Soldatensender Kolibri, Aten and Mittelmeer.
Conclusion:
A long-wave station previously used in
Rovaniemi, Finland, was established at Hellerud near Tveten grd in the Aker
municipality near Oslo towards the end of WW2 and used for Knigsbergradio
programs. It announced itself as Hallo Norden, and broadcast on 297 khz, 1010
metres longwave.
But during these troubled years, the occupants
of course could have established the stations and used the frequencies they
wanted.
Two stations from the same site might be
indicated by the information from the Godlia source of Medium Wave reception in 1942. (However, reception so near the site might have been
a harmonic of the original signal, then likely to appear at least on 594 kHz
Medium Wave)
If there was another
station at Tveita it might have been a Soldatensender or a station relaying a
regular German service from the Reich, such as Deutschlandsender.
The station might
have been briefly used as part of the NRK domestic network shortly after the
war, but after this Norwegian authorities for over 15 years never managed to
come up with any decision for use, and eventually scrapped it.
Svenn Martinsen
Picture: Tveten farm, Tveten Road no. 101 in
pre-war years. In the background
downhill the villages of Godlia and Hellerud to the left, and Bryn to the
right. The lighter field in the lower right corner was the Hellerud (aka the
Tveten fields)location of Sender L towards the end of the war. The actual site
as a whole is not in the picture, but indications are that one of the antenna
masts was located near the road in the picture.
By kind permission
from Groruddalen historielag.
Web
addresses 2023:
This is the original essay from 2003 in
the original English edition:
Main essay, first Norwegian edition
2023: Hallo Norden:
www.stellamaris.no/konigs2023.pdf
Soldatensender Lappland: www.stellamaris.no/soldatlappland.pdf
Soldatensender Oslo: www.stellamaris.no/soldatoslo.pdf
RRG/DES Schweden-Program 1939-1945: www.stellamaris.no/konigs1.pdf