Erling Welle-Strand

Erling Welle-Strand (25 October 1916 – May 24, 2013) was a Norwegian writer and resistance member.

He was born in Bergen as a son of novelist and journalist Edvard Welle-Strand (1884–1964) and teacher Elsa Kielland, née Lindhé (1888–1979). Erling's father was a sub-editor in a local newspaper, Bergens Aftenblad, and was also known to some as an anti-Semitic writer. Himself, Erling Welle-Strand belonged to the "radical wing of the Labour Party" before World War II. He grew up in Bergen and finished his secondary education at Bergen Cathedral School in 1935. He worked briefly as a press secretary for the theatre Den Nationale Scene before studying at the University of Oslo.

In 1940 Norway was invaded by Nazi Germany, and his studies were interrupted; instead he fought in Valdres in the Norwegian Campaign. He participated in a Norwegian victory at Bagn, but Norway lost in the end and was occupied. Welle-Strand fled the country for Shetland in 1941, together with Reidar Kvinge and Per Hysing-Dahl. He worked as a journalist for the Norwegian government-in-exile for eight months before attending military college. He graduated from military college in 1943, then spent some time in an Officer Cadet Training Unit before serving on a Norwegian Motor Torpedo Boat (MTB). He was then enrolled into the Norwegian Independent Company 1, and on 31 December 1944 he was parachuted over Hadelandsåsen to work as an agent in his home country. He established an anti-sabotage training school at nearby Svartåsseter. His main task was to secure important facilities, hereunder electricity and telecommunications, in case the Germans lost the war and would withdraw using a scorched earth tactic. The operation was called the "Foscot plan", and Welle-Strand cooperated with Milorg's District 13. His nom de guerre was "David".

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