We Die Alone: A WWII Epic of Escape and Endurance by Stephen E. Ambrose, David Howarth Page A

the west of him was Balsfjord, and to the
east Ullsfjord and then Lyngenfjord, the greatest of them all, fifty
miles long and three miles wide. All the promontories between these
fjords are high and steep. The one between Ullsfjord and Lyngenfjord
in particular is famous for its mountain scenery: it is a mass of jagged
peaks of fantastic beauty which rise steeply from the sea on either
side. Away from their shores, these promontories are not only uninhabited, they are deserted, never visited at all except in summer and
in peace time by a few mountaineers and by Lapps finding pasture
for their reindeer. Along the shores there are scattered houses, and
roads where there is room to build them.
    Jan's choice of route was simplified by the fact that Tromso lay to
the west of him, and the farther he went that way the thicker the
German defences would become. Apart from that, he had to decide
whether to keep to the fjords and make use of roads when he could
find them, or to cut himself off from all chance of meeting either
friend or enemy by staying in the hills.
    Lockertsen's advice was definite. On the shores of the fjords he
would run the risk of meeting Germans, which would be awkward;
but to cross the mountains alone at that time of year was, quite simply, impossible and suicidal, and nobody but a lunatic would try it.
    They talked all round the subject several times. Jan listened to
everything that Lockertsen suggested, intending as usual to take the
advice which suited him and forget about the rest. In the upshot,
Lockertsen said he would take him in his motorboat that night as
far as he could up Ullsfjord, and land him on the far shore, the eastward side. There was a road there which ran up a side fjord
called Kjosen and crossed over to Lyngenfjord through a gap in the
mountains. Then it ran all the way to the head of Lyngenfjord; and
from there there was both a summer and winter road which led to
the frontier. It was true that the road itself might not be much use
to him. It ran through several small villages on the fjord, which
would be sure to have garrisons. Beyond the end of the fjord, the
summer road of course would be buried in snow and the winter
road, which crossed the frozen lakes, was certainly blocked and
watched by the Germans. But at least this was a line to follow, and
it skirted round the mountains.

    Jan hated the thought of putting to sea again, but the lift he was
offered would put him twenty miles on his way, and he accepted it.
When it was dark, he said good-bye to Fru Lockertsen and her
daughter and went down to the shore again. Lockertsen rowed him
out to the motor-boat, which was lying at a buoy, and a neighbour
joined them. There was fishing gear on board, and Lockertsen and
the neighbour meant to use it, when they landed Jan, to give themselves a reason for the journey. They started her up and cast off, and
put out once more into the dangerous waters of the sound.
    Jan made them keep close inshore, so that if they were suddenly
challenged by a German ship he could go over the side and swim to
land. So they crept up the sound under the shadow of the mountains.
But nothing happened; they slipped safely round the corner into
Ullsfjord, and in the early hours of the morning put Jan ashore on a
jetty at the mouth of Kjosen.
    Neither Lockertsen's warning, nor the maps and photographs he
had studied, nor even the fame of the Lyngen Alps had quite prepared Jan for the sight which he saw when he landed at Kjosen. It was
still night, but ahead of him in the east the sky was pale; and there
were the mountains, a faint shadow on the sky where the rock was
naked, a faint gleam where it was clothed with snow. Peak upon peak
hung on the breathless air before the dawn, immaculate and sublime. Beneath their majesty, the enmity of Germans seemed something to
be despised.

    He saw the road, beside the shining ribbon of the fjord; it was the
first road he had seen in all