An island at war
Ness of Sound coastal battery, Lerwick
Many visitors are surprised to discover that Shetland played a vital part in both the First and Second World Wars. Often viewed as remote and isolated, Shetland was in a key strategic position throughout both conflicts and the idea that Britain could be taken from the north was a very real and worrying prospect for politicians and those living within the isles – this was felt even more acutely following the fall of Norway in the spring of 1940.
Many Shetland men served in the merchant navy throughout both world wars. Shetlanders were renowned seamen, with many already working as merchant seamen prior to both wars. Losses were heavy and acutely felt as family members and neighbours often worked together on the same ship and, when a ship was lost, families often lost several sons, relatives and friends.
With most men already away at sea, war didn’t change family dynamics as much as in other areas. Shetland was a rural community, dependent on the land and the sea, and women were already well used to taking responsibility for the day-to-day running of the family crofts while the men were away at sea for prolonged periods of time. However, the war brought additional worry, heartbreak and suffering to many families and communities throughout the islands and, as this blog will illustrate, war was often brought perilously close to home.
First World War
When considering the First World War, we generally picture trench warfare, but Britain’s greatest strength was its navy, and it was on the sea that most of Shetland’s men served.
Before the First World War, many men had joined the Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) or, particularly for those living in Lerwick with less seafaring experience, the Territorial Army (TA). This gave an additional winter income to many homes as men were paid a fee to attend several drills a year in anticipation of being called up should war be declared. In 1914 this call was issued and the first wave of naval reservists embarked on a journey to the mainland to begin their training. Territorial Army reservists followed them in 1915, with the majority leaving in the summer on the troopship Cambria in an emotional farewell from Lerwick Harbour.
Almost 4,200 men from Shetland had served in the Armed Forces, equating to around 35 per cent of the male population of the islands. Of these, 70 per cent of Shetland servicemen were at sea serving in either the Royal Navy or merchant navy. Alongside this, Shetland men served across the colonial army forces, reflective of the ever-increasing Shetland diaspora.
The war at home
As the war progressed, home defences were put in place, and many of these were manned by older members of the RNR who would not be sent to the frontline.
Guards were placed wherever telegraph communications cables came ashore, ensuring that vital communications to the islands could be maintained.
Watch huts were built on the higher hills and manned 24 hours a day to be on the lookout for submarines.
Gun crews were mobilised from the far north to the far south of the islands to respond to any submarine attacks.
Local fishing boats were requisitioned by the Navy to patrol the coastline for mines and submarines.
Women and children played their part at home, knitting many thousands of garments to be sent to the front under the slogan “Our boys need sox”, organising egg collections for wounded soldiers and gathering sphagnum moss to be used as antiseptic surgical dressings. The Shetland Museum has some fascinating letters to Shetland lasses who had sent eggs to military hospitals – their addresses carefully handwritten on the eggs in the hope of a reply.
A branch of the Women’s Royal Naval Service (WRNS) was established in Lerwick to support the navy and some women left Shetland to serve on the mainland and in France.
In focus: The Lerwick nurse Nellie Gilbertson worked in the Territorial Force Nursing Service during the First World War. Stationed at the 5th Northern General Hospital in Leicester, she cared for the sick and wounded throughout the war. In 1917, King George V awarded her the Royal Red Cross medal for her service to the nation and exceptional military nursing service. Following the war, Nellie returned to Shetland, where she worked as a matron at the Gilbert Bain Hospital until 1926.
Shetland’s First World War bases
Four batteries were established and armed with six-inch guns. The guns can still be seen at Aith (HU 51305 44797) and the Bard (HU 51637 35803) in Bressay (see the area guide for Bressay in the guidebook for walk descriptions) where they protected Lerwick Harbour from attack, and on the uninhabited island of Vementry (HU 29069 61918), guarding Swarbacks Minn (inaccessible without a boat). A fourth gun was placed at the Knab in Lerwick where an interpretation panel now tells the wartime story of the area.
The 10th Cruiser Squadron, crewed by 9,800 men, was based at Swarbacks Minn, in the North Mainland, where a fleet of armed cruisers patrolled and challenged any shipping within North Atlantic waters. The Voe Bakery (xref) was established at the order of the Royal Navy, and is still baking bread from Voe today.
A seaplane base was established at Catfirth under the command of the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS), where a commemorative plaque tells the story of Catfirth Air Station, Britain’s most northerly base for tracking and attacking German submarines.
In focus: RMS Oceanic was a transatlantic ocean liner built for the White Star Line and requisitioned as an armed merchant cruiser during the First World War. On 7th September 1914, two weeks after leaving Southampton, a navigational error led to her wrecking in shallow water off the island of Foula (see area guide in the guidebook for more). Many of the ship’s fixtures and fittings washed ashore on the west side of Shetland. The ship’s propeller is now on display outside Shetland Museum & Archives, Hay’s Dock, Lerwick.
For information about visiting shetland’s wartime sites, pick up a copy of our shetland guidebook.
Second World War
During the Second World War, Shetland again became an important northern base with around 20,000 servicemen heading to the islands to operate defences. Although these personnel were not here all at one time, there was a significant military presence in the isles throughout the war, and Shetland was a busy military base throughout.
The war at home
The inter-war years had been hard, with few jobs and limited industry. With war came jobs, and Shetlanders found themselves earning high wages to help with military work, which included road construction, building bases, camps and infrastructure and cable laying. The influx of military personnel also needed to be fed, and Shetlanders enjoyed an improvement in basic necessities such as power and water.
Shetland also came under fire from the Luftwaffe who bombed several sites in Shetland, including Out Skerries lighthouse, killing the boatman’s mother (see Skerries area guide in the guidebook) and Fair Isle South, which was bombed in 1941, killing the assistant keeper’s wife, and again in 1942, killing the principal keeper’s wife and daughter (see Fair Isle area guide in the guidebook for more information).
Did you know – a local myth states that the first bomb dropped on British soil landed at RAF Sullom. A photograph in the Shetland Museum & Archives collection shows a man standing in the bomb crater, proudly holding a dead rabbit up to the camera – the only victim of the Nazis’ bomb attack. Although this has been exaggerated by time and memory – the first bombs were actually dropped on naval positions in the Firth of Forth and Scapa Flow – RAF Sullom was bombed, and the locals did stage a photograph with a dead rabbit as a defiant response to Nazi attacks.
Shetland’s Second World War bases
RAF and Army base at Sumburgh
Noss Hill Radar Station, Dunrossness
Ness of Sound Coastal Battery, Lerwick
Tank traps at Mavis Grind, North Mainland
RAF Sullom Voe, North Mainland
RAF Lambaness, Unst – now the site of a modern-day space station! (xref)
Numerous army camps in and around Lerwick
The Shetland Bus
The Shetland Bus operation took place during the Second World War, following the Nazis’ invasion of Norway in 1940. As part of the resistance movement, a series of daring missions began – across the North Sea to Shetland. These missions, led by the Norwegian Leif Larsen, carried out by small, traditional Norwegian fishing boats, plied the North Sea throughout the wild winter months under the cover of darkness, and were a crucial part of the resistance. These voyages ensured that refugees could escape Nazi-occupied Norway and that weapons, supplies and agents could be brought in. In the early years, Lunna, on Shetland’s east coast (see East Mainland & Delting area guide in guidebook) was used as a base and Flemington (now known as Kergord) House was the base for overseeing operations (see West Mainland area guide). However, it was soon recognised that better amenities were required to carry out essential repairs to the boats, and the operation moved to Scalloway in 1942. Although further away on the west coast, Scalloway was an ideal location as it had a good shipyard and was quieter than Lerwick, which had a strong military presence. Losses were high during 1940-1943, but in 1943, the USA gave three fast sub-chasers to the operation, making it much safer for the crews. The Scalloway Museum has excellent displays about the operation, and visitors can see many of the buildings and slipway used. There is a memorial to the 44 men who lost their lives to the Shetland Bus on the waterfront at Scalloway and Remembrance services and wreath layings are held there twice a year on 17th May (Norwegian Constitution Day) and Remembrance Sunday.
Shetland Bus locations and displays:
Prince Olav Slipway, Norway House & Dinapore House, Scalloway
Kergord House/Flemington, Weisdale
Lunna House, Lunnasting
Scalloway Museum
Shetland Bus Memorial, Main Street, Scalloway
Defence of Lerwick
Lerwick was fortified during the Second World War and, as well as the Ness of Sound, there are a number of defences around the town’s perimeter, including tank traps around the Hoo Fields area at the South Burn of Gremista and the north side of the Sandy Loch, and close to the burn at the water works at Upper Sound.
Commemoration
Shetland’s losses were high in the First World War, with 630 lives lost from the 3,600 people who served. During the Second World War, 357 were killed and 3,300 are listed as having served. Following both the First and Second World War, Shetland’s Roll of Honour & Service was published, detailing all those who served and died, and including photographs of those who lost their lives. War memorials and plaques are found throughout the islands, and Remembrance events are held on Remembrance Sunday at Lerwick’s County War Memorial and the Shetland Bus Memorial in Scalloway where wreaths are laid and a service of remembrance is delivered, as well as smaller services and wreath layings in churches and rural war memorials throughout Shetland.
War memorials – The County War Memorial, outside Lerwick’s Town Hall, was unveiled in 1924 by Mrs Janet Hardy, who had lost three sons, Thomas, Charles, and William, in the course of the war. There are 624 names listed on the memorial from the First World War, and 359 from the Second World War. Each district in Shetland has a war memorial, remembering the dead from both wars.
There are various other places in Shetland where the scars of war can still be seen, and memorials are found in the places where catastrophe struck.
First World War
HMS E49 was an E-class submarine, lost with no survivors off Baltasound, Unst in 1917. A memorial commemorating the 31 submariners can be seen in Baltasound, beside Bobby’s Bus Shelter (see area guide for Unst in the guidebook).
Second World War
Catalina crash site and memorial to the crew who lost their lives following a crash in 1942, Arisdale, Yell. The Catalina propeller is displayed outside the Old Haa Museum in Burravoe (see Yell area guide).
Mosquito crash site, Royl Field (South Mainland) – memorial to the crew lost in the Mosquito aircraft that crashed at Royl Field in 1944. Some of this aircraft's remains can be found with a stone memorial in the hill at Royl Field, and you can find it using an OS Explorer map (Royl Dale Memorial: HU3928) and by following waymarkers (for walk details, see South Mainland area guide in the guidebook).
A memorial can be seen on the cliffs at Fitful Head commemorating the loss of the Halifax bomber and her seven crewmen that crashed into the cliffs during the war (see South Mainland area guide for walk details).
A memorial to the six crew of RCAF Canso A can be seen on top of Hamnafield in Foula (see Foula area guide).
Memorial Bench and plaque for the crew of a Beaufort L4514 plane that crashed at Dale. The memorial can be seen at the Dale Golf Club.
Further plane crash sites are found in Foula, Fair Isle and Out Skerries (see area guides for each island for walk details).
Shetland Bus Memorial, Scalloway.
A memorial at Sullom Voe is dedicated to the airmen who served at RAF Sullom during both wars.
An unusual tribute was erected in Scatness in 1945 by Italian Prisoners of War who wished to thank the people of Scatness for their kindness.
A memorial to Shetland’s Merchant Navy, to those lost at sea in war and peace, stands outside Shetland Museum & Archives.
For information on specific war graves in Shetland, visit the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website (www.cwgc.org). There are 40 cemeteries in Shetland containing war graves, from Unst in the north right down to Fair Isle in the south.
It’s also worth noting that many of the CWGC burials are for people who were working in Shetland, or were lost in conflict around Shetland’s waters – a reflection on the action that took place around the shores.
Top tip – For those interested in wartime history, the military historian and volunteer Commonwealth War Graves Commission guide Jon Sandison has extensively researched Shetland during the wars. For enquiries, email jonsandison@hotmail.com.
