Four SOE agents and instructors—Thor Helliessen, Jan Allan, Ruben Langmo and Johannes S. Andersen—were sent to Norway and parachuted into Nordmarka north of Oslo in October 1942.
[3] According to Chief of Defence, General Wilhelm von Tangen Hansteen, the group should only act upon decisions by the Home Forces, and they brought no liquidation lists from the UK.
The list contained 62 names, which not only included informers and torturers, but also Nazi politicians such as the government "ministers" Hagelin, Lie and Fuglesang.
After episodes of heavy drinking, too much talking, and other hazardous behaviour, Milorg demanded the two SOE agents to be recalled to the United Kingdom.
[5][6] The government in London was distinctly unimpressed that SOE, with the tacit acceptance of Norwegian High Command, had selected a former notorious criminal to take part in such a task.