During the Second World War, Norway was of strategic importance to the Germans. Their invasion on 9 April 1940 was sudden and widespread and despite Allied intervention, the entire country was under German occupation by early June. Thereafter, Allied activity in Norway was confined to raids and special operations, with the Commonwealth air forces providing support to Norwegian resistance groups until the German capitulation in May 1945. There are no Commonwealth war cemeteries in Norway, those who died there being buried in civil cemeteries and churchyards. Many of the graves in the Commonwealth plot at Oslo Western Civil Cemetery are of airmen shot down whilst attacking Oslo airport at Fornebu. The majority of the remaining soldiers and airmen were killed in air crashes during the airborne landings at Oslo, 43 having lost their lives on 10 May 1945, the day of liberation. In all, the war graves plot contains 101 Commonwealth burials. The Cross of Sacrifice was unveiled in November 1949 by General Otto Ruge, who commanded the Norwegian Army at the time of the German invasion in April 1940. Facing the Cross of Sacrifice on the opposite side of the front path, outside the plot, stands a memorial erected by the City of Oslo in honour of the men of the Commonwealth forces who died in Norway during the Second World War. It represents the figure of a mourning woman and was unveiled by His Majesty King Olav of Norway in June 1960.
There is 1 grave from the 1,531 servicemen lost with HM Ships Glorious, Ardent and Acasta at Oslo Western Civil Cemetery, that of Able Seaman Robert Philip Jones, HMS Ardent. He died as a P.O.W. in hospital after being rescued from the sea with sole survivor of Ardent, Roger Hooke.
Commonwealth War Graves Section
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