they would assist the wounded soldiers, and did not contact the German authorities. After contacting more of the local residents, the soldiers asked for their assistance in escaping to Sweden, but Haaheller and others convinced them that this would be impossible, as it would involve travelling across the entirety of Norway. Thus, the Norwegians sheltered and gave medical attention to the injured soldiers, but did not allow any of them to leave. The Norwegians also burned all of the maps and documents from the glider crash before the Germans could arrive, and managed to keep the entire operation secret for almost twenty-four hours. German soldiers, including troops from both the Waffen SS and the Army, arrived the next afternoon on two boats from a nearby camp. They took the British soldiers prisoner, and departed with them on the boats. Despite the grave injuries suffered by some of the soldiers, they were still forced to walk under their own power and ride in the unsheltered boats in the cold. The dead soldiers were buried in a shallow grave. The second combination The second combination managed to reach the coast of Norway, but fared even worse than the first combination; because of a turn in the weather, the tow aircraft (second Halifax) piloted by Flight Lieutenant Roland Parkinson, RCAF, released the glider and then crashed into a mountain at Hestadfjell in high winds, rain and hail. All of the aircrew were killed instantly. Workmen in the area heard the plane pass overhead shortly before crashing and alerted the German authorities, who arrived quickly. Finding no survivors, the Germans threw the bodies of the aircrew into a nearby bog and left the area. Released just before the tow aircraft crashed, the second glider spiralled out of control and crash-landed in the mountains between Helleland and Bjerkreim. The two RAAF pilot and copilot of the glider, Norman Davies and Herbert Fraser, were killed instantly and the rest were injured to varying degrees, one of whom, 25 year old Driver Ernest Pendlebury, died soon after. The survivors were unwilling to leave the seriously wounded so two of the British soldiers left the crash site to search for help. After searching for some time, they arrived in the hamlet of Helleland about from where they had crashed, and made contact with one of the local residents, Trond Hovland. The soldiers told Hovland about their injured comrades,