Arvid Storsveen



Arvid Kristian Storsveen (9 July 1915 - 27 April 1943), was the Norwegian organizer of XU, the main intelligence gathering organisation within occupied Norway during World War II.

Biography
Arvid Kristian Storsveen was born in Aker, Norway. Storsveen studied engineering at the Norwegian Institute of Technology in Trondheim. After graduation in 1939, he was employed at the Norwegian Water Resources and Electricity in Oslo.

Lt. Storsveen took part in the Norwegian Campaign against the German invasion forces in the spring of 1940 and, following the Norwegian surrender, he soon saw the value of an intelligence-gathering organisation for the Allies. This 'XU' organisation was started as early as July 1940 and became a reliable source of information for the Supreme Allied Commander in London.

After two years of dangerous work, Storsveen was forced to flee to Sweden in July 1942, successfully evading the German units who were tracking him down.

He returned to Oslo in the spring of 1943, but due to an unfortunate accident he was found and killed by the Gestapo on April 27. Storsveen's discipline was maintained to the very end: the false documentation found on his person meant that, even after his death, the Gestapo never realised the true identity of the man they had killed and so his organisation was able to recover from the incident.

Legacy
In 1943, 1st Lt. Storsveen was posthumously awarded Norways's highest decoration for military gallantry, the War Cross with sword. Arvid Storsveens plass in Blindern in Oslo, Norway is named for him and a memorial to Storsveen has been unveiled at the site.

Other sources

 * Sæter, E. & Sæter, S. (2007) XU: I hemmeleg teneste 1940-45 (Oslo: Det Norske Samlaget)
 * Ryeng, N., Føre, O.C.& Ravn, O. (2009) Hemmelig krig i nord. Historien om XU i Nord-Norge (Oslo: Orion Forlag)