We Die Alone (aka. Dances with Reindeer)

(FYI, there are SPOILERS AHEAD.  But keep reading anyway).

A few years back, my wonderful sister-in-law (knowing me well) bought me some history books for Christmas.  One was a short-ish text titled We Die Alone: A World War 2 Epic of Escape and Endurance by David Howarth.  I had never heard of it before, and I will confess that it may have sat on my shelf for a year... two at the most.  But, when I finally did get around to reading it, my mind was officially blown.

Lots of books have an introduction or an "Author's Note."  Many people skip it.  I understand why.  (Actually I don't, but I'm trying to sound "normal" here.  I am the kind of person who reads the cover, the title page, the hype-quotes about how this is the best book ever written and you should be ashamed of yourself for not having read it yet, the dedication, the table of contents, the map list.  Yes, I read the map list; the list of illustrations.  All of it.  I sometimes even look at the copyright page to see if there's a little pseudo-summary on the bottom left.  My grade 8 teacher brain loves those things).

So yes, I like to read all these things.  But never have I read an introduction like this one.

Here is a summary of the "Author's Note" for We Die Alone.  Some artistic liberties may have been taken with it, but the general thrust is the same.

"What you are about to read is going to sound majorly cray-cray.  You will be tempted not to believe me.  You will think that this book is just the by-product of my fever-dream from that time I ate a whole box of no-name taquitos.  But let me tell you, sonny, I have personally visited the places described in this story and have interviewed the people involved, and I can assure you that it is legit.  I didn't come to mess.  [Mic drop]"

OK, so that may be more "thought-for-thought" than "word-for-word," but you get the idea.  As if this wasn't intriguing enough, it only got better from there.

This book is an absolute thrill ride from start to finish - easily the most exciting work of non-fiction I've read in a long time.  It tells the story of Jan Baalsrud, a Norwegian agent trained in England to help the Norwegian underground resistance movement against the Nazis.  Essentially, his job is to sneak into Norway from England and then cause a ruckus right under the Nazis' noses.  Talk about guts.  That right there is enough to earn some serious respect.

But of course, things don't go according to plan.  Right from the start, Jan's team of commandos is betrayed to the enemy, and they're fighting for their lives as soon as they make landfall.  He becomes the sole survivor of his team, and ends up escaping into the Norwegian wilderness with an army of Nazis on his tail.

OK - pause.  I don't know about you, but I wouldn't last two and half minutes in the Norwegian wilderness WITHOUT the Nazis.  But not only does Jan manage to survive, he persistently evades his pursuers in one thrilling encounter after another (I won't spoil them all, but one of them involves skis and a roadblock and would make James Bond proud).  Frostbite after a major blizzard eventually causes Jan to lose all function in his legs.  Sounds like the end of the story, right?  Wrong - this is just HALF WAY through the book.  😀

The following is a selection of some of the events that happen to him after all this.

• He meets and is helped by villagers who CARRY HIM UP A MOUNTAIN on a jimmy-rigged sledge.  That sentence does not even convey 1% of how intense this is.  Just read the book.

• Once on the mountaintop, he lies there ALONE in the snow for a MONTH. A. MONTH. 😐  He survives on periodic supplies ferried to him by friendly locals in a nearby village who are actively risking their lives and the lives of their families to help him.

• During his month-long 'mountaintop experience,' he amputates his own toes to avoid blood poisoning.  (Later, a doctor asks him which surgeon performed the operation, as it was so perfectly done).

I will not spoil the ending, other than to say that it involves alcohol, guns, and a reindeer chase.  A REINDEER CHASE.  

Now the author's note starts to make sense, right?

Do yourself a favor - go and read this book.  Read it and be amazed by the human capacity for survival.  It is truly one of the great endurance stories of all time and it's a shame that it's known by so few.

PS. When they finally decide to make the movie, I think I would make a very good Jan Baalsrud, on account of our first names being so similar.  I think that helps me identify with the character on a deeper level than most people, even professional actors.  I know the unique challenges of going through life with a three-letter name that starts with J and ends with N and has been mistaken for, among other things, "Jen," "Yon," and my wife's personal favourite, "Jonina."  Yes, MTS - I'm looking at you.