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Operation Claw, in Norwegian known as Lillehammer-kuppet was a joint Swedish-American operation, with Norwegian support,〔"The day after the message of the German capitulation in Norway arrived, a Tuesday, Törneman arrived on request from Petersén around one PM. With Petersén was the Norwegian major Dahl, then chief of the Norwegian intelligence office in Stockholm. At the visit there were stated a wish for Törneman to travel to Lillehammer and there take contact with Sala and from him receive certain content. More was not said of that part, and to Stockholm transfer this content and also as much content as Törneman could get his hands on from the German staff at Lillehammer. Törneman were promised assistance from available Norwegian personnel and he selected a Lieutenant Sjetne and Hans Peter Eggen.", statement by Törneman in 1948, from the radio program ''Den mystiska kofferten från Lillehammer'', from 21:05 in the recording〕 that was carried out at Lillehammer shortly after the German capitulation by the end of World War II. Thirty-five German intelligence specialists were transferred along with various equipment first to Sweden and then to U.S. camps in occupied Germany through an agreement between the Americans and the German High Command of the Wehrmacht in Norway. The intelligence material from Operation Claw, among it a Soviet codebook, became very useful for the Americans during the Cold War. Operation Claw was controversial both when it happened and afterwards. In 1945, it was controversial that the Americans operated in what was seen as a British controlled country, and that they secured information about its ally the Soviet Union, in cooperation with neutral Sweden. In later years, a hypothesis that the Norwegian resistance fighter Kai Holst's sudden death in June 1945 was related to his involvement in the Operation Claw has been put forward by among others the historian Tore Pryser. == Background == Even before the war in Europe ended the various allied states had begun the search for German scientists and other German expertise.〔 〕 Signals intelligence had been vital during WWII and especially the British work with breaking the German codes, from the Enigma had been of huge importance. The Yalta Conference in February 1945 had revealed conflicts of interest between the western allied nations on one side and the Soviet Union and the relation was severely strained.〔 〕 American intelligence organisations were very interested in German intelligence experts knowledge of the Soviet Union and immediately after the war in Europe ended they began to cooperate with the German Major General Reinhard Gehlen and his organisation Fremde Heere Ost (FHO) which had led German intelligence on the Eastern Front. It was part of an organized effort to obtain as much German intelligence information and personnel as possible; the operation had the name Target Intelligence Committee (TICOM). The war was however still fought in East-Asia, the US and the Soviet Union were still allies and the Americans were counting on Soviet assistance in the war against Japan. The allies had designated Norway as part of the British sphere of influence.〔 〕〔"The so-called "Lillehammer-kuppet" (Norwegian name, translators remark) or Operation Claw as OSS called it, was executed behind the back of both the British and the Norwegians. British military authorities were in charge of the German capitulation in Norway. Thus Sala's men and archives were British war bounty. But the British was (sic) cheated by the Swedes which again cooperated with the americans.", ''Svik og gråsoner'', 162〕 Both for the US and the neutral Sweden the operation was thus very sensitive and was conducted in great secrecy.〔"Donovan himself flew from Washington to London for a conference regarding the transfer. It happened in great secrecy. Especially the Swedish high command feared that the transfer would be discovered and would be a problem for Sweden's official policy of neutrality. In a memorandum dated June 7, 1945 from J. T. Kloman to brigadier Kessler, the US military attaché in Stockholm it is revealed that the transfer had to be fast ''In order to avoid all complications with the Norwegians and the Russians'' (Tore Prysers utheving).», ''Svik og gråsoner'', 186〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Operation Claw」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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