Author’s Note

Billy Boyle and his immediate circle of friends and suspects are, of course, fictional. The historical settings and circumstances of Billy Boyle: A World War II Mystery are not.

In 1940, with invading German forces just hours away, the Norwegian government began the daunting task of removing over eight tons of gold bullion from the Bank of Norway. With the assistance of soldiers, police, and civilians, a caravan of over thirty-five vehicles began the journey from Oslo to the west coast, hoping to meet up with an Allied ship before the German forces found them and confiscated the gold. They were successful. With the widespread cooperation of the people of Norway, the incredible smuggling operation brought more than a hundred million dollars (in 1940 dollars) out of Norway safely to banks in the United States and Canada, where these gold reserves helped support the Norwegian government in exile during the war. In actuality, not a single gold coin was lost.

Operation Jupiter was, in fact, an Allied deception campaign aimed at convincing the Germans that Norway was a likely invasion target. Eisenhower exploited Operation Jupiter fully, even to the extent of issuing winter-weather gear to troops in England who were actually about to depart for the invasion of North Africa. His desire to make Norway into one big prisoner-of-war camp was fulfilled. When the Germans invaded Norway in 1940, they did so with five divisions. In 1941, they had a total of thirteen divisions on occupation duty in Norway. That increased to sixteen and a half in 1943, including armored forces. Over 375,000 German soldiers, sailors, and airmen sat idle in Norway by the end of World War II.