Heroes Of Telemark, 60th Anniversary Options

[amallard]

Today is an anniversary worth remembering.

I've just heard that 60 years ago, "the heroes of Telemark" embarked upon a daring raid in Norway in order to remove the threat of the axis access to nuclear weapons.

Put simply, they destroyed a German facility for the production of heavy Water and whilst the Germans may not have been as advanced as the allies in their search for the ultimate weapon, they weren't far off.

So here's to those wonderful people of Norway and to the troops that took on this very dangerous mission.

I've been trying to fill in the detail but haven't any luck as yet - anyone with more to add is very welcome to do so.

Aye

A R M

[McIntee]

Ah yes, the SOE operatives! Brave men indeed! Codenamed GROUSE and GUNNERSIDE they parachuted in on the Hardangervidda and lived in the mountains. Germans couldn't get to them.

I'll read up on it and post more info. I didn't actually know about the anniversary (shame one me)!

John

[Kiwiwriter]

That was a fairly decisive action in the war, destryoing the station at Telemark.

The follow-up was that the Germans saved some of the heavy water from the plant, and loaded it on a boat to take back to Germany. So the Norwegian underground blew up the boat, sinking the heavy water.

And there was another store of it in Europe, in a beer bottle in Niels Bohr's refrigerator in Denmark. When he was flown to England, he took the wrong bottle with him, and a team of agents had to go in and get the right one, to their amazement.

[STRIKEHOLD]

I recall seeing a movie about the topic. I would love to see a good documentary about the topic.

[McIntee]

There is a documentary on it with interviews of the vets of the operation. It was on TV a few years ago i think. But it might not be an international documentary though.

John

[homefront41]

Well done, amallard! This is indeed a very exciting and heroic story. I've seen a few documentaries on it over the years, but I have never read a book on it. There was a theatrical film released depicting the operation, too. I'll see if I can find that.

Do you have any in-depth information to post about it here? There are so many great details about it -- how they learned what was going on there, what they found out about the timing of moving the heavy water, the implications of a failure to destroy the place -- this was a very big and important operation in terms of what could have happened had it gone undetected.

And I haven't even mentioned the terrifying conditions under which the team carried out their mission. Whew!

See what you all can find on it and post ... please. BK

Ps: Here you go -- http://us.imdb.com/Title?0059263

[McIntee]

A Brief Overview of The Operations Against the Heavywater Plant at Rjukan, Norway


Why?

By May 1940, British Intelligence had learnt that the Hydroelectric plant at Vemork had been ordered to increase it's production of heavywater to 3.000lb per year. This plant (Norsk Hydro) was the only place in the world at the time that produced heavywater on an industrial scale. It was a major coup for the Germans to have it secured and working for them. They were now trying to make Hitler a new weapon. A weapon that could win the war. In 1942, the figure was increased to 10.000lb per year. Something had to be done.

Prelude

After Norway had lost her fight against the Germans, many men risked their life (and those who were willing to help them) to escape to England so as to continue the fight. Some would go to Canada and become fighter pilots, others would become SOE agents and return to Norway to organise the resistance and preform sabotage missions.

Among these men was a young engineer, by the name of Einar Skinnarland, who happened to work at the Vemork plant. He had taken a months leave from his work in order to escape to England. Once there he volenteered to go back as a guide for the mission against the plant. After a comprehensive debrief and basic parachute training he was dropped by RAF aircraft on to the Hardangervidda on March 28th 1942. He returned to work after his leave was up without the Germans suspecting a thing. Once back in his job, he could collect and radio additional information back to SOE offices in London via radio.

Because of the difficult terrain, weather and short summer nights no operations could be mounted before the autum of 1942.

The Operations

GROUSE

Who took part:

*Lieutenant Jens Anton Poulsson
*Sgt Arne Kjeldstrup
*Lieutenant Knut Haugland
*Sgt Claus Helberg

Mission: To land and establish contact with Einar Skinnarland and find and prepare two landing sites for two gliders of Royal Engineers. They would then guide the RE to the plant, destroy it and take the RE to Sweden.

The mission was completed. The men landed safely and hooked up with Einar Skinnarland. They also prepared amd secured landingsites in the mountains as ordered.

FRESHMAN

Who took part:

*Two gliders of British Royal Engineers (about 34 men)

Mission: Land and make their way to the heavywater plant at Vemork with the help of GROUSE. Destroy the plant and get out via Sweden.

The mission ended in disaster. GROUSE made contact with one of the two Halifaxes but both planes and their gliders crashed in the mountains of Norway. Those who survived the crash was rounded up by the germans and executed. All men were lost.
GROUSE retreated to a mountain hide-out, mentaining radiocontact with SOE in London they had to survive in the mountains during the winter. They could not be resupplied by the RAF the next few months.

GUNNERSIDE

Who took part:

*Liutenant Joakim Rønnerberg
*Lieutenant Knut Haukelid
*Lieutenant Kasper Idland
*Sgt Fredrik Kayser
*Sgt Birger Strømsheim
*Sgt Hans Storhaug

The mission: Infiltrate the plant and destroy it with explosives. The men had SOE training in England, learning to handle weapons, how to parachute and how to withstand torture. They were issued with cyanide capsules in case of capture. The men of GUNNERSIDE hooked up with GROUSE and carried out the mission without loss of (norwegian) life. The mission was carried out in January 1943.

Afterwards the men scattered. Most of them got back to England via Sweden. Two of them stayed behind to organize the Norwegian Home Army. These two were Knut Haukelid and Einar Skinnarland.

Production is restored

In July 1943 it was reported that the plant was active again. London decided to bomb it with American "Flying Fortresses". The bombing mission put production back again but did not destroy the plant. However, the Germans had by now decided to move the production to Germany and the rest of the heavywater was also being moved to Germany by train. SOE contacted Knut Haukelid and Einar Skinnarland. The two men took great risks by going into towns (where they were well known) to figure out when and how the heavywater was going to be moved. They founf out that it would have to be ferried across Lake Tinnsjø on it's way to Germany. They had found out where and how to strike the shipment.


The Battle of The Heavywater is Won

On Febuary 19th the shipment of heavywater was due to cross Lake Tinnsjø. Haukelid and Skinnarland had to strike now. Under heavy German survailance they managed to board the ferry as passangers and plant a 9KG bomb on her. Before she started her trip they got off, pretending to have forgotten something ashore. The ferry blew up and sank, with the heavywater and unfortunatly also civilians, at the deepest point of the lake. 14 Norwegians and 3 Germans died but the battle for the heavywater had been won.


Sorry if this post was a bit long! Please also take a look at this website:

Operation Freshman

More info on the RE who lost their life.


John

This post has been edited by McIntee: Mar 6 2003, 07:49 PM

[appell8]

John, outstanding post and outstanding story. I've never read so concise and clear an account of the successive actions against the plant. Just the right length. Thanks, John. y.o.s., Doug

[Kiwiwriter]

TERRIFIC POST! (IMG:http://forums.wildbillguarnere.com/style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif)

[McIntee]

Wow, praise from two of the most prolific posters of the boards!

Glad you liked it though (IMG:http://forums.wildbillguarnere.com/style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

John

[appell8]

John, it's justified. It's an excellent exposition. If this is mostly derived from another source, it shows great taste.

If the organization and presentation are mostly your own work, we will be calling upon you to address other topics.

Very well done. y.o.s., Doug

This post has been edited by appell8: Mar 4 2003, 09:13 PM

[McIntee]

Well, I read up on it on a few sites and I've got a book on the subject too so I took this chance to refresh my knowledge of it and wrote this for you guys. I didn't quote other sources (except for maybe a line or two). If I had quoted another site or source in any length I would of course have credited them.

After all, this is really something I should know about as we are talking about norwegian heroes here!

Anyways, there's more to come! It's just a case of finding topics to write about. I am going to do one on Telavåg, a little village that found itself the last stop in norway before Shetland. And the Germans found out...

Thanks for reading (IMG:http://forums.wildbillguarnere.com/style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

John

[bull74482]

John, what is the title of the book? its seems like an interesting topic and i would love to read it.

Kevin

[McIntee]

Kevin,

Try "Skis Against the Atom" by Knut Haukelid. A good firsthand account by a GUNNERSIDE vet.

Good luck!

John

[McIntee]

I just realized that I'd made a terrible mistake on the GROUSE set-up today and have now changed it. It should now be correct.

I'll also add that one of the GROUSE members, Claus Helberg passed away today 84 years old. He died after a short illness.

RIP


Please also check this site for more info and quotes from Mr. Helberg:

SOE Operations