Description

Operation Gunnerside

In February of 1942, nine men parachuted into the vicinity of Vemork, Norway. They were Norwegians specially trained by British Special Operations, with plans of blowing up a Nazi-controlled heavy water plant in Vemork. Heavy water was a crucial element in the production of plutonium, an ingredient for the nuclear bomb Hitler's scientists were feverishly attempting to build. It was the only such facility in the world.

The heavily fortified, remote plant was impervious to bombing; it could only be destroyed on site, which required scaling a 500-foot-high cliff in the dead of winter and infiltrating a heavily guarded basement laboratory. The nine Norwegians, led by 23-year-old Joachim Ronneborg, did just that, successfully detonating explosives that shut down the facility. The destruction of the Vemork plan was crucial in Albert Speer's decision to halt attempts to produce a Nazi atomic weapon.

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dubnio

When they learnt that the Nazis had embarked on an atomic weapons programme the British were prepared to take considerable risks to disrupt it. The main target was the Norwegian hydro electric plant which was producing ‘heavy water’ essential for the Nazis to progress with their programme.

In late 1942 they dispatched Operation Freshman. This attempt to mount an armed raid on the facility at Vemork had ended in disaster when one plane and two gliders carrying Airborne Division troops had crashed in Norway. Those troops, mainly Royal Engineers, who survived the crashes were subsequently executed under Hitler’s Commando Order.

Now the British Special Operations Executive tried again. The advance team for Operation Freshman, four Norwegians who had parachuted into the country before the gliders, had survived the winter by living off reindeer and moss. It was a notable feat of survival. Now they were joined by further Norwegian parachutists for a covert raid on the plant, rather than a military assault

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