In March 2022, FWC will become the World’s First Female Team to retrace the mission of the Heroes of Telemark - a mission that changed the course of history…
In February 1943, Hitler’s development of an atomic bomb was sabotaged by a small team of soldiers. Now known as the Heroes of Telemark, these special operative soldiers carried out one of the most important and daring missions in World War II history - a suicide mission that they all survived.
The Atomic Race
By taking control of Norway in 1940, the Nazis acquired a game-changing asset that set them up to take over Britain and win the war: a supply of a rare, key ingredient for developing an atomic bomb - heavy water.
Deep in the Norwegian mountains, the Nazis took control of Vemork, a hydroelectric plant that, as a by-product of its operations, was producing heavy water - a source of deuterium. Deuterium is a rare form of hydrogen with a higher mass - hence the name “heavy water” when it is part of H2O. Back in the 1940s deuterium was key to controlling and scaling the processes required to create an atomic bomb and this free-flowing supply of such an important component put Hitler years ahead of the allies in the development of such a powerful weapon.
Furthermore, because of Vemork’s location and proximity to the town of Rjukan, coming up with a plan to destroy the supply without being seen miles in advance and without civilian casualties was extremely challenging.
Special Operations for Sabotage
It was a small group of SOE soldiers that was selected to prepare for an attack to destroy Hitler’s supply of heavy water - brave Norwegians who had secretly escaped their occupied country to join Britain’s Special Operations Executive (SOE), some courageously returning to Norway as informants and some staying to be trained for undercover sabotage missions.
In October 1942, a group of four Norwegian SOEs under the code name Grouse, was parachuted onto Norway’s Hardangervidda to prepare for an attack using silent gliders and covertly gather intelligence from the plant itself. At 3,600ft above sea level and on the edge of the Arctic Circle, the Hardanger plateau is one of the most inhospitable environments on earth.
However, the difficulty of the mission became tragically clear when the attack failed, leading to the death of all the men on board the two gliders and two planes that led them. Grouse were left on the Hardangervidda knowing all their comrades had been killed.
A different approach had to be taken – one that was sure to be a suicide mission.
Achieving the Impossible
Grouse were to be joined by another small group of brave Norwegian SOEs for a sabotage mission by foot, code named Gunnerside. However, due to a number of failed attempts to secretly drop Gunnerside in, Grouse were forced to survive unsupported on the plateau for four gruelling winter months. Having been initially provided with just a couple of weeks of rations, the men resorted to hunting the limited wildlife that can survive on the Hardangervidda. For months they lived like this, sleeping in mountain huts, gathering intelligence about the power plant and secretly radioed information back to Britain – all without being spotted by Nazis or Norwegians, often only a couple of hundred yards away.
Finally, in February 1943, the weather conditions and light from the full moon enabled the attack party, Gunnerside, to be parachuted into the Hardangervidda. Even though there were no means of communication between the two parties, they miraculously managed to meet up with Grouse where they immediately set out to plan the attack.
The only access to the power plant was via a long narrow foot bridge guarded by Nazi soldiers. So, the only way to get into Vemork was via a treacherous climb into the ravine further up the valley. From there, they would locate a previously identified window entrance in order to bypass more Nazi guards. This would take them into the correct area of the plant to find the tanks of heavy water and bomb the supply at which point the alarm would be raised, making escape highly problematic.
Working incredibly effectively together as one team, these newly acquainted groups achieved what Downing Street and Army Headquarters considered the impossible: successfully approaching the power-plant unseen, evading the wall of Nazi security, locating the tanks of heavy water, destroying the supply without civilian casualties - and then getting out alive.
Each member of Grouse and Gunnerside survived and dispersed to different escape routes; some walking to Sweden and some staying on the Hardangervidda to continue radioing intelligence to Britain.
Changing the Course of History
Incredibly, the story doesn’t end there. The sabotage of the heavy water tanks did indeed raise the alarm and German forces based at Vemork were able to salvage some of the supply and Hitler demanded a concentration in effort to accelerate production again. After a failed bombing by allies later in 1943, the Nazis quickly set about removing this supply and transporting it to Germany where it would be far more secure and scaling production could resume.
But what they didn’t know was, two years after the initial attack, one of the Grouse SOEs was still living on the Hardangervidda ready to sabotage their transit plans - again.
In 1944, 2nd Lieutenant Knut Haukelid was joined by another three SOE agents to follow the transit of heavy water supplies from Vemork to Germany by train and then ferry. Hours before the ferry was due to set off for Germany, Haukelid and his SOE colleagues strapped explosives to the wall of the boat next to the cells of heavy water – carefully timed to detonate for when the ferry had left the dock. Again, Haukelid managed to escape and witness the small but significant explosion the following morning. The boat capsized and the heavy water dispersed into the Norwegian sea, out of the Hitler’s hands once and for all.
In March 2022, a team of FWC Ladies will become The World’s First All-Female Team to retrace the steps of Grouse and Gunnerside across The Hardangervidda to the Vemork Power Plant. Find out more about The World’s First All-Female Team