Operation Gunnerside and One of History’s Greatest “What If’s”
Norway’s historic contribution to World War II’s atomic race.
World War II, as is the case with any conflict, is riddled with stories of critical turning points that contributed to the final outcome. Many of these are stories that continue to live on some eighty years later. Pearl Harbor, Operation Overlord, Midway, Stalingrad – the list goes on and on. If we were to create a list of those notable turning points and the stories around them, my guess is that Operation Gunnerside may not even make the list; but this stealthy raid derailed Germany’s atomic bomb program - an accomplishment that very well may have prevented a far different outcome to the war to end all wars.
As Germany raced toward an atomic bomb, their pursuit of heavy water and its criticality to moderating nuclear fission drew their attention to Norway. A large hydroelectric power station at Vemork was a near-perfect solution for the German pursuit of heavy water supply. Powered by a neighboring waterfall, the power needed for heavy water was readily available, and at almost no cost. Germany quickly pivoted from monthly orders of heavy water from the plant to seizing control and tapping into its full production capacity.
Fearful of what would become of Europe should the Germans successfully obtain an atomic bomb; British and Norwegian forces concocted a plan to destroy the plant. The planning led to the disastrous mission dubbed Operation Freshman. In November of 1942, two British gliders carrying troops crashed en route to a planned frozen lake landing as an effort to deploy forces to overrun German defenses at Vemork. Survivors of a crashed glider would be collected by German Gestapo and executed.
In the wake of the failed Operation Freshman, the Germans became hypervigilant in defending the Vemork plant. Ramping up defenses around the plant, they prepared for the next raid. That raid would come a few months later in February of 1943 in the form of Operation Gunnerside.
The team of Norwegian commandos opted for a different tactic from the prior British strategy. Instead of dozens of troops with gliders and various equipment, the Norwegians opted for a small, furtive approach. Pulling together and rigorously training a small specialized force of expert skiers, the Norwegian team would use stealth and surprise to destroy the plant.
Six Norwegians were deployed, and they would rally with a reconnaissance team that had been sent in during Operation Grouse to gather intelligence and provide a lighted landing strip for Operation Freshman’s ill-fated British gliders on a frozen lake.
Joined by a Norwegian spy, the eleven-man team began their journey across the snow covered countryside. When they arrived at the Vemork plant – which sat precipitously along a very steep hillside – the original plan of storming the bridge and the front gates was quickly reworked.
Again, opting for continued stealth, the men descended to the bottom of the icy ravine – some 650 feet – crossed the frozen river at its bottom, and traversed back up the steep cliffs gaining access to the plant. They accomplished all of this under cover of nightfall and without detection.
The Germans, who believed the ravine was too treacherous to pass had failed to adequately defend against that route. The lack of defenses enabled the Norwegian men to sneak into the plant and successfully reach the heavy water production room. They planted timed explosives and retreated back to the darkness. As those explosives went off and chaos ensued, they quickly scaled back down the ravine before splitting up and skiing their way to neutral Sweden.
The Norwegians successful sabotage had not only crippled the Germans heavy water production, but they had done it without a single casualty, and more impressively, without the need to fire a single bullet.
Though the Germans would successfully repair the plant and resume heavy water production, the success of Operation Gunnerside at Vemork sabotaged the German atomic timeline. The subsequent shortage of heavy water all but halted their production progress. The delays ensured a German atomic bomb would not make its way into the theater of World War II.
As the then Norwegian Royal Army Colonel Leif Tronstad had told the team prior to launch of Operation Gunnerside, the success of this team lives on in Norway’s memory. And what could be one of the most successful stories of sabotage in war history, Operation Gunnerside warrants living on in the world’s memory as well. After all, meaningful contributions to the race for an atomic weapon weren’t all centered around creation and invention from bright minds on the Manhattan Project. One of the most important came in the form of successful destruction. The unprecedented accomplishment of a small but mighty Norwegian team.
Recommend Read: The Winter Fortress by Neal Bascomb