The Heroes of Telemark
I’ve always wanted to visit the factory where the Germans had been making heavy water during the Second World War. The location with how the facility is built, tucked in between the mountains.
The Heroes of Telemark story was made famous by the Kirk Douglas and Richard Harris movie (1965). But the movie is nothing compared to the real story.
If you are not history or power plants buffs then this post many not interest you. Perry had a ball, thoroughly enjoying the museum and seeing the old turbines at a place of such significant history.
The basic story was:
The Germans were attempting to build an atom bomb. To do so they needed heavy water, the only hydro plant that was making heavy water at that stage was the Vemork power plant.
To stop the Germans the English sent in a small team of 4 Norwegian men (saboteurs). Their job was to gather intelligence and get ready for a commando raid. However when the commandos were coming in their gliders they crashed and most of them died. The ones that lived were rounded up and killed by the Germans. Next the English sent in paratroopers and because of the first stuff-up the Germans were alerted. So the paratroopers had to climb down an ice wall that was unguarded because the Germans thought it was unclimbable. We have seen today where this ice wall would have been and you can’t imagine anyone doing it.
Anyway the second raid did get the job done and they blew up the facility. It took the Germans 6 months to be fully operational again after the plant was rebuilt. So this did slow the German’s atom bomb by 6 months.
At this stage the Americans considered the Vemork plant still a threat so they decided to bomb the factory. They sent 140 flying fortresses to bomb the Vemork power station and the factory. The Germans were forced to abandon plans for heavy water production at this site. The raid, although successful, cost more than twenty Norwegian lives, many civilians.
After this the Germans decided to move the entire operation back into Germany and transport the heavy water to there. During the move the Norwegian’s blew up the train ferry with the heavy water on.
Each of the acts of sabotage came at a costly loss of life. English paratroopers and lots of Norwegians. People willing to offer the ultimate sacrifice to stop Germany getting the bomb.
When you consider that the USA took only 6 months after getting the German information and some German scientists to make their own bomb. The time that the Norwegians paid the cost for, really sinks in.
Oh, after the war the USA said that the Germans were headed in the wrong direction and wouldn’t have made a bomb. I don’t think so! The USA team went in the wrong direction a few times as well before they figured it out.
Our Pictures
The Brochure
Our Park-up the night before
