jon_norstog
07-29-2019, 11:11
I had always wanted to see the site of the resistance raid that blew up Hitler’s heavy water and messed up his plan to develop an atomic bomb. This was the year. I had a cousin-uncle that participated in that raid, which makes the whole family damn proud. That is us.
I’m not going to recap the whole raid, Wikipedia and other sites have done a pretty good job. The Vemork power station was the largest hydro-electric plant in the world when it was built around 1900. It takes water off the Hardangarvidda plateau, above treeline, and pipes it down over a thousand feet to a powerhouse at Rjukan. Lots of electricity and hardly any customers in that part of Norway. A fertilizer plant was built next to the powerhouse in the ‘30s and one of its byproducts was heavy water. The equipment for separating out heavy water was in the basement. The fertilizer plant is gone, but the powerhouse is still there. The heavy water separators were in the basement of the modern-looking building in the model
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There was one road in to the powerhouse, going over this bridge. The Germans had a guard station at the bridge. The only other way in was the railroad line which ran along the cliffside opposite of the main road in and out of Rjukan.
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It was the end of February, 1943. The raiders skied in off Hardangarvidda in the dark and went down the cliff to the icy river below, then back up.
46345
There wasn’t anyone watching the railroad line so they walked up the tracks. My cousin took some men and captured the bridge guard, holding them there. The demolition unit went into the plant and found its way to the heavy water machinery and the stored product. They planted the charges but didn’t light the timed fuses for a while – the Norwegian night watchman wanted to find his glasses and take them with him! He did find his glasses, all the while the resistance men were just chewing their nails! They got him, his glasses and themselves out, lit the 30-second fuses and made for the exit. They crossed the river again and retreated up the cliffside to Hardangarvidda, where they split up.
During the raid the resistance men wore British uniforms and carried British weapons, so as not to give the Nazis any cause for reprisals against the Rjukan community. When the team split up, most of them skied to Sweden and were interned. Knut Haukelid and 3 or 4 others went back into hiding on Hardangarvidda.
About the product: this is where the story gets interesting. French intelligence was aware of heavy water and its uses in controlling a nuclear reaction. They may have also known that the Germans had a nuclear weapons research program, or at least plans for one. On the day of the invasion, Deuxieme’ agents talked the general manager of Norsk Hydro into turning over their entire stock - 185 K – for safekeeping in France. So they said. The stuff eventually ended up in England carried out in one of the merchant ships that helped evacuate Dunkirk.
The raid on the Vemork plant broke open the containers of heavy water stored on-site, and another 400 K was lost. After the raid the Germans beefed up the guard and tightened security. There were allied air raids in November 1943 and the Germans decided to move the rest of the heavy water, plus the equipment for making it, to Germany.
They loaded a train with the product. The tracks ended at Tinnsja – Lake Tinn – where there was a ferry connection. The cars with the heavy water went onto the ferry. My cousin was there with some plastic explosive, which also went on the ferry. He set the timer so it would detonate when the boat was out in very deep water. I(t is still there, a thousand feet down.
They brought some of the barrels up in 2004. The heavy water was diluted, perhaps by sabotage in the plant. The equipment to make more of the stuff found its way to Germany, but by June ‘44 the Germans had other things to worry about and the whole project died on the vine.
jn
I’m not going to recap the whole raid, Wikipedia and other sites have done a pretty good job. The Vemork power station was the largest hydro-electric plant in the world when it was built around 1900. It takes water off the Hardangarvidda plateau, above treeline, and pipes it down over a thousand feet to a powerhouse at Rjukan. Lots of electricity and hardly any customers in that part of Norway. A fertilizer plant was built next to the powerhouse in the ‘30s and one of its byproducts was heavy water. The equipment for separating out heavy water was in the basement. The fertilizer plant is gone, but the powerhouse is still there. The heavy water separators were in the basement of the modern-looking building in the model
46341 46342
There was one road in to the powerhouse, going over this bridge. The Germans had a guard station at the bridge. The only other way in was the railroad line which ran along the cliffside opposite of the main road in and out of Rjukan.
46343 46344
It was the end of February, 1943. The raiders skied in off Hardangarvidda in the dark and went down the cliff to the icy river below, then back up.
46345
There wasn’t anyone watching the railroad line so they walked up the tracks. My cousin took some men and captured the bridge guard, holding them there. The demolition unit went into the plant and found its way to the heavy water machinery and the stored product. They planted the charges but didn’t light the timed fuses for a while – the Norwegian night watchman wanted to find his glasses and take them with him! He did find his glasses, all the while the resistance men were just chewing their nails! They got him, his glasses and themselves out, lit the 30-second fuses and made for the exit. They crossed the river again and retreated up the cliffside to Hardangarvidda, where they split up.
During the raid the resistance men wore British uniforms and carried British weapons, so as not to give the Nazis any cause for reprisals against the Rjukan community. When the team split up, most of them skied to Sweden and were interned. Knut Haukelid and 3 or 4 others went back into hiding on Hardangarvidda.
About the product: this is where the story gets interesting. French intelligence was aware of heavy water and its uses in controlling a nuclear reaction. They may have also known that the Germans had a nuclear weapons research program, or at least plans for one. On the day of the invasion, Deuxieme’ agents talked the general manager of Norsk Hydro into turning over their entire stock - 185 K – for safekeeping in France. So they said. The stuff eventually ended up in England carried out in one of the merchant ships that helped evacuate Dunkirk.
The raid on the Vemork plant broke open the containers of heavy water stored on-site, and another 400 K was lost. After the raid the Germans beefed up the guard and tightened security. There were allied air raids in November 1943 and the Germans decided to move the rest of the heavy water, plus the equipment for making it, to Germany.
They loaded a train with the product. The tracks ended at Tinnsja – Lake Tinn – where there was a ferry connection. The cars with the heavy water went onto the ferry. My cousin was there with some plastic explosive, which also went on the ferry. He set the timer so it would detonate when the boat was out in very deep water. I(t is still there, a thousand feet down.
They brought some of the barrels up in 2004. The heavy water was diluted, perhaps by sabotage in the plant. The equipment to make more of the stuff found its way to Germany, but by June ‘44 the Germans had other things to worry about and the whole project died on the vine.
jn