The Real Heroes Of Telemark

Product Information

The hotels we stayed at were wonderful, especially the first hotel (the Revsnes) which was extremely welcoming and well presented. The food was excellent and I made a point of thanking the chef personally for his hard and very much appreciated efforts. The hydro-electric power plant in the Norwegian town of Rjukan, where German scientists attempted to produce the ‘heavy water’ necessary for the manufacture of atomic weaponry (Photo: Keystone/Getty Images) Doing the inconceivable Recent investigation of production records at Norsk Hydro and analysis of an intact barrel which was salvaged in 2004 indicated that although the barrels in this shipment contained pH14 water (suggestive of the alkaline electrolytic-refinement process), they did not contain high concentrations of D 2O. [28] Despite the apparent shipment size, the total quantity of pure heavy water was limited; most barrels contained only 0.5–1.0 percent heavy water, confirming the success of Operation Gunnerside in destroying higher-purity heavy water. The Scandinavian branch of the SOE was commanded by a luminary of the Scout movement, Major John Skinner Wilson, and under his watch, a successful raid had already been carried out on a Norwegian hydroelectric plant supplying power to an aluminium-smelting factory. After missing the chance to see it a few years ago,I had hoped that Telemark would be screened to celebrate Kirk Douglas's 100th birthday,but only found a screening of his interesting Film Noir Out of the Past. Finding almost nothing on TV during the Easter holidays,I was pleased to spot this title getting shown again,which led to me at last meeting the heroes of Telemark.

The heavy water plant was rebuilt and production restarted during the next six months. On the night of 16 November 1943, 140 US bombers swooped in over Rjukan and totally destroyed the Vemork power station and electrolysis plant. Many people were killed. After that, the Germans gave up producing heavy water at Vemork. "Hydro" sinks to bottom of the Tinnsjø lake Based on real events, the film tells the story of Norwegian resistance efforts to blow up the German heavy water factory high in the Norwegian mountains. When the attempt fails to be completely effective, the resistance finds themselves debating whether or not to sink a ferry on which the precious heavy water is being transported to Germany on – a ferry which also carries several dozen innocent civilians.The underwater war saw many innovations and a rapid increase in electronic technology, which eventually enabled the Allies to achieve ultimate victory. Richard Rhodes's Pulitzer Prize-winning book, The Making of the Atomic Bomb, includes details of the events. [33] Leo Marks' 1998 book, Between Silk and Cyanide: A Codemaker's Story 1941–1945 ( ISBN 0-684-86780-X), also details the story. Marks (SOE's cryptographer) knew the Norwegian team, trained them in cryptography so they could communicate with SOE in England, and followed their progress after they were dropped in Norway. The raid is the subject of Assault in Norway: Sabotaging the Nazi Nuclear Program ( ISBN 9781585747504), a 2002 book by Thomas Gallagher based on interviews with many of the commandos.

In 1944 as Hitler faced defeat he tried one last gamble of an offensive on the Western Front. The result was the 'Battle of the Bulge'. But what the Germans did not know was the Allies were decoding their radio messages. Even a half century after his violent end, the death of the 20th century's most sinister evil is still shrouded in mystery. How did Hitler spend his final hours? Did he actually die in his Chancellery bunker, or did Hitler's doppelganger make one final impersonation? Why was Joseph Stalin obsessed with finding Hitler's body? Return to the war-torn ruins of Berlin to discover the secrets of "Adolf Hitler's Last Days." Hey if the job hadn't gotten done, I'd be writing a review of a different kind of film, maybe in German. The Heroes of Telemark is a 1965 British war film directed by Anthony Mann based on the true story of the Norwegian heavy water sabotage during the Second World War from Skis Against the Atom, the memoirs of Norwegian resistance soldier Knut Haukelid. The film stars Kirk Douglas as Dr. Rolf Pedersen and Richard Harris as Knut Straud, along with Ulla Jacobsson as Anna Pederson. It was filmed on location in Norway.It was only after Claus Helberg had been out on a couple reconnaissance missions in the area that the group decided that the seemingly impossible task of climbing across the gorge could be attempted. Through a minefield It’s a vertiginous route that Kennedy and his companions hope to replicate when they finally reach Vemork in time for tomorrow’s anniversary, having first met up with a former member of the Norwegian Special Forces who will act as their guide. BBC.Secrets.of.World.War.II.Set.1.09of14.Secrets.of.the.Battle.of.the.Bulge.x264.AC3.MVGroup.org.mkv (792.80Mb) a b c d e f g h i Gallagher, Thomas (2002). Assault In Norway: Sabotaging the Nazi Nuclear Program. Guilford, Connecticut: The Lyons Press. ISBN 1-58574-750-5 . Retrieved 12 July 2009. Vemorkis a natural fortress. It could only be reached by a single-lane suspension bridge andwassurrounded by an area called theHardangervidda, a high mountain plateau where, according to legend, it grows so cold, so fast, that it freezes flames in the fire.

Following the occupation of Norway in the spring of 1940, it soon became clear that the Germans were interested in heavy water. By the start of 1942, production at new installations in Rjukan, based on a German method, increased to 100 kilos per month. Not long after, the Germans announced they wanted to increase output further. The saboteurs were chosen for their local knowledge and their survival skills that enabled them to survive in Northern Europe's most inhospitable environment, the high mountain plateau of the Hardangervidda.Powers, Thomas (1993). Heisenberg's War: the secret history of the German bomb. Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 0-394-51411-4. The plant's managing director agreed to lend France the heavy water for the duration of the war. The French transported it secretly to Oslo, then to Perth, Scotland, and then to France. The plant was still capable of producing heavy water, however, [1] and the Allies were concerned that the Germans would use the facility to produce more heavy water.

The Heroes of Telemark and the Norwegian film, Kampen om Tungtvannet on the same subject that was previously done showed the Norwegians in their resistance just such a chance even though it did not help one bit in the liberation of their country. In 1941, British intelligence received an ominous message from operatives in Nazi-occupied Norway: The Norsk Hydro electric plant in Telemark had stepped up production of "heavy water," a vital componet in the manufacture of an atomic bomb. The threat of German nuclear capability triggered a daring secret operation to destroy the plant and the enemy's supply of heavy water. Discover how a courageous band of commandos prevented Hitler from building the ultimate weapon, in "The Real Heroes of Telemark." An account of Operation Gunnerside is part of Neal Bascomb's 2016 The Winter Fortress: The Epic Mission to Sabotage Hitler's Atomic Bomb ( ISBN 9780544368057). Damien Lewis's book Hunting Hitler's Nukes: The Secret Race to Stop the Nazi Bomb ( ISBN 9781786482082), also published that year, details the raid and the sinking of the SF Hydro. The 2018 book, Heroes of Telemark; Sabotaging Hitler's atomic bomb, Norway 1942–44 by David Greentree ( ISBN 9781472827678), describes the operation's planning, execution and aftermath. The situation escalated to the point that Hydro's top management protested and the company's managing director Bjarne Eriksen was arrested in early 1943 and sent to a concentration camp in Germany. A secret weapon?The heavy water cargo was closely guarded at all times, but the boat that was to transport the shipment stood unwatched the night before. One of the three saboteurs had experimented with a timer and detonating mechanism, and he tried to set the explosion to go off when it would be easiest to rescue passengers. Mat, the lead instructor, is a professional in every sense of the word. His skillset and experience is about as broad as you can imagine and his ability to get to the core of the subject matter is be hard to beat. I found him to be an engaging and knowledgable instructor and a great deal of fun to be around. It is the largest series of its kind ever produced and with recently released secret footage will give the viewer a new insight into the great untold war stories of World War II. In many cases, this series gives the true stories for the first time this Century. While nobody can dispute the courage and ingenuity of those involved, the actual importance of the raid has been retrospectively open to question. Just how close had Germany really been to possessing nuclear weapons?