Assault in Norway: Sabotaging the Nazi Nuclear Bomb

During World War II, the Allied High Command was determined to prevent the Nazis from developing an atomic bomb. Many of Europe's top-class physicists had fled from fascism, e.g. Enrico Fermi and Leo Szilard, but others had remained behind. Once the Germans had invaded Norway in 1940, they increased production of heavy water at the Vemork hydroelectric plant, which was the first installation in the world to mass-produce this element. Heavy water (deuterium) was critical for the construction of the world's first fission reactors, and thus critical for the creation of an atom bomb. All of the attempts to destroy the German heavy water production are discussed in this book, but the emphasis is on Operations Swallow and Gunnerside, the story of the ten Norwegians who pitted their skis and guns against the Nazi juggernaut that held their homeland in thrall. "Assault in Norway" is both a story of wartime heroism, and a wilderness survival story, for the small band of saboteurs had to spend the winter on Norway's rugged Hardanger Plateau, surviving on the reindeer they skied down and shot (the contents of the reindeers' stomachs was their only source of vitamin C.) If their survival skills remind you of the Winter Olympics biathlon, it is because this sport has its origins in 19th Century Norway to promote national defense at the local level. The author creates a vivid picture of wartime Norway with such telling details as wood-burning automobiles, and the anguish of a man who thought he was about to lose his irreplaceable eyeglasses--"the Nazis had seized all of Norway's optical goods and equipment." This book succeeds on all fronts: it presents a concise summary of the race to produce an atomic bomb; the high-level planning of the secret mission is meticulously researched; above all, the narrative of the saboteurs is absolutely breathtaking, and their humanity toward innocent bystanders, and even toward the enemy was one of the highpoints of the book for me--this is definitely not your typical boom-boom shoot-em-up war story. There were at least two movies made about the sabotage of the Germans' heavy water production: The Heroes of Telemark(1965), a standard Hollywood war film, and an earlier semi-documentary made in 1948 by a Norwegian/French film crew, called "Kampen om tungtvannet" (alternate title: "Thin Ice"). The neat thing about the latter movie is that some of the saboteurs played themselves. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be available in English, although I'm almost certain parts of it were incorporated in episode 13 ("The Real Heroes of Telemark") of the great BBC documentary Secrets of World War II.

While teaching chemistry this year, I came across the word deuterium, which stands for what is called 'heavy water.' I was browsing around looking for more information on the difference between regular hydrogen, deuterium, and tritium, for my class...as I have found that the more history given in chemistry classes, the more the students are likely to remember technical information if they understand what it was used for. During WWII there was a perceived race between the Allies and Germany to be the first to come up with an atomic bomb. The Allies were right to be worried because most of the work on nuclear energy had been done in Germany prior to the war, by people like Einstein and Fermi. These men were quickly moved out of Germany, and into Britain and the U.S., as their minds were worth their weight in gold. One of the ways to cause a nuclear reaction is to use heavy water. Hydrogen under normal conditions has a proton and an electron, but no neutron within its nucleus. In order to start a nuclear reaction, a nucleus has to bombard uranium or plutonium, and regular water cannot supply that neutron. Deuterium is an isotope of hydrogen that has a neutron in its nucleus, and so can start a reaction. The Germans did not have access to heavy water, and this was part of the reason that they invaded Norway early, as Norway had an outstanding heavy water facility. Those involved in the production of the atomic bomb in this country were very concerned that the Nazis were about 2 years ahead of us in creating a bomb. This threat was enough to be of importance to Franklin Deleanor Roosevelt and winston Churchill, and to General Groves who was the military arm of the Los Alamos group creating the bomb in the U.S. Groves made it clear that the Norsk Hydra plant needed to be taken out of commission immediately. Both British and Norwegian loyalists were involved in this joint effort. Luckily the men who created the Norsk plant were in England and could give detailed instruction to the men who were to sabotage the plant. the first attempt at gliding British into Norway ended in disaster, when the gliders crashed, and those who survived the crash were murdered by the Germans. The second attempt, made up of all Norwegians, was more successful, and they not only blew up important parts of the plant, but made it home to Britain in safety. Unfortunately, the Germans were able to get the plant up and running sooner than expected, and were sending heavy water to Germany for safekeeping. This meant that another sabotage needed to be planned, one that would sink the barrels of heavy water in the deep part of a fjord. and this time the lives of innocent Norwegians were lost as they could not take the chance of alerting civilians and having the Germans suspect something. I wish the book had explained more about the chemistry of the heavy water, but the book was an enjoyable historical read, as so much of the information came first hand from those Norwegians inv

The world might be very different if the Nazi war machine had developed the atom bomb before their defeat in WW II. They were working on it at the same time the "Manhattan Project" was under way in Chicago and later in New Mexico. A critical part of the German effort to develop "the bomb" was located in occupied Norway where the Nazi's were manufacturing "heavy water". This is the story of the allies first hindered, then derailed that effort.It is a cliffhanging [literally] good yarn full of danger, loyalty, courage and improvisation in the face of disaster. It has one of the best chase scenes I've encountered anywhere. It also shows the contribution of the people of Norway to the allied effort to defeat Hitler's Germany. It was good a number of years ago when I first read it and it is just as good now. I'm glad to see it back in print.

This book describes the true, heroic, and absolutely amazing efforts of a small team of commandos in one of the most exciting events of WW II. What these brave men suffered through and eventually pulled off is beyond belief. If you enjoy action in the vein of the movie "Where Eagles Dare", military stories in the style of Bravo Two Zero, or if you simply enjoy history, this will be the most important book in your library. Trust me, you've never read anything like this before.

Thomas Gallagher was an old family friend, so in some respects my review of his works may be slightly biased. In fact, in the years before he died, he was a mentor to me in my own writing. Unfortunately, he passed on before he could see that I dedicated my first novel to him.In terms of his books, PADDY'S LAMENT and ASSAULT IN NORWAY are among his best. Mr. Gallagher always had a talent for taking an obscure event in history and showing its importance in such a way that the final product reads like a novel. I first read both of the above works in 1990, while still in college, and I remember marvelling at how crisp every one of his sentences was. He achieved elegance through hard work, and both of these works are testament to it.