Attack on Wemork

In 1934, in Vemork , at the Norsk Hydro plant, the first industrial plant was built, capable of producing heavy water as a by-product of fertilizer production. She had a capacity of 12 tons per year. During World War II, to prevent the Nazis from developing nuclear weapons, the Allies decided to destroy the heavy water plant. The target of the sabotage was a power plant (60 MW) at the Ryukan waterfall in Telemark , Norway.

Prior to the German invasion of Norway on April 9, 1940, the Second Bureau (French military intelligence) removed 185 kg of heavy water from a factory in then-neutral Norway. The factory director, Aubert, agreed to transfer heavy water to France during the war. But the ability to produce heavy water at the enterprise remained, and the Germans began to use the plant for the specified purpose. This caused concern for the Allies, who made efforts to destroy it or, at a minimum, to disable it.

As part of the preparations for the operation to destroy the plant, the operation "Grouse" was carried out. Four British agents, Norwegian citizens, were abandoned as a vanguard in the Hardanger Plateau region, located above the factory.

Later, the second phase of the operation was launched - Operation "Stranger" (Operation Freshman). From England by air began the transfer of a group of saboteurs, who were supposed to establish contact with the advanced group and directly carry out the sabotage. However, due to difficult weather conditions, part of the gliders carrying the paratroopers crashed on the rocks or was seriously damaged during landing. Many of those who survived the landing were wounded and captured by the Gestapo.

In 1943, as a result of Operation Gunnerside, a group of English and Norwegian commandos succeeded on the second attempt to destroy a production facility. The plant was not restored; the remaining heavy water was decided to be taken to Germany.

• The attacks on Wemork are dedicated to the British films “ Heroes of Telemark ” (1965), the Norwegian-French “ Battle for Heavy Water ” (Kampen om tungtvannet, 1948) and the Norwegian eponymous mini-series (2015).
• In 2010, Coat of Arms released the Swedish power metal band Sabaton , which has a song called "Saboteurs" ("Saboteurs") with a detailed description of the operation.
• In 2018, the computer game Battlefield V was released, one of the plot branches of which (Aurora) was dedicated to the events at the Wemork Hydroelectric Power Station, the player was to carry out a sabotage in order to stop the production of "heavy water" and prevent the export to Germany already made. This episode is dedicated to the Norwegian war heroes who fought for the liberation of their country. Note that the episode is almost completely historically unreliable.

• Jens-Anton Poulsson: The Heavy Water Raid: The Race for the Atom Bomb 1942–1944, Orion forlag As, Norwegen 2009, ISBN 978-82-458-0869-8 .
• Claus Helberg: The Vemork Action. A classic act of sabotage , in: Jahrbuch Den Norske Turistforening 1947, bearbeitete Version von CIA 2011.