National Geographic: Untold Stories of World War II Page #2

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for further stay in the mountains.

So we were dependent upon reindeer,

but at that moment, there were few

or no reindeer at all in our area,

because of the wind directions.

It was so very difficult

to get the reindeers,

but the day before Christmas,

Jens, he shot a reindeer.

Jens learned that if you take

the stomach of a reindeer,

you get vitamins

from the reindeer moss.

So we cut up the stomach and

took out the reindeer moss,

the contents, and mixed it

with blood and everything,

and made a nice porridge mixed

with brain.

And we were eating it

and it probably saved our lives.

So on Christmas Eve...

we had a real fun party.

We chatted; we had a good time

at Christmas Eve.

I remember well.

You know your comrades outside

and inside.

You know what he is going to say

before he opens his mouth.

They had endurance, they had the will

to hold on when there is nothing

in you except the will which says

to hold on.

They would have to hold on through

the darkest months of winter.

But each day the Nazis' supply

of heavy water was growing,

drop by precious drop.

London had to make a move.

A second Norwegian squad,

specially trained in explosives,

would drop onto the Hardangervidda

and join their comrades

in an assault on the heavy-water plant

February, 16, 1943

under cover of night

the six new men landed.

Now the commandos were ready to strike

a blow against Hitler's A bomb

if they could penetrate the factory's

formidable and deadly defenses.

To the commandos, the heavy-water

plant appeared impervious to attack.

To reach the factory, the saboteurs

had to cross a deep, narrow gorge.

There was only one road in.

over a suspension bridge.

And the bridge was patrolled 24 hours

a day by German soldiers.

Any direct assault would be doomed.

But the chasm itself, with its steep,

icy wall, lay unguarded.

Someone said he thought it was rather

impossible to cross that gorge.

But it was decided that one should

go down in daylight and find out.

In daylight,

I went down into the valley.

I climbed down the gorge,

crossed the river,

and started climbing up

on the other side.

And then the same way back up

to my friends up in the mountains...

and told the fact that was possible

to cross the gorge.

You felt that this may be serious,

very serious for you,

and you accepted that

you might not come through.

We climbed down the river and up

on the other side,

and our plan was to get in position

for the attack by 11:30,

because at 12 o'clock at night,

there was guards down

at the suspension bridge.

We wanted to see the German guards

being relived,

coming up in the factory area,

and enter the barracks,

before we went inside.

We all thought we would be discovered

when we forced the gate.

But nothing happened.

Two of us carried a full set

of charges,

in case one should be shot,

there should always be a reserve.

The task for the demolition team:

To attach explosives

to the heavy-water cells,

located in a basement room.

Meanwhile, their comrades

on lookout waited.

Each passing moment increased

the chance of discovery.

If we had been discovered,

I knew that during such circumstances

you have to act.

Do I shoot? A shot would, of course,

maybe spoil the whole operation.

Inside, they overpowered

a Norwegian workman.

Holding him at gunpoint,

the saboteurs placed their charges,

pausing only to decide how much time

they would need to escape

before the blast.

Suddenly, they were interrupted

by their captive.

He broke in and said, It's all right,

you may blow the factory,

that's all right.

But may I have my glasses?

Because it's hopeless to get

new glasses in Norway today.

And you would have thought that

you probably said, Damn your glasses!

We have no time for looking

for glasses!

But instead,

you dropped what you were doing

and you searched all around

the room and you found

you found the-the holster for

his glasses and gave him and he said,

thank you very much,

and so we went on with taping the fuses.

So far, they had beaten the odds.

Now the commandos had only seconds

to make their escape.

And after a few minutes one minute,

maybe two minutes they were there,

with us on the railway line.

And we ran the same way back

as we had come in.

The road conditions and

the snow condition were excellent...

because on the railway,

quite a lot of the snow had blown

away on the other side,

and that was frozen solid ground,

and we didn't put a mark.

So everything was actually on our side

With determination, skill, and daring,

the saboteurs had dealt a

crippling blow to their enemy

without losing a man.

But heavy water had become

a German priority,

and within six months,

the factory was back in operation.

The Allies had to assume the worst:

Nazi scientists were close than ever

to building a bomb.

Another attack on the factory

was set in motion

this time, from the air.

In a bold noonday raid,

hurled destruction at the plant.

The raid damaged factory buildings and

killed civilians in a nearby shelter.

But the heavy water, secured in

the basement, went untouched.

With production halted,

the Germans decided to move

the operation to the safety

of the Fatherland,

and inadvertently gave the commandos

one last chance to destroy it forever.

We had got information

from London that the Germans.

had planned to take down

the remaining heavy water.

Team members secretly scouted

the route.

The heavy water would be loaded

onto railway cars

and taken by train to Lake Tinnsjo.

Here, the cars would go aboard a

passenger ferry

for the two-hour trip across the lake.

A well-placed charge could sink the

ferry, and with it all the heavy water

But sinking a public ferry

meant paying a terrible price.

Our conclusion was that the sinking

of the ferry

was about the only possible solution.

It would have to be civilian sabotage,

which was naturally a

very serious thing to deal with.

There was no doubt in our mind

that there were going to be

human lives taken,

and furthermore, it could be anybody.

And Rjukan was a small town,

and it was really

almost like all family.

Fearing neighbors and

friends might die,

the Norwegians sent

an urgent message to London.

The British reply was immediate

and uncompromising.

It has been talked over

and the conclusion is they heavy water

has to be-to be destroyed.

Good luck and when you get such a

message from London, you have to do it

Not to be.

They were sad.

But everyone in my family

was scared to what they hear.

I couldn't do anything about it.

The Germans never put any guards

on the ferry.

They were watching their barrels

on the railway.

But the ferryboat itself

was not guarded at all.

At ten o'clock

on a quiet Sunday morning,

the ferry men cast off

from the dock on schedule.

Forty-five minutes later,

at the appointed spot,

a blast tore through the bottom

of the boat.

It was a very, very bad blow,

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