Joachim Ronneberg: Norwegian who thwarted Nazi nuclear plan dies

[daftandbarmy]

I did the Military Ski Instructors Course with the Royal Marines in 1980s, in Rjukan, and he spoke to us then about the raid; tough bugger.

They survived by eating reindeer moss as they couldn't trust any of their fellow Norwegians, many of whom had been co-opted by the Quisling Government, and who had turned in many other 'Free Norwegians' who had tried to launch covert operations in the country.

Joachim Ronneberg: Norwegian who thwarted Nazi nuclear plan dies - BBC News

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-45938874

 

[Blackadder1916]

An interesting film about the operation.

Kampen om tungtvannet (Operation Swallow: Battle for Heavy Water) (1948)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNzU1hTNZgg

 

[daftandbarmy]

An interesting film about the operation.

Kampen om tungtvannet (Operation Swallow: Battle for Heavy Water) (1948)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNzU1hTNZgg

Many of the actors played themselves in the movie, including Rønneberg:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Swallow:_The_Battle_for_Heavy_Water

The quality of the skiing in this movie is nothing short of heroic.... it was filmed in Telemark, where the raid took place, and we tried (highly, spectacularly unsuccessfully) to recreate some of those long downhill runs.

I recall that he mentioned the E&E to Sweden was the toughest part of the whole operation, and they almost croaked from starvation, cold and exhaustion:

"Although chased by 2,800 German troops, five of the saboteurs, led by Rønneberg, escaped safely to neutral Sweden by way of a 14-day march over a distance of 400 kilometres (250 mi) after the successful completion of their mission"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joachim_R%C3%B8nneberg