Sinking of Norsk Hydro: Names of Norwegian resistance team needed

As the climax of SOE's assault on the German heavy water program in Norway, a four-man Norwegian team led by Knut Haukelid was assigned to sink the ferry Norsk Hydro as it carried heavy water across Lake Tinnsjo. Haukelid and his men fulfilled their mission on 20 February 1944, but unfortunately a number of Norwegian civillians were killed when the ferry sank.

I have a research question about this aspect of the mission. I know a man who was in the Norwegian resistance (Milorg) during the war; he is now 95 and has spoken little about his experiences, though his daughter knows he was in Falstad prison in Trondheim for over a year. She has heard somewhere (can't recall where) that several young men of the resistance boarded the Hydro and were assigned to try and save as many passengers as possible by surrepititiously moving them to a safer part of the vessel just before the explosives went off. My friend believes that her father may have been one of these men. I have read Haukelid's book and he does not say anything about this; he and the other three men in his team were not on the vessel when it sank, having already debarked safely and set the explosives to go off with a delay. None of the other references I have found to this operation give any further information, though they do name the three men who worked with Haukelid to set the charges.

So, can anyone confirm whether this story I got is true or not? It sounds improbable to me, but if it is true, is there any record of who the Milorg men left on the Hydro were?

Thanks,
TTH

 

Trying to move civilians to a safer part of the ferry is certainly part of the film 'Heroes of Telemark'. Is this where the information originated?....if it is that does not, of course, mean its true! Maybe there are clues in the film itself and/or the credits at the end etc?

If you look up Heroes of Telemark in Wikipedia, you will find there was also a much earlier film which starred many of the Norwegian commandos involved in the actual incident!

 

good day tth.sm.yesterday.10:33pm.re:sinking of norsk hydrow,names of norwegien resistance team needed.i don't know the names you are seeking,i did see the film.it was an all round disaster for the passengers,but it was necessary to get the heavy water out of german hands.wich they did,to those who gave there lives.may they rest in peace,(it stoped the germans getting the atom bomb)the resistance team were hero's all.regards bernard85

 

Some time ago a documentry on Sky documented the recovery of one of the canisters from the wreck ,the canister was kn superb condition complete with stenciling onthe barrel, i belive the wreck was also invesigated?

 

I was intrigued by this and passed it over to a very good Norwegian historian I know.

Anyway she's managed to come up trumps:

I suggest you know a bit of Norwegian, she also said Google Translate is actually rather good if you input the details


http://www.sno.no/applications/DocumentLibraryManager/upload/FL/1962_10/1962_10_8.pdf
A list of those who died and also account of how some were saved from a newspaper
"according to the paper, the Hovind farmers had a lot to do with the savings AFTER the boat went down."

"Lier-Hansen: "I started to get anxious. The charge was added so that the ferry would sink at the deepest place, but at the same time be near the settlements so that people could be saved. If the ferry was significantly delayed, I thought I would have to go on board and try to strip the charge. "

http://archive.is/Jytls
She doesn't believe any Resistance were onboard, but can't rule it out this link - Chapter 7 of "Rjukanbanen - på sporet av et industrieventyr", Maana Forlag, 1995 - contains a detailed number of survivor accounts.

I hope that is of some use!

 

Without sounding too cocky, I am 99,99% sure that this story is not true, noe one but the SOE men knew about the plans. As stated by SPD the story is likely to originate from the Heroes of Telemark, which is very far from accurate regarding the actual historical details. The "heavy water" story is one of the best documentet of all the SEO operations in Norway, a new very well researched book was published by an historian in October 2013 for instance.

If you want to get an official look into it I would recommend contacting Norway's Resistance Museum (post.nhm@gmail.com) which is the leading authority on the subject. Howvever, they might have some information on the person you mention if he was a Milorg man. If he was based in Trøndelag, where Falstad was, the chances are slim however since the area's resistance groups were torn to shreds by a collaborator (Henry Rinnan) and his gang during the whole stretch of the war. Hence, there was little documentation produced and left after the war.

 

Thanks very much. The story I have gotten from the family did not originate with a movie. The man I am researching was indeed in Milorg--he has a Norwegian Army pension and was imprisoned by the Germans. I did look at a couple of books about the Norwegian resistance and they of course covered the operation extensively, but they did not name everyone in the network that carried it out. I will pass the museum address to the man's daughter, that should help a lot.

 

I've just read this thread and would add that Claus Helberg would not attend the premier of the "Heroes of Telemark" as he said the film was far from the truth. Claus was the one who was trying to outski the German ski trooper who he had to shoot in order to get away. He told my aunt that it was later established that the German was a Bavarian ski champion.

I'm sorry that I found this thread so late.
Ian

 

I'm afraid that I can't add much to this thread except for a few photos that I took there in the late 1970's.
I was there from October to Christmas in the Rjukan Hotel where there was a wall with a map of the routes taken by the saboteurs.
I was told that one of them was at that time still alive in Oslo where I could go to see him if I wished. However the weather was bad and I was there for work not on holiday.
I had a hire car with studded tyres so was able to get around locally. Each Sunday the locals would take the cable car up the mountain to see he sun and drive on the Hardanger Plateau
I purchased a copy of Assault in Norway ino which I placed a few of my photos.
It is a trip I will never forget as on the wall of our utility room I have a bronze plaque cast at Norsk Hydro foundry.
I learned a lot about Norway and their Christmas Celebrations being invited to their local social groups parties but few would speak about the war, it was as though they were embarrassed by it all.
I think I may have posted some of the photos on a thread a few years ago.
Photos and scans attached.

 

Those who were there are the best source of any event but I feel that the film promoted an interest for American consumption .If I recollect in the film, the cross country escape by skis of Claus Helberg was also wrongly staged from the truth.

An early ATB edition gave a reliable account of Operation Gunnerside on Norsk Hydro. This operation followed the ill fated and failed British glider assault on Norsk Hydro under Operation Freshman.

 

Hello Uncle Target, it's nice to talk to someone who is interested in the Norsk Hydro operation. I visited The Hydro a few years back, I've read two books on the subject, "Skis Against the Atom" and "But For These Men", the second title I think refers to Churchill's comment on the operation.
I learnt a lot about Claus from my aunt, who was Claus' girlfriend during the war. My aunt was one of a group of Scottish girls who were in London before war broke out and most of them had these Norwegians as boyfriends, they would often drink in the bar in Piccadilly. Claus told my aunt the whole story of the raid when he got back to Britain, she didn't believe him. She used to listen to a weekly radio programme, which was really broadcasting propaganda. On one particular night she was listening in and heard Churchill introduce the subject, I think he used the expression, " but for these men" and the story was based around Claus.
As far as I can remember, Claus died at age 84/5, Jens Anton-Poulsson I think was the last to leave us at around 90 years, about 12 years ago. My aunt said that Jens was insistent that his surname was said in full.
Claus' escape from the bus saved his life and his family's, he was hit in the back with a stick grenade as he ran to escape. I never met Claus,I had hoped he would have come over for the film premier, but he thought it was too far from the truth and wouldn't give it credibility.

I've rattled on a bit, but being so interested in the raid, it was inevitable.
Best wishes,
Ian.

 

I felt very guilty about what might be seen as hijacking the thread but feel better having seen the above posts. I was beginning to fear that I was developing Senile Dementia!
My trip began with a call out to a foundry in Bogen on Narvik Fjord which having arrived by air was resolved in a couple of hours. The hotel was a very modern Scandinavian building by the side of the Fjord where Warspite had been stationed in the war. My employer asked me to stop off in Oslo on my way back as the Norwegian Agent had a site he thought ready for Commissioning.
Arriving in Oslo it began to snow, no-one worried because it was too early in the year for much but by the time we finished our meeting it became clear that this was a serious snowfall.
The roads blocked and the trains ceased to run but some smart a.... decided that I should get a bus via Kongsberg then on to Rjukan. A Norsk Hydro Engineer got on the bus at Kongsberg asking the driver if there was an Englishman onboard. Everyone was looking at me, not unusual in some countries as I had long hair and a beard and wore an English Duffle coat. This huge blonde haired guy came down the bus and everyone was laughing at what he was saying. He sat next to me and broke the news as to why. It was illegal to drink alcohol in public. I get travel sick on a bus so opened my duty free Glenfiddich for the odd sip. The other passengers apparently told the guy that they had no objection to me having a sip but would all like one as well as they were all feeling sick. (Accompanied by loud coughing).
After about ten weeks I finally went home having had one of my best ever jobs but sadly never returned as their maintenance men were very competent never needing assistance.
On the accompanying mountain was a ski school used by the British Royal Marines 45 Commando to train recruits. Thats another story.

 

Regarding Harry Ree posting.
I have the set of the first series of After The Battle magazines in their folders. I must find time to dig out the Operation Gunnerside Story some time.
My father in law put me on to them resulting in us both having sets.
I kept his as he had placed cuttings from newspapers in them as the stories became popular in the press.
A friend runs a Military History group. One of his speakers was a retired Lt Colonel in the R.E. whose forefathers were involved in Operation Freshman
He gave a number of detailed presentations on it.
I tended to be the annual guest speaker with a different subject Anglo Saxon History.

 

I have some paper cuttings collected by my aunt, along with the letters she received from Claus. In one letter he wrote that he found a letter from my aunt in a container dropped by a Stirling bomber. He said it had his full name on it and was glad the Germans hadn't got hold of it.
I have attached a photo of Claus and my aunt, taken by a street photographer somewhere in London. My Aunt said that Claus was going to smash the guy's camera but she persuaded him not to as it would be difficult replacing it.

 

Purely from memory I think that the person that I was told to visit was Jens. He was apparently at the museum in Oslo but I didn't get time. Having driven from Rjukan to Oslo via Drammen I had to go to Fredrikstad to meet up with one of our engineers who was commissioning a foundry. He had a company car having gone there by Boat. We met another engineer in Gothenburg and came home on the car ferry from Gothenburg to Felixstowe as it was Christmas and plane tickets were all sold out due to Scandinavians going shopping in the UK.
We ran into a storm and were stuck outside Felixstowe overnight. I was very seasick and only ever went out by sea again once, several years later, to The Hook of Holland and that was just as bad.
Give me a ticket for an aeroplane, any day!

 

Events leading to the successful destruction of the Norsk Hydro heavy water plant from a number of sources reveal interesting information. The names of the Norwegian forces across the stages of the operation can be ascertained which answers the questions posed in Post #1.

Freshman and Gunnerside were intertwined in the fact that the Grouse cover group were to be the reception party for the ill-fated British Operation Freshman under the direction of Combined Operations. After the failure of Freshman, the Grouse party were told to hang fast and await further instructions. In the 1942/1943 winter they holed up in a hut on the Hardanger Plateau with little to eat and had to resort to eating reindeer moss. Christmas saw welcome food when they shot a reindeer and all in all a further 12 were shot.

The Grouse cover group were re-coded as Swallow for the second attempt of the destruction of the Norsk Hydro heavy water facilities. Operation Gunnerside replaced Operation Freshman and was directed by the Norwegian SOE Section after the operation was suggested by the Head of the Norwegian SOE Section, Col J S Wilson with Combined Operations. Back in England Joachin Ronneberg, appointed as leader for the operation and his party of saboteurs went through rigorous training using the Freshman models for the non glider operation. They were dropped in a snowstorm at about midnight on 16 February 1943 to the Hardanger Plateau after some delays due to adverse weather conditions in Norway. A last minute change to the DZ was made as it was thought to fly over Norsk Hydro plant would arise German suspicions about an air raid being planned. The new DZ arranged was to be 30 miles north of the original near to Lake Skryken. It was to be several days before the Gunnerside party met up with the Swallow cover group, the former having to cope with severe weather in a hut on the Hardanger Plateau but their rations and cigarettes were a welcome sight to the Swallow cover group when they met up. Even so the meeting up was cautious with either party having to make sure that friendly recognition was paramount.

To be concluded.

 

Hi,
I appreciate your post is now over ten years old, but I'm researching a book that features the sinking of the Hydro. The link you posted to Chapter 7 of "Rjukanbanen - på sporet av et industrieventyr" was so helpful. THANK YOU! Unfortunately, the link to the PDF no longer seems to work. I don't suppose you still have the file '1962_10/1962_10_8.pdf' do you?