The Norwegian heavy water sabotage was a series of Allied-led efforts to halt Nazi German heavy water production via hydroelectric plants in German-occupied Norway during World War II, involving both
Vemork hydroelectric power plant, c. 1947
Experimental apparatus with which chemists Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann discovered the nuclear fission of uranium in 1938
Heavy water made by Norsk Hydro
Reconstruction of the Operation Gunnerside team planting explosives to destroy the cascade of electrolysis chambers
Operation Freshman
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Operation Freshman was the codename given to a British airborne operation conducted in November 1942 during World War II. It was the first British airborne operation using Airspeed Horsa gliders, and
Norwegian heavy water sabotage
…and the loss of its heavy water. These operations—code-named Grouse, Freshman, and Gunnerside—knocked the plant out of production in early 1943. In Operation Grouse, the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) successfully placed an advance team of four Norwegians on the Hardanger Plateau above the plant in…
The Vemork hydroelectric plant in snow in 2008
The Vemork Hydroelectric Plant as it looks today. Heavy water production took place in the now-demolished Hydrogen Production Plant, formerly situated to the left (i.e. in front) of the building in the picture.