Claus Helberg
Encyclopedia
Claus Helberg was a Norwegian
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 resistance fighter and mountain guide. He was a member of Company Linge, a resistance commando unit that was best known for carrying out Norwegian heavy water sabotage
Norwegian heavy water sabotage
The Norwegian heavy water sabotage was a series of actions undertaken by Norwegian saboteurs during World War II to prevent the German nuclear energy project from acquiring heavy water , which could be used to produce nuclear weapons...

 during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. After the war, he worked for the Norwegian Mountain Touring Association
Norwegian Mountain Touring Association
The Norwegian Trekking Association is a Norwegian association which maintains mountain trails and cabins in Norway. The association was founded on 21 January 1868 with the scope "to help and develop tourism in this country". Today the goal is to work for simple, secure and environmentally friendly...

. While working with Association and after his retirement as a volunteer, he help guide several members of the Scandinavian royalty. According to the New York Times, "[he was] the favorite mountain guide of Scandinavian royalty..." These clients included Queen Sonja and Queen Margrethe.

Early life

He was born in Rjukan
Rjukan
Rjukan is a town and the administrative center of Tinn municipality in Telemark . It is situated in Vestfjorddalen, between Møsvatn and Tinnsjå, and got its name after Rjukanfossen west of the town. The Tinn municipality council granted township status for Rjukan in 1996. The town has 3 386...

 on 31 January 1919. As a child, he spent much time on the mountains around Rjukan. In 1938, he started working for a touring organization that wanted to make the mountains less forbidding for visitors.

World War II

He escaped Norway with 400 other Norwegians in January 1942 and arrived in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

. Once there, he started commando training with other Norwegians refugees. Nine months later in October 1942, he parachuted, along with four other Norwegians, into the Rjukan region. Helberg, along with his team code-named "Swallow", were to help guide a British commando team to blow the local power plant Vemork
Vemork
Vemork is the name of a hydroelectric power plant outside Rjukan in Tinn, Norway. The plant was built by Norsk Hydro and opened in 1911, its main purpose being to fix nitrogen for the production of fertilizer. Vemork was later the site of the first plant in the world to mass-produce heavy water...

 hydroelectric. This plant could have been used to developed heavy water, which could have been used to help Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 develop an atomic bomb. However, the British mission ended in failure. Rather than being pulled out, the team stayed during the winter while a new unit was trained to attack the plant.

After the operation (Operation Gunnerside), team Swallow stayed in place to monitor developments within the plant. Helberg was found by a German patrol and tried to ski away, but one determined German soldier was able to follow him. After skiing for hours, an exchange of shots occurred between Helberg and the soldier, one of which hit the soldier; Helberg was finally able to get away from the patrol. Since meeting the patrol, it had become darker and Helberg was exhausted. While skiing away, he skied off a cliff and broke his arm. He continued to ski for another 12 miles, avoiding another patrol of German soldiers near Mogen. After receiving help from Norwegians in Mogen and Rauland, he went to the Germans and was able to convince them that he had broken his arm while working for the Germans searching the Hardanger Plateau for the saboteurs. The soldiers believed his story and took him to the German field doctor, and then on to Dalen. Then he went to a hotel and was able to get a room. Soon after he arrived, Josef Terboven
Josef Terboven
Josef Antonius Heinrich Terboven was a Nazi leader, best known as the Reichskommissar during the German occupation of Norway.-Early life:...

, commissioner of occupied Norway
Occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany
The occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany started with the German invasion of Norway on April 9, 1940, and ended on May 8, 1945, after the capitulation of German forces in Europe. Throughout this period, Norway was continuously occupied by the Wehrmacht...

, arrived at the same hotel and demanded that a local woman have dinner with him. She refused, and Terboven ordered that everyone in the hotel be arrested and sent off to Grini concentration camp for questioning and possible internment. Helberg figured that if he was arrested, his identity as a resistance fighter would be found out and he would be executed. Helberg jumped out of the bus that was being used to transport everyone from the hotel to the camp. As a result of the jump he re-injured his arm, but was able to escape.

Honours and awards

  • Knight 1st Class of the Order of St. Olav (1986)
  • St. Olav's Medal With Oak Branch
    St. Olav's Medal With Oak Branch
    St. Olav's Medal with Oak Branch is a Norwegian military award, which was instituted by King Haakon VII of Norway on 6 February 1942. In Norway, the medal is considered as a separate award from the civilian St...

  • King's Medal of Merit in Gold
  • Defence Medal 1940–1945 (with rosette)
  • King Haakon VII commemorative
  • Knight of the Order of the Dannebrog
    Order of the Dannebrog
    The Order of the Dannebrog is an Order of Denmark, instituted in 1671 by Christian V. It resulted from a move in 1660 to break the absolutism of the nobility. The Order was only to comprise 50 noble Knights in one class plus the Master of the Order, i.e. the Danish monarch, and his sons...

     (Denmark)
  • Legion of Honour (France)
  • Croix de guerre 1939–1945 (France)
  • Military Medal
    Military Medal
    The Military Medal was a military decoration awarded to personnel of the British Army and other services, and formerly also to personnel of other Commonwealth countries, below commissioned rank, for bravery in battle on land....

     (United Kingdom)
  • Medal of Freedom with bronze palm (United States)
  • October revolution 80th anniversary (Soviet Union, 2000)

External links

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