Operation Freshman
Encyclopedia
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 conducted using gliders
, and its target was the Vemork
Norsk Hydro
chemical plant
in Norway which produced heavy water
for Nazi Germany. By 1942 the German atomic weapons programme
had come close to being able to develop a nuclear reactor
, but in order for the reactor to function it would require a great deal of heavy water. The source of the heavy water was the Norsk Hydro plant, which had been occupied in 1940; when the British government learned of the German nuclear developments, it was decided that a raid would be launched to destroy the plant and deny the Germans the heavy water required to develop a nuclear weapon. Several tactics were discussed and discarded as impractical, and it was finally decided that a small airborne force composed of sapper
s from the Royal Engineer
units attached to 1st Airborne Division would land by glider a short distance from the plant, demolish it with explosives and then escape over the Norwegian border into Sweden
.
After a period of extensive training, the airborne force took off in two aircraft–glider combinations on the night of 19 November 1942. Both managed to reach the Norwegian coast, but neither was able to reach their objective. The first pair suffered from navigational difficulties and severe weather, which resulted in the tow rope snapping and the first glider crash–landing, with its towing aircraft returning to base; eight airborne troops were killed outright, four were severely injured and five unhurt, with the survivors captured shortly after the crash. The second pair fared even worse, with both aircraft and glider crashing into a mountain for unknown reasons; the aircrew and a number of airborne troops were killed outright, and those who survived were taken prisoner. None survived for very long, either being poisoned or executed as a result of Adolf Hitler
's Commando Order
, which stated all Commando
personnel were to be immediately executed upon capture. At the end of the war, a number of Wehrmacht personnel were tried and condemned to death for their part in the executions.
government began development of an atomic weapons programme
in April 1939 when two scientists, Irene
and Frédéric Joliot-Curie
, declared in an issue of the scientific journal
Nature
that atomic fission
was possible and could produce immense amounts of power. The Joliot-Curies argued that not only did it have possibilities as a power source, it might also be used to create an extremely powerful weapon. By September 1941 the German scientists assigned to the programme had determined how a nuclear reactor
could be developed; this required significant quantities of heavy water
to act as a neutron moderator
to encase the uranium
which would be used to provide the material for a nuclear weapon. Heavy water was extremely scarce and difficult to produce, and Germany only possessed a small amount which had been produced in laboratories. Norway
possessed a large amount which was produced by the Vemork
Norsk Hydro
chemical plant
near the village of Rjukan
, but the Norwegian government would not sell more than three gallons of heavy water a month, becoming suspicious of the sudden increase in demand for the water by the German government. When Norway was invaded and occupied by Germany in April 1940, however, this obstruction ended; the Vemork plant was captured and began producing heavy water for the German atomic weapons programme. Production of heavy water was slowed initially due to the effects of the fighting in Norway and a drought in the area, which led to a lack of water to provide hydroelectric power for the plant. However, once the weather improved and snow began to melt, providing enough water to create sufficient hydroelectric power, production continued.
By mid-1942 it had come to the attention of the British government that the plant had begun to produce large quantities of heavy water and was stockpiling it for later use. The decision was therefore taken that the plant and the stockpiles of heavy water would have to be destroyed in order to impede the German programme. A number of methods for destroying the plant were considered. The first was a mass raid by Royal Air Force
(RAF) bombers, but this was rejected due to the difficulty in locating the plant during night bombing, the principal bombing tactic used by the RAF at the time, and the heavy casualties that would be inflicted on the local Norwegian population during a night raid. An attack by Norwegian saboteurs was also ruled out, as was landing troops by PBY Catalina
flying boat on Lake Møsvatn
, 15 miles (24.1 km) from the target, the latter due to the steepness of the surrounding mountain slopes and the inability of flying boats to land on the frozen water. It was decided that a raid by glider-borne airborne troops would have the greatest chance of success. The area around the plant would be difficult to land on, but a possible landing site for gliders was located near the Møsvatn dam, although it would require considerable skill on the part of the glider pilots in order to land safely.
, a Norwegian engineer who worked at the Møsvatn dam. Skinnarland had successfully sailed to Britain and was parachuted back to Telemark after ten days of intensive training. Having several contacts within Vemork he was able to roughly identify the disposition of German troops and other defences. Additionally SOE decided to send an advance party of Norwegian agents into Telemark, and began intensively training a four man team over the summer. The party, code-named Operation Grouse, was led by Jens-Anton Poulsson
and also included Knut Haugland
, Claus Helberg
and Arne Kjelstrup
. The Norwegians, all people local to the area with exceptional outdoors skills, underwent extra outdoor training in Scotland as well as learning the skills necessary to operate in occupied territory; including sabotage
, radio transmitting and "irregular warfare"
.
The Grouse team were ready to be inserted by October. Several flights were made but aborted due to bad weather, before the team finally dropped on 18 October. The team landed at Fjarifet on the Hardangervidda
(a large wilderness avoided by the German forces) and spent the next 15 days trekking towards Møsvatn, where they made contact with Skinnarland's brother, Torstein. Once they had established contact with London the party began making preparations for the arrival of the British commandos. A suitable glider landing site was chosen 3 miles (4.8 km) south west of Møsvatn dam and the team reconnoitred the area to help Combined Operations decide the best way to attack the plant.
, a mountain approximately 5400 feet (1,645.9 m) high; the plant itself had been built on a broad rock shelf 1000 feet (304.8 m) above the river bed.
Einar Skinnarland had observed the German defences over the summer and passed the information back to SOE. Later reconnaissance by Torstein Skinnerland and the Grouse team was also transmitted to London in the weeks leading up to the operation. In early October Generaloberst Nikolaus von Falkenhorst
, the commander in chief of the German forces in Norway
, had personally visited the plant. While there he warned the local garrison that he believed the plant was a likely target for British commando raids, but crucially he did not have the resources to increase the manpower there. Although Einar Skinnarland had observed a garrison of some 100 men in the village of Rjukan, 20 at the dam and about 55 near the main plant during the summer, by October this had been reduced to about 12 at the plant, 12 at the dam and approximately 40 in Rjukan. Most of the men were elderly or infirm Austrians under the command of an elderly captain, although well trained German regulars periodically passed through Telemark. Skinnarland also believed that Gestapo agents were in the area.
The Germans had erected three iron hawser
s across the valley to prevent low flying bombing raids but on the ground most of their defences were positioned to prevent an assault from the ridge above the plant, the direction from which they believed an attack was most likely. Minefields and booby traps predominantly protected this side of the plant, but there were also searchlights on the roof and a machine gun nest near the entrance. A single bridge crossed the steep gorge in front of the plant, but was normally only protected by two guards. However, there were some 300,000 German troops in Norway at this time and reinforcements could quickly be called into the area, which would complicate the commandos' escape to the Swedish border.
was tasked with devising a plan for the glider-borne assault on the plant, as it had been with previous airborne and commando
operations, such as Operation Biting
. This would be the first British airborne operation ever to use gliders; all previous operations had been conducted solely with parachutists. The staff decided that although gliders would be the most suitable for the operation due to the heavy loads to be carried by the airborne troops, and the possibility that they could be widely dispersed if they were dropped by parachute, the airborne troops would still be trained for a possible parachute insertion if the landing zone for the gliders was found to be unsuitable. Because of the complicated and technical nature of the operation, which would see the plant rigged with explosives and then detonated, it was believed that a minimum of twelve to sixteen men would be required, and that they would all have to be skilled engineers. The important nature of the operation also led to the force being doubled in order to duplicate it, to ensure that even if half of the force were killed, the survivors would have the necessary skills to complete the operation. The selected troops were volunteer parachutists chosen from the sapper
s of 9th Field Company (Airborne) Royal Engineers
and 261st Field Park Company (Airborne) Royal Engineers attached to 1st Airborne Division, because the only parachute-trained Royal Engineers unit in existence at the time, 1st Parachute Squadron Royal Engineers, was already deployed in North Africa with 1st Parachute Brigade. Both of the duplicated units that were to participate in the operation were to be commanded by officers from the Royal Engineers; the first by Lieutenant A.C. Allen and the second by Second-Lieutenant M.D. Green, who was later replaced by Lieutenant D.A. Methven when he was injured during a training accident three days before the operation was to begin.
The Royal Air Force unit selected to transport the sappers was 38 Wing, which was commanded by Group Captain T.B. Cooper; it was provided with a special allotment of three Handley Page Halifax
heavy bomber
s for the operation, which were the only British aircraft in existence at the time which were capable of towing Horsa gliders
the distance required and then returning to their base. The SOE agents selected a landing zone for the sappers, which was approximately 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) from the Norsk Hydro plant and could not be observed by German patrols. The plan for the operation called for the sappers to land in the two gliders at the landing zone, guided in by the SOE agents equipped with Eureka radio beacons
. Once they had successfully landed, the sappers would be escorted to the plant by the SOE agents, demolish the plant and its stocks of heavy water, and then cross the Norwegian border into neutral Sweden
.
Combined Operations initially suggested the men should fight their way to the Swedish border, but MI9
believed their chances of survival were better if they attempted to disguise themselves at Norwegians and travel in pairs. In order to facilitate their escape the men were provided with civilian clothes (to be worn after the operation), simple Norwegian phrases (in the hope no German they encountered would speak Norwegian anyway) and escape sets containing money and maps. They were also ordered to shave any moustaches and grow their hair long in order to blend in with Norwegian men.
in Scotland, where they were familiarized with a hydroelectric plant similar in design to the one in Norway, and received training on the most efficient way to plant explosives in the Norsk Hydro plant to cause maximum damage.
Training also took place at Port Sunlight
, where they were shown how to destroy large condensers of the kind found in the plant. The sappers were given detailed briefings on the plant and the surrounding area, and were trained on large models and mock-ups of the buildings that the plant was composed of, all based on information provided by the SOE agents who had arrived earlier in the month. Because the operation was considered to be extremely important, and its results vital to the Allied war effort, security efforts were extremely thorough. A cover story was provided for the sappers as they conducted their training; a rumour was spread that they were training to compete against a company of American engineers in a fictional 'Washington Cup' athletic event, which involved a long route march to be completed either by glider or parachute, followed by a complex demolition task and finally a demanding endurance test. The departure airfield was also sealed off to civilians and non-essential military personnel, and all mail and telephone calls were censored.
towards their objective.
, which was supposed to pick up the transponder
signal from the Eureka beacons being used by the Norwegian SOE agents, developed a mechanical problem and was unable to pick up the signal. This left the aircrew with only map-reading available to locate the landing zone, but the poor weather made this almost impossible.
On a second attempt to find the correct area, the combination flew into thick clouds approximately 40 miles (64.4 km) northwest of Rjukan
, and ice began to form on both aircraft and glider, as well as the towing rope connecting the two. At this point the combination began to lose altitude, and the towing rope snapped, setting the glider free; low on fuel, the aircraft was forced to turn back after signaling to Skitten at 23:55 that it had released the glider, and only just succeeded in landing back in Britain. Shortly after releasing the glider, the aircraft broadcast a second message, "Glider in sea", indicating the air crew's belief that the glider had crashed. The Royal Navy
was asked to begin a search-and-rescue mission, but had no ships in the area; an aerial search of the area was instead conducted, but did not find the glider.
In fact the glider did not land in the sea, but crash-landed in an area called Fyljesdal, overlooking Lysefjord
. Of the seventeen men on board, eight were killed outright, four were severely injured and five unhurt.
Thorvald Fylgjedalen, a local farmer, found some of the injured soldiers from the glider, but knew no English, and was unable to communicate with them. Nonetheless, Fylgjedalen and his neighbor Jonas Haaheller decided that they would assist the wounded soldiers, and did not contact the German authorities. After contacting more of the local residents, the soldiers asked for their assistance in escaping to Sweden
, but Haaheller and others convinced them that this would be impossible, as it would involve traveling across the entirety of Norway. Thus, the Norwegians sheltered and gave medical attention to the injured soldiers, but did not allow any of them to leave. The Norwegians also burned all of the maps and documents from the glider crash before the Germans could arrive, and managed to keep the entire operation secret for almost twenty-four hours.
German soldiers, including troops from both the Waffen SS and the Army, arrived the next afternoon on two boats from a nearby camp. They quickly took the British soldiers prisoner, and departed with them on the boats. Despite the grave injuries suffered by some of the soldiers, they were still forced to walk under their own power and ride in the unsheltered boats in the cold. The dead soldiers were dumped in a shallow grave.
Released just before the tow aircraft crashed, the second glider spiralled out of control and crash-landed in the mountains between Helleland
and Bjerkreim
. Seven of the men were killed instantly, and the rest were injured to varying degrees. The survivors were unwilling to leave the seriously wounded and two of the British soldiers left the crash site to search for help. After searching for some time, they arrived in the town of Helleland
about 2 miles (3.2 km) from where they had crashed, and made contact with one of the local residents, Trond Hovland. The soldiers told Hovland about their injured comrades, and asked if he could help them find a doctor. Hovland agreed to help, but informed them that the nearest doctor lived 9.3 miles (15 km) away, in the town of Egersund
. In order to contact him, Hovland would have to use the telephone system, controlled by the German authorities, which would alert them to the presence of the soldiers. Believing that there was no alternative, the soldiers agreed to contact the Germans, expecting that they would be taken as prisoners of war. A party from the Norwegian Labour Service arrived at the crash site shortly afterwards and helped tend to the injured soldiers who burned all of their sensitive documents and materials. A German party arrived about twenty minutes later and the British then submitted without a struggle. After their arrest, the prisoners were taken to the German camp at Slettebo near Egersund.
None of the soldiers or aircrew who survived the crashes remained alive for very long. Of the soldiers from the first glider, three of the four injured men were tortured by the Gestapo
and later killed by a doctor who injected air into their bloodstreams. The fourth injured man was shot in the back of the head the next day. All four bodies were dumped at sea. The five uninjured men were held at Grini concentration camp until 18 January 1943, when they were taken to nearby woods, blindfolded and executed by the Gestapo. The German Wehrmacht
and the Gestapo argued over the fate of the prisoners from the second glider. The Wehrmacht believed they should be treated in accordance with the Geneva Convention, but in the end the survivors were interrogated and executed within a few hours of their capture at the German barracks at Bekkebo. They were taken into nearby woods and shot one by one, each being forced to listen to the man before him being executed. Their bodies were stripped and thrown into an unmarked grave. All of the executions were conducted in accordance with the Commando Order
issued by Adolf Hitler
in October 1942, which stated that all Commando troops were to be killed immediately upon capture. The local Norwegian population were unable to prevent the prisoners being executed, but tended the graves of the dead until the end of the war.
Although the Allied soldiers believed that they had burnt all of their maps, one from the second glider was missed. When the Germans found it they were able to identify the Vemork plant as the target and increased their defence accordingly. German reprisals started instantly and 200 armed Gestapo agents swept into Rjukan where they arrested 21 Norwegians for questioning, but the members of Operation Grouse slipped away into the wilderness of Hardangervidda
. They later contributed to the successful Operation Gunnerside in February 1943, when a small team of Norwegian SOE agents were parachuted into the area and demolished much of the Vemork plant. The plant did eventually resume operation, but further bombing raids ensured it produced little heavy water for the German atomic weapons programme.
Although the operation had been a failure, it demonstrated the range, flexibility and possibilities of airborne forces and glider operations, and also highlighted equipment failures that were rectified for later operations. This included developing a new version of the Rebecca-Eureka homing device system, the Mk II, which was ready by 1943 and proved to be very successful when used in later airborne operations; during Operation Market Garden
and Operation Varsity
, aircraft that used the system reported a 95% success rate.
When 1st Airborne Division arrived in Norway
in May 1945, they were informed of the fate of the prisoners, and cooperated with the Norwegian government to have the fallen men buried with full military honours. The five from the first glider were re-interred at the Commonwealth War Graves
plot at Vestre Gravlund
near Oslo. The second glider's occupants were reburied at Eiganes
churchyard in Stavenger and the Halifax aircrew were reburied at Helleland.
The head of the Gestapo in Oslo, who had signed the order for the prisoners' executions, committed suicide several days prior to 1st Airborne Division's arrival in May 1945, but several Wehrmacht personnel implicated in the decision to execute the prisoners were put on trial and found guilty; one was shot and another hanged, whilst a senior Non-Commissioned Officer
who had shot a prisoner in the back of the head was extradited to the Soviet Union
for alleged abuse conducted against Soviet prisoners. Furthermore, the commander of the German forces in Norway – Generaloberst Nikolaus von Falkenhorst
– was also found guilty of two of the Freshman deaths during his war crimes trial.
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...
airborne
Airborne forces
Airborne forces are military units, usually light infantry, set up to be moved by aircraft and 'dropped' into battle. Thus they can be placed behind enemy lines, and have an ability to deploy almost anywhere with little warning...
operation conducted in November 1942 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...
. It was the first British airborne operation conducted using gliders
Military glider
Military gliders have been used by the military of various countries for carrying troops and heavy equipment to a combat zone, mainly during the Second World War. These engineless aircraft were towed into the air and most of the way to their target by military transport planes, e.g...
, and its target was the 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...
Norsk Hydro
Norsk Hydro
Norsk Hydro ASA is a Norwegian aluminium and renewable energy company, headquartered in Oslo. Hydro is the fourth largest integrated aluminium company worldwide. It has operations in some 40 countries around the world and is active on all continents. The Norwegian state holds a 43.8 percent...
chemical plant
Chemical plant
A chemical plant is an industrial process plant that manufactures chemicals, usually on a large scale. The general objective of a chemical plant is to create new material wealth via the chemical or biological transformation and or separation of materials. Chemical plants use special equipment,...
in Norway which produced heavy water
Heavy water
Heavy water is water highly enriched in the hydrogen isotope deuterium; e.g., heavy water used in CANDU reactors is 99.75% enriched by hydrogen atom-fraction...
for Nazi Germany. By 1942 the German atomic weapons programme
German nuclear energy project
The German nuclear energy project, , was an attempted clandestine scientific effort led by Germany to develop and produce the atomic weapons during the events involving the World War II...
had come close to being able to develop a nuclear reactor
Nuclear reactor
A nuclear reactor is a device to initiate and control a sustained nuclear chain reaction. Most commonly they are used for generating electricity and for the propulsion of ships. Usually heat from nuclear fission is passed to a working fluid , which runs through turbines that power either ship's...
, but in order for the reactor to function it would require a great deal of heavy water. The source of the heavy water was the Norsk Hydro plant, which had been occupied in 1940; when the British government learned of the German nuclear developments, it was decided that a raid would be launched to destroy the plant and deny the Germans the heavy water required to develop a nuclear weapon. Several tactics were discussed and discarded as impractical, and it was finally decided that a small airborne force composed of sapper
Sapper
A sapper, pioneer or combat engineer is a combatant soldier who performs a wide variety of combat engineering duties, typically including, but not limited to, bridge-building, laying or clearing minefields, demolitions, field defences, general construction and building, as well as road and airfield...
s from the Royal Engineer
Royal Engineers
The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually just called the Royal Engineers , and commonly known as the Sappers, is one of the corps of the British Army....
units attached to 1st Airborne Division would land by glider a short distance from the plant, demolish it with explosives and then escape over the Norwegian border into Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
.
After a period of extensive training, the airborne force took off in two aircraft–glider combinations on the night of 19 November 1942. Both managed to reach the Norwegian coast, but neither was able to reach their objective. The first pair suffered from navigational difficulties and severe weather, which resulted in the tow rope snapping and the first glider crash–landing, with its towing aircraft returning to base; eight airborne troops were killed outright, four were severely injured and five unhurt, with the survivors captured shortly after the crash. The second pair fared even worse, with both aircraft and glider crashing into a mountain for unknown reasons; the aircrew and a number of airborne troops were killed outright, and those who survived were taken prisoner. None survived for very long, either being poisoned or executed as a result of Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
's Commando Order
Commando Order
The Commando Order was issued by Adolf Hitler on 18 October 1942 stating that all Allied commandos encountered by German forces in Europe and Africa should be killed immediately, even if in uniform or if they attempted to surrender...
, which stated all Commando
British Commandos
The British Commandos were formed during the Second World War in June 1940, following a request from the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, for a force that could carry out raids against German-occupied Europe...
personnel were to be immediately executed upon capture. At the end of the war, a number of Wehrmacht personnel were tried and condemned to death for their part in the executions.
Background
The GermanNazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
government began development of an atomic weapons programme
German nuclear energy project
The German nuclear energy project, , was an attempted clandestine scientific effort led by Germany to develop and produce the atomic weapons during the events involving the World War II...
in April 1939 when two scientists, Irene
Irène Joliot-Curie
Irène Joliot-Curie was a French scientist, the daughter of Marie Skłodowska-Curie and Pierre Curie and the wife of Frédéric Joliot-Curie. Jointly with her husband, Joliot-Curie was awarded the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1935 for their discovery of artificial radioactivity. This made the Curies...
and Frédéric Joliot-Curie
Frédéric Joliot-Curie
Jean Frédéric Joliot-Curie , born Jean Frédéric Joliot, was a French physicist and Nobel laureate.-Early years:...
, declared in an issue of the scientific journal
Scientific journal
In academic publishing, a scientific journal is a periodical publication intended to further the progress of science, usually by reporting new research. There are thousands of scientific journals in publication, and many more have been published at various points in the past...
Nature
Nature (journal)
Nature, first published on 4 November 1869, is ranked the world's most cited interdisciplinary scientific journal by the Science Edition of the 2010 Journal Citation Reports...
that atomic fission
Nuclear fission
In nuclear physics and nuclear chemistry, nuclear fission is a nuclear reaction in which the nucleus of an atom splits into smaller parts , often producing free neutrons and photons , and releasing a tremendous amount of energy...
was possible and could produce immense amounts of power. The Joliot-Curies argued that not only did it have possibilities as a power source, it might also be used to create an extremely powerful weapon. By September 1941 the German scientists assigned to the programme had determined how a nuclear reactor
Nuclear reactor
A nuclear reactor is a device to initiate and control a sustained nuclear chain reaction. Most commonly they are used for generating electricity and for the propulsion of ships. Usually heat from nuclear fission is passed to a working fluid , which runs through turbines that power either ship's...
could be developed; this required significant quantities of heavy water
Heavy water
Heavy water is water highly enriched in the hydrogen isotope deuterium; e.g., heavy water used in CANDU reactors is 99.75% enriched by hydrogen atom-fraction...
to act as a neutron moderator
Neutron moderator
In nuclear engineering, a neutron moderator is a medium that reduces the speed of fast neutrons, thereby turning them into thermal neutrons capable of sustaining a nuclear chain reaction involving uranium-235....
to encase the uranium
Uranium
Uranium is a silvery-white metallic chemical element in the actinide series of the periodic table, with atomic number 92. It is assigned the chemical symbol U. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons...
which would be used to provide the material for a nuclear weapon. Heavy water was extremely scarce and difficult to produce, and Germany only possessed a small amount which had been produced in laboratories. Norway
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...
possessed a large amount which was produced by the 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...
Norsk Hydro
Norsk Hydro
Norsk Hydro ASA is a Norwegian aluminium and renewable energy company, headquartered in Oslo. Hydro is the fourth largest integrated aluminium company worldwide. It has operations in some 40 countries around the world and is active on all continents. The Norwegian state holds a 43.8 percent...
chemical plant
Chemical plant
A chemical plant is an industrial process plant that manufactures chemicals, usually on a large scale. The general objective of a chemical plant is to create new material wealth via the chemical or biological transformation and or separation of materials. Chemical plants use special equipment,...
near the village of 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...
, but the Norwegian government would not sell more than three gallons of heavy water a month, becoming suspicious of the sudden increase in demand for the water by the German government. When Norway was invaded and occupied by Germany in April 1940, however, this obstruction ended; the Vemork plant was captured and began producing heavy water for the German atomic weapons programme. Production of heavy water was slowed initially due to the effects of the fighting in Norway and a drought in the area, which led to a lack of water to provide hydroelectric power for the plant. However, once the weather improved and snow began to melt, providing enough water to create sufficient hydroelectric power, production continued.
By mid-1942 it had come to the attention of the British government that the plant had begun to produce large quantities of heavy water and was stockpiling it for later use. The decision was therefore taken that the plant and the stockpiles of heavy water would have to be destroyed in order to impede the German programme. A number of methods for destroying the plant were considered. The first was a mass raid by Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
(RAF) bombers, but this was rejected due to the difficulty in locating the plant during night bombing, the principal bombing tactic used by the RAF at the time, and the heavy casualties that would be inflicted on the local Norwegian population during a night raid. An attack by Norwegian saboteurs was also ruled out, as was landing troops by PBY Catalina
PBY Catalina
The Consolidated PBY Catalina was an American flying boat of the 1930s and 1940s produced by Consolidated Aircraft. It was one of the most widely used multi-role aircraft of World War II. PBYs served with every branch of the United States Armed Forces and in the air forces and navies of many other...
flying boat on Lake Møsvatn
Møsvatn
Møsvatn is twelfth largest lake in Norway with a surface area of 78.31 km². It lies primarily in Vinje municipality in Telemark county. The lake lies in the watershed of the Skien river and discharges into the Måna river. Along the shores of the lake, many traces of stone age settlers can be...
, 15 miles (24.1 km) from the target, the latter due to the steepness of the surrounding mountain slopes and the inability of flying boats to land on the frozen water. It was decided that a raid by glider-borne airborne troops would have the greatest chance of success. The area around the plant would be difficult to land on, but a possible landing site for gliders was located near the Møsvatn dam, although it would require considerable skill on the part of the glider pilots in order to land safely.
Operation Grouse
In March 1942 SOE had recruited Einar SkinnarlandEinar Skinnarland
Einar Skinnarland DCM was a Norwegian resistance fighter during the Second World War.Einar Skinnarland was born in Vinje, in Telemark county, Norway...
, a Norwegian engineer who worked at the Møsvatn dam. Skinnarland had successfully sailed to Britain and was parachuted back to Telemark after ten days of intensive training. Having several contacts within Vemork he was able to roughly identify the disposition of German troops and other defences. Additionally SOE decided to send an advance party of Norwegian agents into Telemark, and began intensively training a four man team over the summer. The party, code-named Operation Grouse, was led by Jens-Anton Poulsson
Jens-Anton Poulsson
Jens-Anton Poulsson DSO, was a Norwegian military officer. During the World War II he was a Norwegian resistance member, especially noted for his role in the heavy water sabotage 1942–1943...
and also included Knut Haugland
Knut Haugland
Knut Magne Haugland, DSO, MM, was a resistance fighter and noted explorer from Norway who accompanied Thor Heyerdahl on his famous 1947 Kon-Tiki expedition.-Early life and World War II:...
, Claus Helberg
Claus Helberg
Claus Helberg was a Norwegian 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 during World War II. After the war, he worked for the Norwegian Mountain Touring Association...
and Arne Kjelstrup
Arne Kjelstrup
Arne Kjelstrup, MM was a Norwegian resistance member during World War II, especially noted for his role in the heavy water sabotage 1942–1943, and for being military leader of Milorg section D-161 during the anti-demolition operation Sunshine 1944–1945.-Personal life:Kjelstrup was...
. The Norwegians, all people local to the area with exceptional outdoors skills, underwent extra outdoor training in Scotland as well as learning the skills necessary to operate in occupied territory; including sabotage
Sabotage
Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening another entity through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. In a workplace setting, sabotage is the conscious withdrawal of efficiency generally directed at causing some change in workplace conditions. One who engages in sabotage is...
, radio transmitting and "irregular warfare"
Guerrilla warfare
Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare and refers to conflicts in which a small group of combatants including, but not limited to, armed civilians use military tactics, such as ambushes, sabotage, raids, the element of surprise, and extraordinary mobility to harass a larger and...
.
The Grouse team were ready to be inserted by October. Several flights were made but aborted due to bad weather, before the team finally dropped on 18 October. The team landed at Fjarifet on the Hardangervidda
Hardangervidda
The Hardangervidda is a mountain plateau in the Hardanger region of western Norway. It is the largest such plateau in Europe, with a cold year-round alpine climate and is the site of one of Norway's largest glaciers. Much of the plateau is protected as part of Hardangervidda National Park; it is a...
(a large wilderness avoided by the German forces) and spent the next 15 days trekking towards Møsvatn, where they made contact with Skinnarland's brother, Torstein. Once they had established contact with London the party began making preparations for the arrival of the British commandos. A suitable glider landing site was chosen 3 miles (4.8 km) south west of Møsvatn dam and the team reconnoitred the area to help Combined Operations decide the best way to attack the plant.
German defences
The geography of the area around the village and the plant meant that attacking the plant and destroying the existing stocks of heavy water would be extremely difficult. Both were situated in a deep valley which possessed thickly–forested sides that rose almost vertically from a narrow river–bed, and which was overlooked by GaustatoppenGaustatoppen
Gaustatoppen is the highest mountain in the county Telemark in Norway. The view from the summit is impressive, as one can see an area of approximately 60,000 km², one sixth of Norways mainland. There is an elevator system inside the mountain, built for military purposes, that lately has become...
, a mountain approximately 5400 feet (1,645.9 m) high; the plant itself had been built on a broad rock shelf 1000 feet (304.8 m) above the river bed.
Einar Skinnarland had observed the German defences over the summer and passed the information back to SOE. Later reconnaissance by Torstein Skinnerland and the Grouse team was also transmitted to London in the weeks leading up to the operation. In early October Generaloberst Nikolaus von Falkenhorst
Nikolaus von Falkenhorst
Nikolaus von Falkenhorst was a German General who planned Operation Weserübung, the invasion of Denmark and Norway in 1940...
, the commander in chief of the German forces in Norway
21st Army (Germany)
The 21st Army was also known as the Armee Norwegen .The 21st Army was formed on 19 December 1940. The units of the army were absorbed by the 20th Mountain Army on 18 December 1944....
, had personally visited the plant. While there he warned the local garrison that he believed the plant was a likely target for British commando raids, but crucially he did not have the resources to increase the manpower there. Although Einar Skinnarland had observed a garrison of some 100 men in the village of Rjukan, 20 at the dam and about 55 near the main plant during the summer, by October this had been reduced to about 12 at the plant, 12 at the dam and approximately 40 in Rjukan. Most of the men were elderly or infirm Austrians under the command of an elderly captain, although well trained German regulars periodically passed through Telemark. Skinnarland also believed that Gestapo agents were in the area.
The Germans had erected three iron hawser
Hawser
Hawser is a nautical term for a thick cable or rope used in mooring or towing a ship. A hawser passes through a hawsehole, also known as a cat hole, located on the hawse....
s across the valley to prevent low flying bombing raids but on the ground most of their defences were positioned to prevent an assault from the ridge above the plant, the direction from which they believed an attack was most likely. Minefields and booby traps predominantly protected this side of the plant, but there were also searchlights on the roof and a machine gun nest near the entrance. A single bridge crossed the steep gorge in front of the plant, but was normally only protected by two guards. However, there were some 300,000 German troops in Norway at this time and reinforcements could quickly be called into the area, which would complicate the commandos' escape to the Swedish border.
Planning
The Headquarters staff of Combined Operations at the War OfficeWar Office
The War Office was a department of the British Government, responsible for the administration of the British Army between the 17th century and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the Ministry of Defence...
was tasked with devising a plan for the glider-borne assault on the plant, as it had been with previous airborne and commando
British Commandos
The British Commandos were formed during the Second World War in June 1940, following a request from the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, for a force that could carry out raids against German-occupied Europe...
operations, such as Operation Biting
Operation Biting
Operation Biting, also known as the Bruneval Raid, was the codename given to a British Combined Operations raid on a German radar installation in Bruneval, France that occurred between 27–28 February 1942 during World War II...
. This would be the first British airborne operation ever to use gliders; all previous operations had been conducted solely with parachutists. The staff decided that although gliders would be the most suitable for the operation due to the heavy loads to be carried by the airborne troops, and the possibility that they could be widely dispersed if they were dropped by parachute, the airborne troops would still be trained for a possible parachute insertion if the landing zone for the gliders was found to be unsuitable. Because of the complicated and technical nature of the operation, which would see the plant rigged with explosives and then detonated, it was believed that a minimum of twelve to sixteen men would be required, and that they would all have to be skilled engineers. The important nature of the operation also led to the force being doubled in order to duplicate it, to ensure that even if half of the force were killed, the survivors would have the necessary skills to complete the operation. The selected troops were volunteer parachutists chosen from the sapper
Sapper
A sapper, pioneer or combat engineer is a combatant soldier who performs a wide variety of combat engineering duties, typically including, but not limited to, bridge-building, laying or clearing minefields, demolitions, field defences, general construction and building, as well as road and airfield...
s of 9th Field Company (Airborne) Royal Engineers
Royal Engineers
The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually just called the Royal Engineers , and commonly known as the Sappers, is one of the corps of the British Army....
and 261st Field Park Company (Airborne) Royal Engineers attached to 1st Airborne Division, because the only parachute-trained Royal Engineers unit in existence at the time, 1st Parachute Squadron Royal Engineers, was already deployed in North Africa with 1st Parachute Brigade. Both of the duplicated units that were to participate in the operation were to be commanded by officers from the Royal Engineers; the first by Lieutenant A.C. Allen and the second by Second-Lieutenant M.D. Green, who was later replaced by Lieutenant D.A. Methven when he was injured during a training accident three days before the operation was to begin.
Handley Page Halifax
The Handley Page Halifax was one of the British front-line, four-engined heavy bombers of the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. A contemporary of the famous Avro Lancaster, the Halifax remained in service until the end of the war, performing a variety of duties in addition to bombing...
heavy bomber
Heavy bomber
A heavy bomber is a bomber aircraft of the largest size and load carrying capacity, and usually the longest range.In New START, the term "heavy bomber" is used for two types of bombers:*one with a range greater than 8,000 kilometers...
s for the operation, which were the only British aircraft in existence at the time which were capable of towing Horsa gliders
Airspeed Horsa
The Airspeed AS.51 Horsa was a British World War II troop-carrying glider built by Airspeed Limited and subcontractors and used for air assault by British and Allied armed forces...
the distance required and then returning to their base. The SOE agents selected a landing zone for the sappers, which was approximately 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) from the Norsk Hydro plant and could not be observed by German patrols. The plan for the operation called for the sappers to land in the two gliders at the landing zone, guided in by the SOE agents equipped with Eureka radio beacons
Eureka beacon
The Rebecca/Eureka transponding radar was a transponder system used as a radio homing beacon by means of a Eureka ground emitter responding to queries from an airborne Rebecca interrogator.-Operation:...
. Once they had successfully landed, the sappers would be escorted to the plant by the SOE agents, demolish the plant and its stocks of heavy water, and then cross the Norwegian border into neutral Sweden
Sweden during World War II
Sweden during World War II maintained a policy of neutrality. When the Second World War began on September 1, 1939, the fate of Sweden was unclear...
.
Combined Operations initially suggested the men should fight their way to the Swedish border, but MI9
MI9
MI9, the British Military Intelligence Section 9, was a department of the British Directorate of Military Intelligence, part of the War Office...
believed their chances of survival were better if they attempted to disguise themselves at Norwegians and travel in pairs. In order to facilitate their escape the men were provided with civilian clothes (to be worn after the operation), simple Norwegian phrases (in the hope no German they encountered would speak Norwegian anyway) and escape sets containing money and maps. They were also ordered to shave any moustaches and grow their hair long in order to blend in with Norwegian men.
Training
Training began in early October in Wales and was designed to be extremely arduous, not only to ensure that those who took part would be at the peak of their physical and mental fitness, but also to eliminate any individuals unable to cope with the long marches and difficult terrain that would be encountered during the operation. When this portion of the training had been completed, the sappers were then transferred to the area around Fort WilliamFort William, Scotland
Fort William is the second largest settlement in the highlands of Scotland and the largest town: only the city of Inverness is larger.Fort William is a major tourist centre with Glen Coe just to the south, Aonach Mòr to the north and Glenfinnan to the west, on the Road to the Isles...
in Scotland, where they were familiarized with a hydroelectric plant similar in design to the one in Norway, and received training on the most efficient way to plant explosives in the Norsk Hydro plant to cause maximum damage.
Training also took place at Port Sunlight
Port Sunlight
Port Sunlight is a model village, suburb and electoral ward in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. It is located between Lower Bebington and New Ferry, on the Wirral Peninsula. Between 1894 and 1974 it formed part of Bebington urban district within the county of Cheshire...
, where they were shown how to destroy large condensers of the kind found in the plant. The sappers were given detailed briefings on the plant and the surrounding area, and were trained on large models and mock-ups of the buildings that the plant was composed of, all based on information provided by the SOE agents who had arrived earlier in the month. Because the operation was considered to be extremely important, and its results vital to the Allied war effort, security efforts were extremely thorough. A cover story was provided for the sappers as they conducted their training; a rumour was spread that they were training to compete against a company of American engineers in a fictional 'Washington Cup' athletic event, which involved a long route march to be completed either by glider or parachute, followed by a complex demolition task and finally a demanding endurance test. The departure airfield was also sealed off to civilians and non-essential military personnel, and all mail and telephone calls were censored.
Operation
After their training had been completed, on 17 November the sappers were transported to an RAF airfield at Skitten in Scotland, with the operation scheduled to commence two days later. On the evening of 19 November, Group Captain Cooper, with the aid of a Norwegian meteorologist and regular reports from the SOE agents stationed near the landing zone, decided that although the weather was not perfect, it would be best to launch the operation that night; Cooper believed that if it were delayed, the weather might deteriorate on subsequent days and prevent the operation from being conducted entirely. The first aircraft–glider combination took off from the airfield at 17:50, with the second following at 18:10; after circling the airfield several times the two combinations headed out across the North SeaNorth Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
towards their objective.
The first combination
The first combination flew through poor weather conditions and managed to reach Norway and fly towards its objective; however during the flight over Norway the Rebecca receiverEureka beacon
The Rebecca/Eureka transponding radar was a transponder system used as a radio homing beacon by means of a Eureka ground emitter responding to queries from an airborne Rebecca interrogator.-Operation:...
, which was supposed to pick up the transponder
Transponder
In telecommunication, the term transponder has the following meanings:...
signal from the Eureka beacons being used by the Norwegian SOE agents, developed a mechanical problem and was unable to pick up the signal. This left the aircrew with only map-reading available to locate the landing zone, but the poor weather made this almost impossible.
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...
, and ice began to form on both aircraft and glider, as well as the towing rope connecting the two. At this point the combination began to lose altitude, and the towing rope snapped, setting the glider free; low on fuel, the aircraft was forced to turn back after signaling to Skitten at 23:55 that it had released the glider, and only just succeeded in landing back in Britain. Shortly after releasing the glider, the aircraft broadcast a second message, "Glider in sea", indicating the air crew's belief that the glider had crashed. The Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
was asked to begin a search-and-rescue mission, but had no ships in the area; an aerial search of the area was instead conducted, but did not find the glider.
In fact the glider did not land in the sea, but crash-landed in an area called Fyljesdal, overlooking Lysefjord
Lysefjord
Lysefjord is a fjord located in Forsand in Ryfylke in south-western Norway...
. Of the seventeen men on board, eight were killed outright, four were severely injured and five unhurt.
Thorvald Fylgjedalen, a local farmer, found some of the injured soldiers from the glider, but knew no English, and was unable to communicate with them. Nonetheless, Fylgjedalen and his neighbor Jonas Haaheller decided that they would assist the wounded soldiers, and did not contact the German authorities. After contacting more of the local residents, the soldiers asked for their assistance in escaping to Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, but Haaheller and others convinced them that this would be impossible, as it would involve traveling across the entirety of Norway. Thus, the Norwegians sheltered and gave medical attention to the injured soldiers, but did not allow any of them to leave. The Norwegians also burned all of the maps and documents from the glider crash before the Germans could arrive, and managed to keep the entire operation secret for almost twenty-four hours.
German soldiers, including troops from both the Waffen SS and the Army, arrived the next afternoon on two boats from a nearby camp. They quickly took the British soldiers prisoner, and departed with them on the boats. Despite the grave injuries suffered by some of the soldiers, they were still forced to walk under their own power and ride in the unsheltered boats in the cold. The dead soldiers were dumped in a shallow grave.
The second combination
The second combination managed to reach the coast of Norway, but fared even worse than the first combination; for unknown reasons the tow aircraft released the glider at a great height and then crashed into a mountain at Hestadfjell. All of the aircrew were killed instantly. Workmen in the area heard the plane pass overhead shortly before crashing and alerted the German authorities, who arrived quickly. Finding no survivors, the Germans threw the bodies of the aircrew into a nearby bog and left the area.Released just before the tow aircraft crashed, the second glider spiralled out of control and crash-landed in the mountains between Helleland
Helleland
Helleland is a village and parish as well as former municipality now located in Eigersund municipality in Rogaland county, Norway.Helleland is situated approx. 13 km outside Egersund along European route E39, a part of Norwegian national road system. Helleland parish clerical district included...
and Bjerkreim
Bjerkreim
Bjerkreim is a municipality in the Rogaland county, Norway. The parish of Birkrem was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 ....
. Seven of the men were killed instantly, and the rest were injured to varying degrees. The survivors were unwilling to leave the seriously wounded and two of the British soldiers left the crash site to search for help. After searching for some time, they arrived in the town of Helleland
Helleland
Helleland is a village and parish as well as former municipality now located in Eigersund municipality in Rogaland county, Norway.Helleland is situated approx. 13 km outside Egersund along European route E39, a part of Norwegian national road system. Helleland parish clerical district included...
about 2 miles (3.2 km) from where they had crashed, and made contact with one of the local residents, Trond Hovland. The soldiers told Hovland about their injured comrades, and asked if he could help them find a doctor. Hovland agreed to help, but informed them that the nearest doctor lived 9.3 miles (15 km) away, in the town of Egersund
Egersund
The town of Egersund was established as a municipality January 1, 1838 . It was merged with the surrounding municipality of Eigersund January 1, 1965....
. In order to contact him, Hovland would have to use the telephone system, controlled by the German authorities, which would alert them to the presence of the soldiers. Believing that there was no alternative, the soldiers agreed to contact the Germans, expecting that they would be taken as prisoners of war. A party from the Norwegian Labour Service arrived at the crash site shortly afterwards and helped tend to the injured soldiers who burned all of their sensitive documents and materials. A German party arrived about twenty minutes later and the British then submitted without a struggle. After their arrest, the prisoners were taken to the German camp at Slettebo near Egersund.
Aftermath
The Allies were unaware of the fate of the operation until they intercepted a German communiqué stating that two gliders and one aircraft had been forced down, and the crews engaged and annihilated. On 11 December they received a message from an SOE agent explaining that the second gliders occupants had all been shot. Many of the details about the fate of the two glider combinations were only discovered after the war had ended.None of the soldiers or aircrew who survived the crashes remained alive for very long. Of the soldiers from the first glider, three of the four injured men were tortured by the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
and later killed by a doctor who injected air into their bloodstreams. The fourth injured man was shot in the back of the head the next day. All four bodies were dumped at sea. The five uninjured men were held at Grini concentration camp until 18 January 1943, when they were taken to nearby woods, blindfolded and executed by the Gestapo. The German Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
and the Gestapo argued over the fate of the prisoners from the second glider. The Wehrmacht believed they should be treated in accordance with the Geneva Convention, but in the end the survivors were interrogated and executed within a few hours of their capture at the German barracks at Bekkebo. They were taken into nearby woods and shot one by one, each being forced to listen to the man before him being executed. Their bodies were stripped and thrown into an unmarked grave. All of the executions were conducted in accordance with the Commando Order
Commando Order
The Commando Order was issued by Adolf Hitler on 18 October 1942 stating that all Allied commandos encountered by German forces in Europe and Africa should be killed immediately, even if in uniform or if they attempted to surrender...
issued by Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
in October 1942, which stated that all Commando troops were to be killed immediately upon capture. The local Norwegian population were unable to prevent the prisoners being executed, but tended the graves of the dead until the end of the war.
Although the Allied soldiers believed that they had burnt all of their maps, one from the second glider was missed. When the Germans found it they were able to identify the Vemork plant as the target and increased their defence accordingly. German reprisals started instantly and 200 armed Gestapo agents swept into Rjukan where they arrested 21 Norwegians for questioning, but the members of Operation Grouse slipped away into the wilderness of Hardangervidda
Hardangervidda
The Hardangervidda is a mountain plateau in the Hardanger region of western Norway. It is the largest such plateau in Europe, with a cold year-round alpine climate and is the site of one of Norway's largest glaciers. Much of the plateau is protected as part of Hardangervidda National Park; it is a...
. They later contributed to the successful Operation Gunnerside in February 1943, when a small team of Norwegian SOE agents were parachuted into the area and demolished much of the Vemork plant. The plant did eventually resume operation, but further bombing raids ensured it produced little heavy water for the German atomic weapons programme.
Although the operation had been a failure, it demonstrated the range, flexibility and possibilities of airborne forces and glider operations, and also highlighted equipment failures that were rectified for later operations. This included developing a new version of the Rebecca-Eureka homing device system, the Mk II, which was ready by 1943 and proved to be very successful when used in later airborne operations; during Operation Market Garden
Operation Market Garden
Operation Market Garden was an unsuccessful Allied military operation, fought in the Netherlands and Germany in the Second World War. It was the largest airborne operation up to that time....
and Operation Varsity
Operation Varsity
Operation Varsity was a successful joint American–British airborne operation that took place toward the end of World War II...
, aircraft that used the system reported a 95% success rate.
Operation Doomsday
In Operation Doomsday, the British 1st Airborne Division acted as a police and military force during the Allied occupation of Norway in May 1945, immediately after the victory in Europe during the Second World War. The division maintained law and order until the arrival of the remainder of Force...
in May 1945, they were informed of the fate of the prisoners, and cooperated with the Norwegian government to have the fallen men buried with full military honours. The five from the first glider were re-interred at the Commonwealth War Graves
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves, and places of commemoration, of Commonwealth of Nations military service members who died in the two World Wars...
plot at Vestre Gravlund
Vestre gravlund
Vestre gravlund is a cemetery in the Frogner borough of Oslo, Norway, located next to the Borgen metro station. At , it is the largest cemetery in Norway...
near Oslo. The second glider's occupants were reburied at Eiganes
Eiganes
Eiganes is a neighborhood in the borough Eiganes og Våland in Stavanger, Norway.The neighborhood has a population of 3,853, distributed on an area of 0.95 km2....
churchyard in Stavenger and the Halifax aircrew were reburied at Helleland.
The head of the Gestapo in Oslo, who had signed the order for the prisoners' executions, committed suicide several days prior to 1st Airborne Division's arrival in May 1945, but several Wehrmacht personnel implicated in the decision to execute the prisoners were put on trial and found guilty; one was shot and another hanged, whilst a senior Non-Commissioned Officer
Non-commissioned officer
A non-commissioned officer , called a sub-officer in some countries, is a military officer who has not been given a commission...
who had shot a prisoner in the back of the head was extradited to the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
for alleged abuse conducted against Soviet prisoners. Furthermore, the commander of the German forces in Norway – Generaloberst Nikolaus von Falkenhorst
Nikolaus von Falkenhorst
Nikolaus von Falkenhorst was a German General who planned Operation Weserübung, the invasion of Denmark and Norway in 1940...
– was also found guilty of two of the Freshman deaths during his war crimes trial.