The Real Heroes Of Telemark

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Suddenly, ordinary men and women from all walks of life found themselves thrown into fearsome, nerve-tingling situations worthy of any Hollywood movie. The only difference in this series is that every story is true. Real people emerge as the Heroes of Telemark. Ordinary GIs and US Airforce and Navy personnel suddenly find themselves flying against the Japanese in China, jungle fighting in Burma and being dropped by submarine on enemy coasts at midnight. It was known in London and Washington that two German atomic physicists were working on nuclear fission, and it was assumed that heavy water had something to do with Hitler's threat of a secret weapon. The Heroes of Telemark is a 1965 British war film directed by Anthony Mann based on the true story of the Norwegian heavy water sabotage during the Second World War from Skis Against the Atom, the memoirs of Norwegian resistance soldier Knut Haukelid. The film stars Kirk Douglas as Dr. Rolf Pedersen and Richard Harris as Knut Straud, along with Ulla Jacobsson as Anna Pederson. It was filmed on location in Norway.

The raw beauty of the Hardanger Vidda landscape was breathtaking and knowing that one was following the skisteps of true Norwegian heroes was quite a spiritual experience. The conviviality of the Norwegian dog sleigh team - Olav and Isaach - who shadowed us from a distance, greatly added to the enjoyment and authenticity of the trip. Perhaps I was particularly fortunate in finding myself part of a team that gelled together so well. On the Vemorkis about 100 miles west of Oslo, on the edge of this ice-bound precipice. It was the only plant in the world that produced heavy water, which was the key ingredient in the German atomic bomb research program. They needed heavy water to create a nuclear reactor, which was the stepping-stone to producing plutonium, and then an atomic bomb. The Allies did not know how far along the Germans were[intheirresearches]buttheonethingtheydidknowwasthe Naziconcentration onheavy water. So they took that one spot, and hit it. Winston Churchill called heavy water “a sinister term, eerie, unnatural.” Deconstruct it for us. Following the occupation of Norway in the spring of 1940, it soon became clear that the Germans were interested in heavy water. By the start of 1942, production at new installations in Rjukan, based on a German method, increased to 100 kilos per month. Not long after, the Germans announced they wanted to increase output further.WESTERN EUROPE 1939-1945: RESISTANCE & SOE (HS 2/185)". The National Archives . Retrieved 17 February 2021. a b Rhodes, Richard (1995). The making of the atomic bomb. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 9780684813783 . Retrieved 12 July 2009. It was the only thing that truly frightened Winston Churchill. Silently patrolling the cold, gray waters of the Atlantic, the German U-boat almost sank Great Britain's chances for victory. How could the U-boat nearly sever England's lifeline? What were U-boats doing off the American coastline and in the Gulf of Mexico? And how did Allied submarines bring Japanese industry to a grinding halt? Learn the crucial role of the submarine in every theater of war in "Above Us the Enemy." The Norwegian resistance sabotage the Vemork Norsk Hydro plant in the town of Rjukan in the county of Telemark, Norway, which the Nazis are using to produce heavy water, which could be used in the manufacture of an atomic bomb. The plant's managing director agreed to lend France the heavy water for the duration of the war. The French transported it secretly to Oslo, then to Perth, Scotland, and then to France. The plant was still capable of producing heavy water, however, [1] and the Allies were concerned that the Germans would use the facility to produce more heavy water.

On April 30, 1943. a British submarine surfaced off the coast of Spain and dropped a body into the sea. The corpse was to play a central role in one of the most elaborate deceptions in military history. How did one decomposed body cause an uproar in the German High Command, dupe Adolf Hitler and ensure the success of an Allied invasion? And who, exactly, was the mysterious body? Discover the fascinating secrets of "The Corpse that Fooled the Axis." NOVA: Hitler's Sunken Secret". The Corporation for Public Broadcasting – WGBH Educational Foundation. 1996–2005. Archived from the original on 12 July 2009 . Retrieved 12 July 2009. BBC.Secrets.of.World.War.II.Set.1.12of14.The.Secrets.Behind.the.Battle.of.Guadalcanal.x264.AC3.MVGroup.org.mkv (792.89Mb) While nobody can dispute the courage and ingenuity of those involved, the actual importance of the raid has been retrospectively open to question. Just how close had Germany really been to possessing nuclear weapons? When Nazi Germany investigated the production of an atomic bomb, a range of options was identified. Although historical records provide limited detail on the German decision to pursue the heavy water approach, it became clear after the war that they had explored that option. [5] [6] Although ultimately unsuccessful, the approach chosen has been demonstrated as technically viable. Plutonium-239 ( 239Pu) makes effective weapons material, although requiring an implosion-type mechanism as a simpler Thin Man gun-type bomb is not feasible. Heavy water has been demonstrated as an effective moderator for 239Pu production, and may be separated from ordinary water by electrolysis. The German program had already been handicapped by the Nazi purging of German Jewish physicists and the conscription of others and ended in the autumn of 1942.The Germans would have needed a total of about 5t (5.5 short tons) of heavy water to operate a nuclear reactor, and the manifest indicated that there was only 500kg (0.55 short tons) of heavy water being transported to Germany. The Hydro was carrying too little heavy water to supply one reactor, let alone the 10 or more tons of heavy water needed to make enough plutonium for a nuclear weapon. [28] Vemorkis a natural fortress. It could only be reached by a single-lane suspension bridge andwassurrounded by an area called theHardangervidda, a high mountain plateau where, according to legend, it grows so cold, so fast, that it freezes flames in the fire.