Summary: The way I did this walk makes it a hard undertaking as I chose to follow the course of Gunnerside Beck upstream from Middle Bank to Blind Gill. Over the days that followed the party made good progress, but there were fresh problems: as winter continued its jostle with spring, the temperature dropped again, and their supplies were rapidly running out. There is something beautiful about the purple heather-clad hills in August, with this sport of kings uniting everyone from old school aristocracy to modern day billionaires. Within an hour of sending his message, Skinnarland received an urgent message ordering him to organise an attack. In July, Skinnarland cabled London with the depressing news that production would be back to full capacity within a month. At this point, the eleven men of the operation (including Skinnarland, the local SOE agent) were to split into three separate groups. Finally just paid a visit to Wensleydale and then Swaledale Tuesday afternoon to take some photos. When the fuses were about to be lit, the caretaker was worried about his spectacles (which were somewhere in the room; during the war, new eyeglasses were nearly impossible to obtain). In normal water, there is only one deuterium atom for every 6,400 hydrogen atoms; deuterium is more prevalent in the residue of water used as an electrolyte. Joliot-Curie moved it to Bordeaux, where it, research papers and most of the scientists (Joliot-Curie remained in France) boarded the British tramp steamer Broompark (one of the many merchant ships involved in saving over 200,000 troops and civilians in the three weeks after the Dunkirk evacuation).[10]. The French transported it secretly to Oslo, then to Perth, Scotland, and then to France. Operation FRESHMAN wasn’t officially designated as a ‘suicide mission’, but that is effectively what it amounted to. On Sunday there was only one scheduled trip from Mael, which meant there was little chance of the Germans postponing its departure. We often used to refer to it as home when we were in Norway and when I look back on the war I will never forget the welcome that the British showed us.’, Rønneberg, meanwhile, had compiled a comprehensive report of the raid (which can be read in the National Archives at Kew), attached to which is a handwritten message from a senior government figure (only a very few knew of the heavy water threat). The ferry and its cargo sank in deep water shortly after its departure around midnight on 20 February 1944. While the rest of them took cover, clutching their Tommy guns, Haukelid waited to greet them. Although the raid caused extensive damage, at least 600 bombs missed the plant. Unlike their doomed comrades in FRESHMAN, at least this raiding party would have the benefit of skis – equipment that any Norwegian could have told the SOE planners was essential. ‘We greeted each other with as much emotion as Norwegian men can,’ Helberg recorded drily. The container was brought back to England and displayed at the Airborne Museum at Aldershot, which became part of the Imperial War Museum Duxford. Their only respite was provided by the warmth and shelter of the huts they found. If they had become aware of the shipment, they might have tried to intercept it. Under the bright glare of giant floodlights, one by one the thirty-nine drums were carefully stored and secured. It was probably just as well the 34 Royal Engineers of the 1st Airborne Division selected for the task were kept in the dark about their objective until the very last moment. The beam of his hand torch brushed the Norwegian’s head; his comrades flicked off their safety catches. Poulsson and Helberg were to head to Oslo before deciding on further action. On the night of 16 February 1943, in Operation Gunnerside (named after the village of Gunnerside, where SOE head Charles Jocelyn Hambro and his family used to shoot grouse), an additional six Norwegian commandos were dropped by parachute by a 138 Squadron Halifax bomber from RAF Tempsford. Even before Grouse landed in Norway, SOE had a Norwegian agent in the plant who supplied detailed plans and schedules. This time it would be carried out by a small group of British-trained Norwegian Commandos disguised as British soldiers. "[30] Einar Skinnarland was the first agent inside. Bravado and composure under pressure were the order of the day from here in. He owns the the 36,000-acre (146 km2) Gunnerside Estate in Swaledale, one of the largest sporting country estates in Britain. It wasn’t until after the conflict that they learned quite how important. Loud noises were not uncommon in the valley at this time of year in any case. Working across the UK, our sporting experts provide management advice and guidance on all aspects of shooting, fishing and deer stalking. Sitting next to the pretty girl whose boldness had so enraged Terboven, Helberg deliberately struck up a loud, boisterous conversation with her in order to draw the attentions of the SS guard. On 23 January the wireless set crackled into life with the news that GUNNERSIDE were on their way again. Poulsson left for Sweden a few days later in order to return to Britain. Though I've lived in Leeds for 3.5 years, I've barely visited the northern Yorkshire Dales. The major drawback of such a plan of action was that innocent Norwegians were likely to die and the entire plant, upon which the local economy depended, would probably be razed to the ground. Helberg quickly closed on him, took aim and fired. Making sure they weren’t spotted added to the effort, forcing them to take detours around open spaces, main roads, towns and villages. Gunnerside Gill lead mines and ore works is a Scheduled Monument in Melbecks, North Yorkshire, England. On 18 February, Haukelid made a recce to Mael, bluffed his way onto the ferry and disappeared into the holds to work out where best to lay the explosives. As they left the hut, a man claiming to be a hunter appeared. The technology is straightforward. With the heavy water stored in the basement of a solidly built concrete and stone structure, hundreds of heavy, high-explosive bombs would have to be used. There was no turning back this time. Skinnerland's mission was to establish contact with Norwegian agents in Rjukan area and be the link to London. Jens-Anton Poulsson (Swallow and Grouse) wrote The Heavy Water Raid: The Race for the Atom Bomb 1942–1944 (ISBN 9788245808698), a 2009 book. A cellar door and a second entrance that were meant to have been left unlocked by a contact inside Vemork hadn’t been. Almost all of the bombs missed the target and caused widespread devastation in the usually quiet and peaceful valley. They were travelling light, which was just as well, given the intense physical exertions ahead of them. There was only one realistic candidate for the job: Knut Haukelid, the one member of the GUNNERSIDE party to remain in the area. Poking his head over the top of the hill, he was relieved to see the herd had not run far. By the afternoon, it was raining, and progress became even slower and exhausting; by nightfall, the sodden conditions forced the exhausted party to stop. The four men suffered heavy landings on very rough terrain. Walker and Tomlin, who are shooting in Upper Swaledale, in the neighbourhood of Gunnerside, have sent down to Richmond 486 brace in three days. But they never came. The two men looked completely wild. This was a laborious, costly process and the entire world’s stocks of the fluid could be found in a few canisters inside a heavily protected hydroelectric plant known as Vemork in an ice-bound valley deep in the interior of Nazi-occupied Norway. Such was the urgency attached to capturing the Vemork saboteurs that General von Falkenhorst and the dreaded Terboven, the two most senior Germans in Norway, personally supervised the search over the weeks that followed. They were too cold and too hungry. A renowned three day grouse moor in the North Pennines. Their ignorance of the stakes makes the risks they were prepared to take all the more remarkable. Issued with the relevant identification papers, they continued to Stockholm and reported to the British legation, who arranged for their return to the United Kingdom. Quivering with excitement and nerves, Poulsson stalked the herd for over an hour. Innocent lives were very likely to be lost and the hydroelectric plant, the principal centre of economic activity in the region, would be put out of action. The Norwegian authorities in London were sure to protest vehemently and an SOE memorandum of 20 August 1943 suggested that their High Command and government-in-exile should be kept in the dark about the plans. As he pushed off, the Germans opened fire on him, the bullets kicking up puffs of snow around him. The award of an OBE to Captain Paulsen was recorded in The London Gazette of 4 February 1941. I headed up the bridlepath signposted to Surrender Bridge. After locking the doors, Kayser held the guard while Rønneberg set about laying the sausage-shaped explosive charges on each of the eighteen cylinders. It can also be paired with a shooting coat in … SOE knew their rations were virtually exhausted and that winter, with its ferocious blizzards and blood-stopping temperatures, was on its way. (The unit was also known as the Linge Company after Martin Linge, the Commando leader killed in Operation Archery.) It was unlikely any of them would escape either. ‘Our chances of being trapped in the valley were very great indeed,’ recorded Rønneberg. ‘The ground was just a mass of stones.’ The four immediately tore off their parachutes for fear that a strong rush of wind would drag them over the rocky, broken land. News of the discovery spread quickly among physicists and it was realized that if chain reactions could be controlled, fission might be a new source of great power. When they were in place, a party of British engineers would be landed by military glider to attack the plant itself (Operation Freshman). On 7 February SWALLOW (Skinnarland) cabled London to report that the heavy water was going to be moved out of Vemork in the near future. The fluid was used as a moderator to slow the nuclear chain reaction in unenriched uranium. Below, the snowbound plateau glistened under the bright moon. The details of the Commandos’ fate would not become clear until the end of the war, but when only one Halifax bomber returned, the operation planners feared the worst. Helberg stood stock still and let the German empty the whole magazine of his pistol. Tag: grouse shooting Posted on 29th September 2020 29th September 2020 German scientists had been working on three different approaches to developing nuclear energy. The man gave his name as Kristian Kristiansen; uncertain whether he was a Quisling or ‘Jøssing’ (a good Norwegian), Rønneberg put him to work pulling one of the toboggans. With German troops scouring the Hardanger area for British-backed agents and W/T operators, the SWALLOW party abandoned the hut at Sandvatn and moved into huts deep in the plateau, where there was even less chance of the Germans finding them. Gunnerside Gill and Kisdon Force. Einar Skinnarland, SOE’s agent in the Rjukan area with contacts inside Vemork, had cabled London to report that there were 20 German soldiers stationed at Vemork, 35 billeted in a nearby school, 100 more a ten-minute drive down the road at Rjukan and a further 20 in billets near his family home at the Møsvatn Dam at the head of the narrow, winding valley. Buried in the bundle of SOE documents relating to the raid at the National Archives in Kew is a small, frayed memo dated 14 April 1943, which reads: ‘What rewards are to be given to these heroic men?’ The identity of the man asking the question is given away in the address: 10, Downing Street, Whitehall. It was pitch black and there was freezing cold water a foot deep, through which they were forced to crawl with no more than eighteen inches between the water and the deck above. So you … I headed up the bridlepath signposted to Surrender Bridge. On 22 February, the storm lifted almost as quickly as it had descended. Gunnerside Wingfield Coat. Churchill was extremely sceptical too, but it wasn’t long before he was persuaded of the dire threat it posed. The Old Gang Smelting Mill & Gunnerside Gill: A Circular Walk. Males tend to be more reddish in colour than the females with white stripes on the underwing and red combs over the eyes. Laksen's CTX membrane. Gunnerside Gill lead mines and ore works is a Scheduled Monument in Melbecks, North Yorkshire, England. Rønneberg recalled: ‘They told us everything – that those who had survived the crash were shot, or “experimented” on and that some were thrown into the North Sea. . The German research community had reached a similar conclusion, and had procured additional heavy water from Vemork in January 1940. In the short term, his main priority was to move to a safer place the cache of incriminating equipment that GUNNERSIDE had left near the Jansbu hut where they had sought refuge from the snowstorm after their parachute drop. That night Helberg sought sanctuary in a lunatic asylum in a town called Lier where he had heard that the staff were Jøssings. Physicists everywhere realized that if chain reactions could be tamed, fission could lead to a promising new source of power. Three keeper's houses. The other four – only marginally less impressive than their leaders – were Birger Strømsheim, Hans Storhaug, Kasper Idland and Fredrik Kayser. The Norwegian–Danish–British co-production was initially broadcast on 4 January 2015.[36][37][38]. The rear-gunner counted the silk chutes drifting in perfect symmetry towards the frozen landscape. To their advantage, the Americans did now have many of the world’s leading experts in their field, following their flight from the Nazis, but they were months off the pace, years even, and it was going to take a lot of time, effort and resources to overhaul their German counterparts. They slid down a ladder and burst into the room housing the cells of high-concentration heavy water, overwhelming the terrified Norwegian guard. They also had two small toboggans weighing roughly forty kilograms. Helberg, a brilliant skier and man of adventure, had sat next to Poulsson in school. An inside job was implausible. The Halifax bomber towing the glider crashed into a mountainside after becoming separated, killing the six-man crew. Grouse moors cover an area of England the size of Greater London - some 550,000 acres. Many of the SOE operatives were refugees from the Nazi-occupied countries who, after completing their training, were reinserted into their homelands on specific missions. By the time they found the container with the skis, they were completely shattered. It was now close to a year since the rate of heavy water production at Vemork had been increased by 3,000 per cent. Haukelid built two rudimentary time-bombs using alarm clocks with traditional bells on top. Plutonium-239 (239Pu) makes effective weapons material, although requiring an implosion-type mechanism as a simpler Thin Man gun-type bomb is not feasible. He lay down and lined up one of the closest animals in his sights. The Norwegians were unable to reach the crash sites in time; the survivors were captured by the Gestapo, who tortured and later had them executed under Adolf Hitler's Commando Order. It was now over three months since the SWALLOW party had parachuted into the Hardanger. Heat for cooking and drying out clothes was essential in Arctic-type conditions and, without any available, the party were forced to drop their plan of walking in a roughly straight line over the mountains. Skinnarland tracked him down at his hideaway thirty miles away on the Hardanger. The demolition team followed and quickly broke open a second gate leading to the basement where the heavy water was stored. (‘The head was the best part,’ said Poulsson.) . The final leg was especially hard-going. Out and about … … on the North York Moors, or wherever I happen to be. At 2318, the dispatcher hurled out half a dozen containers of supplies and equipment. Haugland and Skinnarland had been unable to find a message left for them by the sabotage team at one of the huts they had been using. Three cracks split the still frozen air in rapid succession and the herd thundered away into the next valley. The British were ecstatic at the success of Grouse, and the next phase of the operations began.[12][13]. Swinging a torch from side to side, he moved slowly towards some tin drums. The German slumped to the ground. The RAF had dropped them in the wrong place, ten miles from the prearranged landing zone. Snow storm and fog forced us to go down valleys. ‘In good weather it would have taken us a couple of days but because the snow was wet, the ground wasn’t frozen, the streams and lakes were open (free of ice), it took us one hell of a long time with all that equipment,’ recalled Poulsson. This attempt failed when the military gliders (and one of their tugs, a Handley Page Halifax) crashed short of their destination. [20], Despite the mission's intention to minimize casualties, 18 people were killed; 29 survived. They decided Operation FRESHMAN was to be launched in three days’ time, during the ‘moon period’, when the days either side of the full moon would offer good light for the RAF crews to pinpoint the landing zone. The wet snow was three feet deep in places and made it impossible to proceed on skis. Tributes were duly paid by SOE and his Norwegian comrades. Although the mines and lights remained in place, security at the plant had weakened over the winter. [9] Hans Suess, a German adviser on the production of heavy water, had assessed the Vemork plant as incapable of producing militarily-useful quantities of heavy water in less than five years at its capacity at the time. On 19 November 1942, Operation Freshman followed with a planned glider-borne landing on the frozen lake Møsvatn near the plant. A great invitation, then, would be to study Gunnerside’s maximum potential realised by the best grouse-shots Below: High birds challenges. Heavy water and graphite were the prime candidates for moderating neutron energy.[4]. [14], Supplies required by the commandos were dropped with them in special CLE containers. Twenty-two locals were killed in all. Sure enough, the door of the barracks house swung open and the silhouette of a soldier appeared in the light from within. ‘If fighting starts before the High Concentration (heavy water) plant is reached the covering men shall, if necessary, take over the placing of the explosives. There are currently 3 active directors and 1 active secretary according to the latest confirmation statement submitted on 19th June 2020. The grouse-shooting season extends from 12 August, often called the "Glorious Twelfth", to 10 December each year.Large numbers of grouse are driven to fly over men with shotguns, or can be walked up in a line using specially trained dogs to flush the bird.. Eight of the men had died on impact, one had injured his spine and was paralysed from the waist down, another had broken both his legs, one had shattered his jaw and a fourth had cracked his skull and had difficulty in breathing. The job of carrying out the raid was handed to the US 8th Air Force. The only person they encountered in the plant was a Norwegian caretaker named Johansen, who was very willing to cooperate with them. Von Falkenhorst, an old-fashioned Wehrmacht officer with a distaste for the practices of the Gestapo, was in open admiration of the raiders, describing the attack as ‘the most splendid coup I have seen in this war’. Two Airspeed Horsa gliders, towed by Handley Page Halifax bombers (each glider carrying two pilots and 15 Royal Engineers of the 9th Field Company, 1st British Airborne Division), took off from RAF Skitten near Wick, Caithness, Scotland. Five of the GUNNERSIDE party – Rønneberg, Idland, Kayser, Strømsheim and Storhaug – were to make a 400-kilometre journey to the Swedish border. The four men rushed to lay out the lights at the prearranged landing site. It was the only plausible route, but there was a danger that the plant’s searchlights might reveal them, and the Commandos were surprised that the lights had not been turned on immediately. They took off at 2000 hours and it was beautifully clear when they approached the Hardanger. At the outbreak of the war, Albert Einstein was one of a very small handful of people in the world who understood the terrible potential of atomic power.