During the Second World War many countries were participating in different covert ops, but one of those ops would change the whole war entirely. During the war the Nazis created a bomb program that needed to be terminated and that's just what Operation Gunnerside did.
First off, In April 1939, Germany began a secret program called the Uranverein or “Uranium Club.” Led by physicist Kurt Diebner, the Nazi program hired some of the top scientist in Germany, including Nobel Prize winner Werner Heisenberg. Unlike their fellow American the Germans agreed to use heavy water as a moderator rather than graphite.(Bascomb) For example, In a nuclear reactor, a moderator is used to slow down the movement neutrons and control the fission process. In this way, the moderator helps to keep a chain reaction. Following Germany’s invasion of Norway in April 1940, the Germans took control of Norsk Hydro Vemork plant just outside of Rjukan. Although the Vemork plant was…show more content… Got word from Britain that six more Norwegians would be sent to Rjukan for Operation Gunnerside. Unlike in Operation Freshman, the special forces group was a small group of Norwegian commandos.
Later, the group was supposed to parachute to their target zone rather than use a glider to land and confer with the Swallow group before sabotaging the Vemork plant. Led by Joachim Rønneberg, the group jumped from a plane during a light snowstorm at around midnight on February 16, 1943. the commandos were all dressed in British uniforms underneath their snowsuits. they thought that if the British were blamed for the sabotage instead of the Norwegian resistance, the natives would be less likely to face German consequences.(Bascomb)
Meanwhile, the group survived the landing and avoided any German detection, they landed miles from the planned target site. After traveling for about five days, the Gunnerside group connected with the Swallow