The hero of Telemark is dead

It was a suicide mission.

But the Norwegian opponent then aged 23 never hesitated.

He and his nine comrades prevented Hitler from developing a nuclear bomb.

Today, Joachim Rønneberg, the leader of the telemark heroes, is 99 years old.

He was one of the brave opponents of Norway during the Second World War, one of the bravest and one of the last really great heroes.

Joachim Rønneberg and his comrades changed the story.

Without them, Hitler might have achieved his atomic bomb – and history has become another.

Stolen in Scotland

On February 16, 1943, with his five men, he was released into parachutes on the steep plateau of Hardangervidda, in southern Norway, as part of one of the most important missions of the Second World War, the Gunnerside operation.

Before leaving, he had written a letter to his family. The letter, accompanied by a photograph taken by himself, was in a sealed envelope in England.

Open in case of death.

But Joachim Rønneberg lived more than 75 years – and after all the years following the war, he is celebrated as the great hero of Norway.

He was born in the coastal town of Ålesund.

When the Germans occupied Norway in April 1940, Joachim Rønneberg was a young man.

In 1943 he escaped with eight comrades on a boat to Scotland. He was one of the first Norwegians in exile to be acquired by the British to the military division, which was Kompani Line.

In England, he was trained as a saboteur.

Cyanium capsules

Joachim Rønneberg was the youngest, but he still had the confidence to lead the group of six men who will lead Operation Gunnerside.

The group includes: Knut Haukelid, Hans Storhaug, Birger Strömsheim, Kasper Idland and Fredrik Kayser.

They will blow up an unavailable factory in Vemork, Telemark.

The Norsk Hydro electrolysis plant in Norway is the only one in the world where heavy water is produced – and Hitler needs it for its future atomic bomb.

Forty-one British soldiers have already lost their lives in an attempt to sabotage the factory. Some died when the plane crashed into the mountains. Those who survived were executed by the Gestapo.

He knows Joachim Rønneberg and his men when it is their turn to try.

In their uniforms – British – each capsule is protected.

It is cyankalium that they should take if they are injured or taken prisoner.

They should chew it – do not swallow it whole.

It takes five seconds to die – and it's an order.

Blown storm winds

As they get on the plane to drop them onto the Norwegian snow roads, their comrades hug each other with tears in their eyes.

In Telemark, four of their comrades have been waiting for four months, Grouse's men Moripa, Jens Anton Poulsson, Knut Haugland, Claus Helberg and Arne Kjelstrup.

They spent all winter in the mountains, spending the night in cottages where they survived by shooting wild crests and ripor.

The plant is extremely difficult to access, on a rocky shelf. You can go through a narrow suspension bridge over the ravine or by a long stentry 400 meters higher up to the top of the mountain.

What no one imagined was that someone would have to go down the ravine through the opposite rock face, cross the river – and climb up to 200m for the steep steep rock up to the factory.

But that's exactly what Joachim Rønneberg and his men do.

Sautéed on ice flakes

On the evening of February 27, 1943, it is the hour. Dressed in white camouflage over their uniforms, they shake the steep mountain. Stormy winds are on the slopes of the mountain, but there is "only" ten degrees less.

Before crossing the ravine – and on the other side of the river – they dig skis, sticks and backpacks and pack explosives, wires and detonators.

Once upon a time they invaded the river by jumping on the thin layer of ice.

Then they climb the steep mountain wall.

Up there, 200 meters above them, is the factory they will operate.

In England, they practiced an exactly identical factory model, so they know exactly where everything is and how to get there.

At 11 pm, they are up. An hour later, there is a security guard who knows that Germans who have a night watchman usually ignore the rules and sit in the warmth of the guardhouse instead.

They do it tonight too.

Short end

Some men post themselves – their job is to monitor and destroy nearby enemies. Joachim Rønneberg and three of his comrades enter the building with a drum.

From time to time, they release their explosive charges.

The tips measure 120 centimeters long and burn with one centimeter per second.

This means that they have two minutes to fly and seek refuge.

At the last moment, Joachim Rønneberg decides to shorten the last end to 30 centimeters – no one should close it.

When he has lit, they rush through the main door.

They are only 20 meters before it slams.

In the dark, they take them back.

Down the rock wall, across the river – and up the mountain on the other side.

Stolen in Sweden

Everyone survived and two weeks later they crossed the Swedish border.

The Gunnerside operation is over.

A few months later, however, the Germans rebuilt the factory.

In November, the Allied plant bombs, but can not beat him.

When the Germans decided in 1944 to transfer all the facilities to Hamburg, they had another chance.

One of the men in Joachim Rønneberg's group hid a bomb on the ferry to transport the vehicle under surveillance through Tinnsjön.

Mine on the lake explodes the ferry and falls to the bottom.

There, Hitler's dream of a nuclear bomb is underway.

Joachim Rønneberg became one of Norway's most decorated war heroes, although it took many years before he began to tell him what it was about.

Became a journalist

After the war, he lived in Ålesund, where he worked as a journalist and regional editor of Norwegian TV NRK.

The rest of his life he lived in Britain as his second home and visited Queen Elizabeth several times.

Several movies and TV shows have been made on the heroes of Telemark.

The most famous film, with Kirk Douglas in the lead, was released in 1965, but is a much more fictional version.

In the movie "The Battle of the Atomic Bomb" of 1948, many of the opponents are playing.

Joachim Rønneberg, who lived 99 years in August, kept his calm at night until Sunday.

Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg says that he will be remembered as one of the great heroes of the history of the Norwegian wars.

"Rønneberg is perhaps the last of the very big opponents who left, he is an excellent symbol of the work accomplished and he helped to prevent the Germans from developing a nuclear bomb.

October 22, 2018 6:22 p.m.