In late January 1944, a Norwegian Resistance fighter who was
hiding out near the Nazi-occupied Vemork heavy-water plant in
southern Norway received a telegram from his spy chief in
London:
IT IS REPORTED THAT THE HEAVY WATER APPARATUS AT VEMORK IS TO
BE DISMANTLED AND TRANSPORTED TO GERMANY STOP CAN YOU GET THIS
CONFIRMED? STOP CAN THIS TRANSPORT BE PREVENTED?
Thus began a flurry of wireless transmissions between the
guerrilla fighter, Einar Skinnarland, and the London-based
Special Operations Executive (SOE), for which Skinnarland
worked. The telegrams concerned a mission to destroy the
existing Vemork stocks of heavy water—which were to be
transported with the equipment used to make the
compound—before they reached Germany. The Allies feared
that the Germans would use the heavy water to make an atomic
bomb. Here, see the original messages as translated from the
Norwegian by the SOE. To launch the
slide show, click on the image at left.—Peter Tyson
Note: Several of the telegrams have been slightly altered to
remove the original Norwegian and to tighten elements on the
page.
