Hero of the Telemark dies aged 101: WWII commando carried out raid on Norwegian Hydro plant to thwart Nazi's A-bomb plans
· Norwegian Birger Stromsheim was one of the last two living survivors of operation Gunnerside
· Key member of the six-man team that blew up hard water facility at the Norsk hydroelectric plant in Norway
· The attack effectively ended Germany's chances of developing a nuclear weapon
PUBLISHED: 17:48 GMT, 10 December 2012 | UPDATED: 17:53 GMT, 10 December 2012
Birger Stromsheim, one of the Norwegian commandos who carried out the legendary 'Heroes of the Telemark' raid, has died aged 101
One of the last two survivors of the legendary Second World War 'Heroes of the Telemark' raid, which helped thwart Hitler's plans to build a Nazi nuclear bomb, has died aged 101.
Just 31 at the time, Norwegian Birger Stromsheim was the oldest member of the team who successfully destroyed the hard water production facility at the Norsk Hydroelectric plant in Telemark, southern Norway.
The raid, which is regarded as one of the most successful acts of sabotage in World War II, was also remarkable for the fact all the team managed to escape by cross country skiing 250 miles into Sweden.
The heavy water, or deuterium oxide, which the Norsk plant produced was essential to the German scientists working on an atomic bomb project and the allies were desperate to destroy it.
But it was no soft target. Perched on an icy ravine, surrounded by machine gun-toting guards and floodlights the plant was virtually impregnable.
An earlier attempt to destroy it had ended in bloody failure when some of gliders carrying the team of 30 Royal Engineers crashed in bad weather.
Those who escaped were captured by the Gestapo, tortured and then executed.
For the second attempt the Special Operations Executive gambled on a small six-man squad, all Norwegian, who would parachute in.
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After intensive training using a mocked up model of the basement of the plant painstakingly recreated at the explosives base in Brickendonbury, Hertfordshire the team were ready for action.
They were issued thick Nordic-style woolen jumpers and brilliant white camouflage smocks to protect themselves from the elements.
Crack squad: Some of the saboteurs back in Britain after the raid. Aged 31 at the time Mr Stromsheim (circled) was the oldest member of the team
The plan was for them to meet up with four members of the previous mission's advance team who had managed to survive a harsh winter living in an abandoned cabin and eating lichens and moss scraped off rocks.
Mr Stromsheim would play a vital role. An explosives expert, he was known for having a cool head - something that would prove invaluable if things didn't go to plan.
And of course they didn't.
Operation Gunnerside began in earnest on February 17 1943 and got off to a disastrous start when bad weather resulted in the team landing some 18 miles from the planned drop zone.
They were forced to spend five days struggling through fierce snow storms before finally linking up with their compatriots.
By February 27th the team had regrouped and was ready to launch their assault.
The Norsk plant was connected by a bridge stretching over the steep ravine so to avoid the German guards the commandos opted to climb down one side of the ravine, wade across the icy river Maan and scramble up the other side.
They would then follow a railway track that led all the way into the plant, get inside through a door which a plant worker was supposed to leave open, set their charges and escape.
Leaving their radio operator at the top of the ravine in case anything went wrong, the rest of the party struggled for hours through thick snow to make it to the river before beginning the arduous task of climbing up the other side.
Exhausted and soaking wet they eventually scrambled to the top and broke into the grounds of the facility using a pair of bolt cutters.
The raid was hailed as the most successful act of sabotage of WWII and was later made into the Hollywood film Heroes of the Telemark staring Kirk Douglas
When they arrived at the basement door which was supposed to have been left open they were devastated to find it still locked.
They split up into two parties Stromsheim and Kasper Idland found a window at the back of the basement and took the risk of smashing their way in.
Meanwhile the other party, led by the 23-year-old commander Joachim Ronneberg, managed to crawl through a cable duct before taking a Norwegian plant worker by surprise.
Ronneberg heard Stromsheim smashing the window as he began to lay charges and when Stromsheim and Idland entered the room they were nearly shot by their own colleagues who had mistaken them for guards.
Stromsheim then placed the remaining charges while Ronneberg set the fuses. Fearing the Germans could discover them at any moment they used 30 second fuses instead to the planned two minute ones.
The team dashed outside the plant as the charges went off with a dull thud. Mercifully the guards were not alert.
The mission had been a stunning success and around 1000lbs of heavy water - so vital to Hitler's dreams of world domination - was washed away.
Now there was just the small matter of escape.
The commandos managed to make it all the down the ravine and back up the other side before the Germans were alerted, but now a chase was on.
Stromsheim and his comrades ploughed on into a snowstorm, using their wooden cross country skis to make the epic 250 mile journey into neutral Sweden.
'They didn't reckon that they would get out alive,' Mr. Stromsheim's son, also named Birger, recalled. 'They weren't sure of that. They were scared in some ways, but there was no panic.'
Back in Britain the SOE chiefs were delighted at their success - and heralded the mission as the most successful act of sabotage of the Second World War.
Hollywood treatment: Kirk Douglas, (left), and Richard Harris keep a watchful eye for Nazis in the 1964 film
The Nazis were forced to relocate their heavy water project and move their remaining supplies of the essential ingredient Potassium Oxide. But the ferry they used to move it was subsequently sunk by a Norwegian resistance.
In his report the mission's commander Joachim Ronneberg described Stromsheim as 'beyond doubt the best member of the party'.
For his part in the mission, Stromsheim was awarded the British Military Medal and the Norwegian St Olav medal, the US medal of Freedom and the French Legion of Honor and Croix de Guerre.
His escapades were later given the Hollywood treatment in the 1965 film Heroes of the Telemark starring Kirk Douglas and Richard Harris.
Mr Stromsheim and his wife were among the many Norwegians who fled to England when the Nazis occupied their country in 1940.
Although he had never been a soldier he became part of Britain's Special Operations Executive, which had been set up to coordinate resistance in occupied Europe.
Following the assault on Norsk Hydro, Mr. Stromsheim would join Mr. Ronneberg on a series of other missions.
He is survived by a son, a daughter, four grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. His wife, Aase Liv, died in 1997.
Joachim Ronneberg is now the mission's only living survivor aged 93.
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