National Geographic: Untold Stories of World War II Page #2

---

establish a secret landing field

on the Hardangervidda,

a huge plateau north of the factory.

Crossing that bleak expanse,

the Norwegians took over an empty cabin

and made radio contact with England.

The operation could begin.

For the first sortie, the British sent

a force in gliders towed by bombers

a plan that needed clear weather.

But over Norway, clouds, winds,

and snow had cut visibility

to near zero.

For the Norwegians on the ground...

the flight had become

a disaster waiting to happen.

I tried to get a connection

with England

and warn them that

at that time it wasn't possible.

And then, suddenly,

I heard interference in my headphones

and I knew they were not far away.

And shortly after, we also heard

the engines on the aircraft,

and it came dead on us,

passed over us and disappeared.

After about half an hour,

the next plane with a guide glider came

and it came right to us correctly,

turned, and went away.

The British troops never arrived

at the rendezvous point.

We got a message from

London that both gliders

and one of the Halifaxes had crashed

in the mountains.

That was the end of

the Freshman operation.

It was a complete disaster.

The soldiers who survived the crash

were rounded up and executed.

The Allies' secret war against the

heavy-water factory was now exposed.

To avoid detection,

the commandos withdrew deeper

into the Hardangervidda.

For weeks, perhaps months,

they would have to live off a land

where little existed but snow and ice.

When this mission

of the gliders failed,

we had actually no supplies

for further stay in the mountains.

So we were dependent upon reindeer,

but at that moment, there were few

or no reindeer at all in our area,

because of the wind directions.

It was so very difficult

to get the reindeers,

but the day before Christmas,

Jens, he shot a reindeer.

Jens learned that if you take

the stomach of a reindeer,

you get vitamins

from the reindeer moss.

So we cut up the stomach and

took out the reindeer moss,

the contents, and mixed it

with blood and everything,

and made a nice porridge mixed

with brain.

And we were eating it

and it probably saved our lives.

So on Christmas Eve...

we had a real fun party.

We chatted; we had a good time

at Christmas Eve.

I remember well.

You know your comrades outside

and inside.

You know what he is going to say

before he opens his mouth.

They had endurance, they had the will

to hold on when there is nothing

in you except the will which says

to hold on.

They would have to hold on through

the darkest months of winter.

But each day the Nazis' supply

of heavy water was growing,

drop by precious drop.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes