The Real Heroes of Telemark : The True Story of the Secret Mission to Stop Hitler's Atomic Bomb

By Ray Mears

Book Overview

Sixty years ago, four men parachuted onto a Norwegian glacier, equipped with only the most basic equipment. Their mission was to prevent the Nazi regime from building an atomic bomb. Now, wilderness... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0340830158
• ISBN13: 9780340830154
• Release Date: January 2003
• Publisher: Hodder Hb
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.7" x 1.2" x 6.4"

Customer Reviews

After Sixty Years, the Truth

I have a friend who grew up in London during the Blitz. After talking to her about this book, she told me that she remembered well how the English had celebrated the RAF for their "glorious success" in blowing up the heavy water plant near Telemark. When I told her that the RAF glider mission had ended in torture and death for all who survived the landing, and that the story of their success was circulated to protect the Norwegian Resistance from Nazi reprisals, she said, "Then they were all the real heroes of Telemark." I highly recommend this book to WWII afficiandos as well as anyone who needs a book that will make their spirits soar.

The Real Heroes of Telemark

An excellent history of The Norwegian and British destruction of the heavy water plant in Norway to prevent Germany's development of the A-bomb. Reads like prose.

So well written...

I haven't read Thomas Gallagher "Assault in Norway" yet, but this is the best written book about the heavy water sabotage I've read so far. And so well fitting that an outdoor specialist like Ray Mears is behind it. His general insight, research of old Allied notes and the advantage of distance in time makes it into fascinating reading. - The Hardanger Plateau is still serious business in winter, but it is almost depressing that the low temperatures that Grouse/Swallow/Gunnerside experienced seems to be rare today. (I've only experienced them twice in the area. I hope it's due to luck, not global warming.) - The Audio CD is conveniently divided into tracks of approximately 3 minutes, which makes easy to find back if you loose concentration. ...and it's a bit fascinating to hear the reader Christopher Kay struggle with Norwegian names and words, and doing the best out of it. Most of the places are still possible to find on maps while listening. Although someone could have told him that 'Telemark' is pronounced slowly, not fast. That Ray Mears seems to have shortened Hardangervidda to 'Hardanger' and not to 'Vidda' or 'The Plateau' is something most Norwegians just have to live with...