Environmental Impact
Operation Freshman



Skitten Memorial

Operation Freshman was the original Special Operations Executives (SOE) attempt to put out of action the Heavy Water Plant at Vermark, Norway, which was vital to the development of an Atomic Bomb by the Nazi's.  Were it not for the supreme sacrifice of those who gave their lives to this operation, the outcome of World War 2 may have been very different.

On 19 November 1942 two Horsa gliders towed by two four-engined Halifax bombers took off from Skitten four miles north-west of Wick.  The gliders were piloted by a two man crew, three from the army's recently-formed Glider Pilot Regiment and the fourth a pilot from the Royal Australian Air Force.

Each glider carried 16 commando-trained volunteers from the royal Engineers, all highly skilled technicians with much knowledge of explosives, electronics and fuses.

A medical officer from RAF Skitten also went with them.

Norwegian agents organised the one-way trip with a landing site near Lake Mosvatn in the Telemark area.

The engineers were to locate and destroy the German controlled hydroelectric plant at Vermork, 60 miles west of Oslo.  The plant was producing heavy water for the early atomic weapons programme set up by Hitler.

The operation went wrong and 40 servicemen died.

A Halifax and its Horsa glider crashed into a mountain - there were 10 survivors.  They put up a brief fight before being captured by the Germans who had also captured the other glider's passengers.

Earlier instructions from Hitler were to shoot all commandoes and take no prisoners.  Only Rommel apparently disobeyed this order.

After questioning by the Gestapo they were poisoned in Stavanger Hospital.  Others were murdered at Slettebo and buried at Brusand.

Other prisoners were taken to Grini near Oslo and shot on 18 January 1943

A month later a group of Norwegian saboteurs trained by the British army parachuted into Norway and blew up the plant although they suffered many casualties.

The raids were the basis of the film starring Kirk Douglas - "The Heroes of Telemark"

Claus Helberg was one of the Norwegian saboteurs who took part in the mission. He became one of his country’s most decorated WW2 heroes. He is pictured here on a return visit when he was presented with a statuette of the Spean Bridge commando memorial.

Claus had been among 400 Norwegians who came to Scotland in January 1942, to undergo training in the Aviemore area, specifically at Glenmore Forest Lodge. Nine months later he was to return to his home town of Rjukan to destroy the industrial plant following the earlier failed secret mission. Today Claus is one of only three surviving members of the attack.