The interdiction of the German heavy water supplies from Norway.
In July the British War Office assigned the first operation to troops from Combined Operations (COE). Combined Operations specialised on raids involving several branches. SOE (Special Operations Executive) specialised on clandestine operations in occupied territories. SOE supplied 4 men from Norwegian Independent Company No. 1, the so-called Linge-company as advance party, but it was mainly a British operation, involving RAF, the new Glider Pilot Regiment and Royal Engineers from 1. Airborne Division.
The target was to destroy, "once and for all" the accumulated stocks of heavy water at Vemork, the major pieces of machinery of the high concentration plant and the power station. This entailed a considerable quantity of explosive and a high degree of technical training. Three ways to attack were discussed: Bombers, but the target was difficult to find.
Norwegian saboteurs was ruled out. Airborne gliders was considered the best. The glider-technology was new, there were optimism concerning the use of planes without motor to transport equipment to lightly armed parachutists, and gliders were suitable for surprise attacks, in spite of considerable problems with manouvering. This was the first combat mission for the glider regiment, therefore the codename Freshman.
The operation was very risky and preparations inadequate. A long night tow of 400 miles
was far in advance of anything previously attempted. 1. Airborne was given the assignment
one month ahead of planned time for operation, the November moon-period. The 4 men of the
advance party was dropped in parachute over the Hardangervidda-plateu on October
18.
Commander was sub-lieutenant Jens Anton Paulson. The transport of radio, navigation
equipment "Eureca", accumulator and equipment, a weight of 70 kg pr man,
covering a distance of 70-80 km, took 15 days in loose snow and bad weather. Establishing
base camp, radio contact with England and landing era, they reported acceptable weather
conditions for November 20.
In the meantime 50 volunteers Royal Engineers (AB) trained under strict security
conditions. 34 sappers were picked, 17 in each Horsa MK1 glider, towed by two Halifaxes.
Take off from Skitten airfield near Wick in Scotland on November 19
1942. None of the gliders reached the landing zone, and only one Halifax returned to base.
The first unit made landfall and flew into thick clouds north-west of Rjukan. The advance party heard the motors, but was unable to establish contact as the "Rebecca" in the plane was out of order. The unit lost height, as ice was forming on the plane and the towing rope. On the return, near the coast, the rope was completely iced up and the glider was released.
The message was: "The glider had been released just over the coast but nowhere near the target." The Halifax made it. The glider was actually released north of Stavanger and crashed in the mountains near Lysefjorden.
6 men were killed, (including the commander) and the two glider pilots, 4 were severely injured while 5 men survived. The 4 injured were taken to Stavanger and tortured to death, the bodies dropped in the sea and never found. The 5 survivors were taken to Grini and later shot at Trandum. The second unit made landfall near Egersund, having problems with navigation, mistook lights on the ground for Rjukan and ordered the glider to cut loose. As the Halifax made a turn westwards, it crashed in the mountains near Helleland, the crew of 7 was killed instantly. The glider made an emergency landing at Helleland. 3 men in the glider were killed in the crash and 2 were injured. They gave themselves over to German soldiers.
After a short interrogation, 14 men were shot in accordance with Hitlers so-called Führebefehl. The soldiers were in British uniforms and expected to be treated as prisoners of war. The Führerbefehl ordered shooting of allied commandos, even if they were in uniform. The military communiquè concluded: "They (the commandos) were put to action and fought down all of them."
This incident was decisive for the British military court trying commander-in-chief of Wehrmacht in Norway, General von Falkenhorst, after the war. He was sentenced to death by shooting. The sentence was later reduced to life imprisonment.
Thus the hazardous and ill-planned Operation "Freshman" ended in disaster.
41 British soldiers were killed.