points by mauvehaus 5 hours ago | 0 comments
Since Norsk Hydro was mentioned in the article, I have to mention in turn one of my favorite books ever: The Winter Fortress by Neil Bascomb. It's the true story of the Norwegian commando sabotage of the heavy water plant. Short version: after a failed attempt by the English, some locals who'd fled to England and received training parachuted in, blew it up, and then skied to neutral Sweden. Legends, the lot of them: they froze their balls off and didn't have enough to eat, but they pulled it off.
Every time I re-read it, it makes me want to take up nordic skiing. It is absolutely up there on my list of greatest true stories ever told with Touching the Void, The Emerald Mile, and a select few others.
https://www.abebooks.com/Winter-Fortress-Epic-Mission-Sabota...
[–] mk_stjames 1 hour ago
[–] rjsw 4 hours ago
One of the Operation Gunnerside members was later part of the Kon-Tiki Expedition [1].
[–] 1123581321 3 hours ago
That looks good; thanks. Growing up, I loved the firsthand account published in the 80s. Probably mentioned as a source in this newer book. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/100634.Skis_Against_the_...
[–] mauvehaus 3 hours ago
I am so excited to read this; thank you! I've reread The Winter Fortress every year or two since the first time.
[–] qnleigh 3 hours ago
This story is also covered in The Bastard Brigade, which details many other Allied attempts to sabotage the Germany nuclear program. Fun fact: Heisenberg was close to being assassinated by a famous baseball player (Mo Berg). Very entertaining and interesting book.
[–] hunterpayne 1 hour ago
There's a movie about that which focuses on Berg who was a pretty impressive person. He was a MLB player at a time when that was the biggest sport in the US but the players made next to nothing. He also spoke 10 languages fluently and spent most of the war translating intelligence intercepts. Supposedly he found Heisenberg but judged that he wasn't a threat and so didn't kill him. That's the story anyway, no idea how true that is.
[–] testing22321 4 hours ago
Nordic skiing is great.
As a snowboarder I was reluctant, but got into it a few years ago. We pull our young daughter in a chariot with skis about 10km into a little cabin by a river with a wood stove.
Cheese, salami and hot chocolate and we make the return loop. Three evenings a week all winter long is a great way to spend time outside.
Norsk Hydro was founded as a hydro power plant + nitrogen fertilizer production company (the nitrogen production needing lots of electricity, and the hydro plant to provide said energy...) but around WWII, pivoted to light metals, and built aluminum and magnesium factories with German company IG Farben, in order to support them in the war, as they were partially under Nazi occupation by then. That all went south but then after the war they kept on with the aluminum business.
The company went on to become experts in aluminum extrusions, and were then contracted not just for the base metal but also to manufacture the first bonded aluminum bare chassis for the S1 Lotus Elise in 1995, which went on to be the basis for the Tesla Roadster.