The high quality of this series is maintained in an episode dealing with the Nazi's production of heavy water, a crucial material in the construction of a nuclear bomb. The plant was located on a mountainside in the region of Telemark, Norway.
The episode is a little different from the others I've seen so far, in that it includes a couple of talking heads and some convincing reenactments of parachute drops and James-Bondish ski chases across snowy hills.
As usual, the context of events is sketched in. We learn about the German conquest of Norway and the rise of the resistance movement, the Soviet victory at Stalingrad, and the final elimination of the Afrika Korps in Tunisia. The physics of atomic bomb production are not gone into. Eg., we hear of Einstein but not Werner Heisenberg.
Instead we see three attempts to blow up the hydro plant. First, a commando raid using two gliders that fails because of the weather. The gliders ice up and crash and the British and Norwegian survivors are executed. Next an attempt to bomb the plant using B-17s. That, too, fails. It kills twenty or so innocent civilians and not a single bomb hits the designated target. Finally, a raid by half a dozen Norwegian paratroopers succeeds in planting demolition charges inside the plant. The effort is followed by a disappointing whomp, but the raiders escape to neutral Sweden.
At this point, the German command decides to send all its heavy water to a safer location. The great tanks are stored aboard an unguarded ferry, and one of the resistance leaders plants charges in the bilge. The bottom is blown out, the ferry sinks quickly in the deepest part of the lake, and takes with it not only the heavy water but more innocent Norwegians, some of them known to the man who planted the charge.
I can't remember how closely the feature film, "The Heroes of Telemark", follows the actual events. It starred Kirk Douglas, who looks convincingly Scandinavian, as he did in "The Vikings" earlier. The movie was released in 1965 and was one of a spate of big-budget productions that were made in the wake of the success of "The Longest Day", released in 1962.
This will be an educational experience for those Americans whose knowledge of the war is more or less limited to the Normandy invasion and the island battles in the Pacific. The battles in northern Europe are routinely neglected. I doubt many Americans could actually explain the position of, say, the Finns during the war. Few US troops were involved and there was never any dramatic climax, so it doesn't seem very sexy.
The episode is a little different from the others I've seen so far, in that it includes a couple of talking heads and some convincing reenactments of parachute drops and James-Bondish ski chases across snowy hills.
As usual, the context of events is sketched in. We learn about the German conquest of Norway and the rise of the resistance movement, the Soviet victory at Stalingrad, and the final elimination of the Afrika Korps in Tunisia. The physics of atomic bomb production are not gone into. Eg., we hear of Einstein but not Werner Heisenberg.
Instead we see three attempts to blow up the hydro plant. First, a commando raid using two gliders that fails because of the weather. The gliders ice up and crash and the British and Norwegian survivors are executed. Next an attempt to bomb the plant using B-17s. That, too, fails. It kills twenty or so innocent civilians and not a single bomb hits the designated target. Finally, a raid by half a dozen Norwegian paratroopers succeeds in planting demolition charges inside the plant. The effort is followed by a disappointing whomp, but the raiders escape to neutral Sweden.
At this point, the German command decides to send all its heavy water to a safer location. The great tanks are stored aboard an unguarded ferry, and one of the resistance leaders plants charges in the bilge. The bottom is blown out, the ferry sinks quickly in the deepest part of the lake, and takes with it not only the heavy water but more innocent Norwegians, some of them known to the man who planted the charge.
I can't remember how closely the feature film, "The Heroes of Telemark", follows the actual events. It starred Kirk Douglas, who looks convincingly Scandinavian, as he did in "The Vikings" earlier. The movie was released in 1965 and was one of a spate of big-budget productions that were made in the wake of the success of "The Longest Day", released in 1962.
This will be an educational experience for those Americans whose knowledge of the war is more or less limited to the Normandy invasion and the island battles in the Pacific. The battles in northern Europe are routinely neglected. I doubt many Americans could actually explain the position of, say, the Finns during the war. Few US troops were involved and there was never any dramatic climax, so it doesn't seem very sexy.
