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EXERCISE COCKNEY GUNNERSIDE
by Captain M S Townsend
Coldstream Guards
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Members of Support Company, 1st Bn Coldstream Guards
with the Norsk Hydro Plant in the background
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The Hardangervidda (Hardanger Plateau), partially located within the Telemark region of Norway, is one of the most testing environments in Europe: a mountain plateau interspersed with large lakes that freeze in winter, an environment that is covered in thick snow and ice for much of the year, and is home only to the large groups of migrating reindeer that move across this barren arctic landscape. It was in this testing location that some of the greatest commando actions of the Second World War were carried out by men who are remembered as ‘The Heroes of Telemark’. The objective of these raids in 1943 was the destruction of the German heavy water producing facilities at the Norsk Hydro Plant at Vermork, a seemingly impossible target to strike and even harder to escape from.
The Heroes of Telemark Expedition has its origins in a Ray Mears documentary of 2003, where the broadcaster looked at the mission and the unique survival aspects that it encompassed. Ray’s fixer for the programme, Brian Desmond, then developed an expedition that would allow members of the public and armed forces to undertake the epic journey taken by the initial reconnaissance party, codenamed Operation GROUSE. The purpose was not only to set the conditions for the raid itself, but simply to survive in one of the harshest environments known to man. Billed as ‘The toughest battlefield tour in the world’, the trip was a fantastic opportunity with the story of the raid providing a great incentive for all ranks involved.
It was with the knowledge of the legendary footsteps (or ski tracks) we would be following in that 11 members of the 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards and No 7 Company began the trip to Norway in April 2015. Due to the direct ferry routes being cut off in 2014, we found ourselves on an intensive 48 hour slog across Europe (encompassing two ferry journeys) to reach our accommodation located in the Norwegian village of Evje. Upon arrival we met Brian and our instructors, Glen Sheppard and Dave Howie, who had the unenviable task of turning the team from novices to fully competent Telemark skiers in under a week!
The training phase was extremely well conducted (although not without its fair share of us ‘face-planting’ into snow drifts) and saw the team progress from the basics of Telemark skiing to being able to glide across the snow with both weight on our backs and pulling pulks, vital for the carriage of the equipment we would take onto the Hardanger. In addition to building our confidence on the snow and completing our Nordic qualification, the group began to study the series of operations that made up the story of the original Heroes. By 1942 the Allies were all too aware that the Germans were engaged in efforts to produce an atomic weapon. Vital to this was a substance called Deuterium Oxide (known as ‘heavy water’) which was only produced in one location within the captured territories - the plant at Vermork. In order to destroy this facility, Allied Combined Operations settled on an audacious plan to deploy commandos into Norway to blow up the heavy water making apparatus. Codenamed Operation FRESHMAN, a platoon of Royal Engineers would be landed by glider on the Hardanger and then move onto the objective. The four man Norwegian team of Operation GROUSE would initially parachute into the area to mark the landing zone and conduct the reconnaissance of the target. Tragically, the glider assault ended in disaster. Bad weather meant that the glider tugs were unable to identify the landing zone and in the poor conditions they crashed into the mountains. Sadly the survivors of the incident were later executed under Hitler’s infamous ‘Commando Order’ and with the future of the whole operation now in jeopardy, the men of GROUSE were ordered into the wilderness of the Hardanger to await further orders from London.
Pulling pulks through the winter wilderness of the Hardangervidda |
It was the route taken by the men of Operation GROUSE that the Coldstream ‘saboteurs’ would take. Following the completion of our training, the team packed our bergens and pulks and drove north into the wilds of the Hardanger. Upon reaching our drop off point, the party cross decked onto skidoos to be moved to the drop zone where the GROUSE party, all Norwegians, had arrived back home on a cold winter’s night in 1942. From the drop zone the party would follow the 60 km route to the Operation FRESHMAN Landing Zone over four days, with each night spent in a hut used by the original commandos and resistance fighters during the Second World War. The Hardanger threw up all weather conditions from blizzards to cloud free sunny skies as the group valiantly met the challenge of crossing frozen lakes whilst carrying weight - no mean achievement given that only a week before some of the team had never skied! Despite the luxury of a roof over our heads each night (albeit in cramped conditions), on our final night of the GROUSE route, some members opted to snow hole and spent a cold night underground surrounded by ice.
From the final hut the team cleared the FRESHMAN Landing Zone and arrived at a pick up point to be met by Brian Desmond, our transport, and a set of scales. It is worth noting that during the trip the average weight loss for the group was 4 kg per man - an insight into the tough conditions that were faced by the original commandos. We were moved into new accommodation near Vermork for the concluding phase of our expedition.
Following a hard winter (surviving on reindeer moss - a form of lichen - amongst their rations and meat from reindeer), the GROUSE team received new orders. The SOE were to parachute a new Norwegian commando team onto the plateau, codenamed Operation GUNNERSIDE. This six-man team was to link with GROUSE and facilitate a break into the factory to destroy the heavy water facility once and for all. They were to then escape into the mountains and either continue to support the local resistance or move into neutral Sweden. Following a successful link up with the reconnaissance party, the gallant Norwegian band began their assault on the night of the 27th February 1943. Their attack route would see them skiing into the Rjukan valley, where the factory was located, and then descending a cliff face in order to climb to the factory itself. It was extremely audacious and would be entirely carried out at night to prevent detection by the German guard force, who had been on high alert since the failure of Operation FRESHMAN.
Luckily for the Coldstream team, however, we would be following the steep attack route in daylight hours. The group changed into our white camouflage coveralls and skied directly down the valley at speed utilising all of the techniques we had learnt over the expedition to stop us from crashing into trees or the small stream running beside us! This proved an exhilarating (if not occasionally terrifying) experience and was made even more worthwhile when the target finally came into view.
Fortune was with the men of GUNNERSIDE during the raid. The team was able to silently infiltrate the factory and set their charges. Even the detonations went unnoticed by the luckless German garrison and, by the time the alarm went off, the commandos were running for their lives back towards the Hardanger. The local knowledge they had gained paid off and they were able to miss the German roadblocks by escaping up a small track underneath the town’s cable car and safely onto the plateau. For the Coldstream group, the last challenge was the cable car dash, with Major Kendall and LCpl Bonsell making valiant attempts to be the fastest as they sprinted up the mountainside to the summit of the ridgeline overlooking both the objective and surrounding countryside. From there we began our journey back to Evje and then onto Windsor.
The expedition was a once in a lifetime trip to emulate one of the great commando raids of the Second World War. The instruction and facilities were excellent, and although the trip is classed as adventurous training, the military (and wonderfully human) story that underpins it provides a brilliant incentive for infantry soldiers. The final word must go to Winston Churchill and his reaction to the successful completion of the raid and the exploits of the brave Norwegians of SOE:
‘What rewards are to be given to these heroic men’
Having humbly followed in the footsteps of these men the Coldstream party could only agree. |
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