“So? Twenty or thirty shouldn’t be much of a problem either,” Jens laughed, producing a murmur of agreement.
“I’m sure you’re right on that, Sergeant.” Wilson nodded. “But I neglected to mention the two to three hundred who are stationed in the towns of Rjukan or Mosvatn, only a mile or so away, should the alarm be raised.”
“As you were saying then, Colonel.…” Jens cleared his throat to a few amused laughs.
“So let’s look a little closer at the target itself, shall we?” Wilson signaled to the aide operating the projector. The next photograph was a close-up of the main building, taken by Einar Skinnarland from across the gorge. The structure was seven stories, built of white brick and concrete. “As I said, our target is located in the basement. Thanks to Professor Tronstad, we’re familiar with the layout. There are only three ways for anyone to get inside. The first, the steel outer door leading to the basement, here,” Wilson pointed, “which may or may not be locked, as there are regular guard patrols that go inside every hour. Another, a door on the south side of the building, which leads to the first floor. Which means, once inside, you’d have to get yourselves around, and who knows what you’ll encounter. The third option”—Wilson tapped his pointer at a spot on the northern side of the building three times—“and not a happy one, is a tiny crawl duct that only a few people who work in the plant even know about. This leads directly to the basement, but unfortunately is only large enough for one person at a time—and time is of the essence here. If all else fails, there’s always blowing the outside basement door, of course, but doing that, the cat’s out of the bag, and will undoubtedly alert those stationed in the guardhouse.”
“In the basement,” Tronstad went up to the screen, “are eighteen high-concentration electrolytic processors. Which look like these…” A new photograph came on of a series of five-foot cylindrical tanks with a maze of tubes, hoses, and dials emanating from them.
“As long as we don’t have to explain what they are, I’m sure we’ll have no trouble destroying them,” Olf Pedersen called out.
“In that case, be my guest and just call them high-concentration cells.” Tronstad laughed. “In the next few weeks I daresay you’ll get to know these things as intimately as you would your own mother’s face. As well as how to neutralize them. In addition, the storage canisters of finished product are kept here as well. At all cost, these canisters must be destroyed, as much as the equipment. As critical as this mission is, let’s just say it pales in comparison to the damage that would be caused should these canisters ever be allowed to reach Germany.”
The saboteurs nodded soberly that they understood.
“So that’s it for now,” Wilson said. “Over the next weeks we will tailor your training to fit precisely what we are asking you to do. Any questions?”
No one spoke at first. Then Nordstrum raised his hand. “Just one. Just what is it that’s in these canisters, or these ‘high-concentration cells,’ that makes them so damn dangerous? That you’ve already lost so many lives for?”
Wilson looked to Tronstad. The scientist turned intelligence agent nodded and inhaled a breath. “Something you likely have never heard of. It’s called deuterium oxide.”
“You’re right on that one!” Jens looked around to a ripple of laughter.
“Heavy water, it’s also known as,” Tronstad said.
“Heavy water?” Pedersen let out a laugh. “You’re talking beer, I assume?”
Now the entire group joined in the laughter as well.
Even Tronstad, who bit on his pipe with an amused grin. “No, not like beer at all, I’m afraid.” His smile melted away. One could see in his hooded eyes this was of the highest seriousness.
“Okay, heavy water, Professor,” Olf Pedersen pressed. “If it’s not like beer and it’s so fucking dangerous, what exactly does it do?”
They waited for Tronstad to answer. He just gave a glance to Wilson and bit on his pipe. The silence seemed to carry a weight. He restrained from saying any more. Then the colonel rubbed his hands together. “I’m afraid that’s all we’re prepared to discuss right now. You’ll be shipped south in a week or so. Training begins for real then. If that’s all, we’ll just say good luck.”
21
They named the operation Gunnerside, after the small town in Wales where Major General Gubbins went in the fall to shoot grouse. There was Nordstrum and Jens; Joachim Ronneberg, who was named the leader; Olf Pedersen; Hans Storhaug; Birger Stromsheim, who knew more about explosives than any of them; and Eric Gutterson, the American from the Tenth Mountain Division.
They trained intensively for another month. Two weeks in Scotland at Special Training School 17, focusing on industrial sabotage, going over how to quickly assemble and ignite explosives until they had it down as routinely as turning on a light switch in their own home. Then they were moved south to STS 61, near Cambridge, a stopping-off station for agents being sent back into Europe. There, they went over the most recent layout of the plant and its grounds as determined by aerial photography taken from reconnaissance runs and from Jomar Brun, the ex-chief engineer of Norsk Hydro, who had recently defected.
They were told of the risks they would face, as both Tronstad and Wilson were finally clear about the full fate of the Freshman party, and that, if caught, they would in all likelihood face a similar outcome. They also practiced the demolitions on exact-size models of the processors at Vemork, which had been constructed, until they had the entire operation of setting the charges to destroy the equipment down pat. Soon they knew every inch of the inside of the factory—not only its layout and defenses, but every stairwell, every broom closet.
All that held them back now was the weather. The storms were relentless over Norway that winter, and equally hard to predict. And the longer they were forced to wait, not only did the Nazis continue their production, but the Grouse party had to hang on on the vidda, staying ahead of the Germans by going hut to hut in the frozen wilderness, scavenging whatever they could find to live on.