Customer Reviews

Skis Against the Atom: The Exciting, First Hand Account of Heroism and Daring Sabotage During the Nazi Occupation of Norway

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"Skis Against The Atom" is the personal account of the experiences of Norwegian resistance fighter Knut Haukelid during the German occupation of Norway 1940-1945. Haukelid was a Norwegian soldier who escaped to Britain in 1940 and was trained and returned to Norway by the British Special Operations Executive.

The centerpiece of the account is the British-Norwegian effort to sabotage the production of Heavy Water at Vemork for use in the Nazi atom bomb program. This heroic effort was the basis of the 1965 movie "The Heroes of Telemark" starring Kirk Douglas and Richard Harris. The rest of the story is, if anything, even more heroic than the movie. Haukelind and his companions hid for months on the remote Hardanger plateau, dodging Nazi patrols and enduring harsh weather and skimpy rations while waiting for their opportunity to sabotage the Vemork facility. Their sabotage of the heavy water production also required the sinking of a ferry carrying surviving supplies of heavy water, a heart-breaking decision that caused the deaths of Norwegian civilians.

Haukelid's account also covers the efforts to organize the resistance in Norway after German occupation, and the preparation for Allied liberation in 1945. The Norwegian resistance, lightly armed and heavily outnumbered, undertook to bluff the Nazis into surrender to prevent massacres of Norwegian civilians or the destruction of the Norwegian economy by desperate German forces in the dying days of the Third Reich.

Haukelid writes candidly in the first person. His account is told very much from his point of view. This book is a translation from the original Norwegian to English; the syntax may seem stilted or formal in places to American readers. Those interested in a larger perspective can consult a decent of body of work on the Norwegian resistance by other participants and by a number of British and Norwegian scholars.

This book is highly recommended to those interested in the Norwegian resistance.

Haukelid's personal account of his actions around the destruction of the heavy Water stocks and subsequently the Hydro ferry read like a James Bond novel. Bravo to these Norwegian heros and bravo to Mr. Haukelid for giving us such a personal account for posterity.

True story of how the Norwegian Resistance, with the help of Britain, stops the Germans from acquiring enough heavy water to make their own A-bomb. Exciting first hand account of skiing and avoiding the Nazis. Begin to understand the sacrifice made by the Norwegian people in their resistance to the Nazis. Made into a movie starring Kirk Douglas in 1968. I recommend reading Blood and Water to get another take on this exciting story.

It's hard to beat this story and Knut Haukelid has a ring side seat. This is a true David and Goliath tale with a band of brave Norwegian patriots taking on the Nazi war machine and ensuring that the terrifying power of nuclear weapons did not get into the hands of Hitler. It may well be that Hitler's own biases may have prevented the A bomb from happening but given limited resources German Scientists greatly outperformed Allied efforts in jet propulsion and rockets. Who knows what effect an influx of heavy water to the German Nuclear research might have had?

In any case as an adventure story of men putting their intelligence, bravery and bush skills against the force of an industrial power house this tale has few equals. The writing is clear except for 1 chapter on Nuclear Physics were Knut is out of his depth some what. Solid but not overly lyrical prose suits the author and the story and this is very worthwhile for adventure buffs. I would have liked to gotten to know the men better, some back-ground is given but they don't all come fully to life, Unlike many first hand accounts there is credit given to the other men on the mission and the treatment seams fair

A great story by a true hero, but Thomas Gallagher is a better
writer & Assault In Norway is a better book. Having said that,
if you have not read either book, Do It Now!!!! If not for these
brave and hearty men, we all might be speaking German now...

excellent read, turned into a documentary. well worth a watch. very heroic exciting stuff, a book you cant put down

This book proves that "Heroes of Telemark" is not an exagerration. First hand documentary account of Norvegian underground against Nazis prove during WW II. It is actually very modest account of the coreougeous soldiers to deny Hitler to build atomic bomb. It is somehow overlooked to the one of the reasons of Nazi failure to build the bomb. But thanks to these heroes whom some of them lost their lives for the cause. Even the writing sometimes gets into some details I feel it is necessary for the documentation. I don't hold it against.