Sergeant Jens-Anton Poulsson is dead

[Hawk one]

And who was Jens-Anton Poulsson? He was in charge of Operation Grouse, which goal was to blow up the Germans' heavy water production plant on Vemork, Rjukan. At the time considered the most important sabotage action on Norwegian soil, as they could not take the risk that the Germans prodused enough heavy water as was needed for the production of an atomic bomb. It would take decades before it was concluded that they probably wouldn't have made one anyway, but if there ever, ever was a time to better be safe than sorry, that was it.

It was a well-planned, carefully executed sabotage, and it both succeded in destroying important equipment, and doing it without any casualties. Just like any good sabotage plan should aim for insofar it's possible.

Poulsson himself was, as most Norwegian soldiers from WW2, not particularly proud of this. Not ashamed either, of course, but it was something that he mostly felt had to be done, and that was that.

I also happen to live in the town where this went down, working at an aerial cablecar. A couple of years ago, a TV team required use of one of the wagons to conduct parts of an interview with Poulsson, and I happened to be the driver in the cablecar they took. They mostly discussed the local history sans war, such as the cablecar itself. Was pretty neat to be there.

So, another of the WW2 heroes have now passed away. And one of the most important ones, at least in Norwegian history.

[Lensman]

A very brave leader of a very brave band of men.

[commandlinegamer]

The Heroes of Telemark, the film based on events including Operation Grouse, is regularly repeated over here on TV; their actions have not been forgotten.

[Hawk one]

The Heroes of Telemark, the film based on events including Operation Grouse, is regularly repeated over here on TV; their actions have not been forgotten.To be honest, that movie never exactly got a good welcome around here, nor amongst the guys in Operation Grouse. Felt it was too Hollywood-ized, and although they filmed on location (i.e. in this town), they often filmed on the wrong locations, which caused plenty of humorous comments when the movie first showed here ("Hey, I know where this is. But they were on the other side of the valley, dammit!". ;)

[Skeptic]

The Heroes of Telemark, the film based on events including Operation Grouse, is regularly repeated over here on TV; their actions have not been forgotten.

People from Telemark must get the phone slammed in their face a lot.

-- "Hi, I'm a Telemarketer!"
-- *Slam*

[Akhenaten]

To be honest, that movie never exactly got a good welcome around here, nor amongst the guys in Operation Grouse. Felt it was too Hollywood-ized, and although they filmed on location (i.e. in this town), they often filmed on the wrong locations, which caused plenty of humorous comments when the movie first showed here ("Hey, I know where this is. But they were on the other side of the valley, dammit!". ;)





That's a bit of a shame, in some ways, because the movie is the only exposure I'd ever had to the story until now.

Still, despite the inaccuracies you describe, the movie certainly managed to convey a sense of the heroic nature of the operation, and that can't be all bad.