Another hero departs

The BBC reports:

Joachim Ronneberg, the Norwegian resistance fighter who sabotaged Nazi Germany’s nuclear weapons ambitions during World War Two, has died aged 99.

In 1943, he led a top-secret raid on a heavily-guarded plant in Norway’s southern region of Telemark.

The operation was immortalised in the 1965 Hollywood film Heroes of Telemark, starring Kirk Douglas. …

The men parachuted on to a plateau, skied across country, descended into a ravine and crossed an icy river before using the railway line to get into the plant and set their explosives.

“We very often thought that this was a one way trip,” he said.

After the explosion, the men escaped into neighbouring Sweden by skiing 320km (200 miles) across Telemark – despite being chased by some 3,000 German soldiers.

With a wry smile, Ronneberg described it as “the best skiing weekend I ever had”.

The operation, coupled with US air raids the following year, led the Germans to abandon their plans and was later described as the most successful act of sabotage of World War Two.

Awesome. He skied for over 300 kms while chased by 3,000 Nazis. And got away.