The Story of Operation Freshman - talk by Bruce Tocher

THE STORY OF OPERATION FRESHMAN, THE ALLIES' FIRST GLIDER-BORNE RAID OF WWII

The successful attack on the Heavy Water facility at Vemork in Norway in February 1943, Operation Gunnerside, is rightly regarded as one of the most daring special forces raids of WWII. Over the years many books have been written about this raid, and it has been portrayed in films (The Heroes of Telemark, starring Kirk Douglas), television series (The Heavy Water War) and numerous documentaries. However, what is less well known is that there was an earlier attempt to destroy this facility, Operation Freshman, the previous year!

In July 1942, the British War Cabinet decided to try to destroy the Norsk Hydro "hydrogen" factory at Vemork due to concerns that the heavy water being produced there could be used as part of Nazi Germany´s program to develop a nuclear bomb. After much discussion, it was decided to use specially trained Royal Engineers to carry out the task.

On the evening of 19 November 1942, despite some misgivings regarding the weather over the objective, two Halifax bombers, each towing a Horsa Glider took off from RAF Skitten, near Wick in NE Scotland. On board each glider were 15 Royal Engineers (Airborne), and two pilots. Tragically, due to failures in the navigation and guidance systems, and poor weather, the aircraft failed to identify the landing zones and were forced to turn back. On the return journey, three of the aircraft (one Halifax and both gliders) crashed in SW Norway. In total, 41 young men (including 8 from Scotland) lost their lives; some killed in the crashes, others executed by the German Army and Gestapo. Due to the secrecy surrounding the mission, very little information was provided to the families of the servicemen at the time, other than that they were missing. A short news article was released by the Germans shortly after the raid saying that a number of aircraft had landed in Norway and that all of the soldiers on board had been engaged and killed to the last man. However, it was not until after the war that true horror of the story emerged! ​​

About the speaker

Dr Bruce A Tocher was born in Forfar, Scotland and is a graduate of Aberdeen University. Bruce has a PhD in Geology and was a lecturer at Plymouth Polytechnic and Aberystwyth University for 10 years before moving to Norway to join their largest oil & gas company, Statoil. He spent 20 years there working in their Research & Development Division before taking early retirement in 2016. He then spent two years as an International Trade & Investment Senior Executive with Scottish Enterprise before deciding to focus full time on military history, in particular Operation Freshman. Bruce, who is based in Stavanger, Norway, has lectured extensively on the subject in the UK and Norway, and has spent six years researching this topic with the aim of publishing a new book on the raid in 2026.

The talk takes place in Lecture Theatre 2 of the Dalhousie Building, University of Dundee. Free for members - donations requested from non-members.

For any queries, please contact Matthew Jarron on museum[at]dundee.ac.uk

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