Assault in Norway: Sabotaging the Nazi Nuclear Bomb Book

By 1942 German scientists seemed to have an insurmountable head start over their Allied counterparts in developing an operational atomic bomb. Contributing to the Nazis' nuclear lead was their access to large quantities of an ingredient crucial to atomic experimentation: "heavy water," the world's largest producer and stockpiler of which was the fortresslike Vemork factory in occupied Norway. Allied hopes of stalling the Nazi nuclear program soon focused on sabotaging the virtually impregnable cliffside plant-a suicidal mission by any estimation. But a team of brave Norwegian exiles, trained in Britain by Special Operations Executive, infiltrated their homeland and, while hiding and eking out an existence in the wilds, awaited the opportunity to launch one of the war's most daring commando raids. Basing his gripping narrative in large part on interviews with the commandos themselves, Thomas Gallagher here recounts in vivid detail the planning and execution of Operation Gunnerside. In its relentless drama and harsh elemental setting, Assault in Norway will remind readers of the intrigue and adventure found in such classic stories of wartime derring-do as David Howarth's We Die Alone and The Sledge Patrol. (5 1/2 x 8, 234 pages)

Thomas Gallagher (1918-1992) was a widely published journalist and the author of eight books. His novel The Gathering Darkness (1952) was nominated for a National Book Award; his Fire at Sea: The Story of the Moro Castle (1959) won the Edgar Allan Poe Award for nonfiction.