The Winter Fortress: The Epic Mission to Sabotage Hitler's Atomic Bomb

By Neal Bascomb

It's 1942 and the Nazis are racing to build an atomic bomb. They have the physicists, but they don't have enough 'heavy water' – essential for their nuclear designs. For two years, the Nazis have occupied Norway, and with it the Vemork hydroelectric plant, the world's sole supplier of heavy water. Under threat of death, its engineers push production into overtime. For the Allies, Vemork must be destroyed. But how could they reach the plant, high in a mountainous valley? The answer became the most dramatic commando raid of the war: the British SOE brought together a brilliant scientist and eleven refugee Norwegian commandos, who, with little more than parachutes, skis and tommy guns, would destroy Hitler's nuclear ambitions.

Based on exhaustive research and never-before-seen diaries and letters, The Winter Fortress is a compulsively readable narrative about a group of young men who survived the cold of a Norwegian winter and evaded the clutches of the Gestapo, to save the world from destruction.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Head of Zeus
• Release date: May 5, 2016
• ISBN: 9781784977030

Neal Bascomb

NEAL BASCOMB is the national award–winning and New York Times best-selling author of The Winter Fortress, Hunting Eichmann, The Perfect Mile,Higher, The Nazi Hunters, and Red Mutiny, among others. A former international journalist, he is a widely recognized speaker on the subject of war and has appeared in a number of documentaries. He lives in Philadelphia. For more information, visit http://nealbascomb.com or find him on Twitter at @nealbascomb.  

Reviews for The Winter Fortress

[labdaddy4 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A very interesting read about a slice of WWII history I was not aware of. The story was slow to get going but as I continued to read the paced really picked up. At times this read more like a thriller than a work of non-fiction. The Norwegian men that played central roles in this tale were true heroes - exhibiting courage, intelligence, toughness, incredible stamina, and - when needed - ruthlessness.

[slug9000 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was a fantastic, thrilling book about Allied efforts to destroy a Nazi-occupied hydroelectric plant in Norway that produced heavy water, a substance that was being used in nuclear weapons research at the time. I went into this book knowing nothing about the German occupation of Norway, the Norwegian resistance, or the state of atomic weapons research, and this book was a fascinating read. The author provides enough history of the German occupation that you can appreciate the state of affairs at the time of this operation, but I didn't feel as though the book was bogged down with extraneous details. The science in the book is also presented in layman's terms; you don't need to be a physicist to understand the basics, and you can even skip over those sections if you aren't interested. The actual operations themselves (the destruction of the heavy water plant and a subsequent operation to destroy stores of it) aren't terribly long. The book is mainly about the preparations for the operations, the Norwegian special forces' struggle for survival in the Norwegian wilderness, and their efforts to avoid German capture. It is a book about war, endurance, survival, and clandestine operations under the nose of the SS. It is exciting and fast-paced, and hard to put down. I highly recommend.

[breic-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I couldn't decide between two of Bascomb's books, this and "Hunting Eichmann." So I read them both. This book has the same flaws, too much detail and lackluster writing. In both books, Bascomb does a poor job giving the context and bigger picture for the story. In "Hunting Eichmann" he didn't even try. In this book, he goes for it, but slips on a banana peel. This material could have made a great magazine story, but it couldn't sustain a book. > The nine were still not exactly sure how this target could possibly be of such value. They had been told that the plant produced something called heavy water, and that with this mysterious substance the Nazis might be able "to blow up a good part of London." The saboteurs assumed this was an exaggeration to ensure their full commitment to the job.

[lamour_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Reading like a novel, this is the detailed description of how the Norwegian Underground and British military battled to keep Hitler from obtaining an atomic bomb. Starting with the attacks on the hydro plant in Vemork by British special forces which ended in disaster for the soldiers attempting to fly in to Norway in gliders to the successful bombing by the Norwegian underground of the heavy water plant inside the hydro plant, Bascomb gives incredible detail of the operations from both sides of the battle.The Norwegians while planning and organizing their attack during the severe winters conditions of the area, lived in the most winter conditions with limited access to food. That these men would ski hundreds of miles to obtain supplies including weapons on meager amounts of food is an important part of their success in hindering the German efforts to guard the heavy water plant.This is a first rate adventure story that is true and highlights the sacrifices some men will make to preserve their freedoms.