Joachim Holmboe Rønneberg,
DSO (30 August 1919 – 21 October 2018) was a
Norwegian Army officer and broadcaster. He was known for his
resistance work during
World War II, most notably commanding
Operation Gunnerside, and his post-war war information work.
Honours and awards[edit]
In 1943, he was awarded Norways's highest decoration for military gallantry, the
War Cross with sword.
[24] For his war service Rønneberg also received
St. Olav's Medal With Oak Branch,
Defence Medal 1940–1945 and
Haakon VIIs 70th Anniversary Medal.
[25] In addition to his Norwegian decorations, he was also decorated by the British with the Distinguished Service Order (
DSO),
[26] by the Americans with the
Medal of Freedom with silver palm and by the French with the
Legion of Honour and
Croix de Guerre.
[25]
Operation Gunnerside[edit]
A reconstruction of the Operation
Gunnerside team planting explosives to destroy the cascade of electrolysis chambers
British authorities were aware the Grouse team was still operational, and decided to mount another operation in concert with them. By this time the original Grouse team was being referred to as
Swallow. On the night of 16 February 1943, in Operation
Gunnerside (named after the
village where SOE head
Sir Charles Hambro and his family used to shoot grouse), an additional six Norwegian commandos were dropped by parachute by a
Halifax bomber of 138 Squadron from
RAF Tempsford. They were successful in landing, and encountered the Swallow team after a few days of searching on cross country skis. The combined team made final preparations for their assault, which was to take place on the night of 27/28 February 1943.
[15]
Supplies required by the commandos were dropped with them in special
CLE containers. One of these was buried in the snow by a Norwegian patriot to hide it from the Germans; he later recovered it and in August 1976 handed it over to an officer of the British
Army Air Corps, which was conducting exercises in the area. The container was brought back to England and was displayed in the
Airborne Museum at Aldershot, later part of the
Imperial War Museum Duxford.
[16]
Following the failed Freshman attempt, the Germans put mines, floodlights, and additional guards around the plant. While the mines and lights remained in place, security of the actual plant had slackened somewhat over the winter months. However, the single 75 m (246 ft) bridge spanning the deep ravine, 200 m (660 ft) above the river
Måna, was fully guarded.
[13]
The force elected to descend into the ravine, ford the icy river and climb the steep hill on the far side. The winter river level was very low, and on the far side, where the ground levelled, they followed a single railway track straight into the plant area without encountering any guards. Even before Grouse landed in Norway, SOE had a Norwegian agent within the plant who supplied detailed plans and schedule information. The demolition party used this information to enter the main basement by a cable tunnel and through a window. Inside the plant the only person they came across was the Norwegian caretaker (Johansen), who was very willing to cooperate with them.
[13]
The saboteurs then placed explosive charges on the heavy water electrolysis chambers, and attached a fuse allowing sufficient time for their escape. A
Thompson submachine gun[17][18][19] was purposely left behind to indicate that this was the work of British forces and not of the local resistance, in order to try to avoid reprisals. A bizarre episode ensued when fuses were about to be lit: the caretaker was worried about his spectacles which were lying somewhere in the room (during the war new glasses were nearly impossible to acquire). A frantic search for the caretaker's spectacles ensued; they were found, and the fuses lit. The explosive charges detonated, destroying the electrolysis chambers.
[13]
The raid was considered successful. The entire inventory of heavy water produced during the German occupation, over 500 kg (1,102 lb), was destroyed along with equipment critical to operation of the electrolysis chambers. Although 3,000 German soldiers were dispatched to search the area for the commandos, all of them escaped; five of them
skied 400 kilometres to Sweden, two proceeded to Oslo where they assisted
Milorg, and four remained in the region for further work with the resistance.
[15]