Skis Against the Atom: The Exciting, First Hand Account of Heroism and Daring Sabotage During the Nazi Occupation of Norway

The exciting, first-hand account of heroism and daring sabotage during the Nazi occupation of Norway. The outcome of World War II could very possibly have been much different if Knut Haukelid and his small, but courageous band of Norwegian soldiers had not been successful in sabotaging the Nazis supply of heavy water. The heavy water produced at a facility in occupied Norway was vital to Hitlers race with the United States to develop the atomic bomb. Knut Haukelids Skis Against The Atom gives the reader an intimate account of the valiant and self-sacrificing service that the not-to-be-subdued Norwegians performed for the whole free world.

Mr. Haukelid was born in New York on May 17, 1911, to Norwegian parents and returned to Norway when he was two years old. He studied in the United States from 1927 to 1931, part of the time at the University of Massachusetts, and in Germany at Berlin University in 1937. After Germany invaded Norway, he joined the military and became one of Norways most decorated soldiers. He retired as a lieutenant colonel in 1973. During the height of World War II, Haukelid and eight other Norwegian commandos parachuted into the mountains on what seemed a suicide mission, to destroy a heavy water plant near Rjukan in Telemark, Norway. The raid inspired several books and movies, including the 1948 Hollywood film Heroes of Telemark, which starred Kirk Douglas.