Considered by the SOE, and many historians to be the most successful sabotage of WW II. Its success was a major factor in halting Nazi Germany's creation of the atomic bomb. Operation Gunnerside was a raid on a Norwegian plant making heavy water (a by product of fertilizer production and a substance used in the process of making an atomic bomb) and it played out like a James Bond movie plot. A five man team of SOE-trained Norwegian commandos parachuted onto a mountain near the plant, skied their way to the plant which was surrounded by guards, broke into the plant, blew up the heavy-water production line and although 3,000 German soldiers searched the area for the commandos, all of them escaped;The five men skied hundreds of miles to neutral Sweden. Oh, and not a gun was fired.
It was announced over the weekend the passing of Joachim Roenneberg at age 99. He was the leader of that five man team, and the youngest. Joachim Roenneberg was just 23 at the time. The world is remembering Joachim Roenneberg and his part in this incredible feat. READ MORE on Operation Gunnerside from Scientific American