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A review by natsirt_esq
The Winter Fortress: The Epic Mission to Sabotage Hitler’s Atomic Bomb by Neal Bascomb
5.0
After seeing Erik Larson speak last month, I needed a good dose of narrative fiction. Bascomb delivered with this book.
The Winter Fortress tells a small part of Norway's involvement in World War II. Unfortunately for Norway, they had one of the only places on earth that produced "heavy water." Hitler wanted this heavy water as part of his goal to create an atomic bomb.
The book follows several Norwegians exiled in England during the war, and their efforts to sabotage the production facility of heavy water. We follow all the planning, the failed missions, until finally the successful mission. The successful mission is just amazing. Some spies hide in cabins for months waiting for the exiled Norwegian soldiers who are trained in England to arrive. One mission involved gliders that crashed and saw the soldiers captured, tortured, and killed by the nazis. The successful mission destroyed the production of heavy water and didn't require the firing of a single shot.
Later, after the German's rebuild, the heavy water is set to be transported to Germany. The mission to destroy this water is somewhat anti-climatic. Not Bascomb's fault, it seems the nazis had sort of just given up.
Overall a great book. An equal to Larson's best work.
The Winter Fortress tells a small part of Norway's involvement in World War II. Unfortunately for Norway, they had one of the only places on earth that produced "heavy water." Hitler wanted this heavy water as part of his goal to create an atomic bomb.
The book follows several Norwegians exiled in England during the war, and their efforts to sabotage the production facility of heavy water. We follow all the planning, the failed missions, until finally the successful mission. The successful mission is just amazing. Some spies hide in cabins for months waiting for the exiled Norwegian soldiers who are trained in England to arrive. One mission involved gliders that crashed and saw the soldiers captured, tortured, and killed by the nazis. The successful mission destroyed the production of heavy water and didn't require the firing of a single shot.
Later, after the German's rebuild, the heavy water is set to be transported to Germany. The mission to destroy this water is somewhat anti-climatic. Not Bascomb's fault, it seems the nazis had sort of just given up.
Overall a great book. An equal to Larson's best work.