59°F
weather icon Clear

Norway mourns WWII hero who sabotaged Nazi nuclear plans

Norway hero behind WWII sabotage of Nazi plant dies at 99

COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Norway’s prime minister says World War II saboteur Joachim Roenneberg, who headed the four-man team that blew up a plant producing heavy water which Nazi Germany could have used to produce nuclear weapons, is dead at 99.

Prime Minister Erna Solberg says Roenneberg was “one of our finest resistance fighters” whose “courage contributed to what has been referred to as the most successful sabotage campaign” in Norway.

Roenneberg, then 23, was tapped by the SOE — Britain’s war-time intelligence gathering and sabotage unit — to destroy key parts of the heavily guarded plant in southern Norway in February 1943.

The operation — during which not a single shot was fired — has been recounted in books, documentaries, films and TV series.

Solberg wrote Sunday on Facebook hours after Roenneberg’s death.

Don't miss the big stories. Like us on Facebook.
THE LATEST
Netanyahu fires back at US criticism over handling of Gaza

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s call for a new election in Israel was inappropriate.

Historic Queen Mary in Long Beach undergoes over $45M in repairs

Repairs for the Queen Mary have cost the city of Long Beach more than $45 million over the last eight years, according to city records obtained by The Times, a hefty bill as the city looks to keep the historic ship on a fledgling path toward profitability.