The Winter Fortress: The Untold Story of the Heroic Mission to Sabotage Hitler's Atomic Bomb Program

Richard C. Williams: a very detailed and well researched book about the Germans attempt to make an atomic bomb and the Norwegians efforts to successfully stop them. A very intense reading at times and hard to put the book down.

United States on Oct 30, 2023

E. Alton: A big history buff who's pretty knowledgeable about WW2, I had noticed this book for a while but was waiting for better/lower price to acquire it. Boy how lucky was I once I got it. This amazing story showed me how the Norwegians, who underpowered militarily yet having strong national patriotism, resisted Nazi Germany any way possible once it was quickly invaded. It tells the story of the Norwegian operation to sabotage the Vemork heavy water plant during World War II.

Most impressive is one Norwegian individual, Leif Tronstad, who led a fierce Nazi resistance and paid the ultimate price. Tronstad, an inorganic chemist, intelligence officer and military organizer, first had to lead their training efforts from Britain and Scotland, before later demanding to go in to dangerous Norway himself to help out.

I just loved this story. It showed me newfound respect for Norway as I never recognized the hardships they endured from invading Nazi Germany. Get this book asap, definite keeper for your home library.

United States on Aug 13, 2023

Amazon Customer: Interesting account of an amazing true story

United Kingdom on Apr 29, 2021

Cliente Amazon: El libro narra las vicisitudes de los militares de la Resistencia noruega junto con el ejército británico, en su misión de abortar el proyecto atómico alemán en la II GM. La operación Freshaman, Grouse, Gunnerside se narran pormenorizadas en el ambiente gélido y de ansiedad permanente por parar el proyecto atómico Nazi.

Spain on Apr 04, 2021

Emilio Corsetti III: From the subtitle, you might assume that this book tells the story of a single sabotage mission. That is not the case. There are three separate missions made by different saboteurs.

Two of the planned attacks are successful. One goes terribly wrong. As compelling as each planned attack is, the book suffers from too many characters with hard to pronounce names and a lack of images that would have helped enormously.

I listened to most of the book, reading on my Kindle between what I played on Audible. The Winter Fortress in the title refers to a manufacturing plant in Norway that produced heavy water. The author explains in detail what heavy water is, the production process, and how the Germans were using it in their attempts at building an atomic bomb. If I read that section ten times, I probably still couldn't fully understand it.

While the sabotage attempts are engaging, much of the book dwells on different characters struggling to survive in Norway's mountains awaiting orders. Men who have family a day hike away instead decide to rough it in the mountains. Supply drops go unrecovered. There is poor planning in almost every phase of the initial...

United States on Jan 11, 2021

Diana: This was a book that I found hard to put down. I needed to keep on reading to find what happened next. The hardships faced by the characters were almost unbearable to read about. Thankfully there were at least some happy endings

Canada on Dec 26, 2018

Anthony(Tony) Riggio: October 1, 2016
A review by Anthony T. Riggio of the book “The Winter Fortress” written by Neal Bascomb

I purchased this hardbound book through Amazon which is a history book about World War II in an area of the world I was totally unfamiliar with, namely Denmark, and it involved the Dane partisan activities along with British commandoes. Many of these nationally committed Danes escaped to England when the Nazi’s invaded Denmark and trained to be partisan soldiers to engage in sabotage efforts to slow down any progress’ the Nazi’s were hoping for in the development of their hoped for Atomic bomb. Prior to the invasion by the Nazi’s, the Danes operating a hydroelectric dam on the Rjukan River near Vemork Denmark, were producing “heavy water” which was primarily used to further scientific experiments that was used by academic institution. It had no real value and was sold off at minimum prices to universities.

With the advent of World War II, the Germans (as well as the American scientists) discovered that heavy water was an essential medium for centrifuges and the splitting of the atom. The German had been working on the development of an Atomic...

United States on Jan 02, 2017

Contented Customer: The book was a gift for my husband. He states and I quote, "A superb detailed account of Norway and its people. Through supreme sacrifices, they made a difference when the free world needed it most. I wonder why this story took so long to be told."
The book that we ordered from Amazon was given to a friend who had recently sustained serious injuries in an accident. He is overwhelmed by the story.

Canada on Nov 11, 2016

Trigo: This is a very well written book and so gripping that in places it reads more like a thriller. It has some excellent technical content as well - explaining Germany's nuclear ambitions during WW2 and elucidating why the heavy water, produced at Vemork in Norway, was so important to these plans. Mostly though it is a tribute to the extreme strength and bravery of the members of the Norwegian resistance groups.

United Kingdom on Jun 22, 2016