CENTRAL VIEW for Monday, May 6, 2024

The Cowards of Headquarters

Norway’s Lt. General Knut Haukelid felt NATO would upport our plan to reenact the raid on the heavy water plant at Telemark; however the civilians in our two State Departments might nix the idea.

We got an unexpected break when one of my lieutenants said, "Sir, my troops want to be the new Heroes of Telemark. You need to know my father is a Captain in the U.S. Navy.. Dad is our Naval Attaché in Oslo. He thinks he can gain the Ambassador’s support."

Bingo! Our hopes soared. But this would be no informal "go climb a mountain" Adventure Training. This international operation would require a detailed concept proposal that needed approval at the brigade, division, corps, U.S. Army Europe, NATO, and U.S. Embassy-Oslo levels.

Amazingly, we received permission to start training the lieutenant’s platoon for the operation. He and his father were elated. .

The parachuting part was already in hand. But extra fitness training would be essential if the physical feats of the Telemark Commandos were to be replicated.

Some paratroopers needed cross-country ski training. No problem with the snowy Black Forest nearby. We sent a team to scout for sites. We scrounged carabineers, ascenders, pitons, and ropes for cliff scaling. Officers and NCOs with Special Forces backgrounds volunteered to prepare the platoon to scale the Telemark Cliff As word spread, we were swamped with volunteers from other platoons, even other battalions, who immediately replaced any soldiers injured in training.

Meanwhile, General Haukelid gathered the 44 sets of ski equipment he would hide in the snow from the "Nazis." The U.S. Air Force agreed to provide a C-130 aircraft and the usual air traffic control and over-flight arrangements for Germany, Denmark, and Norway.

But, about a month before our D-day, the roof fell in on us. Someone up the line, :probably, in Heidelberg -- and most likely our brigade commander who was more interested in a star than training that might go wrong -- surfaced the idea that replicating the raid that destroyed Hitler’s dream of an atomic bomb to drop on London would be rubbing German noses in their defeat. The operation was cancelled.

Guess who was given the task of phoning Norway’s greatest World War II hero and telling him the Americans were not coming?* When I got Knut Haukelid on the phone, he said, "Bill, you don’t have to say anything. I know how such things work. Good bye, my friend."And that was that.*

How sad that Adolph Hitler could reach beyond the grave to deny 44 young Americans the adventure of a lifetime. They were denied a story they would tell their children and grandchildren, and would be part of their family lore forever.

*With two combat tours completed, retirement began to appeal.

©2024. William Hamilton.

Dr. Hamilton can be contacted at:

Email: william@central-view.com