Original subtitles

- If you want to choose a mission in the war

which fits that suicide mission label, this is the one.

- This is life or death.

They didn't expect any soldiers to return.

Any returning soldiers was a bonus. Really.

- (crowd hailing Hitler)

- We were losing on every front.

So these small-scale commando raids

where you risked just a few very brave,

very courageous individuals to take on impossible targets

on what were basically suicide missions...

...they were absolutely key as symbols for the morale

for the British and wider free nations and publics of the world.

- (dramatic music)

(tense, up-tempo music)

- Corporal Granlund, reporting for debrief.

- Corporal Granlund, please sit.

We will proceed with your mission debriefing.

Operation Musketoon...

September 1942, is that correct? - That is correct, sir.

For this mission for the SOE,

you were under the orders of Captain Black.

- That is correct, sir.

- Corporal, 12 of you left for Norway

to attack the Glomfjord power plant.

The human cost of this attack was extremely high.

Not all of you came back. We need to understand.

Tell me what happened, Corporal.

- On the 15th of September, 1942,

we arrived off the coast of Norway

on board the French submarine Junon.

Um, we rowed our way to the shore...

...and, uh...

landed here...

...around seven miles from the plant.

- (tense music)

- In the first few hours, I pulled ahead of the group

to guide my comrades.

To reach the Glomfjord plant,

we would have to walk for three to four days

through these mountains over an enormous glacier.

We knew that the approach would be difficult,

but it was the only way to reach our target.

- Operation Musketoon involved 12 commandos

scaling what was believed to be an impossible-to-climb glacier

to attack the power station

from a point that the Germans would never have expected,

and to blow it up.

They know they're stepping into enemy territory.

The nearest Allied lines are 2,000 miles away across the sea.

They know that their only escape route is hundreds of kilometres

across the snowbound waste to Sweden.

- Among the 12 of us, two were Norwegian.

We had been recruited for our knowledge of the region.

But this terrain was extremely unpredictable.

(groans and grunts)

Uh, no!

My gun!

Captain, I've lost my gun.

- Corporal, it's alright. Let's go!

Move on, Corporal.

- (groans with frustration)

- For any soldier, it's a disaster.

If you don't have your weapon, you can't defend yourself,

you can't attack, you can't do your job.

If your equipment fails, you're on your own.

- He's absolutely devastated,

because if there's one individual in the whole commando,

or the whole group, who burns,

who longs to fight the Germans more than anyone, it's Granlund...

...because his country is occupied by the Norwegian enemy.

Granlund had actually fought in the defence of Norway,

he'd been one of many individuals who'd actually tried to fight

to stem the Nazi invasion.

- I was devastated by the loss of my weapon,

but fortunately the second-in-command of the mission,

Captain Houghton, was carrying two guns.

- Take this. - What about you?

- I'm fine. - Thank you.

- Come on, carry on. Let's carry on.

- Throughout the entire approach, I only had one thing in mind -

getting my revenge on the occupiers.

- For the first time in more than 200 years,

the people of Norway saw an invading army parading through their cities.

LEWIS: Why did Nazi Germany seek to occupy Norway?

There's two key reasons.

The first reason is that Norway, of course,

sits to the east of Great Britain.

and so it was potentially a key base

from which to invade Britain.

The second, Norway was so important

was because it was a powerhouse of natural resources,

so you're talking oil, gas, minerals, metals,

key resources that the Nazis sought for the war effort.

- We knew we were getting closer to our target,

but the terrain was becoming increasingly rugged.

- (cries out)

- Chudley!

Are you alright?

- There's a voice from below that says, "Yeah, I'm pretty much,

I'm pretty much OK."

Nothing's broken, he thinks.

But most importantly, how do they get him out?

- You have to understand, sir,

getting Chudley out of there was extremely hard.

Our every movement was paralysed by the cold.

- And then what happened?

- We set up camp.

While some of us recovered a bit,

I took Djupdraet aside to review our escape route one last time.

(speaks Norwegian)

- (replies in Norwegian)

- The British can't operate in Norway without Norwegian support,

you need the language expertise,

you need the familiarity with the terrain,

and there is a definite shortage amongst British forces,

even British special forces, of men trained for mountain warfare.

Norwegian personnel are utterly vital for British commando raids.

- (speaking Norwegian)

- To leave the area and reach Sweden, we had two options...

Climb up the pipelines and scale the almost vertical cliff

above the plant.

Or else go around Lake Fykan, a much more accessible route,

but also a riskier one.

- So, tell me, where are we?

- So, we are here. - Yes.

- Here's the German plant, the tunnel...

The Germans should be around here. - OK.

OK, gentlemen, listen to me.

To get out, we have two options...

Go up through the mountains by climbing back along the pipelines.

Or go down, via the lake.

- I really think we should go back through the mountains. It's safer.

- Let's vote.

To go down, raise your hand.

If you want to go up?

Well, that's that. We'll go down.

- It's a strange thing, psychologically,

if you think about it.

Why would 12 men sit down to vote on escape options

if in their hearts they knew

their chances of escape were pretty much zero?

In that situation you have to believe there's a chance.

If you don't believe there's a chance,

are you going to go ahead and do the mission?

No, because you'll lose hope.

That's the reason why the escape route,

crazy and impossible though it was,

had to be kept alive, had to be kept real.

- So, um, after an exhausting trek,

we finally arrived at the Black Glacier.

This glacier was the final stage before reaching our target,

which was still around two and a half miles away.

Crossing this expanse of ice was the only way

to take the enemy by surprise.

- Svartisen, it's the second biggest glacier in Norway.

They had brought along a lot of equipment,

explosives and stuff like that,

so it wouldn't be easy to cross the glacier.

- (wind whistling)

- When we got to the top of the fjord,

we saw the Glomfjord power plant for the first time.

From our vantage point, we had a clear line of sight on the factory.

LEWIS: You had a power station in a very, very remote part of Norway

sitting on a fjord, fed from a lake down pipelines

in hydroelectric power production.

And the power from that power station

went to feed an aluminium smelting plant just down the fjord.

And the aluminium being produced from that plant

was crucial for the German war effort

because aluminium was the key material used to make warplanes.

So if you could take out the hydroelectric facility

and destroy that, you could stop the power flow to the aluminium plant

and that would stop the production of this vital war material.

That's the strategic reason why it was so important.

- The attack was planned for that same evening.

We only had a few hours left to study the lay of the land

and finalise our plan of attack.

We were to place our charges at two strategic locations.

First, on the generators and the turbines in the engine room.

And then on the pipelines, to flood the area completely.

- Listen, gentlemen. This is what's going to happen.

We're going to split up in two teams.

The first will come with me to the plant.

The second will go up to the pipelines. Understood?

- Graeme Black was a Canadian

who basically had not really excelled at school.

He was a born adventurer, basically.

He never ever shows any doubt or any uncertainty about

not only pulling it off, but about the rightness of their cause.

- Alright, but don't forget,

civilians need to be evacuated first.

- Did you take enough time to observe the area?

- We spent 24 hours observing the comings and goings around the plant.

And the previous night, we noticed a lot of activity.

Um, lights and torches.

So of course we were all a little bit nervous.

Especially considering the fact that there was an entire German regiment

stationed there... 300 men, I believe.

- What was your state of mind, Corporal?

- I knew it was essential that we achieve our mission.

- We were ready.

Now we had to find a way into the building.

- (tense music)

- One sentry, right outside the door.

- This raid is predicated on

the ability to get into the plant without being discovered.

They all have this undying urge to get there and attack the target.

At no stage is any member of the patrol daunted

or has second thoughts.

That courage and that single-mindedness

is really quite extraordinary.

- (softly) OK. I've found an entrance over here.

- OK, come on, let's go. OK.

- We had left three men behind us to cover our backs.

And then we went in,

careful but determined.

- (tense, suspenseful music)

- We reached the engine room.

So far, we hadn't been spotted.

But I knew we had very little time

to find exactly where to place our explosives.

Those setting the charges were ordered to get to work.

They had around 33 pounds of explosives to set

in order to cause as much damage as possible.

Our aim was to shut down this plant until the end of the war.

LEWIS: When you've kneaded and inserted those charges

into the most vulnerable parts of the turbines,

you then have to insert what were called timer pencils.

They were made of metal, but they had acid at one end

in a glass cap.

When you broke the glass, the acid was released,

it ate through a copper wire,

which released the spring,

which triggered the fuse to blow the charges.

- We were among the first to carry out this type of operation

behind enemy lines.

So we had to prove ourselves,

to prove the effectiveness of commando missions.

- These small-scale commando raids were absolutely key

as symbols for the morale for the British

and wider free nations and free publics of the world.

That's one reason why Operation Musketoon was so important.

- The British would suffer many such bombings and burnings,

but a nation that calls on cold courage when hot courage runs thin

may die, but it can't be defeated.

LEWIS: In 1942, we had weathered the Battle of Britain

and the invasion of Britain hadn't happened.

But it was, you could argue, still the Allies'

or certainly Britain's darkest hour.

Churchill, the British leader, had called for these raids

to set Europe aflame,

to ensure that no German could sleep soundly at night.

- While the first team laid the explosives,

Captain Houghton and I set off in search of the workers.

- (exchange in Norwegian)

- Inge!

- Kom.

They assured me that there were no Germans in the plant.

I had no other choice but to believe them.

- Corporal, why did you trust them?

- Sir, I was only focusing on my objective,

which was to evacuate them so they could get away from the explosion.

The idea was to take them through a tunnel

that is over a mile long, under the mountains,

that goes straight to the next village.

We spoke the same language, we come from the same country.

I had no reason to believe they would be lying to me.

So when they told me there were no Germans in the plant,

I trusted them.

But what I didn't know was that this tunnel was under surveillance.

- (fires gun)

(fires second shot)

(speaks Norwegian)

Ga!

Now that a guard had escaped,

I knew our element of surprise was lost

and that the Germans would arrive quickly.

But fortunately, we'd come up with a trick to slow them down.

- Corporal, there are still people in the plant. You should go.

- Alright.

- They didn't have enough explosives to carry with them

to blow up that tunnel.

They knew that, but they knew they had to make the enemy think

the tunnel was destroyed.

- With the alarm raised

and German reinforcements imminently arriving,

the team set off smoke grenades in the tunnel

to give the impression the tunnel is on fire,

that access through here is impossible,

and of course this covers their withdrawal.

- Meanwhile O'Brien's group was laying the charges on the pipelines.

LEWIS: O'Brien's orders are that if he's not given the signal of success

from those individuals down at the plant

within a certain amount of time,

he's to blow his charges anyway.

That means that he will be blowing the pipelines

knowing that the effect of that will be to kill

the other nine members of the patrol.

MANN: Djupdraet is the other Norwegian on the raid.

Very young man, 22, been involved again in the fighting of the Germans

when the Germans invaded.

If you want to continue the war against the Germans,

the only place to do it is with Norwegian forces in the UK.

- (suspenseful music)

- And as for you, where were you?

- Still inside.

Now that the civilians were safe, we were ready to set the charges,

and then evacuate.

At this point, we had ten minutes to leave the area

before the charges exploded.

- Black actually sets those timer pencils, those fuses,

for the minimum amount of time possible,

so the explosions will go off as the men are leaving the plant,

because he will not risk the Germans arriving and removing them,

stopping the explosions from going off.

- (tense music)

LEWIS: Once you've triggered those fuses, if you don't get out in time,

you will get caught in the blast and you will be killed too.

- We got out of the factory two hours after the operation started.

We'd achieved our goal

to sabotage the Glomfjord power station.

But the difficulty of the hours ahead weighed on our minds.

We needed to escape the area before the German troops arrived.

- So, let's do what we said.

- As we left the facility, we split up.

In small groups, there was less chance of being spotted.

Then we moved out, hoping the charges would go off as planned.

- (distant explosion)

- Bravo!

- (muted whoops)

- (second explosion)

- Well played.

Well played, men. Go on.

- The sound of those first explosions was music to their ears.

What basically happens is, every single one of these massive

church, cathedral-like arch windows in the power station

is blown outwards, all the glass is blown out.

And inside, those turbines, the three turbines,

these giant turbines upon which the charges have been set,

have been lifted up by the explosion.

They're wrenched from their mountings

and they are red hot and steaming

from where the charges have torn them apart.

- (warning alarm wails in distance)

(alarm wailing)

- Corporal, nobody saw you?

- Nobody, sir.

But we knew that after those first explosions,

all available German forces would be coming after us.

As soon as the explosion rings out,

the German commander in the nearby village sees it.

He knows he's got to get his men to that plant to investigate,

and ideally capture them as fast as possible.

And for the raiders themselves,

they are no longer covert,

this is no longer a secret mission.

The surprise and the secrecy has been blown.

Their presence is now known

and they know the hunters will come hunting.

As soon as O'Brien sees the explosions

go off in the turbine hall,

that's his trigger to set his own fuses going.

And those are 30-minute fuses.

That gives Black and his nine men 30 minutes

to get out of that valley.

Because if they're not out of that valley within 30 minutes,

those charges will go off

and those two pipelines will deliver chaos and mayhem

and Armageddon in terms of the plant below.

- We reached our rendezvous point near Lake Fykan.

- (short sharp whistle)

- (whistles)

- (whistles back)

- (speaks Norwegian)

- (replies in Norwegian)

- I was glad to see my comrades again, especially Djupdraet.

But time was running out. We had to leave the area

before the pipelines blew.

- (huge explosion)

ALL: Yes!

- Well done. We did it!

- That second explosion is magnificent.

- It's absolutely magnificent.

- (rumbling, explosion)

- Within minutes, you have this huge, massive dam of debris,

broken trees, boulders, gravel,

water, building up at the back of the turbine hall,

which is going to have, very shortly,

terminal consequences for that building.

- (sombre music)

- And at the same time, bear in mind,

the lights and the power,

what they've come there to stop, the electricity generation facility

which powers the aluminium plant down the bay,

which is the key objective of their mission,

that electric power fizzles out to a stop.

- (panting)

I was pleased with our success,

but I stayed on guard while Captain Black reviewed

our escape plan one last time.

- After these explosions, Corporal, what was the extent of the damage?

- Um, hard to tell from our standpoint.

But when I heard the noise,

this incredible noise of the pouring water,

I knew that the mission was a success.

And now we had to escape across enemy territory.

- What was the plan, Corporal?

- Our only option to get to England was to cross the country eastward,

travelling 150 miles to go to Sweden.

- 150 miles on foot?

- Yes, sir.

But at that time, what I had in mind was...

to get out of the area as soon as possible.

Because there was no doubt all the Germans would be looking for us.

Captain Black ordered me to lead the group,

but the fact was, I've never been through these valleys myself.

We followed Lake Fykan as planned,

but I couldn't find the stairs that would take us over the mountain.

- He's following an escape route he didn't want to follow himself.

He's got the responsibility of those 11 on the shoulders.

If he takes a wrong turn, they're all finished.

- There were probably hundreds of Germans looking for us.

But I underestimated the threat hanging over us.

LEWIS: The 12 commandos had deployed in full uniform.

Under the Geneva Convention, anybody captured by the enemy

should be afforded the protections

which are given to bona-fide prisoners of war.

That's the rules of war.

However, unbeknown to them,

that was never going to be the case.

Hitler had issued an order, which he knew himself to be illegal,

and which he did not want to become known to the Allies,

which said any of these individuals involved in these small-scale raids,

no matter their nationality, no matter what they were wearing,

would be only kept alive for long enough

for them to be tortured and questioned

and then will only be kept alive for long enough

for the Gestapo and SS to question them,

after which they will be shot without trial.

- After half an hour of wandering,

I had to admit it, we were completely lost.

- I suppose you were aware of the risk

when you approached these cabins?

- Yes, of course I was scared of coming across

the wrong kind of person. But I had no other choice.

- And then what happened?

- Inside, I found someone from the power plant who agreed to help us.

He drew me a map of the area.

He showed me a staircase that would allow us to escape.

I really thought we could make it.

(speaks Norwegian)

- (replies in Norwegian)

- (sombre music)

- It had been over an hour since the explosions had gone off,

and despite the directions I'd received,

we were still lost in the middle of the valley.

- (solemn music continues)

- (deep sigh)

It can't be...

OK, OK...

The truth is, uh, I was lost. I couldn't find my way.

So Djupdraet and Houghton went back to the hut

to try to get some more information from the worker.

But what they didn't know was that in the meantime...

- (door opens)

...two Germans came in...

- (grunts and groans)

- (both grunting)

- (fires gun)

(speaks Norwegian)

- (Djupdraet groaning)

SEIM: This is the point where everything goes wrong for them.

- The bayonet pierces...

...Djupdraet's stomach.

It doesn't only pierce him, it went straight through him.

- Hearing the gunshots, we hurried towards the hut.

But it was too late.

- We ran into some Germans.

- (panting and groaning)

- During the confrontation, the two Germans had been left for dead,

but Djupdraet was seriously injured.

- Smith, the morphine!

- (groaning)

(groans)

- It's going to be OK.

We can't wait. The Germans are everywhere.

We have to go.

- The chances of surviving an injury

deep inside Nazi-occupied territory,

having carried out the kind of raid they carried out,

is very, very low indeed.

It's not as if the men can take Djupdraet with them.

There is no way that they can take that injured Norwegian with them

or try and save his life.

- (groaning)

BLACK: We can't wait. We have to go now. Come on.

- In the confusion, I only had a few seconds

to catch sight of Djupdraet's wound.

- We're with you.

LEWIS: This is a moment of real trauma for Granlund.

- We have to go now. Come on.

- Djupdraet and Granlund had served together in Norway

at the start of the war, in the same military unit.

They'd fought alongside each other.

They then fled Norway and got to Britain. So they were close.

In that situation, his responsibility to save

the rest of the team has to be more important,

he has to force himself to leave his injured Norwegian comrade behind

in the greater good of trying to save the others.

BLACK: Let's go. Let's go.

Come on. It's going to be OK.

- I knew Djupdraet was going to die.

We had no choice. We had to leave him behind.

- (gasping and panting)

SEIM: He's too young to die.

That was his...

one of his final words.

For people that didn't know him,

they could say it was worth it. It was just one life,

and maybe it saved countless others.

But if you asked his mother,

I will be sure she would say no, it wasn't worth it at all.

- I imagine that it wasn't easy to leave your comrade behind.

It was, um, one of the most difficult moments of my life.

But we knew the Germans were coming.

My responsibility was to get the first group of men out of here.

- According to our information,

Djupdraet was taken prisoner by the Germans.

He died in hospital three days after the raid.

So, you got out with three of your unit?

- Yes, sir. I left the area with Trigg, O'Brien and Fairclough.

But at some point we had to split up.

But after several days of walking, we managed to reach Sweden.

- Your other comrades, they... were not so lucky.

But, Corporal Granlund, in spite of everything...

you successfully completed your mission.

And we are grateful to you for that.

- Thank you, sir.

- (music swells)

- This is the moment where the British bulldog finds its bark,

where the Allies prove that 12 men can strike back with a single blow

against the enemy, that the Nazi war machine

which seems to be omnipresent,

seems to be invincible on all fronts, is not invincible.

Look what 12 courageous men have achieved.

- (poignant, stirring music)

LEWIS: For the SOE in particular, it was proof of concept.

It was the first ever raid that they'd carried out

which really proved that you could send small bands of men

deep behind enemy lines,

what on paper looks like a mission impossible,

and yet they could succeed.

These were absolutely crucial.

Crucial pieces of hope.

- (dramatic music)

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