Joachim Holmboe Rønneberg | |
|---|---|
 Joachim Rønneberg (left), Jens Anton Poulsson and Kasper Idland receive KingHaakon VII of Norway at the premiere of the filmOperation Swallow: The Battle for Heavy Water in Oslo (1948) | |
| Born | (1919-08-30)30 August 1919 Ålesund, Norway |
| Died | 21 October 2018(2018-10-21) (aged 99) Ålesund, Norway |
| Allegiance | Norway |
| Branch | Norwegian Army |
| Years of service | 1941–1945 |
| Rank | First Lieutenant |
| Unit | Norwegian Independent Company 1 |
| Battles / wars | |
| Awards | |
| Spouse | |
| Relations | Alf Rønneberg (father) Anna Krag Sandberg (mother) Erling Rønneberg (brother) Anton Johan Rønneberg (great uncle) |
| Other work | NRK broadcaster |
Joachim Holmboe RønnebergDSO (30 August 1919 – 21 October 2018) was aNorwegian Armyofficer and broadcaster. He was known for hisresistance work duringWorld War II, most notably commandingOperation Gunnerside, and his post-war war information work.
Rønneberg was born inÅlesund,Møre og Romsdal,[1] as the second son of Alf Rønneberg fromÅlesund and Anna Krag Sandberg, and a member of theRønneberg family. He was the brother ofErling Rønneberg,[2] who was a well-known resistance member too, having receivedBritish commando training.[3] On the maternal side he was a nephew ofOle Rømer Aagaard Sandberg, and thus a grandnephew ofOle Rømer Aagaard Sandberg, Sr.[4][5] On the paternal side he was a second great grandson ofCarl Rønneberg,[4] and a grandnephew of politicianAnton Johan Rønneberg, whose mother was a part of theHolmboe family—hence Joachim's middle name.
During his childhood, he was a member of scout movement.[6] On 19 September 1949, he married Liv Foldal, a crafts teacher born in 1925.[4][7] He last lived in Ålesund[8] where a statue honouring him made byHåkon Anton Fagerås was unveiled byPrincess Astrid at the end of August 2014. Rønneberg died on 21 October 2018.[9][10]
Rønneberg reported fornational service in 1938, being told to report for duty with thesurveying department in 1940.[11]
World War II broke out when Rønneberg was a young adult, andNorway was occupied by Germany from April 1940. He joinedNorwegian Independent Company 1 (NOR.I.C.1) (Norwegian:Kompani Linge) in 1941,[1] having escaped Norway with eight friends by boat toScotland the same year.[11][12] He received military training in theUnited Kingdom,[1] and held the rank ofSecond Lieutenant.[13]
Rønneberg, now aFirst Lieutenant and put in charge of training, selected and led the six-manOperation Gunnerside team, reinforcing the four-man teamGrouse sent in earlier, during theheavy water sabotage action.[12] After landing at a location 45 kilometres (28 mi) from the other teamGunnerside spent five days waiting out an intense blizzard in an uninhabited hunting cabin before meeting up withGrouse.[14] The combined Norwegian team went into action against theNorsk Hydroheavy water production plant inVemork in 1943, parachuting into theHardangervidda plateau on 16 February.[11] Rønneberg led the demolition team when the saboteurs, on the night of 27–28 February 1943, entered the Norsk Hydro plant and set explosive charges. The team then escaped from the factory as the explosives went off, without the German guards discovering the saboteurs or indeed noticing that there had been an attack on the plant, probably believing that the heavy snow had set off one of their ownland mines. Rønneberg recalled the dawn as they escaped: "It was a mackerel sky, it was a marvellous sunrise. We sat there very tired, very happy. Nobody said anything. That was a very special moment."[12] Although chased by 2,800 German troops,[15] five of the saboteurs, led by Rønneberg, escaped safely toneutral Sweden by way of a 14-day march over a distance of 400 kilometres (250 mi)[16] after the successful completion of their mission.[17] The six other members of the sabotage team hid out in various locations in Norway without being caught by the Germans.[16] Eighteen heavy water cells and around 500 kilograms (1,100 lb) of heavy water were destroyed during the attack,[18] as well as a loss of production of 400 kilograms (880 lb) of heavy water.[15]
After the factory was reported to have been rebuilt in the summer of 1943 a new saboteur attack was planned, but eventually scrapped in favour of anair strike. On 16 November 1943 161United States Army Air ForcesB-17 andB-24heavy bombers attacked the Vemork heavy water plant, and another 12 bombers thenitrogen plant at nearbyRjukan. The attack had not been cleared with the Norwegian government in exile in London and led to a diplomatic crisis between the Norwegian and otherAllied governments. Of particular concern for the Norwegian government was the targeting of the Rjukan nitrogen plant, as it supposedly only produced products for Norwegianagriculture.[19] Twenty-one civilians died in the bombing raid.[15] Following the bombing raid the Germans decided to move the production to Germany, leading theBritish War Cabinet to order Norwegian saboteurKnut Haukelid to sink the Norwegian ferrySFHydro carrying the containers of heavy water acrossLake Tinn. The ferry was sunk with hidden explosives on 19 February 1944, going down with 15,000 litres (3,300 imp gal) of heavy water and killing 14 Norwegian civilians, ending the struggle for the Norwegian heavy water.[20] The 2015 TV mini-seriesThe Heavy Water War produced by theNorwegian Broadcasting Corporation also portrays Rønneberg's role in the heavy water operations.[21]
The sabotage action against the Vemork plant was portrayed in the Franco-Norwegian 1948 filmOperation Swallow: The Battle for Heavy Water, where Rønneberg was portrayed by Norwegian actorClaus Wiese.[22] In 1965 the less-than-accurate American filmThe Heroes of Telemark, starringKirk Douglas andRichard Harris, was released byColumbia Pictures.[23] Rønneberg dismissed this film as a "hopeless" portrayal, when he told his memories in 2010 after many years of silence.[12]
Rønneberg subsequently commanded other raids against the Germans, including theFieldfare operation inSunnmøre,[13] in preparation for attacks against German supply lines in theRomsdal valley.[24] In January 1945 Rønneberg had led a three-man unit of NOR.I.C.1 on a mission to destroy theStuguflåt railway bridge, blowing up the bridge with a 130-kilogram (290 lb) charge ofplastic explosives, putting it out of service for three weeks. The team then escaped without casualties.[25] His service with NOR.I.C.1 ended with the liberation of Norway in 1945.[1]
In 1943, he was awarded Norways's highest decoration for military gallantry, theWar Cross with sword.[26] For his war service Rønneberg also receivedSt. Olav's Medal With Oak Branch,Defence Medal 1940–1945 andHaakon VIIs 70th Anniversary Medal.[27][28] In addition to his Norwegian decorations, he was also decorated by the British with the Distinguished Service Order (DSO),[29] by the Americans with theMedal of Freedom with silver palm and by the French with theLegion of Honour andCroix de Guerre.[28] In 2015,Håkon Anton Fagerås made a statue in bronze of Rønneberg on commission. It was unveiled byPrincess Astrid in Ålesund.[30]
After the war he began a career in broadcasting. He was hired inNRK Ålesund in 1948, was promoted to programme secretary in 1954 and sub-editor in 1977. He retired in 1988.[1] In the 1970s, from 1971, Rønneberg was governor ofRotary International's 128th district.[31] He also participated in the rebuilding ofFieldfare Cabin in the valleyVeltedalen in the summer of 1990, where he had hidden out the last year of the war with two other officers from NOR.I.C.1. Fieldfare Cabin today gives an image of Norwegian resistance during the war.[32][33]
In his later years Rønneberg was involved in war information work, holding lectures for audiences around Norway. He said that he was particularly fond of holding talks for school children. Rønneberg was highly critical of the current situation for the Norwegian military, stating that its capacity for mobilisation was only 9% of the 1990 level.[11] In 1995, Rønneberg, together with fellow World War II resistance leaderGunnar Sønsteby and Norwegian businessmanErling Lorentzen, received the Norwegian-American Chamber of Commerce Achievement Award for "individuals whose outstanding personal accomplishments exemplify the spirit of commitment, perseverance and endeavor that sustains the strong relations between Norway and the United States of America".[34] Rønneberg was a member of the Linge Club, a Norwegian veterans' association, until it was disbanded on 17 October 2007.[35] In April 2013, Rønneberg was presented with aUnion Jack during a ceremony at theSpecial Operations Executive (SOE) monument inLondon to mark 70 years since the successful Gunnerside mission.[36]
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