Operation Swallow: The Battle for Heavy Water

1948 Norwegian film

Operation Swallow: The Battle for Heavy Water (original title: Kampen om tungtvannet, French title: La Bataille de l'eau lourde) is a Norwegian-French film from 1948. The history is based on the best known commando raid in Norway during World War II, where the resistance group Norwegian Independent Company 1 destroyed the heavy water plant at Vemork in Telemark in February 1943.

The film is basically a reconstruction of real events, a docudrama, with many of the participants playing themselves in the film. It was filmed on location in Norway.

Cast

• Andreas Aabel as Kasper Idland
• Jens-Anton Poulsson as himself
• Johannes Eckhoff
• Arne Kjelstrup as himself
• Claus Helberg as himself
• Claus Wiese as Joachim Rønneberg
• Henki Kolstad as Einar Skinnarland
• Knut Haukelid as himself
• Fredrik Kayser as himself
• Hans Storhaug as himself
• Torstein Skinnarland as himself, the dam keeper
• Rolf Sørlie as himself
• Knut Lier-Hansen as himself
• David Knudsen
• Harald Schwenzen
• Raoul Dautry
• Frédéric Joliot-Curie
• Lew Kowarski
• Sigrid Gurie
• Øyvind Øyen as the professor, Major Leif Tronstad

Reception

It was the second most popular film at the French box office in 1948.^[1]

See also

• The Heroes of Telemark, a 1965 film
• The Heavy Water War, a 2015 TV series

References

1. "French Box Office in 1948". Box Office Story.

External links

• Operation Swallow: The Battle for Heavy Water at IMDb