Review of The Heavy Water War

Review of The Heavy Water War

An exciting six-episode series about Norwegian commandos in World War II.

The Heavy Water War is one of those typical Friday night “what’s this on Netflix” series that you stumble upon. Heavy Water tells the tale of Norwegian commandos sabotaging Hitler’s efforts towards an Atomic Bomb. A little bit of historical context may be useful going into this series. Germany invaded Norway and Denmark on April 9th, 1940. The Norwegian military actively resisted the Nazis for over two months, along with many civilians who helped organize resistance during occupation, which is the focus of this series.

The series focuses on a team of British-trained Norwegians who undertake a mission to sabotage a heavy water plant in Norway (heavy water being important for the atomic bomb program in Germany), and the work and research of Werner Heisenberg and others in Germany on atomic energy production in Nazi Germany. A powerful theme of the series is the choices that Germans, Norwegians, and British must make in war. In the beginning of the series, the main character Leif Tronstad must choose between staying in Norway with his wife and family, or fleeing to Britain with his inside knowledge of the heavy water production and other key intelligence targets within German Occupied Norway. If Leif goes to Britain, he’ll be part of the military and organize operations against Germany. He chooses the latter, and must suffer the distance from his family.

Conversely we see a young, Nobel-prize awarded Heisenberg who must choose between what is ethical, versus the demands of Germany. Many of his colleagues, many who were Jewish, fled Germany. He too wished to flee, but felt that the German military would let him accomplish his goals of reaching atomic energy, which could turn the war. He knows that the production of atomic energy invariably leads to the weaponization of atomic energy; friends and family try to get him to abandon his research, but he is too interested in progressing science. His research has one crucial piece, however: heavy water.

The allies know that Germany is hot on the heels of an atomic bomb, and must do everything to stop the Germans from reaching that goal. With Leif Tronstad intelligence and background in the heavy water production in Norway, they plan a series of operations to sabotage facilities in German occupied Norway. The series now takes a turn toward being an intense, hard-to-put-down thriller. Teams of Norwegian men train for months to be air dropped behind enemy lines in a covert operation of sabotage and espionage.

The Heavy Water War features a unique cast in a relatively unknown part of the war. Not many Americans, or even many Europeans for that matter, are aware of the actions in Norway. While the series may embellish in certain historical details, it is faithful to the operations and those that were involved in them. It is also a series that does not simply portray every scientist in Nazi Germany as a monster, which is tragically all-too-common in modern World War II film and television.

If World War II interests you, I wholly recommend you take the time to watch The Heavy Water War on Netflix. It is mostly in Norwegian and German, but there are a lot of English speaking scenes. It’s short, clocking in at six 45-minute episodes. It is a quick watch, and hard to put down. I was pleasantly surprised.

5/5 Little Norways in World War II

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