Operation Musketoon

Part of the Second World War

Glomfjord power plant at the end of Glomfjord

Date

11–21 September 1942

Location

Glomfjord, Norway

Result

Allied operational success

Destruction of the Glomfjord power plant

Belligerents

United Kingdom

Norway

Nazi Germany

Commanders and leaders

Graeme D. Black

Nikolaus von Falkenhorst

Units involved

No. 2 Commando
Norwegian Independent Company 1

340th Infantry Regiment
233rd Artillery Regiment
(from 196th Infantry Division)

Strength

United Kingdom:
10 commandos
Norway:
2 commandos

Casualties and losses

1 killed
7 captured (later executed)

2 killed
2 wounded

Allied operational success

Operation Musketoon was the codeword for an Anglo-Norwegian raid in the Second World War. The operation was mounted against the German-held Glomfjord power plant in Norway between 11–21 September 1942.

The raiding party consisted of two officers and eight men from No. 2 Commando, and two men of the Norwegian Armed Forces in exile who were part of the Special Operations Executive. Crossing the North Sea by submarine, on arrival in Norway they successfully attacked and sufficiently damaged the plant; it remained inoperative for the remainder of the war.

To evade German search parties, the commandos split into two groups. One group of four men safely reached Sweden and were eventually repatriated back to the United Kingdom. The second group were captured; one man died of his wounds and the other seven were taken to Germany, interrogated and then executed at Sachsenhausen concentration camp.

After the British Expeditionary Force had been evacuated from Dunkirk in 1940, Prime Minister Winston Churchill called for a force to be assembled and equipped to inflict casualties on the Germans and bolster British morale. Churchill told the joint Chiefs of Staff to propose measures for an offensive against German-occupied Europe, and stated: "They must be prepared with specially trained troops of the hunter class who can develop a reign of terror down the enemy coast." One staff officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Dudley Clarke, had already submitted such a proposal to General Sir John Dill, the Chief of the Imperial General Staff. Dill, aware of Churchill's intentions, approved Clarke's proposal. Three weeks later the first commando raid took place. The raiders failed to gather any intelligence or damage any German equipment; their only success was in killing two German sentries.

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