SpyTHINK 018: The Heroes of Telemark: James Bond Adventure 4 REAL in 1965

Agent Kirk Douglas, 007

I thought I was watching the later, 1969 "On Her Majesty's Secret Service"! A very realistic WW2 Commander Ian Fleming Royal Navy feel to the movies--especially the sea escape to the U.K. beginning. 

The Heroes of Telemark (THOT)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axBiR8ZipPM

Kirk Douglas with weapons on skis, cliff rappeling without metal snaplinks--and bicycles wearing a blue parka looks like....James Bond. 

Ditto the above with Richard Harris except with a tan parka. To include bicycles for covert mobility and a shoulder stock pistol to explode sea mines. 

Richard & Kirk as SOE Commandos in WW2

The man kissing the beautiful women is playboy-scientist Dr. Rolf Peterson with chin dimple. 

The whole story depicted is TRUE. 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0499247/?ref_=tt_sims_tt

A group of both Norwegian and Britiish specially-trained military team reenacts the WWII mission of the Grouse-Gunnerside commando which was crucial for the Allied Forces in the heavy water atomic bomb war. Focused on the difficulties these men had to endure in a frozen winter environment.

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The German nuclear bomb program major league baseball catcher Moe Berg was chasing in Berlin was stymied at controlling nuclear fission by being denied heavy water by the Heroes of Telemark. Berg also wore a snow parka looking very much like a James Bond in an OHMSS-like adventure. 

THOT is highly interesting depicting the poor choice of trying to airland gliders with British Commandos when parachuting reliably worked. Fieseler Storch STOL grasshoppers are shown hunting the ski commandos to good effect.  

There are several DIRECT James Bond connections:

The British General was played by who Geoffrey Keen who played the British Defense Minister in several Sir Roger Moore and a Timothy Dalton 007 movies. 

The evil German Major was of course played by Anton Diffring who played a British Para in the Red Beret (produced by James Bond producer Albert Broccolli and 007 director Terence Young) and German Nazi military men in several other movies; "Where Eagles Dare", "The Blue Max", . 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059263/trivia?ref_=tt_trv_trv

The commander of the actual raid, and its last surviving member, Joachim Ronneberg, died in 2018 at the age of ninety-nine. He had been amongst the most decorated Norwegian Soldiers of World War II. For this action, he was awarded the highest award for bravery by the King of Norway and was also awarded medals by the United States, United Kingdom, and France.

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James Bond is REAL.