Nitrate plant where Germans tried to develop atomic bombs, Rjukan, Norway, circa 1945

Description: 

Photograph. Exterior view of nitrate plant at Rjukan, Norway; houses in foreground. Official Caption: "Rome 8/20/45. Nitrate plant at Rjukan, Norway, where Germans tried to develop atomic bombs. British commandos and paratroopers, attacking the Rjukan nitrate plant (shown here) in Norway in the winter of 1942, destroyed a laboratory where German experiments with radium, uranium and heavy water were being carried on in an effort to develop atomic bombs. British raiders were assisted by a Norwegian workman. This and two other British attacks on German heavy water supplies in Norway helped prevent the Germans from developing the devastating bomb. Photo serviced through U. S. I. S. Rome 43303-PPA. Approved by appropriate U.S. authority (D List out)." Rjukan, Norway. 20 August 1945

Image Information

Donor: 
Dylan Utley
Accession Number: 
2012.019.628
Date: 
08/20/1945
Location: 
Hometown: 
Branch: 
Theater of Service: 
Unit: 
Campaign / Event: 
POW / KIA: 
Topical Subjects: 
Factories--Norway
Atomic bombs--German--Norway
Nitrates--Norway
Collection Level: 
Items from the service of Isaac "Ike" Bethel Utley, who was born in Smith Mills, Kentucky on 3 March 1920. Ike enlisted in the Army Air Corps on 19 January 1942. He was shipped overseas to the European Theatre and worked with a supply division based out of the city of Naples with an office set up in a residential villa. Utley worked with the Office of War Information and used their photographs in news articles to inform soldiers of the progress of the war. At war's end, Utley returned stateside. A trunk full of over 800 photographs from the O.W.I. arrived on his doorstep from his office in Italy, sender unknown. This collection consists of those photographs.
Geography: 
Rjukan
Latitude: 
59.900
Longitude: 
8.550
Thesaurus for Graphic Materials: 
Factories--Norway
Atomic bombs--German--Norway
Nitrates--Norway