War memorial upgrade plans for Scots who died trying to foil Adolf Hitler's atomic bomb

Renewed efforts to remember the Allied servicemen who took part in a secret mission to stop the Nazis from creating an atomic bomb have been launched.

A war memorial in Caithness dedicated to the nine Scots, who were among 48 soldiers involved in the Operation Freshman mission, is to be upgraded as part of the plans.

It comes with historical researcher Dr Bruce Tocher, a Scot now based in Stavanger, having spent the past five years examining Operation Freshman for a new book.

Lieutenant David Alexander Methven GM, 22, 9th (Airborne) Field Company, Royal Engineers (left), from Fortingall in Perthshire and Flight Sergeant James Falconer, 20, Flight Engineer, 138 Squadron, RAF, (right) from Edzell, Angus, were both killed as the gliders crashed in poor weather after failing to reach the Vemork power plant. Pictures: Courtesy of Methven and Falconer familieskilled when his Halifax (W7801) crashed into Hestafjellet, SW Norway just before midnight on the19th November 1942. Jim (the eldest of five brothers) came from Edzell and was 20 years old was killed when his Horsa Glider (DP-349) crashed in Fylgjesdalen, Lysefjord in SW Norway around midnight, 19th November 1942. David came from Fortingall, Perthshire and had already been awarded the George Medal for bravery. He was 20 years old.Photo courtesy of the Falconer Family.Photo courtesy of the Methven Family

He is attempting to trace the families of three of the Scottish servicemen and said it was a “tragedy” the sacrifices made by the men – and the horrors they faced – were so little known.

The servicemen in question are Corporal James Cairncross, from Hawick, Lance Corporal Alexander Campbell, of Grangemouth, and sapper John Hunter, from Lennoxtown.

On a freezing night in November 1942, the Allied soldiers had taken off from a tiny airstrip at AF Skitten, near Wick, in late 1942.

Jammed into two plywood gliders and carrying pocketfuls of explosives, they were charged with destroying parts of the Vemork hydroelectric power plant in Telemark in the south-west of Nazi-occupied Norway. It was here that heavy water – the material needed to make a nuclear reactor – was being produced in abundance.

Bodies of the Operation Freshmen crewmen are lifted from their beach graves in 1945. PIC: Per Jensen memorial.

But after a three-and-a-half hour flight – when the two gliders were each towed by a rope connected to a Halifax bomber in an operational first – poor weather and failings in the guidance system led to three of the aircraft crash landing in the Norwegian mountains as the ropes froze, took on extra weight and snapped in the sub-zero night.

Of those 48 on board, 41 died from either the crash landing, execution or murder by German army or security services.

Five Scots, the youngest just 20, died on impact and the further horror of war – and its crimes – awaited the survivors.

Families were left for years not knowing what happened to their loved ones sent to stop the Nazi bomb.

Lance Corporal Alexander Campbell (on left), 261st (Airborne) Field Park Company, Royal Engineers survived the crash landing of his Horsa Glider but was executed the following dayby the German Army at Slettebø, near Egersund. Alexander came from Grangemouth and was 24 years old. PIC: Per Johnsen Archive

Tom Conacher, from Plains, near Airdrie, was a rear gunner in one of the Halifax bombers involved in the mission.

His daughter, Christine Macdonald, told the BBC: "Dad never really spoke to us about it [the operation]. I think that was because of the terrible loss of life."

Dr Tocher has been working with Caithness Voluntary Group (CVG) and Royal British Legion Scotland to refurbish Skitten's memorial, which bears the names of men killed in the operation.

Dr Tocher previously told The Scotsman there had been “too many risk factors” in Operation Freshman. Paratroopers were considered, but thought too risky given the potential for a scattered landing. Gliders, which could come down relatively discreetly with all men and equipment together, were selected to land in an area marked by the Norwegian resistance.

Reburial Ceremony in July 1945 for the 17 men who survived the second glider crash before being shot by the Germans and buried on a nearby beach. They were buried at Eiganes Cemetery, Stavanger, Norway. PIC :Per Johnson Archive.

Dr Tocher said: “It was the first time they used gliders in combat, first time they had flown gliders at night, it was the first glider tow they had ever made and to try and land on a pin prick in Norwegian mountains in November in the dark – well, there were are a lot of things against them.”