Gunnar Bryde Syverstad was a Norwegian resistance member. He is known for his assistance at the Norwegian heavy water sabotage

Norwegian heavy water sabotage

The Norwegian heavy water sabotage was a series of actions undertaken by Norwegian saboteurs during World War II to prevent the German nuclear energy project from acquiring heavy water , which could be used to produce nuclear weapons...

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He was born in Horten

Horten

is a town and municipality in Vestfold county, Norway—located along the Oslofjord. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Horten. The municipality also includes the villages of Borre, Åsgårdstrand, Skoppum, and Nykirke....

, Norway. his mother was from that city and his father was from Glemmen

Glemmen

Glemmen is a parish and former municipality with the city of Fredrikstad, Østfold county, Norway.-History:The parish of Glemminge was established as a municipality 1 January 1838 . A part of Glemmen with 2,013 inhabitants was moved to Fredrikstad 1 January 1867...

 in Østfold

Østfold

is a county in southeastern Norway, bordering Akershus and southwestern Sweden , while Buskerud and Vestfold is on the other side of the bay. The seat of the county administration is Sarpsborg, and Fredrikstad is the largest city.Many manufacturing facilities are situated here. Moss and...

 county. He later moved to Rjukan

Rjukan

Rjukan is a town and the administrative center of Tinn municipality in Telemark . It is situated in Vestfjorddalen, between Møsvatn and Tinnsjå, and got its name after Rjukanfossen west of the town. The Tinn municipality council granted township status for Rjukan in 1996. The town has 3 386...

 where he was laboratory assistant at the Vemork

Vemork

Vemork is the name of a hydroelectric power plant outside Rjukan in Tinn, Norway. The plant was built by Norsk Hydro and opened in 1911, its main purpose being to fix nitrogen for the production of fertilizer. Vemork was later the site of the first plant in the world to mass-produce heavy water...

 hydroelectric power plant outside Rjukan

Rjukan

Rjukan is a town and the administrative center of Tinn municipality in Telemark . It is situated in Vestfjorddalen, between Møsvatn and Tinnsjå, and got its name after Rjukanfossen west of the town. The Tinn municipality council granted township status for Rjukan in 1996. The town has 3 386...

 in Tinn

Tinn

Tinn is a municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Øst-Telemark. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Rjukan....

, Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

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He fled to Great Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

 in February 1944, where he became a member of the Special Operations Executive

Special Operations Executive

The Special Operations Executive was a World War II organisation of the United Kingdom. It was officially formed by Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton on 22 July 1940, to conduct guerrilla warfare against the Axis powers and to instruct and aid local...

. He returned to Norway, being paradropped over Hardangervidda

Hardangervidda

The Hardangervidda is a mountain plateau in the Hardanger region of western Norway. It is the largest such plateau in Europe, with a cold year-round alpine climate and is the site of one of Norway's largest glaciers. Much of the plateau is protected as part of Hardangervidda National Park; it is a...

, to participate in the Operation Sunshine

Operation Sunshine

The Operation Sunshine was an anti-demolition operation in occupied Norway from October 1944 to May 1945. Planned by Norwegian military personnel in the United Kingdom in cooperation with British forces, and part of an effort to protect essential installations and industry, in particular large...

 with Leif Tronstad

Leif Tronstad

Leif Hans Larsen Tronstad DSO, OBE was a Norwegian scientist, intelligence officer and military organizer. He graduated from the Norwegian Institute of Technology in 1927 and was a prolific researcher and writer of academic publications...

. Syverstad and Tronstad were both killed in a shooting incident 11 March 1945.He was post-humorously awarded the British Empire Medal

British Empire Medal

The Medal of the Order of the British Empire for Meritorious Service, usually known as the British Empire Medal , is a British medal awarded for meritorious civil or military service worthy of recognition by the Crown...

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Other sources

• Jensen, Erling; Per Ratvik; Ragnar Ulstein (1948) Kompani Linge ISBN 8244500573
• Berg, John (1986) Soldaten som ikke ville gi seg' (Metope) ISBN 8240300022
• Poulsson, Jens-Anton (1944-1945) Tungtvannssabotasjen, kampen om atombomben 1942-1944 ISBN 8245808032
• Dahl, Per F. (1999) Heavy water and the wartime race for nuclear energy (Taylor & Francis) ISBN 978-0750306331