Operation Clairvoyant

'Clairvoyant' was a British unrealised operation by the Special Operations Executive for a concentrated wave of attacks on key infrastructure elements in German-occupied Norway (April 1941/late 1942).

The initial target list included the hydro-electric power plants at Tyssedal, Rjukan (where a nitrate factory was also to be attacked), Bjølvefoss, Høyanger, Saude and Stangfjord, and the ferry at Tinnsjø.

This was an ambitious concept targeting southern Norway’s major hydro-electric sites and ferries to disrupt the manufacture of specialist metals, especially aluminium. Also included was a sub-plan to bomb Rjukan as the means of halting production of heavy water. After it failed to obtain the required aircraft and because of objections from the Norwegian authorities, the plan was scaled down to a projected attack against Høyanger. One sortie was made but failed as a result of bad weather, and then members of the party were badly injured in a car crash. Nevertheless, the plan was resurrected at times to a period as late as the end of 1942.