Hans Storhaug
Hans "Kyllingen" Storhaug (1915–1995) was a Norwegian resistance fighter in World War II. He is best known for helping destroy the heavy water plant at Vemork in 1943 and for taking part in the SOE missions Grebe and Grebe Red in Østerdalen from 1943 to 1945.
He was born in Rena, the son of Ludvig Storhaug and Emilie Røed, and was brother-in-law to singer Alf Prøysen through his sister Else Storhaug (married in 1948). After Norway was invaded in 1940, Storhaug fought the Germans in Solør on 18 April 1940 and in the Dovre area. In December 1940 he traveled to Scotland and joined Kompani Linge. He took part in Operation Anklet, the raid on Reine, on 26 December 1941.
Storhaug joined the Swallow/Gunnerside team parachuted onto the Hardangervidda on 16 February 1943. After helping destroy the heavy water equipment at Vemork, he escaped by ski to Sweden with four of the other Gunnerside members and then returned to Britain. He later participated in Operation Grebe, where six SOE soldiers parachuted into eastern Norway in October 1943; three were killed on landing, and the others made it to Sweden. They returned to Norway in March 1944 (renamed Grebe Red) and operated behind enemy lines in Østerdalen until the war ended.
After the war, Storhaug appeared as himself in the 1948 film Kampen om tungtvannet. In the 2015 TV series The Heavy Water War, Endre Ellefsen played the character Hans Storhaug.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 15:50 (CET).