Aircraft

De Havilland DH.98 Mosquito
The De Havilland Mosquito DH.98 was a combat aircraft made to conduct air raids, it was operated by Britain and allied forces during World War II.

The Allied forces communicated with Norway over three years if Knaben should be sabotaged or bombed to stop the molybdenum production, and if it was morally responsible choice towards the workers and their families. Eventually, a new defence minister was instated, after receiving information about the Germans mocking why Knaben has still not been sabotaged by Norway and the Allied forces. He swiftly decided to approve of the air raid, rather than the sabotage, which would have likely saved more lives.

The Mosquito was the aircraft model used by the unit No. 139 Squadron RAF to bomb Knaben March 3rd, 1943. The attack was estimated to halter the molybdenum production for around 11 months, which weighted more as a ‘necessary sacrifice’ of the workers, rather than acting on morals. Thirteen Norwegian workers were killed from the attack and one german soldier, another 23 were injured. While forced to clean up the remaining timed bombs dropped in the attack, three russian prisoners of war were killed by the explosions. The molybdenum production in Knaben was back in only 2 months, leading to another air raid a year later.