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Britain's Secret War in Antarctica, Part 3 of 3
http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/tierra_hueca/esp_tierra_hueca_16.htm
by James Robert, Bibliotecapleyades
Extracted from Nexus Magazine
Volume 12, Number 6
(October - November 2005)
On 14 January 1939, Norway formalized its claim to Queen Maud Land in Antarctica, its course of action forced on it by the imminent German discoveries. Adversely, for Norway, its attempt at pre-empting any German claims failed, and so began a political crisis that led to invasion.
When war finally broke out in September 1939, most of Germany’s eventual conquests declared neutrality. Norway was no exception. Hitler wanted Norway to remain neutral but his War Cabinet, whose opinions he trusted until the tide turned against Germany, persuaded him otherwise.
On 20 February 1940, Hitler ordered General von Falkenhorst to lead an expedition force to Norway. Hitler claimed:
Operation Weserübung was launched by Germany on 9 April 1940 and Norway was invaded (Denmark was also invaded that same day). And though the British and Allied forces had to be evacuated in June, they had slowed the unstoppable Wehrmacht enough to help the monarchy, the government and the national treasure be evacuated on board the British cruiser, HMS Devonshire. King Haakon VII represented Norway in exile, and the vast treasures and documents saved were beneficial not just to the preservation of Norway but to British Intelligence.
Hitler was furious with Vidkun Quisling, whom he had hoped would aid the Nazis more comprehensively. Quisling ultimately would have no power, and his inability to stop the evacuation of the monarchy, the government and not least the vast treasures and documentation caused Hitler to lose faith in him and declare him a Norwegian traitor. Those who failed Hitler lost their standing - Hitler made sure of that. Even so, Quisling claimed publicly that he had been offered "safe refuge". Whether the statement was that of a madman or was an honest admission, it echoed the claims of others.
Though Hitler had only wished to beat the British to Norway, his War Cabinet knew that Norway was vital to virtually all the branches of Germany’s armed forces and was more beneficial to its war effort than any other conquest. Nazi Germany’s occupation of Norway brought immense benefits to the Reich. There were thousands of miles of protected fjords for the German U-boats, and there was the possibility of the Nazis exerting pressure on neutral Sweden.34
Information was passed on a two-way basis and the SOE and SIS were privy to any revelation uncovered. British Intelligence also had access to all the Norwegian Government’s files, no matter how "sensitive" the information. Britain at that point stood alone: any information, no matter how trivial, was indispensable. Many Poles had gone to the UK after the start of the German occupation with intelligence on the Germans as well as with one of the first prototypes of the Enigma code-making device. Similarly, with the invasion and occupation of Norway, many fleeing Norwegians brought secrets of the Reich to England.
After Britain frustrated Germany in the Battle of Britain and, as a result, instilled hope in the numerous governments in exile, in 1940–41 it could only fight the Germans in Africa or bomb their cities. But news was soon filtering through about a new front, and one that both the British and Norwegian governments had hoped would never be opened - a front for which there was little in the way of contingency plans.
On 13 January 1941, German commandos under the leadership of Captain Ernst-Felix Kruder from the commerce raider, the Pinguin, stormed and violently captured two Norwegian whaling ships. If that had happened around European coastlines, there would have been no mystery because the Germans allowed none of its conquered peoples to sail too far from land; but because the captures took place in the Southern Ocean off Neuschwabenland, the news when it filtered through could only have sent shock waves through both the British and Norwegian governments.
The German Antarctic Fleet was active and prospering - mines they had laid around Australian ports sank the first US vessel lost to enemy action - but it was the Antarctic coast and islands where they mainly loitered. The Atlantis,37 the Pinguin,38 the Stier39 and the Komet40 were just four of the documented ships that had anomalous reasons for being so far south. All four were eventually sunk by the British Navy, far from Antarctica in various parts of the world from France to the Ascension Islands.
Now that the Antarctic Front had been truly opened, Britain increased its Antarctic bases and personnel numbers and even issued a postmark. However, possibly the most important area that demanded a base was in Neuschwabenland, officially known as Queen Maud Land. Through Norway’s assistance with information and maps, Britain envisaged Maudheim as the most viable place for a base because it was close enough to be able to spy on German activities and also was within striking distance for a highly trained and disciplined military unit. The seeds for the Neuschwabenland campaign had been sown.
From 1941 until the start of the British–Swedish–Norwegian Expedition of 1949–52, Britain sent at least 12 official missions to Antarctica - half of them between the end of the war and the beginning of Operation Highjump, led by Admiral Byrd, starting in December 1946.
In June 1945, the Washington Post published an article stating that the RAF had found, near Oslo, 40 giant Heinkel bombers - aircraft with a 7,000-mile range.
On the other hand, Britain decided it had collated enough knowledge about Antarctica to initiate an intense investigation - one that had to dispel all fears and hide all evidence - for it could not tolerate any more technology or personnel being acquired by the wrong hands, namely, the USSR and the USA.
Britain had helped liberate Norway and, as 1945 was drawing to a close, was in the process of "liberating" Queen Maud Land (the new atlas of the post-war world no longer recognized Neuschwabenland). However, the mysterious wartime expeditions conducted by all the combatant countries, especially Germany, were not entered into the World War II history books.
Postwar Power Plays
In the immediate aftermath of World War II, suspicions surfaced and rumours spread, and the new enemy - one that Hitler had hoped to annihilate - was communism.
When German forces surrendered in May 1945, peace should have broken out but, alas, the world was thrown into a turmoil that was every bit as volatile as it had been before the most violent war in humanity’s history began. The year 1945 was not just the year that World War II ended but also the year that the Cold War started in earnest; and whilst the USSR and the USA had fears about each other’s intentions, they also had differing ideas for how Germany was to be administered.
The atmosphere that surrounded Germany in May 1945 following the Nazi surrender was one of exhaustion; but whilst the Western Allies were so fatigued by the war effort, Stalin was not going to give up his territorial gains and was prepared for war and, indeed, fully expected it. The Soviets did nothing to allay the fears that a Nazi haven had been built or that Hitler might not have committed suicide but, instead, had escaped.43
Just before Berlin fell to the Soviets, it was reported that Martin Bormann had discussed Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, with Grand Admiral Dönitz. This conversation that emanated from Hitler’s Berlin bunker was one of the last to be intercepted in the war in Europe. Argentina had long been perceived as a haven for many escaping Nazis, but this possibility was long denied by the sympathetic Peron. Yet, with the Soviet General Zhukov and Stalin disagreeing as to whether Hitler was dead or had fled, the Nazi survival myth gained momentum.
Britain, in the unique position of holding the strategically important Falkland Islands, was the only country in the immediate months after the war that was in a position to investigate the leading Nazis’ claims about an Antarctic haven and the rise of a Fourth Reich in South America.
The USA, distracted by the war against Japan and the brewing Cold War, had been caught short by Britain’s Antarctic exertions and humbled by its aggressive stance. So the Americans soon adopted a policy, dreamt up during the war, that would destroy Britain’s imperial aspirations, hinder every attempt by Britain to exert any influence around the world and make the country an "ally" in name only.
So, whilst Britain went into World War II a superpower, by the end of the war and by the actions of American foreign policy, especially Operation Highjump, it had been put firmly in its place. The United States became the only country that could successfully influence Britain - as the 1956 Suez crisis proved.
Exploring Queen Maud Land
As discussed in part one, the Nazi "Shangri-La" did exist. Of unknown size, it was set up during the 1938–39 Deutsche Antarktische Expedition.
The Norwegians began exploring Queen Maud Land intensively in 1930, and using planes for the first time they photographed and sketched the area. In subsequent flights in 1931 and 1936, they uncovered areas unknown and identified anomalies that would attract worldwide interest.
The Deutsche Antarktische Expedition discoveries were well publicized. Captain Ritscher and his two Dornier Wal flying boats (Boreas and Passat) flew extensively and produced in excess of 1,500 photographs that covered an area of over 250,000 square kilometers. However, as with the strange case of the suppressed Norwegian maps, most of the films, records and research materials were destroyed in the war, though some have since resurfaced.
During the war and up till the end of the Antarctic summer of 1945–46, Britain’s RAF was also flying over Antarctica to map the area and search for suitable places to establish bases. It discovered more dry areas and possibly even the intelligence that provoked Britain’s Neuschwabenland campaign.
Britain’s arrogance in committing troops to Antarctica, independent of the United States, and in celebrating the feat with the release in February 1946 of a provocative stamp set, would inevitably lead to Britain’s claims on Antarctica being contested, even though the stamps commemorated Britain’s final fight with Nazism rather than being a statement of its Antarctic claims. And even though Britain expressed outrage publicly when Highjump was launched, it was just a pretence: privately, Britain knew that the USA’s newfound superpower status meant that it would not permit Antarctica to be utilized by other nations for financial gain.
Britain halted its Antarctic flights and operations for two years, giving the United States a free hand in Antarctica with the commencement of Operation Highjump. With the Nazi haven destroyed, there was little need for the British to return: the Americans would not discover anything that had not already been discovered. Or would they?
In the two years they had to discover as much about Antarctica as possible, the Americans found dry areas and warm-water lakes that provoked immense media interest, but Operation Highjump, which they’d planned to last for six months, ended after just eight weeks. They received a hostile reaction from other nations, but it was only after the mission’s return that the rumours and theories began to abound and the enigma surrounding Highjump really began. The US conducted another expedition, Operation Windmill, in the Antarctic summer of 1947–48 and mapped additional areas of special interest.
The RAF returned in 1948–49 and flew extensively in search of a viable base in Queen Maud Land for the joint Norwegian– British–Swedish Expedition (NBSE) that was going to last from 1949 to 1952 and whose objective was to investigate and verify the 1938 German discoveries.
Britain and Norway knew that the area of Queen Maud Land which the Nazis had utilized would be vastly different from that which was mapped in the 1930s and early 1940s. An explosion of sufficient magnitude could have created a warm front. The ground could have warmed enough for rising heat to have created precipitation - how much could only be gauged by the velocity of the explosion. In all probability, snow would have fallen on areas that had not seen water for thousands if not millions of years and the landscape would have changed significantly.
When NBSE team members inspected the area, they found the largest land animal (bar penguins) on the continent: tiny mites. That discovery was an irregularity in itself. The expedition also discovered unusual lichens and mosses in certain areas. However, the lakes that had been so prevalent in reports from previous expeditions were largely not noted; nor were the vast, dry areas. Could the lakes have frozen and the majority of the dry areas have disappeared under a blanket of snow?
Meantime, more and more countries wanted their own bases in Antarctica, and soon skirmishes started. In November 1948, Britain’s Hope Base on the Antarctic Peninsula was suspiciously destroyed by fire; in 1952, Argentinian forces shot at the British returning from the joint expedition. Details of other skirmishes unfortunately have been suppressed for diplomatic reasons.
However, in 1982, Britain went to war against Argentina over the Falkland Islands (the Malvinas). Its defeat of the Argentinian forces led to the collapse of the fascist military junta that had dominated Argentina for several years. Argentina also had more than a passing interest in Antarctica but, with the deaths of over 2,000 personnel in the Malvinas campaign and facing the possibility of Buenos Aires being bombed, Argentina had no choice but to admit defeat. Yet, whilst admitting the battle was lost, Argentina insisted the war was not over.
Military Interest in Antarctica
Before the Antarctic Treaty was ratified on the 23 June 1961, the International Geophysical Year (IGY) of 1958 brought immense international attention and cooperation to the frozen continent. The Americans returned in numbers, as did the British, but the Soviets also began their own experiments.
The aim of the IGY was to enable nations to put aside their claims whilst sharing resources and scientific information. The success of the IGY allowed the Antarctic Treaty to be enacted - but with the USSR stating that it had no intention of leaving Antarctica and that it would keep all its bases when the IGY ended. However, all claimants deemed that "Antarctica is to be used for peaceful purposes only", although military personnel and equipment may be utilized but not for military reasons.
In the years prior to the June 1961 ratification, the USA, UK and USSR had all used Antarctica for military purposes and all three nations were rumoured to have tested nuclear bombs on the continent. On 27 and 30 August and 6 September 1958, at least three such bombs were detonated in Antarctica, allegedly by the Americans. Rumour has it that they were set off in the area of Queen Maud Land and were triggered 300 meters above the target, with the initial aim being to "recover" frozen areas. The locations of other bomb detonation sites have been firmly suppressed, but it is believed that the areas reconnoitered by the Germans in 1939 and 1940 were targeted.45
With the Germans and Americans officially claiming to have found warm-water lakes on their expeditions, it was only a matter of time before more were discovered. One such lake, discovered by the Russians, is Lake Vostok, which is 4,000 meters below the surface and curiously is located under the Russian base camp of Vostok.
With so many lakes being discovered and with satellites proving that the Antarctic is made up of huge, ice-encased archipelagos, is it unimaginable to believe that a subterranean trench, wide enough for U-boats to pass through, actually runs through Antarctica, as claimed by author Christof Friedrich and on the Piri Reis map?
If the Nazis had built a hidden base in Neuschwabenland and that base had been destroyed in 1945, leaving only a few German Antarctic outposts, then any evidence of a Nazi incursion on Antarctica would have been destroyed comprehensively by the nuclear exertions of the USA, USSR and UK.
Britain’s Neuschwabenland Campaign Revisited
If British forces had indeed destroyed the Nazi outpost that was rumoured to have existed amid the Mühlig-Hoffmann Mountains, this would never be made public nor be given much credence by mainstream historians.
In 1999, a research expedition discovered a virus to which neither animals nor humans are immune. Specialists were unable to explain the source of the virus, though some tried. According to some scientists, the virus could have been a prehistoric life-form that had been preserved in the ice. However, other specialists speculated that the virus could have been a secret biological weapon that had been delivered to Antarctica during the 1938–39 Deutsche Antarktische Expedition.
Subterranean lakes with signs of life, geothermally warmed lakes in dry valleys in a supposed frozen wasteland, viruses that threaten mankind, mysterious holes in the atmosphere allied with suppressed military ventures may seem the work of fiction, and yet they are all fact!
However, trying to validate the story of the British Neuschwabenland campaign is slightly tougher to ascertain. Tales of Polar Men, ancient tunnels and a decisive battle against remnants of the Third Reich appear fanciful. Even so, it is widely known that Nazi scientists were experimenting on men to simulate the freezing conditions of the Eastern Front and to help their forces better deal with them.49 Could the heinous experiments have been a success of sorts, allowing certain soldiers to combat the cold more efficiently?
Tales of ancient tunnels, even tunnels leading through the Mühlig-Hoffmann Mountains, appear at first far-fetched, but would a cavern network, glacially eroded enough, appear unnatural and thus be explained as a tunnel? Soldiers are not scientists and see things as they are - though whether it was a tunnel or a long cavern network that the British had discovered, it ultimately led to a Nazi base.
Whether the Neuschwabenland base was eradicated by Britain’s Special Forces in 1945–46 or not, it is more than feasible that Britain could have pulled off the feat. During the war, Britain had some of the finest special forces personnel in the world, and still does today, and they were expertly trained in sabotage and destruction, using limited manpower in covert and inexpensive operations.
Britain, unlike the United States, believed that success is more attainable with limited resources; however, with the US philosophy of "might is right", it is no wonder that most attention paid to Antarctic expeditions has been firmly focused on Operation Highjump.52
Whether the British mission did destroy the Nazi base, with any remaining Nazis finally being expunged by the atomic force of the wartime allies, is not the question that needs asking. What is, though, is just how much of Antarctica’s past, present and, indeed, its future has been, is being and will be suppressed.
Postscript: 1966 British Antarctic Survey Mystery
After the first part of Britain’s Secret War in Antarctica was published, I was inundated with people and specialists in their field with more substantiating information.
Endnotes
The Antarctica mystery
deepens as more details emerge about Norwegian, German,
British and American expeditions from the 1930s and
nuclear blasts over Queen Maud Land in the 1950s.
Did
Britain Really "Miss the Bus" in Norway?
"We are standing here in Norway, undefeated, strong as before. No enemy has dared attack us. And yet we, too, shall have to bow to the dictate of our enemy for the benefit of the whole German cause. We trust we shall from now on deal with men who respect a soldier’s honour."
- General Böhme, German Commander-in-Chief in Norway, 7 May 1945
The primary reasons for Norway’s
importance to Germany were that its coastlines made exceptional
U-boat bases, the Germans needed to secure shipments of Swedish iron
ore, and the Vermok hydro-electric plant, which produced deuterium
oxide (heavy water), was essential to their atomic research, in
which they were leading the world at that juncture.
However, there
were other reasons - reasons that caused Hitler to review and reverse
his stance on preserving Norwegian neutrality.
On 14 January 1939, Norway formalized its claim to Queen Maud Land in Antarctica, its course of action forced on it by the imminent German discoveries. Adversely, for Norway, its attempt at pre-empting any German claims failed, and so began a political crisis that led to invasion.
The Deutsche Antarktische Expedition,
using Norwegian maps, soon realized that the wily Norwegians had
omitted the vast, dry areas that it rediscovered on 20 January 1939.
The Norwegians, and also the British, had long been aware of
ice-free areas but had purposely omitted them on their maps so as to
avoid additional claimant countries appearing and the conceivable
diplomatic crises that would ensue.
When the Germans reported the ice-free areas, they were told to claim the whole area in the name of Nazi Germany. They were ordered to drop stakes with swastikas on them to state their intent for sovereignty: this, the Nazis hoped, would be enough to formalize their claim.
When the Germans reported the ice-free areas, they were told to claim the whole area in the name of Nazi Germany. They were ordered to drop stakes with swastikas on them to state their intent for sovereignty: this, the Nazis hoped, would be enough to formalize their claim.
Nazi Germany and Hitler cared little about what the
world thought: they had already gained Austria and Czechoslovakia,
and Antarctica was to be a further extension of the Third Reich.
Norway valiantly protested about the German claim and the renaming
of Queen Maud Land to Neuschwabenland but, with European nations
gearing up for war and the world’s attention turning to Poland,
Antarctica was forgotten.
When war finally broke out in September 1939, most of Germany’s eventual conquests declared neutrality. Norway was no exception. Hitler wanted Norway to remain neutral but his War Cabinet, whose opinions he trusted until the tide turned against Germany, persuaded him otherwise.
On 20 February 1940, Hitler ordered General von Falkenhorst to lead an expedition force to Norway. Hitler claimed:
"I am informed that the English intend to land there [Norway] and I want to be there before them."32
The British prime minister, Neville Chamberlain, famously boasted
when he announced that British forces had also landed in Norway that
Hitler had "missed the bus"33.
His folly caused his government to collapse, his resignation to be
forced and his reputation to be destroyed. Furthermore, by
committing troops to Norway, Chamberlain had played into the hands
of Hitler and all those inside the German War Cabinet. But had the
British mission been a total failure?
Operation Weserübung was launched by Germany on 9 April 1940 and Norway was invaded (Denmark was also invaded that same day). And though the British and Allied forces had to be evacuated in June, they had slowed the unstoppable Wehrmacht enough to help the monarchy, the government and the national treasure be evacuated on board the British cruiser, HMS Devonshire. King Haakon VII represented Norway in exile, and the vast treasures and documents saved were beneficial not just to the preservation of Norway but to British Intelligence.
Hitler was furious with Vidkun Quisling, whom he had hoped would aid the Nazis more comprehensively. Quisling ultimately would have no power, and his inability to stop the evacuation of the monarchy, the government and not least the vast treasures and documentation caused Hitler to lose faith in him and declare him a Norwegian traitor. Those who failed Hitler lost their standing - Hitler made sure of that. Even so, Quisling claimed publicly that he had been offered "safe refuge". Whether the statement was that of a madman or was an honest admission, it echoed the claims of others.
Though Hitler had only wished to beat the British to Norway, his War Cabinet knew that Norway was vital to virtually all the branches of Germany’s armed forces and was more beneficial to its war effort than any other conquest. Nazi Germany’s occupation of Norway brought immense benefits to the Reich. There were thousands of miles of protected fjords for the German U-boats, and there was the possibility of the Nazis exerting pressure on neutral Sweden.34
The Third Reich now had a border closer to the Arctic,35
and there was also the chance to train its soldiers in polar
conditions, especially after the acquisition of Spitzbergen,36
much to the pleasure of Himmler and his Ahnenerbe. Best of all,
Norway was within striking distance of all Nazi Germany’s enemies.
Norway and its ports also made marshalling the Arctic Sea and the
North Atlantic far more profitable. These benefits, allied with the
primary reasons, made Norway a highly prized conquest.
However, Germany’s occupation was not without problems. Britain heavily financed the Norwegian Resistance and it was due to their cooperation that the Vermok hydro-electric plant was targeted and sabotaged so successfully.
However, Germany’s occupation was not without problems. Britain heavily financed the Norwegian Resistance and it was due to their cooperation that the Vermok hydro-electric plant was targeted and sabotaged so successfully.
Information was passed on a two-way basis and the SOE and SIS were privy to any revelation uncovered. British Intelligence also had access to all the Norwegian Government’s files, no matter how "sensitive" the information. Britain at that point stood alone: any information, no matter how trivial, was indispensable. Many Poles had gone to the UK after the start of the German occupation with intelligence on the Germans as well as with one of the first prototypes of the Enigma code-making device. Similarly, with the invasion and occupation of Norway, many fleeing Norwegians brought secrets of the Reich to England.
After Britain frustrated Germany in the Battle of Britain and, as a result, instilled hope in the numerous governments in exile, in 1940–41 it could only fight the Germans in Africa or bomb their cities. But news was soon filtering through about a new front, and one that both the British and Norwegian governments had hoped would never be opened - a front for which there was little in the way of contingency plans.
On 13 January 1941, German commandos under the leadership of Captain Ernst-Felix Kruder from the commerce raider, the Pinguin, stormed and violently captured two Norwegian whaling ships. If that had happened around European coastlines, there would have been no mystery because the Germans allowed none of its conquered peoples to sail too far from land; but because the captures took place in the Southern Ocean off Neuschwabenland, the news when it filtered through could only have sent shock waves through both the British and Norwegian governments.
However, the mystery deepened further
because the subsequent night the German commandos resurfaced and
captured three more whaling ships and also 11 catchers.
The German Antarctic Fleet was active and prospering - mines they had laid around Australian ports sank the first US vessel lost to enemy action - but it was the Antarctic coast and islands where they mainly loitered. The Atlantis,37 the Pinguin,38 the Stier39 and the Komet40 were just four of the documented ships that had anomalous reasons for being so far south. All four were eventually sunk by the British Navy, far from Antarctica in various parts of the world from France to the Ascension Islands.
Now that the Antarctic Front had been truly opened, Britain increased its Antarctic bases and personnel numbers and even issued a postmark. However, possibly the most important area that demanded a base was in Neuschwabenland, officially known as Queen Maud Land. Through Norway’s assistance with information and maps, Britain envisaged Maudheim as the most viable place for a base because it was close enough to be able to spy on German activities and also was within striking distance for a highly trained and disciplined military unit. The seeds for the Neuschwabenland campaign had been sown.
From 1941 until the start of the British–Swedish–Norwegian Expedition of 1949–52, Britain sent at least 12 official missions to Antarctica - half of them between the end of the war and the beginning of Operation Highjump, led by Admiral Byrd, starting in December 1946.
Even more intriguingly, Britain sent no
missions from the commencement of Highjump until 1948, during which
time the US had Antarctica all to itself. Britain nonetheless was
more active in Antarctica during the 1940s than any other nation,
yet the only Antarctic mission mentioned in depth by historians is
Admiral Byrd’s. His mission still overshadows every other mission
and is the main focus of attention for many conspiracy theorists.
Britain’s exertions were and still are totally overlooked; and with
Admiral Byrd spreading misinformation, the true conspiracy
concerning Antarctica as a Nazi haven was forgotten.
After the German surrender, Norway still needed to be mopped up, the possible Nazi exodus needed to be ascertained and the secrets that Norway held still needed more investigation. The discoveries further confirmed that the war had ended just in time, but suspicions were still aroused about the estimated 250,000 missing German personnel - including Martin Bormann and thousands of other wanted Nazi war criminals.
After the German surrender, Norway still needed to be mopped up, the possible Nazi exodus needed to be ascertained and the secrets that Norway held still needed more investigation. The discoveries further confirmed that the war had ended just in time, but suspicions were still aroused about the estimated 250,000 missing German personnel - including Martin Bormann and thousands of other wanted Nazi war criminals.
The enigma of the submarines that were presumed
to have been utilized in their escape also required consideration.
However, even though a percentage of Germany’s U-boats may have fled
Norway, what was uncovered was still intriguing and certainly proved
that the Germans had made great technological strides.
In June 1945, the Washington Post published an article stating that the RAF had found, near Oslo, 40 giant Heinkel bombers - aircraft with a 7,000-mile range.
The article stated that the captured German
ground crews had claimed that,
"the planes were held in readiness for a mission to New York".41
The British also requisitioned some of the U-boats held in Norway at
the end of the war, including the new Type XXI.
Captain Mervyn
Wingfield was placed in charge of taking these 25 salvaged U-boats
to Scapa Flow and, interestingly, chose the new Type XXI to sail in.
Upon returning, he stated that "the Allies had won the submarine war
just in time"42 - a
statement reiterated by all the Allies when speaking about the
Nazis’ new weapons.
In the UK, British Intelligence unearthed more of Norway’s secrets but suppressed them; Antarctica was no exception. When the Norwegian Government returned to a liberated Norway, Antarctica soon returned to their consciousness, though the Norwegians would have to wait several years to go back there, lest the rumours of a Nazi base were true.
In the UK, British Intelligence unearthed more of Norway’s secrets but suppressed them; Antarctica was no exception. When the Norwegian Government returned to a liberated Norway, Antarctica soon returned to their consciousness, though the Norwegians would have to wait several years to go back there, lest the rumours of a Nazi base were true.
On the other hand, Britain decided it had collated enough knowledge about Antarctica to initiate an intense investigation - one that had to dispel all fears and hide all evidence - for it could not tolerate any more technology or personnel being acquired by the wrong hands, namely, the USSR and the USA.
Britain had helped liberate Norway and, as 1945 was drawing to a close, was in the process of "liberating" Queen Maud Land (the new atlas of the post-war world no longer recognized Neuschwabenland). However, the mysterious wartime expeditions conducted by all the combatant countries, especially Germany, were not entered into the World War II history books.
A travesty of history had occurred.
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Postwar Power Plays
In the immediate aftermath of World War II, suspicions surfaced and rumours spread, and the new enemy - one that Hitler had hoped to annihilate - was communism.
Allies became enemies, whilst former
enemies became allies in the battle against communism. And whilst
the USA was offering huge financial subsidies to Western governments
to keep them communism-free, Britain was left alone to clean up the
last remaining Nazi outposts.
When German forces surrendered in May 1945, peace should have broken out but, alas, the world was thrown into a turmoil that was every bit as volatile as it had been before the most violent war in humanity’s history began. The year 1945 was not just the year that World War II ended but also the year that the Cold War started in earnest; and whilst the USSR and the USA had fears about each other’s intentions, they also had differing ideas for how Germany was to be administered.
The problems started at the Yalta Conference
of 4–11 February 1945, but were heightened by the end of the war in
Europe when the misinformation and secrecy about the Allies’
discoveries made the partnership that had destroyed Nazism no longer
tenable.
The atmosphere that surrounded Germany in May 1945 following the Nazi surrender was one of exhaustion; but whilst the Western Allies were so fatigued by the war effort, Stalin was not going to give up his territorial gains and was prepared for war and, indeed, fully expected it. The Soviets did nothing to allay the fears that a Nazi haven had been built or that Hitler might not have committed suicide but, instead, had escaped.43
Just before Berlin fell to the Soviets, it was reported that Martin Bormann had discussed Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, with Grand Admiral Dönitz. This conversation that emanated from Hitler’s Berlin bunker was one of the last to be intercepted in the war in Europe. Argentina had long been perceived as a haven for many escaping Nazis, but this possibility was long denied by the sympathetic Peron. Yet, with the Soviet General Zhukov and Stalin disagreeing as to whether Hitler was dead or had fled, the Nazi survival myth gained momentum.
Britain, in the unique position of holding the strategically important Falkland Islands, was the only country in the immediate months after the war that was in a position to investigate the leading Nazis’ claims about an Antarctic haven and the rise of a Fourth Reich in South America.
The USA, distracted by the war against Japan and the brewing Cold War, had been caught short by Britain’s Antarctic exertions and humbled by its aggressive stance. So the Americans soon adopted a policy, dreamt up during the war, that would destroy Britain’s imperial aspirations, hinder every attempt by Britain to exert any influence around the world and make the country an "ally" in name only.
However, as early as 1942, Britain and British identity were
suffering as a result of the United States’ globalization agenda. It
must be remembered that Britain was denied its own atomic bomb,
despite the fact that the bomb could have not been created without
British expertise. Furthermore, the British people faced worse
rationing than any other Western nation, lasting direfully until the
1950s, and Britain was also pressured into giving full independence
or self-government to most of the territories in its Empire.
So, whilst Britain went into World War II a superpower, by the end of the war and by the actions of American foreign policy, especially Operation Highjump, it had been put firmly in its place. The United States became the only country that could successfully influence Britain - as the 1956 Suez crisis proved.
Even now, 60 years after the end of World War II, British blood is
still being shed on behalf of US foreign policy.
Exploring Queen Maud Land
As discussed in part one, the Nazi "Shangri-La" did exist. Of unknown size, it was set up during the 1938–39 Deutsche Antarktische Expedition.
The existence of a Nazi Antarctic base hidden in vast
caverns was considered feasible enough for
the British to set up
bases in many parts of Antarctica during the war in response to the
threat. And whilst the officially recorded British expeditions
mainly concentrated around the Antarctic Peninsula, those not
recorded were those that concentrated on investigating Queen Maud
Land - so named by Norwegian whalers prior to 1939 in honour of Queen
Maud of Norway (1869–1938), consort of King Haakon VII and formerly
Princess Maud of the United Kingdom, a granddaughter of Queen
Victoria.
the British to set up
bases in many parts of Antarctica during the war in response to the
threat. And whilst the officially recorded British expeditions
mainly concentrated around the Antarctic Peninsula, those not
recorded were those that concentrated on investigating Queen Maud
Land - so named by Norwegian whalers prior to 1939 in honour of Queen
Maud of Norway (1869–1938), consort of King Haakon VII and formerly
Princess Maud of the United Kingdom, a granddaughter of Queen
Victoria.The Norwegians began exploring Queen Maud Land intensively in 1930, and using planes for the first time they photographed and sketched the area. In subsequent flights in 1931 and 1936, they uncovered areas unknown and identified anomalies that would attract worldwide interest.
On 4 February 1936, Lars Christensen dropped the Norwegian
flag from his plane, thus claiming the land informally. The maps
produced from the photographs omitted the dry areas and lakes that
had been identified, but the discoveries led to private discussions
between the Norwegian Government and the Monarchy as to whether
Norway should annex the area.
After much deliberation, on 14 January 1939 - six days before the first Deutsche Antarktische Expedition flight over Queen Maud Land - the Norwegian Government passed a royal decree annexing the region between Enderby Land and Coates Land as Queen Maud Land.
After much deliberation, on 14 January 1939 - six days before the first Deutsche Antarktische Expedition flight over Queen Maud Land - the Norwegian Government passed a royal decree annexing the region between Enderby Land and Coates Land as Queen Maud Land.
The Deutsche Antarktische Expedition discoveries were well publicized. Captain Ritscher and his two Dornier Wal flying boats (Boreas and Passat) flew extensively and produced in excess of 1,500 photographs that covered an area of over 250,000 square kilometers. However, as with the strange case of the suppressed Norwegian maps, most of the films, records and research materials were destroyed in the war, though some have since resurfaced.
During the war and up till the end of the Antarctic summer of 1945–46, Britain’s RAF was also flying over Antarctica to map the area and search for suitable places to establish bases. It discovered more dry areas and possibly even the intelligence that provoked Britain’s Neuschwabenland campaign.
Britain’s arrogance in committing troops to Antarctica, independent of the United States, and in celebrating the feat with the release in February 1946 of a provocative stamp set, would inevitably lead to Britain’s claims on Antarctica being contested, even though the stamps commemorated Britain’s final fight with Nazism rather than being a statement of its Antarctic claims. And even though Britain expressed outrage publicly when Highjump was launched, it was just a pretence: privately, Britain knew that the USA’s newfound superpower status meant that it would not permit Antarctica to be utilized by other nations for financial gain.
Britain halted its Antarctic flights and operations for two years, giving the United States a free hand in Antarctica with the commencement of Operation Highjump. With the Nazi haven destroyed, there was little need for the British to return: the Americans would not discover anything that had not already been discovered. Or would they?
In the two years they had to discover as much about Antarctica as possible, the Americans found dry areas and warm-water lakes that provoked immense media interest, but Operation Highjump, which they’d planned to last for six months, ended after just eight weeks. They received a hostile reaction from other nations, but it was only after the mission’s return that the rumours and theories began to abound and the enigma surrounding Highjump really began. The US conducted another expedition, Operation Windmill, in the Antarctic summer of 1947–48 and mapped additional areas of special interest.
The RAF returned in 1948–49 and flew extensively in search of a viable base in Queen Maud Land for the joint Norwegian– British–Swedish Expedition (NBSE) that was going to last from 1949 to 1952 and whose objective was to investigate and verify the 1938 German discoveries.
Britain and Norway knew that the area of Queen Maud Land which the Nazis had utilized would be vastly different from that which was mapped in the 1930s and early 1940s. An explosion of sufficient magnitude could have created a warm front. The ground could have warmed enough for rising heat to have created precipitation - how much could only be gauged by the velocity of the explosion. In all probability, snow would have fallen on areas that had not seen water for thousands if not millions of years and the landscape would have changed significantly.
When NBSE team members inspected the area, they found the largest land animal (bar penguins) on the continent: tiny mites. That discovery was an irregularity in itself. The expedition also discovered unusual lichens and mosses in certain areas. However, the lakes that had been so prevalent in reports from previous expeditions were largely not noted; nor were the vast, dry areas. Could the lakes have frozen and the majority of the dry areas have disappeared under a blanket of snow?
Meantime, more and more countries wanted their own bases in Antarctica, and soon skirmishes started. In November 1948, Britain’s Hope Base on the Antarctic Peninsula was suspiciously destroyed by fire; in 1952, Argentinian forces shot at the British returning from the joint expedition. Details of other skirmishes unfortunately have been suppressed for diplomatic reasons.
However, in 1982, Britain went to war against Argentina over the Falkland Islands (the Malvinas). Its defeat of the Argentinian forces led to the collapse of the fascist military junta that had dominated Argentina for several years. Argentina also had more than a passing interest in Antarctica but, with the deaths of over 2,000 personnel in the Malvinas campaign and facing the possibility of Buenos Aires being bombed, Argentina had no choice but to admit defeat. Yet, whilst admitting the battle was lost, Argentina insisted the war was not over.
The Malvinas are Argentinian
possessions according to South American atlases, and who is to say
that war will not erupt again one day?
If that were to happen,
Britain would again send an armada to fight because, quite patently,
the Falkland Islands are still one of Britain’s most prized
dependencies and the reason is quite simple: their close proximity
to Antarctica and all its treasures and mysteries that one day will
be allowed to be utilized and accessed.44
Military Interest in Antarctica
Before the Antarctic Treaty was ratified on the 23 June 1961, the International Geophysical Year (IGY) of 1958 brought immense international attention and cooperation to the frozen continent. The Americans returned in numbers, as did the British, but the Soviets also began their own experiments.
The aim of the IGY was to enable nations to put aside their claims whilst sharing resources and scientific information. The success of the IGY allowed the Antarctic Treaty to be enacted - but with the USSR stating that it had no intention of leaving Antarctica and that it would keep all its bases when the IGY ended. However, all claimants deemed that "Antarctica is to be used for peaceful purposes only", although military personnel and equipment may be utilized but not for military reasons.
In the years prior to the June 1961 ratification, the USA, UK and USSR had all used Antarctica for military purposes and all three nations were rumoured to have tested nuclear bombs on the continent. On 27 and 30 August and 6 September 1958, at least three such bombs were detonated in Antarctica, allegedly by the Americans. Rumour has it that they were set off in the area of Queen Maud Land and were triggered 300 meters above the target, with the initial aim being to "recover" frozen areas. The locations of other bomb detonation sites have been firmly suppressed, but it is believed that the areas reconnoitered by the Germans in 1939 and 1940 were targeted.45
With the Germans and Americans officially claiming to have found warm-water lakes on their expeditions, it was only a matter of time before more were discovered. One such lake, discovered by the Russians, is Lake Vostok, which is 4,000 meters below the surface and curiously is located under the Russian base camp of Vostok.
News
of the discovery was not released to the world until 1989, so had
the Soviets found the subterranean lake years earlier and was this
their main reason for refusing to leave its base? The lake has still
not been investigated, mainly out of fear of what could be unleashed
and to avoid contamination of the lake, although a huge magnetic
anomaly has been identified.46
With so many lakes being discovered and with satellites proving that the Antarctic is made up of huge, ice-encased archipelagos, is it unimaginable to believe that a subterranean trench, wide enough for U-boats to pass through, actually runs through Antarctica, as claimed by author Christof Friedrich and on the Piri Reis map?
If the Nazis had built a hidden base in Neuschwabenland and that base had been destroyed in 1945, leaving only a few German Antarctic outposts, then any evidence of a Nazi incursion on Antarctica would have been destroyed comprehensively by the nuclear exertions of the USA, USSR and UK.
Nevertheless, rumours persist that the Nazis were
not totally destroyed in Antarctica but fled to secret bases in
South America.47
Britain’s Neuschwabenland Campaign Revisited
If British forces had indeed destroyed the Nazi outpost that was rumoured to have existed amid the Mühlig-Hoffmann Mountains, this would never be made public nor be given much credence by mainstream historians.
Even so, Britain was the nation most active in Antarctica during the 1940s, which is intriguing if not suspicious.
Furthermore, Britain was privileged enough to have collated a mass
of evidence on German Antarctic intentions via the leading Nazis it
apprehended and via its efficient intelligence network and its own
field investigations.
All of this leads one to the conclusion that
something significant must have occurred there, and it appears only
time will tell. Postwar scientific revelations suggest that
Antarctica was disrupted by human activity at some time in its near
past - a finding that may add credence to the likelihood of Britain’s Neuschwabenland campaign.
In 1999, a research expedition discovered a virus to which neither animals nor humans are immune. Specialists were unable to explain the source of the virus, though some tried. According to some scientists, the virus could have been a prehistoric life-form that had been preserved in the ice. However, other specialists speculated that the virus could have been a secret biological weapon that had been delivered to Antarctica during the 1938–39 Deutsche Antarktische Expedition.
If a biological weapon or virus had been
taken to Antarctica, it is doubtful that it would have been
unleashed onto the continent intentionally, but, instead, stored
with extreme care. If the Germans really had been the architects of
the Antarctic virus and they had taken studious care of their
weapon, would it be too adventurous to think that the virus could
have been released by an attack of some degree on the very place
where it was stored?
Another mystery may be central to Queen Maud Land and what may have happened in 1945. In 1984 the British Antarctic Survey, based at Halley Station,48 noticed a hole in the ozone layer for the first time; it was located over Queen Maud Land. Scientists, after much speculation, claimed that the hole was due to CFCs and in time would increase global warming. Could the hole, like the virus release, have been caused by a huge explosion of nuclear proportions? With three known atomic tests and a considerable number undisclosed associated with the likely destruction of the Nazi base, it appears that the hole was caused by more than just CFCs.
Another mystery may be central to Queen Maud Land and what may have happened in 1945. In 1984 the British Antarctic Survey, based at Halley Station,48 noticed a hole in the ozone layer for the first time; it was located over Queen Maud Land. Scientists, after much speculation, claimed that the hole was due to CFCs and in time would increase global warming. Could the hole, like the virus release, have been caused by a huge explosion of nuclear proportions? With three known atomic tests and a considerable number undisclosed associated with the likely destruction of the Nazi base, it appears that the hole was caused by more than just CFCs.
Subterranean lakes with signs of life, geothermally warmed lakes in dry valleys in a supposed frozen wasteland, viruses that threaten mankind, mysterious holes in the atmosphere allied with suppressed military ventures may seem the work of fiction, and yet they are all fact!
Antarctica is a truly mysterious place, and that is why it is
inconceivable that the Nazis would claim an area and leave it
unoccupied and undefended, especially when the Channel Islands, for
instance, a strategically unimportant Nazi gain, utilized for its
defenses more than 10 per cent of all the concrete and iron that was
used in the construction of the Atlantic Wall - a wall that stretched
from the Pyrenées to the North Cape of Norway!
However, trying to validate the story of the British Neuschwabenland campaign is slightly tougher to ascertain. Tales of Polar Men, ancient tunnels and a decisive battle against remnants of the Third Reich appear fanciful. Even so, it is widely known that Nazi scientists were experimenting on men to simulate the freezing conditions of the Eastern Front and to help their forces better deal with them.49 Could the heinous experiments have been a success of sorts, allowing certain soldiers to combat the cold more efficiently?
Tales of ancient tunnels, even tunnels leading through the Mühlig-Hoffmann Mountains, appear at first far-fetched, but would a cavern network, glacially eroded enough, appear unnatural and thus be explained as a tunnel? Soldiers are not scientists and see things as they are - though whether it was a tunnel or a long cavern network that the British had discovered, it ultimately led to a Nazi base.
The base
could have been similar to the U-boat base that appeared in the film
Raiders of the Lost Ark, but that’s highly unlikely - but what isn’t
is the possibility that a base had been constructed and was being
manned by German forces. The British had secret wartime bases, so
why not the Nazis? It also must be remembered that some Japanese
soldiers fought on, not accepting defeat, for over 20 years,50
so why not pockets of Germans? In fact, Nazi Werewolves were active
after the May surrender, and isolated attacks occurred for a few
years after the war was deemed over and Nazism was thwarted.51
Whether the Neuschwabenland base was eradicated by Britain’s Special Forces in 1945–46 or not, it is more than feasible that Britain could have pulled off the feat. During the war, Britain had some of the finest special forces personnel in the world, and still does today, and they were expertly trained in sabotage and destruction, using limited manpower in covert and inexpensive operations.
They
were so successful that, even after the Dieppe fiasco, Hitler
ordered that any of them captured were to be summarily executed.
Britain, unlike the United States, believed that success is more attainable with limited resources; however, with the US philosophy of "might is right", it is no wonder that most attention paid to Antarctic expeditions has been firmly focused on Operation Highjump.52
Admiral Byrd’s statements and supposed discoveries, which have
spawned a multitude of conspiracy theories, overshadowed Britain’s
exertions comprehensively.
Whether the British mission did destroy the Nazi base, with any remaining Nazis finally being expunged by the atomic force of the wartime allies, is not the question that needs asking. What is, though, is just how much of Antarctica’s past, present and, indeed, its future has been, is being and will be suppressed.
Postscript: 1966 British Antarctic Survey Mystery
After the first part of Britain’s Secret War in Antarctica was published, I was inundated with people and specialists in their field with more substantiating information.
However, by far the most intriguing and
exciting was an email sent to me by Miles Johnston who
investigated a strange story about Antarctica with Danny Wilson
whilst with the Irish UFO Research Centre. The centre was contacted
by an Eric Wilkinson in 1975, who had reported a strange
incident in 1966 when he was with the British Antarctic Survey.
An even stranger photo backs up the story (see above). In Miles
Johnston’s own words, he explains:
"In 1975 I investigated a UFO/Strange Black Ray Cloud formation, taken by a Belfast member of the British Antarctic Survey. He gave me some images of a pulsing cloud formation firing a black ray into the ice, which bounced off and reflected further away from him. Who knows... maybe someone down there is using negative energy beam weapons? Or was... since the images were taken in 1966."
click image to
enlarge
The photo [above] is indeed enigmatic
and substantiates the fact that Antarctica and Britain’s role there
are shrouded in mystery.
Endnotes
32. Hart, Basil Liddell, History of the Second World War, Cassell, London, 1970, p. 411.
33. Neville Chamberlain, Parliamentary Speech, 2 April 1940.
34. A total of 2,140,00 German soldiers and more then 100,000 German military railway carriages crossed Sweden until the traverse was officially suspended on 20 August 1943.
35. The Nazis were fascinated by polar myths, and with the USSR and the USA more accessible via the frozen Arctic Ocean and Murmansk the only port available in Europe for the Soviet Union, the Arctic convoys were constantly harassed, whilst scientific studies increased in the Arctic.
36. Spitzbergen has numerous mysteries surrounding it, from anomalous plant and animal fossils to ancient ruins. Many believed it to be ancient Thule. Also, Spitzbergen cannot be mentioned without the rumour concerning a UFO crash there in the 1950s; British scientists were supposedly involved in the retrieval.
37. Atlantis had a name-change to Tamesis before being sunk by HMS Devonshire near the Ascension Islands on 22 November 1941.
38. The Pinguin was sunk off the Persian Gulf by HMS Cornwall on 8 May 1941.
39. The Stier visited Antarctica and Kerguelen in 1942.
40. The Komet was sunk off Cherbourg in 1942 by a British destroyer.
41. The Washington Post, 29 June 1945.
42. The Times, London, June 1945 (exact date not available).
43. An official Soviet statement released in September 1945 claimed that "mysterious persons were on board the submarine, among them a woman..." With Stalin going on record with his view that Hitler was alive, and contradictions coming from his own generals, the USSR only added to the mystery.
44. A 50-year extension on the mining ban was agreed in 1998; it runs until the year 2048.
45. Stevens, Henry, The Last Battalion and German Arctic, Antarctic, and Andean Bases, The German Research Project, Gorman, California, 1997.
46. Scientists, with NASA’s assistance, have drilled to within 500 metres of the lake. Russia recently declared that during the Antarctic 2006–07 summer season it will drill into the lake.
47. Rumours that the Nazis built bases in the Andes and/or the Amazon rainforest go hand in hand with stories that the Nazis were in league with alien races and are definitely TBTBs (Too Bizarre to Believe), yet there may be some truth in the rumours.
48. Halley, Britain’s premier Antarctic station, is named after the British astronomer Sir Edmund Halley, who extraordinarily was the first person to state that the Earth is hollow, consisting of four concentric spheres. Another Antarctic enigma?
49. The experiments involved freezing the victim until unconscious, then rapidly plunging the victim into hot water. Other experiments, heinous in their morality and beneficial to the Nazi cause, meant that all the results and documentation detailing the experiments were amongst the information most sought by the Allies. It is well known that without Nazi human experiments, the United States would not have gone to the Moon in 1969.
50. "The Final Surrender: For Lt Onoda, the shooting stops 29 years late", Daily Mirror, UK, 11 March 1974. Lt Onoda killed 39 people between the end of the war and his capture in 1974.
51. In June 1945, a Werewolf bomb exploded in Bremen Police Headquarters, killing five Americans and 39 Germans. The Werewolves were created by Himmler in 1944 and went on to fight against the occupying forces until at least late 1947.
52. "Operation Highjump", typed into Google, produces 46,700 results, far exceeding any other Antarctic mission mentions by thousands!
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