The Third Reich in Antarctica: the German Antarctic Expedition, 1938-39

The Third Reich in Antarctica: the German Antarctic Expedition, 1938-39

Author: Colin Summerhayes

Publisher:

Published: 2012-12-15

Total Pages: 286

ISBN-13: 9781720918899

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The origins of the Third German Antarctic Expedition lie in a unique combination of the aspirations of German scientists to contribute to exploring and understanding the Antarctic environment, and the Nazi Parti's drive for self-sufficiency on the road to war. Germany had joined the whaling nations in the South Atlantic, keen to obtain whale oil without having to use valuable foreign currency reserves needed for rearmament. It decided to explore the possibility of setting up a supply base on the coast of Dronning Maud Land and to claim Antarctic territory there for itself. Councillor of State Helmut Wohlthat, the man in charge of German whaling, put this idea to his superior, Hermann Goring, the Commissioner for the Four Year Plan for economic development who approved the concept, and in May 1938 assigned resources for a reconnaissance expedition.Thus the Third German Antarctic Expedition was born. When they set sail they did not even have a map of where they were going and it was their job to make one. The expedition was led by Alfred Ritscher, a captain in the German merchant navy, aboard the MS Schwabenland, a freighter built in 1925 and renamed after the Swabia region in Southern Germany. On January 19, 1939, it arrived off Dronning Maud Land and began charting the region. Nazi German flags were placed on the sea ice along the coast and the area was named Neuschwabenland after the ship. Seven photographic survey flights were made by the ship's two seaplanes which took more than 16,000 aerial photographs covering an area of some 250,000 square kilometres. On its return trip to Germany the expedition made oceanographic studies near Bouvet Island and Fernando de Noronha. This is the story of an ambitious and little-known expedition, which set out to map a large piece of Antarctica from the air, and in the process discovered an 800 km long mountain range and previously unsuspected freshwater lakes.


The German Arctic Expedition of 1869-70

The German Arctic Expedition of 1869-70

Author: Karl Koldewey

Publisher: London : S. Low, Marston, Low, & Searle

Published: 1874

Total Pages: 684

ISBN-13:

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A detailed account of the voyage of the German Ships Germania and Hansa, the wreck of the Hansa in the ice, sled journeys and observations of natural phenomena in Greenland.


The German Arctic Expedition Of 1869-1870

The German Arctic Expedition Of 1869-1870

Author: Karl Koldewey

Publisher: BoD – Books on Demand

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 670

ISBN-13: 386195432X

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The German Arctic Expedition of 1869 - 1870 was a milestone in Arctic research. Lead by Captain Karl Koldewey, the group experienced great danger and the loss of the "Hansa" in the ice during their finally successful way into the central regions of the Arctic. The expedition was also a competition between two different generations of ships, the sailing vessel "Hansa", which did not make her way back, and the steam-powered "Germania".


Germans in the Antarctic

Germans in the Antarctic

Author: Cornelia Lüdecke

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2021-02-08

Total Pages: 290

ISBN-13: 3030409244

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While science was usually at the forefront of German Antarctic expeditions, research into the Southern Polar region always had a political or economic component, whether it was about resource use or securing areas of influence. Cornelia Lüdecke presents the course of the three German Antarctic expeditions from 1901-03, 1911-12 and 1938/39 with their partly dramatic turns and twists and provides insights into everyday life under extreme conditions. She also evaluates unpublished material from the archives and private estates of the expedition members. She looks at the expeditions from a scientific and political point of view and also deals with the myths associated with the "Schwabenland" expedition during the National Socialist era. Finally, the author describes German south polar research after World War II, which took different paths in the German Democratic Republic and in the Federal Republic of Germany, and gives an outlook on future research. For the first time, this book presents the history of the Germans in Antarctica in a factual and informative way for the general public. With numerous pictures, some of which have never been published before.


Hitler's Antarctic Base: the Myth and the Reality

Hitler's Antarctic Base: the Myth and the Reality

Author: Colin Summerhayes

Publisher:

Published: 2016-05

Total Pages: 26

ISBN-13: 9781720666349

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Secrets of the Third Reich's Base in Antarctica A remarkable event occurred in 1999, but only specialists paid adequate attention to it. A research expedition discovered a virus in Antarctica; at that, neither people nor animals had immunity to the virus. After all, Antarctica is far away, for this very reason the virus cannot be dangerous for the rest of the planet, especially the dangerous discovery was deep in the permafrost. However, scientists say that against the background of a global warming threatening the Earth, the unknown virus can cause an awful catastrophe on the planet. Expert Tom Starmerue from the University of New York also shares the pessimistic forecasts of his colleagues. "We don't know what the mankind will face in the South Pole in the nearest time due to the global warming. It is not ruled out that an unbelievable catastrophe may break out. Viruses protected with a protein cover survive even in the permafrost; as soon as the temperature gets warmer they will immediately start reproducing." American scientists treated the Antarctica discovery very seriously and even organized a special expedition that currently tests the ice for unknown viruses in order to develop an antidote in good time. What is the source of the virus in Antarctica where only penguins can survive in the ice? There is no answer to the question, specialists are at a loss. However, several theories concerning the problem have been put forward. We would like to touch upon the most interesting of them. A majority of scientists are inclined to believe that prehistoric forms of life probably survived in the permafrost. There are more versions that are interesting and sometimes quite unusual. Some specialists blame bonzes of the Third Reich for delivery of a secretly developed bacteriological weapon to Antarctica. And this theory arose not in a vacuum. It is known that already in 1938 Nazis suddenly became interested in Antarctica, they organized two expeditions to the area in 1938-1939. At first, planes of the Third Reich took detailed pictures of unexplored territories and then they dropped several thousands of metal pennons with swastika there. The whole of the explored territory was called Neuschwabenland and was considered a part of the Third Reich. After the expedition, Captain Ritscher reported to Field-Marshal Hering: "The planes dropped the pennons each 25 kilometers; we covered the area of about 8.600 thousand square meters. 350 thousand square meters of them were photographed." In 1943, Grand Admiral Karl Donitz dropped a remarkable phrase: "Germany's submarine fleet is proud that it created an unassailable fortress for the Fuhrer on the other end of the world." Submarines were mostly used for transportation of necessary freight to the place. The submarines also received passengers whose faces were hidden behind surgical bands. Wilhelm Bernhard was commander of one of the submarines, U-530; the submarine left the port of Kiel on April 13, 1945. When it reached the shores of Antarctica, 16 members from the crew built an ice cave and put boxes into the cave; it was allegedly said that the boxes contained relics of the Third Reich, including Hitler's documents and personal stuff. The operation was code named Valkyrie-2. When the operation was over on July 10, 1945, the submarine U-530 entered the Argentinean port of Mar-del-Plata and surrendered to the authorities. It is also supposed that another submarine from the formation, U-977, under the command of Heinz Scheffer, delivered the remains of Hitler and Braun to Neuschwabenland. It followed the route of the U-530 submarine and called at Antarctica. The sub arrived in Mar-del-Plata on Aug. 17, 1945.


Labyrinth of Ice

Labyrinth of Ice

Author: Buddy Levy

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Published: 2019-12-03

Total Pages: 411

ISBN-13: 1250182204

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National Outdoor Book Awards Winner Winner of the BANFF Adventure Travel Award “A thrilling and harrowing story. If it’s a cliche to say I couldn’t put this book down, well, too bad: I couldn’t put this book down.” —Jess Walter, bestselling author of Beautiful Ruins “Polar exploration is utter madness. It is the insistence of life where life shouldn’t exist. And so, Labyrinth of Ice shows you exactly what happens when the unstoppable meets the unmovable. Buddy Levy outdoes himself here. The details and story are magnificent.” —Brad Meltzer, bestselling author of The First Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill George Washington Based on the author's exhaustive research, the incredible true story of the Greely Expedition, one of the most harrowing adventures in the annals of polar exploration. In July 1881, Lt. A.W. Greely and his crew of 24 scientists and explorers were bound for the last region unmarked on global maps. Their goal: Farthest North. What would follow was one of the most extraordinary and terrible voyages ever made. Greely and his men confronted every possible challenge—vicious wolves, sub-zero temperatures, and months of total darkness—as they set about exploring one of the most remote, unrelenting environments on the planet. In May 1882, they broke the 300-year-old record, and returned to camp to eagerly await the resupply ship scheduled to return at the end of the year. Only nothing came. 250 miles south, a wall of ice prevented any rescue from reaching them. Provisions thinned and a second winter descended. Back home, Greely’s wife worked tirelessly against government resistance to rally a rescue mission. Months passed, and Greely made a drastic choice: he and his men loaded the remaining provisions and tools onto their five small boats, and pushed off into the treacherous waters. After just two weeks, dangerous floes surrounded them. Now new dangers awaited: insanity, threats of mutiny, and cannibalism. As food dwindled and the men weakened, Greely's expedition clung desperately to life. Labyrinth of Ice tells the true story of the heroic lives and deaths of these voyagers hell-bent on fame and fortune—at any cost—and how their journey changed the world.


War North of 80

War North of 80

Author: Wilhelm Dege

Publisher: University Press of Colorado

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 408

ISBN-13:

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Dege was leader of a German weather station in a remote corner of Svalbard during the winter of 1944-45. It was secret, because the Allies were trying to prevent the Germans from tracking weather in the north. Though he and his crew knew the war had ended, it was not until May 1945 that the Allies sent a vessel north to fetch them; thus they were the last German troops to surrender. His account was published in German in 1954, and his here translated by William Barr, a historian of Arctic exploration. The English edition incorporates material from his typescript that was not included in the original. It is co-published with the Arctic Institute of North America and the University Press of Colorado, and distributed in the US by Michigan State University Press. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com).


In the Kingdom of Ice

In the Kingdom of Ice

Author: Hampton Sides

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 2015-05-26

Total Pages: 482

ISBN-13: 0307946916

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NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A white-knuckle tale of polar exploration and heroism in the Gilded Age from the New York Times bestselling author of Blood and Thunder and Ghost Soldiers. • “A splendid book in every way…a marvelous nonfiction thriller.” —The Wall Street Journal On July 8, 1879, Captain George Washington De Long and his team of thirty-two men set sail from San Francisco on the USS Jeanette. Heading deep into uncharted Arctic waters, they carried the aspirations of a young country burning to be the first nation to reach the North Pole. Two years into the harrowing voyage, the Jeannette's hull was breached by an impassable stretch of pack ice, forcing the crew to abandon ship amid torrents of rushing of water. Hours later, the ship had sunk below the surface, marooning the men a thousand miles north of Siberia, where they faced a terrifying march with minimal supplies across the endless ice pack. Enduring everything from snow blindness and polar bears to ferocious storms and labyrinths of ice, the crew battled madness and starvation as they struggled desperately to survive. With thrilling twists and turns, In The Kingdom of Ice is a spellbinding tale of heroism and determination in the most brutal place on Earth.