World War Two has numerous dark secrets which the public are only recently being made aware of, yet there are many more beneath the surface just waiting to be seen by the light of day; this is one of those secrets... the Nazis in Antarctica.

Antarctica is a land mass that sits under a layer of ice; an unforgiving harsh continent that showcases nature at her most destructive level. The climate can freeze the fuel in your car, the wind can dry-freeze and whip the skin from your face and the snow can bury your body in a matter of hours. Why would man wish to reside in such a cruel and formidable place?
The answers are currently not so clear, but mainly for the chance of finding resources. While scientists scour the frozen landscape, their reasons are not as scientific as they would like us to believe. As well as analysis of the ice-cores, they are also performing surveys to discover whether or not Antarctica holds a large deposit of oil, gas and other minerals we depend on greatly (there is evidence to suggest they have already found it, but for now, I am returning to the Nazi Base).

Adolf Hitler had exactly the same thing in mind when he ordered a Nazi Expedition to an area just north of Queen Maud Land, in December, 1938. This was the third German expedition to the continent, but the first Nazi one, as they were on the hunt for a good location for a whaling station to produce their soap and margarine (yummy... this is one reason I never tend to check out what is in my margarine). The reason for this was simple: Germany wanted to be self-sufficient as they relied heavily on Norwegian whaling oil rather than producing their own... and since war was on the horizon, it would be cheaper for them to produce their own.
Also, it would be one more continent that the Nazis could create a scientific and military presence in a lonely corner of the planet.
By mid-January of 1939, a ship carrying 33 expedition members and a crew of 24 landed on the northern shores of Queen Maud Land, led by Alfred Ritscher. The Nazis placed flags with the Swastika and the new name for the land they were “Claiming:” Neu-Schwabenland (Named after the ship they arrived on). They took over 10,000 Ariel-photographs and surveyed the land in great detail.
They returned Germany in April, having set up a temporary base in their newly claimed lands (unofficially).

War broke out, and for a time the Nazis were unstoppable. It is unclear exactly how they further developed their Antarctic base, but an educated guess would leave me to suspect the massive Type X U-boats transported materials from South America (who hugely supported the Nazis during WW2... although that is another article for another time). Several U-boats had been seen and even captured in the waters around Argentina during the end of WW2.
It was no huge secret at the time that the Nazis were chilling out in Antarctica... the Norwegians were not happy that their land (Queen Maud Land) had been seized, but at the same time did very little to show their distaste for this move.
In 1945, a specialist British team was sent to investigate the claims of a Nazi base in Antarctica in response to some extremely strange claims of Nazi tunnels and secret weapons... as well as the absurd “Polar Men Attacks” (I will leave these claims out, as I suspect this was possibly a fake claim).
It was clear that even after the war had ended, the Nazis were still going strong in Antarctica.

The British team had been trained to lay explosives for the cold conditions, which they planned on using for any Nazi bases they had found. While it is not clear exactly what happened, it is certain that their attempts to cripple this base failed. How and why is still a mystery.

Project Highjump

The next chapter in the Nazi history in Antarctica has been tarnished... it is even harder to make sense of the events that took place in the year 1947 – however, this would indicate that the Nazis survived two years out in the ice and snow.
When I say this next chapter has been tarnished, I mean conspiracy theorists have adopted this strange event in history for their own agendas, literally making things up to support their claims from UFOs, Hollow Earth theories and even claims of a new species of Human Being.
However, here are the facts:

In 1947, Admiral Byrd of the United States Navy lead 5,000 soldiers in an invasion of the Antarctic. They brought with them battle ships and an aircraft carrier, as well as numerous planes and vehicles to traverse the cold rolling plains. The Operation was known as “Operation Highjump,” something that I urge you to look for on youtube, as some very interesting footage survives.
Despite the fact that they operation was supposed to last several months, after several days, Admiral Byrd had to retreat having lost a large amount of his men and most of their aircraft having been destroyed. What exactly caused this is mere speculation, but it is interesting to note that three nuclear bombs had been “Tested” in Antarctica... all with the reign that the Nazis were said to have occupied.

There are numerous claims of Nazi flying saucers and elaborate tunnelling systems, but these are hard to prove. It is clear however, that this was most likely the last battle of WW2... two years after it is said to have ended.

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