70 years ago, the strangest operation of the fascist special services began, the meaning of which has not yet been solved
In November 1939, one of the most mysterious operations of the fascist special services, code-named "New Swabia", began, in which the secret submarine formation "Fuehrer's Convoy" took part. Almost all of the documentary evidence associated with it, most likely, was destroyed by the Nazis back in 1945. But a small part of them, judging by some indications, fell into the hands of American military intelligence. Fragmentary information is periodically leaked to the press. Over the years, this operation has become so overgrown with legends that today it is very difficult to separate truth from fiction.
On this topic, the correspondents of the "Free Press" talked with the captain of the second rank Alexander Surpin, who at one time was professionally involved in the development of materials for the connection of submarines "Fuehrer's Convoy" and was acquainted with some documents of the Soviet naval intelligence.
"SP": - What is the essence of the operation "New Swabia"?
- One of the most common versions looks like this. Having carried out a large-scale survey of the northern part of Antarctica, which was named the Queen Maud Land in 1938-1939, the Nazis began an operation to build an underground base there. For the covert transportation of goods, a top secret connection of German submarines called the "Fuehrer's Convoy" was used.
By 1943, the work was largely completed. A large group of specialists, scientists and service personnel was transferred to the Antarctic base. Some researchers claim that their activities have developed in three main directions. The main thing is the search for information of an occult nature, allegedly left in one form or another in the underground repositories of Antarctica by ancient civilizations. Another direction is the development and testing of disk-shaped flying vehicles ("flying saucers") based on fundamentally new technologies capable of curbing gravity. And, finally, biogenetic experiments were carried out here to create a "superman".
"SP": - There are more extravagant versions, what can you say about them?
- A number of researchers suggest that in the 30s, the Nazis established contact with aliens from outer space, who shared alien technologies. Thanks to this, the Nazis managed to create an underground city in Antarctica, which uses a form of energy unknown to earthlings, to populate it with cloned "supermen" (they supposedly live there to this day, puzzling with the periodic appearance "in public" as crews of the notorious UFOs). They also claim that at the end of the war, Hitler and his entourage on special submarines were to be transported to this Arctic headquarters of the Fuhrer. For some reason, the plan was not implemented. However, the Fuhrer's personal belongings and relics of the Third Reich, including the legendary “Spear of Destiny”, were delivered to “New Swabia” (as the underground city in Antarctica was named).with which Hitler associated some mystical prerequisites for domination over the world. In support of this version, the materials of the interrogation by the US special services of the commander of the fascist submarine "U-977" Heinz Schaeffer, taken prisoner in August 1945 after a special flight to Antarctica, are cited.
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According to some researchers, Schaeffer's testimony forced the Americans at the end of 1946 to equip an entire squadron under the command of Admiral Richard Byrd in Antarctica. An aircraft carrier, 13 ships of various types, and more than 4,000 personnel took part in Operation High Jump to destroy the Nazi base "New Swabia". However, on March 3, 1947, the operation that had just begun was urgently curtailed, and the ships hastily headed home. Information was leaked to the Western press that Byrd's squadron allegedly received a fierce rebuff, lost several ships and was forced to retreat. Later, according to some researchers, a certain agreement was reached between the Nazi colony in Antarctica and the American government on the exchange of German advanced technologies for American raw materials and neutrality.
"SP": - Do these legends have at least a minimal documentary basis?
- They are based on the fact that figured during the Nuremberg trials: fascist Nazism had occult roots. The foundation of the ideology of fascism was laid at the beginning of the century by secret societies, in particular, the Teutonic Knightly Order. In 1918, a branch of this order, the Thule Society, was founded in Munich. In the same year, Hitler was admitted to it. The main idea of "Thule" - the idea of world domination of the German nation - later became the core of Hitler's program book "Mein Kampf". In 1933 the puppeteers "Tule" founded the occult order "Ahnenerbe" ("Legacy of the Ancestors"). Since 1939, it became the main research center of the Nazis and took over 50 research institutes in Germany under the auspices of the SS. At the Nuremberg Trials, the head of the Ahnenerbe, Colonel Wolfram Sievers, proudly declared,that his institutes were looking for ancient knowledge that would make it possible to use new types of energy, magically influence the consciousness of people, and carry out genetic changes in the human body in order to create a "superman".
"SP": - But what does Antarctica have to do with it?
- Fascist occultists were convinced that this was the former Atlantis. In search of traces of the Atlantean civilization, they sent a number of expeditions there in 1938-1939. Particular attention was paid to Queen Maud Land. There, Nazi researchers discovered unexplained oases from the point of view of traditional science, as well as a huge system of interconnected caves with warm air. Goering's pilots staked out a huge area of Antarctica (larger than Germany itself), scattering metal pennants with a swastika sign on it.
It is also documented that since 1939 regular voyages of research ships began between Germany and Antarctica, one of which had the symbolic name "Schwabienland".
In the documents of the Soviet naval intelligence, it is stated that during the Second World War, completely inexplicable actions of the German naval forces were noted in the area adjacent to Queen Maud Land. The Nazis did not allow anyone there, they even sunk the whaling ships of non-belligerent countries. Quite large ship forces were diverted to this. What for? After all, it would seem, they were protecting an empty coast covered with an ice shell.
"SP": - What is documented about the "Fuehrer's Convoy"?
- This unit included 35 of the most powerful submarines for that time. I happened to get acquainted with the dossier of our naval intelligence on the "Fuehrer's Convoy". At the very end of the war in Kiel, the submarines were removed from their weapons and loaded with containers with huge supplies of provisions and some things, documents. Where they then went is still unknown. Only two of them - "U-977" and "U-530" found themselves in July-August 1945 in the Atlantic and were arrested by the Americans. What the submarine commanders talked about during interrogations is not known for certain. The dossier only analyzed the "information leak" that appeared in the press, and single undercover reports. Allegedly, in April 1945, some rarities of the Third Reich were packed in bronze boxes and loaded on "U-530". Five passengers also arrived here, their faces hidden by surgical dressings. The commander received instructions for the delivery of cargo and passengers to the area of the Schirmacher oasis in Antarctica. In accordance with them, in June 1945, passengers and cargo were left on the ice-fast line at the indicated place. And the submarine went to Argentina, where she was captured. U-977 made a similar flight.
"SP": - And the expedition of Admiral Byrd has documentary evidence?
- We also studied the circumstances of Admiral Byrd's campaign in Antarctica. Inexplicable is the combat strength of the "scientific" expedition. Why such an armada, armed to the teeth, if it was supposed to explore the deserted coast? The Americans don’t throw money down the drain, so they were afraid of something? It is also strange that after the expedition Admiral Byrd went crazy or was hidden in a psychiatric hospital just in case.
"SP": - Did the Soviet Union carry out similar armed expeditions?
- The leadership of the Soviet Union seems to be skeptical about intelligence reports about the German-American fuss around Antarctica. Or maybe it wasn't before. There were too many problems inside the country after the war. Therefore, our military never went there. Only ships of the Institute of Arctic and Antarctica of the Academy of Sciences have always worked in the South Pole area.
We asked Vladimir Stepanov, an employee of the Institute of the Arctic and Antarctic, the head of a number of expeditions to Antarctica, to comment on the information about New Swabia. Here is his opinion:
- Our expeditions have never discovered a fascist presence in Antarctica. True, such a task was never set. We studied the oases discovered by Hitler's researchers, but only in geological and meteorological terms. In the Schirmacher oasis, where the Nazi base was supposedly located, our Novolazarevskaya station has been operating since 1961. It is possible that the Nazis blew up the entrances to the dungeons. There is also another opinion: the Americans nevertheless managed to destroy the German base in 1947, and what was left of it was covered with a glacier. I know that there is a fascist map of Queen Maud Land from the Second World War. She is now in Germany. Apparently, the search for "New Swabia" should be started with her.