Studying the history of the penetration of the Nazis into Antarctica, one more aspect should be considered. According to some Nazi leaders, including Heinrich Himmler and Rudolf Hess, the pure Aryan race can be raised in isolated colonies located in the northern and even polar regions. In addition, during the war, the Nazis needed large areas on which to be located secret bases for testing advanced weapons. At the same time, it was possible to check the assumption that Antarctica is a legendary prakontinent, on which the Nordic race once appeared and lived. And at the end of 1938, Hitler sent an expedition under the command of Captain Alfred Richter to the Atlantic coast of Antarctica.
The expedition arrived at the site in early 1939. Every day, for three weeks, two seaplanes took off from the deck of the aircraft carrier Schwabenland and flew around the area called Queen Maud Land. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, the Germans installed swastikas in a vast area of the western part of Queen Maud Land: on the shores of Princess Astrid and Princess Martha. The Germans called this territory New Swabia. (Let me remind you that in the early Middle Ages one of the tribal duchies of the Kingdom of Germany was called Swabia, which included the territories of Württemberg, South Baden, Alsace, part of Switzerland and part of Bavaria.)
Returning to Hamburg, expedition commander Richter on April 12, 1939 reported:
“I have fulfilled the mission entrusted to me by Marshal Goering. For the first time, German aircraft flew over the Antarctic continent. " The Luftwaffe air aces did their job. It was the turn of the "sea wolves" of Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz to act. And submarines secretly headed to the shores of Antarctica.
Some researchers claim that during the landing in Queen Maud Land, divers discovered a whole system of interconnected caves with warm air. Now it is possible to create a permanent base.
During the war, German ships and submarines continued to sail the south Atlantic Ocean, guarding the borders of New Swabia. In 1941, a pair of Norwegian whaling ships anchored in their own territorial waters near Queen Maud Land were captured by the German Penguin. The Norwegian supply ship and convoy faced the same fate. In May 1941, the English warship Cornwall sank the Penguin, but before that she captured an entire fleet of allied merchant ships.
And in 1943, Doenitz dropped a very remarkable phrase: "The German submarine fleet is proud to have created for the Fuhrer on the other side of the world Shangrilla - an impregnable fortress." What do these words mean? Did the Nazis really build a secret base in Antarctica?
* * *
Promotional video:
Now it became known that during the war there was a top secret formation of German submarines, which received the name "Fuehrer's Convoy". It included 35 submarines. At the very end of the war in the port of Kiel, torpedoes and other military equipment were removed from them, since they were strictly forbidden to engage in battle during this voyage. Instead, they were loaded with containers containing valuables and documents, and huge supplies of provisions. In Kiel, the submarines took on board passengers, some even disguised as crew members.
Currently, reliable information is available only about two submarines from the "Convoy". The captain of the first of these, U-977, Heinz Schaeffer, was repeatedly accused of allegedly transporting Hitler to South America. True, the captain himself categorically denied this accusation during interrogations conducted by representatives of the American and British special services.
To give his words as much persuasion as possible, Schaeffer wrote a book of memoirs that came out in 1952 and was called simply: "U-977". It was a rather boring repetition of what he said during interrogations. There was a minimum of information there, Schaeffer pretended to be an obedient "dummy", unquestioningly carrying out orders from his superiors, without even delving into their meaning. But by chance, a letter from Schaeffer, addressed to the "old comrade" Captain Zursee Wilhelm Bernhart, and dated June 1, 1983, got into the press:
“Dear Willie, I was thinking about getting your U-530 manuscript published. All three boats ("U-977", "U-530" and "U-465") that participated in that operation are now sleeping peacefully at the bottom of the Atlantic. Maybe it is better not to wake them?
Think about it, old comrade!
Think also about how my book will appear after what you have said? We all took an oath to keep secrecy, we did nothing wrong and only followed orders, fighting for our beloved Germany. For her survival. So think again, or maybe it's even better to present everything as an invention?
What will you achieve when you tell the truth about what our mission was? And who will suffer because of your revelations? Think about it! Of course, you don't intend to do it just for the money. I repeat again: let the truth sleep with our submarines at the bottom of the ocean. This is my opinion … This concludes my letter, old friend Willie. May the Lord protect our Germany.
Sincerely, Heinz."
But what is known now about the U-530 mission? What did Heinz Schaeffer so insistently ask his friend not to disclose?
At present, the general content of the manuscript of Wilhelm Bernhart "The Return of the Holy Lance" has become known. It states that in early April 1945, the sacred relics of the Third Reich (including the original Longinus spear), packed in six bronze boxes, were transported to the city of Kiel, and then loaded on "U-530". By this time, there were five passengers on the submarine, whose faces were hidden by surgical bandages. The captain of the submarine was 25-year-old Otto Wermouth, whose family was killed in the bombing of Berlin. In general, the crew of the submarine was selected so that no one was married and no one had any living relatives. Weermouth received two personal letters. From Hitler and from Doenitz. According to the order, he had to take from each member of the team "a vow of eternal silence."
On the night of April 13, 1945 "U-530" left Kiel. At the parking lot in Kristiansand, Wermouth was handed a sealed package containing instructions on the further route. When he opened it, he realized that the flight would be long.
U-530 made it to the African coast, then turned towards the South Hawaiian Islands. Antarctica was ahead. Having reached its shores, 16 people from the team descended onto the ice. They had at their disposal a cargo, a map and detailed instructions regarding the ice cave, in which they were to hide the "sacred relics."
This was New Swabia in Queen Maud Land. The ice cache marked on the map was discovered by the Ritscher expedition in 1938. The group entered the ice cave and neatly stacked boxes containing the relics of the Third Reich and Hitler's personal belongings. The first phase of the operation, code-named Valkyrie 2, was completed. Now it was possible to return to the world and surrender to the mercy of the victors. July 10, 1945, two months after the end of the war in Europe, "U-530" on the surface entered the port of Mardel-Plata.
As for the submarine "U-977", it is believed that she transported the ashes of Hitler and Eva Braun to New Swabia. Repeating the well-known route of "U-530" with an entry into Antarctica, on August 17, 1945, "U-977" also arrived at Mardel Plata, where it surrendered to the Argentine authorities.
If you believe the above, "dear Willie" did not heed the request of the "old friend" Heinz Schaeffer. And somewhere out there, among the ice of Antarctica, Nazi relics were stored for decades.
True, this version is already very different from the one that Vermouth and Schaeffer proposed to American investigators. But does this mean that the second version is final? There are quite a few oddities and inconsistencies even if we take The Return of the Holy Lance at face value. First, where did the mysterious passengers of these submarines go? Secondly, why were so many products taken? And finally, what was the role of the third submarine, U-465, in this entire operation?
* * *
As for the Nazi base, for a long time there were rumors that it still exists in the area of the Schirmacher oasis, which is located in Queen Maud Land. However, Soviet scientists who lived and worked there at the Novolazarevskaya research station claim that no trace of the Nazis was found. Antarctica continues to keep its secrets …
Anton I. Pervushin