German meteorological activities in the Arctic, 1940–45

J. D. M. Blyth

doi:10.1017/S0032247400040596

German meteorological activities in the Arctic, 1940–45

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 October 2009

J. D. M. Blyth

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Between 1940 and 1945 the German navy undertook a series of expeditions to the arctic regions in order to obtain regular synoptic weather reports, the international exchange of which had practically ceased upon the outbreak of war in 1939. During these years the German naval meteorological service [Wetterdienst des Oberkommandos der Kriegsmarine] organized and dispatched some thirteen parties, whose task it was to provide the information required to meet the exigencies of modern naval warfare and to enable forecasts of the influence of the “polar front” on European weather to be made. Owing to the strategic situation these activities were confined to Svalbard, East Greenland and Zemlya Frantsa-Iosifa (Franz Josef Land). The German air force sent one expedition to Spitsbergen and two to Hopen (Hope Island) but on the whole the Luftwaffe preferred to employ aircraft flying from bases in northern Norway to obtain operational data, making special flights as and when required.

Type: Articles
Information: Polar Record , Volume 6 , Issue 42 , July 1951 , pp. 185 - 226

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0032247400040596 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1951

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^{page 188 note 1} See Appendix 1, p. 225.

^{page 188 note 2} Information contained in an unpublished typescript by Kraul, Otto entitled “Bericht über die Eisverhältnisse in der Dänemarkstrasse während der Monate September und November 1940”, at the Scott Polar Research Institute.Google Scholar

^{page 189 note 1} See Appendix 2, p. 226.

^{page 189 note 2} According to the British Admiralty, a vessel of this name was sunk in the North Sea in June 1941.

^{page 190 note 1} Weickmann, L. accompanied the Graf Zeppelin on her arctic flight in 1931 as meteorologist.Google Scholar

^{page 190 note 2} Etienne, E. W. took part in the Oxford University Greenland Expedition of 1938 as meteorologist.Google Scholar

^{page 190 note 3} The minesweepers were returning from Arkhangel'sk and had been ordered by the Admiralty to investigate a report that the Germans intended to occupy Longyearbyen and establish a wireless station there.

^{page 190 note 4} Details of this instrument are given on p. 224.

^{page 191 note 1} The day after Etienne's party had landed at Bansø.

^{page 191 note 2} A German meteorological observatory was established at Ebeltofthamna in 1910, and was in operation until the outbreak of war in 1914.

^{page 196 note 1} Hydrogen cylinders had been too bulky to transport in the U-boat, and gas for the radiosonde balloons was produced by mixing aluminium and caustic soda in an apparatus provided by Deutsche Seewarte for the purpose. As considerable quantities of water were required to operate the machine, it did not prove satisfactory.

^{page 197 note 1} On 18 June a Norwegian reconnaissance party of five men had been landed by Kommandørkaptein E. Ullring of the Royal Norwegian Navy, who had then returned to Barentsburg for reinforcements. See Ullring, E., “Pá langtur pá Svalbard under Krigen”. Polarboken, 1949, p. 7–26.Google Scholar

^{page 198 note 1} Kommandørkaptein Ullring had returned with reinforcements at midday on 22 June. The German reprisal attack resulted in the loss of the motor-boat and one Norwegian killed.

^{page 199 note 1} It was later discovered that this was in fact a United States aircraft from the icebreaker U.S.C.G.S. Northland, then lying in Gael Hamkes Bugt off Eskimonæs.

^{page 200 note 1} In this connexion it may be noted that on several occasions Operation “Nussbaum” passed signals from Spitsbergen to Tromsø via Operation “Holzauge” in East Greenland; alternately, Operation “Holzauge” made similar use of Operation “Nussbaum” in April and June 1943.

^{page 200 note 2} The Greenland Sledge Patrol, consisting of Danish and Norwegian trappers and a few Eskimo, was organized by Rear-Admiral E. H. Smith, U.S.C.G., Commander of the Greenland Naval Patrol, in the autumn of 1941; it was then hired by the U.S. Army to form a regular patrol of the east coast of Greenland as far north as lat. 77°, visiting unoccupied huts and reporting any signs of enemy activity.

^{page 202 note 1} At least three places on the west coast of Spitsbergen between Sörrkapp and Isfjorden reconnoitred at this time were later used in case of emergency by German aircraft damaged in attacks on Allied northern convoys.

^{page 203 note 1} Another automatic station was set up on Bjørnøya by an aircraft from Banak in the summer of 1943. See p. 214.

^{page 204 note 1} From an unpublished typescript by Dege, Wilhelm entitled “Vorbereitung und Verlauf der Expedition ‘Haudegen’ des Wetterdienstes der deutschen Kriegsmarine nach Nordost-Land”, at the Scott Polar Research Institute.Google Scholar

^{page 209 note 1} Erected in July 1910 during Ejnar Mikkelsen's Alabama expedition of 1909–12.

^{page 210 note 1} Quoted from Polarforschung, Bd. 2, Heft 1/2, 1947, p. 151.Google Scholar

^{page 215 note 1} In the early summer of 1943 a U-boat had picked up four survivors of the crew of a torpedoed Russian ship, the Dekabrist, living in this hut. Some twenty skeletons were later found on the east coast of the island.

^{page 216 note 1} K. Schmid, a geographer, visited Iceland in 1935 as a student and accompanied H. Kinzl's expedition to the southern part of Cordillera Blanca in Peru in 1938–39.

^{page 220 note 1} Owing to the repeated failure of the Knoespel-type hut to satisfy the needs of expeditions, plans were drawn up by an architect named S. Schmid for base huts suitable for both a fournian and a twelve-man expedition. These plans incorporated suggestions made over a period of three years. The critical military position of Germany at the end of 1944 prevented the production of these huts.

^{page 221 note 1} Steam bath alternating with douches of ice-cold water or snow.

^{page 221 note 2} From the unpublished typescript by Dege, Wilhelm referred to in the footnote on p. 204.Google Scholar

^{page 224 note 1} Translated from a paper by Person, Hermann entitled “Entwicklung und Einsatz von unbemannten automatischen Wetterfunkstationen im Polargebiet”, Polarforschung, Bd. 2, Heft 1/2, 1948, p. 202–05.Google Scholar

^{page 225 note 1} See Skrifter om Svalbard og Ishavet, Nr. 88, 1945, p. 33–35Google Scholar; Yorkshire Evening Post of 19 October 1940Google Scholar; and Daily Express of 2 November 1940.Google Scholar

^{page 225 note 2} Skrifter om Svalbard og Ishavet, Nr. 88, 1945, p. 37Google Scholar, and The Times of 13 October 1941.Google Scholar

^{page 226 note 1} See Arctic War. Norway's role on the northern front. London, H.M.S.O., 1945, p. 10–16.Google Scholar

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