The Secret Base in Antarctica That Wasn't
In 1939, a Nazi German expedition flew over Antarctica and claimed a slice of it. Legends grew of a secret base under the ice, flying saucers and a battle.
What was reported
In 1938 and 1939, Nazi Germany sent an expedition on the ship Schwabenland to Antarctica. Its seaplanes photographed a large area of Queen Maud Land and dropped metal darts marked with swastikas, to claim the land, which Germany called New Swabia.
After the war, stories spread that the Nazis had built a secret base there, called Base 211, where escaped leaders hid, with advanced flying saucers. Some say the US Navy's large Antarctic expedition of 1946–47, Operation Highjump, was a failed attack on the base.
Explanations offered
Historians say there's no evidence of any German base in Antarctica: the expedition stayed only a few weeks and never built anything. Operation Highjump was a training and mapping mission. The legends grew out of post-war rumours and later fiction. Norway claims the area today.
- When
- Expedition in 1938–1939; myths since
- Where
- Queen Maud Land, Antarctica
- Witnesses
- A German expedition, then conspiracy writers
- Status
- Myth
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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