Photos from Operation Haudegen

Being able to make accurate weather predictions is important for modern warfare. During World War II, Germany set up a number of weather stations throughout the arctic, even clandestinely setting up an unmanned station as far as the Canadian Arctic. On the 9th of September of 1944 eleven German soldiers arrived by submarine at Svalbard, a remote chain of islands a short distance from the North Pole.

Called Operation Haudegen, the men set up a weather station and sent daily weather reports to Germany. For a year the man of Operation Haudegen were forced to bear loneliness, harsh arctic weather, 23 hours a day of daylight or 23 hours a day of night depending on the season, and boredom. As the war raged in Europe and the Third Reich collapsed, they became more isolated as they were forgotten by the German government. Finally on September 4th, 1945, they were rescued by a crew of Norwegian fishermen, four months after the German surrender. They became known as they last German soldiers to surrender after World War II.

The following photos are from the archives of Lt. Dr. William Dege, commander of the Haudegen expedition. He is the man with the beard and glasses.