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Operation Taberlan was activated as a measure of monitoring | was warned that my posting in Palestine would continue German activities on the Antarctic continent. The known British indefinitely. I saw many of my fellow soldiers die. Thankfully, I bases were mainly on the Antarctic Peninsula, in places such as received an order at the beginning of October 1945 to report to my Port Lockroy and Hope Bay, and on the islands surrounding the © commanding officer, as I had been selected for a mission so secret peninsula, such as the secret bases on Deception and Wiencke that none of my senior officers knew why I had been requested to Islands—though some were set up on the continent. The most go to Gibraltar. I was not told why I had to report, but I went, secret of all has not, and more than likely never will be, disclosed. hopeful that I would soon be discharged into Civvy Street. How The base at Maudheim, near the Miihlig-Hoffmann Mountain wrong I was: I would be spending another Christmas on a war Range in Queen Maud Land or, alternatively, Neuschwabenland, _ footing. was so secret that it was never given a name or even a grid refer- Once I arrived on Gibraltar I was secreted away by a Major and ence on official maps. informed that I would be sent to the Falkland Islands Could the stamps have been released to commemorate a suc- Dependencies for further briefing and that I would be joined by cessful mission in Queen Maud Land? The facts and rumours, as _ several other soldiers from other elite British forces. The mystery well as a story dispensed by a thickened as we were all flown wartime SAS officer, may shed to the Falklands under complete some light on the many myster- silence. We were ordered to not ies of the Antarctic arena—a even speculate about why we front that has been kept secret had been selected and where we for 60 years—and on a hostile were going. encounter that will never be Upon reaching the desolate divulged to the public. and forbidding Falkland Islands, Britain has suppressed so we were introduced to the offi- many wartime events in the cer who was leading the expedi- name of national security that tion and a Norwegian who had now, even 60 years on, many served in the Norwegian people are still none the wiser Resistance, an expert in winter about the secrets of the war— warfare who was going to be from Rudolph Hess to the training us for the mission that peace parties, to the even more we had no inkling about. sinister happenings including The Falklands is now consid- Britain's knowledge of the Nazi ered the best-kept secret in the extermination camps, the Irish British Army, and being posted Republican Army's flirtation there normally meant an easy with Nazis, and the lesser few years; however, things were known secrets such as SS con- different in the 1940s—even centration camps on British soil more so for those who had been on Alderney in the Channel selected with me. Islands. With just those few We were forced to undertake listed, a pattern of suppression a gruelling month's training is emerging—and on some, a where we were prepared for total denial is normally forth- cold-weather warfare. From coming. Antarctica is no being plunged into the icy exception. Atlantic to facing the elements With the passing of time, all in a tent on South Georgia, the those who served in the Neuschwabenland campaign are no training was arduous and there seemed little sense in the madness longer with us. The last survivor gave me the following account _ that we were forced to undertake. However, after the month's of the forgotten battle. I hasten to add that the story was told on _ training we were briefed by a Major and a scientist, and as the two separate occasions, 10 years apart, and there was not one dis- mission was relayed to us we all realised that there would be little crepancy in either account. chance of us all returning, especially if the suspicions proved [Editor's note: We have deleted opening and closing quotation correct. marks in the next section for ease of reading. ] We were informed that we were to investigate "anomalous" activities around the Mihlig-Hoffmann Mountains from the The Neuschwabenland Campaign British base in Maudheim. Antarctica, so we were told, was hen Victory in Europe was announced, my unit was resting "Britain's secret war". We were then briefed on British activities in a cave in the former Yugoslavia. I was thankful that the in the South Pole during the war. War had finally ended, though with war still being waged in the We sat intrigued as to what was being divulged; none of us had Pacific and tensions rising in Palestine, we were warned that our _—heard anything so fascinating or frightening. It was not common war could continue. knowledge that the Nazis had been to Antarctica in 1938 and Thankfully, I was spared from participating in the war against 1939, and even less known was the fact that Britain began to set Japan—but alas, I was posted to Palestine where the influx of up secret bases around Antarctica in response. The one we were Jews, allied with a rise in Zionist terrorism, was causing anguish _to visit, Maudheim, was the biggest and most important as well as not only to the inhabitants of Palestine but also to the British forces _ the most clandestine Antarctic base of them all. The reason for its that were sent to stem the Jewish influx and quell the uprisings. I importance was the fact that it was within 200 miles of where the The Neuschwabenland Campaign hen Victory in Europe was announced, my unit was resting in a cave in the former Yugoslavia. I was thankful that the War had finally ended, though with war still being waged in the Pacific and tensions rising in Palestine, we were warned that our war could continue. Thankfully, I was spared from participating in the war against Japan—but alas, I was posted to Palestine where the influx of Jews, allied with a rise in Zionist terrorism, was causing anguish not only to the inhabitants of Palestine but also to the British forces that were sent to stem the Jewish influx and quell the uprisings. I 40 = NEXUS www.nexusmagazine.com AUGUST - SEPTEMBER 2005