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walking we began to see some light in the far distance. However, were forbidden to reveal what we had seen, heard or even encoun- the light was still another hour away; and as each of us battled tered. with our mind's questions of what we would uncover, we inched The tunnel was explained away as nothing more than a freak of forward. nature; "glacial erosion" was the scientist's specific term. The Eventually we reached the vast cavern that was artificially lit. "Polar Men" were nothing more than "unkempt soldiers that had We were then led to where the survivors had witnessed the gone crazy"; the fact that they were German was never submitted executions. The survivor stated it was as covert as one could into the report, and any notion of the mission going public was possibly have wished for. firmly rebutted. The mission would never be made official, As we looked over the entire cavern network, we were over- though certain elements of the mission were to be leaked to the whelmed by the numbers of personnel scurrying about like ants, | Russians and the Americans. but what was impressive was the huge constructions that were So my last Christmas of World War II was spent on the being built. From what we were witnessing, the Nazis, it Antarctic continent in 1945, fighting the same Nazis that I had appeared, had been on Antarctica a long time. The scientist jotted fought against every Christmas since 1940. What was worse was down everything he could, drew dia- the fact that the expedition was never grams and took rock samples as well given any recognition, nor the sur- as the odd photograph. The Major, on vivors any credit. Instead, the British the other hand, was more interested in survivors were de-mobbed from the how the base was to be destroyed with- "The mission would never be forces, whilst the scientist and his out being caught by the Nazis present. report would soon disappear, the mis- After two days of vigilant reconnais - made official, though certain sion never to be known about except sance, the scientist and Major decided elements of the mission were by the select few. on the targets for the mines. The . That mission never made the history mines were to be placed all around the to be leaked to the Russians books, but the return mission in roof of the cavern, with other targets and the Americans." February 1950, conducted by a joint on the to-do list such as the generator British-Swedish-Norwegian expedi- and the petrol dumps and, if possible tion that lasted till January 1952, did. and attainable, the ammunition dumps. The main purpose of the expedition Throughout the day, mines were laid was to verify and investigate some of and more photos were taken; and with the findings of the 1938-39 Nazi the odds of not being detected looking good, a hostage was taken, expeditions to Neuschwabenland. as well as proof of the Nazi base, the "Polar Man" and Five years after our mission, Maudheim and Neuschwabenland photographs of new, and quite advanced, Nazi technology. were revisited, and that expedition had everything to do with the When the mission to place the mines that would destroy the Neuschwabenland campaign, but, more importantly, with what we base had been accomplished, as well as substantial proof of the had destroyed. For the intermediate years between the missions, base gathered, we headed towards the tunnel—but, alas, we were the Royal Air Force continuously flew flights over spotted, and more of the Polar Men and a troop of Nazis gave Neuschwabenland. The RAF's official reason for their extensive chase. Upon reaching the tunnel, we needed to put an obstacle in _ flights was that they were searching for suitable places to set up the way to slow down our enemy long enough for the mines to base camps. However, one can't help but wonder.’ detonate. Some mines were placed at the entrance to the tunnel, [The SAS officer's account ends here. Ed.] and when the explosions were heard we were hopeful that not just the base had been compre- hensively destroyed but so, too, the enemy forces giving chase. We were wrong. The mines did indeed close the tunnel, but, for those Nazis and Polar Men behind, the chase was still on. In a fighting retreat, only three of the 10 escaped the tunnel: the Norwegian, the scientist and myself. The rest had fallen gallantly in making sure that some of the party survived. Upon reaching the safety of the dry valley, F . } GIFTED enough mines were laid to close the tunnel per- reali FeILDEEN manently. After the mines were detonated, there . was no evidence of any tunnel ever existing. | ’ . Suspiciously, very little of the evidence [ ; CLOSE D unearthed remained. Whether it had been lost od a ty accidentally or purposely, it mattered little ; exis because the scientist had already made his and, ultimately, the mission's own conclusions. The camp was disbanded and we returned to the Maudheim base where we were evacuated i A and flown back to the safety of the Falkland , , , ees 2 Islands Dependencies. Upon reaching South . . Georgia, we were issued with a directive that we "Apparently it's run by stupid adults." made official, though certain elements of the mission were NEXUS = 43 "The mission would never be to be leaked to the Russians and the Americans." "Apparently it's run by stupid adults." AUGUST - SEPTEMBER 2005 www.nexusmagazine.com