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BRITAIN'S SECRET WAR IN ANTARCTICA BRITAIN'S SECRET WAR ANTARCTICA While some high-ranking Nazis would have known about the haven created in the ice in Neuschwabenland, after Hitler's death it was Grand Admiral Donitz who held the trump card with his knowledge of U-boat movements. Part 2 of 3 ith British forces controlling northern Germany and the ports that went with their sector at the end of World War II, there was a strong likelihood of their capturing most of the Nazi hierarchy. They were also ideally placed because Russia was more interested in Berlin, and the vast US forces were stationed mainly in southern Germany where they had been sent to investigate the supposed "Redoubt". Even so, four years before the end of the war, Britain had managed to apprehend the Deputy Fiihrer of the Third Reich, Rudolph Hess, and he was arguably the most knowledgeable of all the Nazis at that juncture. Rudolph Hess landed in Scotland on 10 May 1941 and asked to meet the Duke of Hamilton. His plans for peace talks were quickly rebutted, and so began his 46-year incarceration. Hess's imprisonment is one of the most widely discussed mysteries of the war. Some claim he was imprisoned because of the damage any revelations he possessed would inflict on the British monarchy. Others claim that Britain's refusal of his peace proposal led to the nation's huge losses territorially, materially, financial- ly and emotionally; because of his silencing, the British people never heard the peace terms or learned how beneficial they may have proved. However, as Christof Friedrich claims,’ some believe that "Hess was entrusted with the all-important Antarctic file"; but whether this was a paper file or a mental note, one thing is for cer- tain: Hess, Deputy Fiihrer, would have known everything about the Nazis' Antarctic intentions. Though Hess was dismissed by both Hitler and the British Government as "insane","° surely Hess's insanity would have restricted his ability in his numerous roles in the Nazi Party and Government. Yet Hess was chief of the Auslandsorganisation, Commissar for Foreign Policy, Commissar for All University Matters and University Policy, Commissar for All Technological Matters and Organisation, and also head of the Office for Racial Policy.'' Hess, in layman's terms, had his "finger in every pie". Rudolph Hess was also an active member of the Thule Society, and his interest in Antarctica would have been on both personal and professional levels. Hess, a keen aviator, used his position in both the Nazi Party and the Thule Society to meet Richard Byrd when he lectured the personnel who were heading for the Antarctic with the Deutsche Antarktische Expedition (German Antarctic Expedition) in 1938, and through his channels Hess would have known everything that had been discovered in Neuschwabenland. Byrd, a living legend throughout the world for being the first man to fly over both the north and south poles, was possibly the most well-informed polar explorer ever, and he divulged his vast knowledge and details of his exploits to the Nazis. Byrd's advice in his lecture and ultimately the Nazis' successful expedition to claim Neuschwabenland may have given the Nazis conviction enough to establish a viable Antarctic base. Hess's flight and eventual capture a few years after the Deutsche Antarktische Expedition meant that plans would have been underway. His enviable position as Deputy Fiihrer and his close affiliation with the Thule Society which spon- sored the expedition meant, as Canadian journalist Pierre van Paasen claimed shortly after Hess's flight, that "[t]here was no major military plan and secret of the Third Reich of which he was unaware".'? Of his 46 years in prison, Hess spent the first four totally under British jurisdiction. Email: james-robert@hotmail.co.uk NEXUS = 11 Britain's Influential Captures by James Robert © 2005 OCTOBER — NOVEMBER 2005 www.nexusmagazine.com