The last Wehrmacht detachment stuck on Svalbard

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

On May 7, 1945, German General Alfred Jodl signed the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany at the Allied headquarters in Reims, France. This meant that the Second World War came to an end, at least in the European theater of operations.

But … the war did not end for a small 11-man Wehrmacht unit stationed in Svalbard, the Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. The Wehrmacht unit was assigned a secret mission called "Operation War Horse" … Weather stations had to be installed on Svalbard. In the chaos after the surrender of Germany, this unit of the Wehrmacht was forgotten …

They will be the last German soldiers to surrender after World War II.

Introduction

Wilhelm Dege was the commander of the Svalbard mission. Back in 1931, he obtained a teaching license in Germany and began his work as a teacher. After work, he studied geography, geology and history.

An avid explorer, he traveled to Svalbard several times between 1935 and 1938. The result of this adventure was his dissertation on Svalbard in 1939. He became a Doctor of Geography.

While Dege taught and explored, Germany was heading towards an all-out war that would change the lives of every German man and woman.

In 1940, Nazi Germany, already technically at war with much of Europe, invaded Norway. Before the war, recruitment to the Wehrmacht consisted of 1.3 million Germans, 2.4 million volunteers are being prepared.

In 1940, Wilhelm Dege was one of many who was drafted into the Wehrmacht.

However, it was not until 1943 that it was decided to start Operation War Horse.

The mission was for geographic purposes, namely the creation of meteorological stations in Svalbard.

Dege knew the language, was familiar with the area, and was adept at what he had to do.

When this idea came up, it became clear to the command of the Wehrmacht that Dege was the ideal employee for this mission. A detachment of Wehrmacht soldiers was created, first they were sent to a training camp, and then they began their mission.

It was in Goldhöhe, the German name for a mountainous area on the border between Czechoslovakia and Poland, in the winter of 1943 a detachment of German volunteers began their training.

The mission statement for which these people began to train was unknown even to them. Their tasks included skiing, rappelling, building a needle, steering dog sleds, and using maps and a compass in snowy areas.

At the end of the training camp, 10 volunteer telegraph operators were selected for the mission. These 10 young people had no idea what the mission would be. She was shrouded in complete secrecy.

Operation War Horse

They were to set up a weather station in Svalbard and report weather conditions to the Luftwaffe and the Kriegsmarine. Svalbard was an archipelago in the North Ice Sea, more than 500 km north of Norway. It consisted of three large and eighty smaller scattered islands.

The islands were discovered in 1596 by the Dutch explorer Willem Barents. He gave the group of islands the name "Spitsbergen".

By 1944, the German army was under attack from all directions. I mean, by that point it was pretty clear that the Axis powers were going to lose the war. Nevertheless, the army command wanted to receive a weather forecast from the Arctic zone. In case of bad weather, both the Luftwaffe and the Kriegsmarine could prepare.

Analyzing, documenting and tracking weather conditions is often a critical element of war.

In the fall of 1944, the submarine U-307 transported the Germans to the city of Tromsø, from where they sailed to Svalbard, accompanied by the naval ship Karl J Busch, which delivered supplies so that they could build their station.

A detachment of 11 Wehrmacht soldiers arrived in Svalbard around November 1944. This was the last time the Germans saw other people in almost a year. 11 people were alone in Svalbard.

There were several elements that made this mission dangerous

The fact is that the Arctic winter was quickly approaching. It can be up to minus 40 degrees.

It didn't take long for the men to build 2 flat-roofed cabins covered with a layer of snow-white nets. The men will live in these huts next year.

The second reason it was a dangerous mission was that an Allied reconnaissance plane could fly over, or an allied warship could pass if the weather allowed it.

At the end of December 1944, the weather station started working. Their daily task was to send 5 encrypted weather forecasts to the weather station in St. Tromsø, Norway.

Wilhelm Dege continued his research in Svalbard in his spare time, when the detachment was not busy sending weather forecasts.

I have already mentioned the coldness on the island.

Operation research

What's so interesting about Operation Horse is that despite the dire conditions, strong polar winds, lack of sunshine, and a real risk of becoming polar bear food, the crew didn't take the mission so badly.

On mainland Europe, Germany was quickly pushed out of its own borders. The Germans suffered heavy losses and towards the end of April, on the 30th, Adolf Hitler committed suicide in his bunker in Berlin.

It was at this time that the German Luftwaffe sent a telegram to the Svalbard unit with a message about the possibility of landing an aircraft near the weather station. The division quickly built an impromptu runway. They gathered and were ready to leave Svalbard, but several days passed without any news: "not a roar of aircraft", as Wilhelm Dege wrote in his book "Gefangen im arktischen Ais", recalling the Operation on Svalbard.

Instead, they heard on the radio a message about the surrender of Germany

Forgotten squad of the Wehrmacht

The men want to return to Germany, see what's left, and help rebuild the country. The only option available to them to return to Germany was to establish radio contact with the allies.

Germany, so to speak, was inaccessible.

If the unit makes contact with the Allied powers, this would mean that they will be arrested as prisoners of war and could potentially receive lengthy prison sentences.

Wilhelm Dege tried to remain optimistic:

"The detachment that completed the meteorological station cannot be prosecuted and convicted as war criminals."

After a month or two, the division noticed another change. The Norwegians returned to the weather station in Tromsø. Although the squad tried to establish radio contact with them, it was almost impossible.

Dege gave the Norwegians their coordinates at the wavelengths used by the Allied Powers, but to no avail.

There were no ships or aircraft on the horizon.

In August, Dege's squad received a radio message from the Norwegians. They realized that the Germans were stuck on the island and would send a mission to pick them up.

In early September, ship after detachment was going to Svalbard. By this time, almost 4 months have passed since the official end of the war in Europe. On the night of September 3, a seal hunting ship moored near the weather station.

Prisoners of war

When a Norwegian ship with a German unit approached Tromsø, the Germans were immediately imprisoned as prisoners of war.

However, after 3 months, Wilhelm Dege was able to return to West Germany.

He spent the rest of his life as a teacher, and since 1962 as a professor in Dortmund. Dege's detachment was released in September 1945. 5 of them were from East Germany, which was occupied by the Soviet Union. They were not allowed to return.

The youngest, Siegfried Czapka, died the last on August 12, 2015.