Lesson 2: Operation Highjump (1946-1947)
Checking the Perimeter
In the last lesson, we learned that the U.S. government hired Nazi scientists to build their rockets. Now we move to the next step. Before they looked up at the stars, they looked south at the ice. They sent a massive military force to Antarctica to find something.
The Cover Story
Official Mission
The mission was officially called the United States Navy Antarctic Developments Program.
- Leader: Admiral Richard E. Byrd. He was a genuine American hero and the first man to fly over the South Pole.
- Cover Story: The government told the public this was just a training mission. They said they were going there to test equipment in freezing cold weather.
The Equipment List
War Fleet
If this was just a scientific trip to look at penguins, the equipment list does not make sense. They sent an entire war fleet.
- Troops: 4,700 marines and special forces.
- Ships: 13 ships, including an aircraft carrier called the USS Philippine Sea and a submarine called the USS Sennet.
- Aircraft: 33 aircraft, including helicopters and seaplanes.
Skeptic Question: Why do you bring a submarine to a continent that is supposed to be solid land? Unless you are looking for an entrance under the ice.
Retreat
Leaving Early
The mission was planned to last for six to eight months. Instead, it was canceled after only six weeks. The fleet turned around and came home early.
- Lost Planes: Several aircraft were lost. The official report said they crashed because of whiteout conditions. Rumors from the soldiers said they were shot down.
- Casualties: Multiple men died. One famous incident involved a plane that just exploded in mid-air.
The Interview
Warning from Byrd
This is the most important piece of evidence. On his way back to the United States, Admiral Byrd stopped in Chile. He gave a frantic interview to a newspaper called El Mercurio on March 5, 1947.
- Tone: He did not sound like a man who had just been studying weather.
- Message: He warned that the United States needed to prepare for a new kind of war.
- Enemy: He said we needed to defend ourselves against enemy fighters that could fly from pole to pole with incredible speed.
Implication: In 1947, no human had planes that fast. Byrd saw something down there that terrified him.
The Controversial Text
Diary Mystery
This part is controversial, but it is a big part of the theory. After Byrd died, a diary surfaced that supposedly belonged to him.
- Inside the Ice: In this diary, he describes flying beyond the ice into a lush, green land with mammoths and advanced cities.
- Contact: He claims his plane was intercepted by flying discs marked with Swastikas. He describes meeting a leader called “The Master” who warned him about nuclear weapons.
Validation: While many think the diary is fake, it lines up perfectly with old maps found in Berlin archives that showed a hidden land called Neuschwabenland (New Swabia).
The Oasis
Bunger’s Discovery
This part is a proven fact. During the mission, a pilot named David Bunger flew inland and found something impossible.
- Oasis: He discovered a massive area free of ice.
- Features: It had warm, blue freshwater lakes and brown hills.
Proof: This proved that Antarctica is not just a block of ice. It hides heat sources and places where people could live hidden from view.
Conspiracy Timeline of Events
This mission changes how we look at history. Look at the dates.
Conclusion: They went to the wall, got scared by what they found, and then locked the door.
Sources for Verification
- United States Navy. Antarctic Developments Project, 1947: Operation Highjump. (Official Naval Report).Citation: “Report of Operation Highjump: U.S. Navy Antarctic Development Project, 1947.” Washington D.C., U.S. Navy Department.
Fact Check: Confirms the fleet size (4,700 men, 13 ships, USS Philippine Sea aircraft carrier, USS Sennet submarine).
- Sullivan, Walter. Quest for a Continent. McGraw-Hill, 1957.Fact Check: Sullivan was a New York Times journalist embedded with the operation. He documents the crash of the PBM Mariner George 1 and the deaths of crew members (Maxwell Lopez, Wendell Hendersin, and Frederick Williams).
- El Mercurio. Santiago, Chile. March 5, 1947.Headline: “Almirante Richard E. Byrd advierte sobre el peligro de invasión.” (Admiral Richard E. Byrd warns of the danger of invasion).
Quote: This is the primary source for his statement regarding “enemy fighters that can fly from pole to pole with incredible speed.” (Original Spanish: “Estados Unidos tiene que prepararse para defenderse contra aviones enemigos que pueden volar de un polo a otro con velocidad increíble.”)
- United States Geological Survey (USGS). “Bunger Hills.”Fact Check: Confirms the discovery by Lt. Cmdr. David E. Bunger in February 1947 during Operation Highjump. It is physically located at 66°16′S 100°45′E.
- National Geographic. “Oasis in Antarctica.” (Various historical features confirm the “warm lakes” anomaly, which are actually hypersaline lakes that remain liquid).
- Byrd, Richard E. (attributed). The Secret Lost Diary of Admiral Richard E. Byrd and The Phantom of the Poles. (First published posthumously).Note: You must cite this as a controversial/disputed text. Unlike the Navy reports, this is not officially recognized by the US government, but it is the “Holy Grail” text for the Hollow Earth theory.
- Summerhayes, Colin. “Hitler’s Antarctic Base: The Myth and the Reality.” Polar Record, Cambridge University Press.Fact Check: Confirms the historical German expedition (1938-1939) to claim “Neuschwabenland” (New Swabia), which provides the historical basis for the “Nazi Base” rumors.
Intel Brief: Why They Went South
Connecting the Dots
We know the U.S. hired Nazi scientists in 1945 (Operation Paperclip). We know the U.S. sent a war fleet to Antarctica in 1946 (Operation Highjump). The big question is why. How did the U.S. Navy know to look there? The answer lies in captured German intelligence files.
1943
Admiral’s Fortress Claim
In 1943, Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz commanded the German U-boat fleet. He made a statement that confused the world.
- Strange Quote: He told reporters that the submarine fleet had built an “impregnable fortress” for Hitler in “another part of the world.”
- Shangri-La: He called it a “Shangri-La.” This is a term for a hidden paradise.
- Hidden Meaning: He was not talking about Germany. Germany was being bombed every day. He was referring to a secret location. When the U.S. captured Dönitz in 1945, they likely interrogated him to find the coordinates of this fortress.
1938
German Scouting Mission
Years before the war started, Germany had already scouted the location.
- Vessel Used: Germany sent a ship called the Schwabenland to Antarctica for the Third German Antarctic Expedition.
- Claiming Land: They used seaplanes to photograph huge areas of land. They dropped thousands of metal darts stamped with Swastikas to claim the territory.
- Secret Photos: When Allies captured the German archives in 1945, they found these aerial photos. They showed massive “oasis” areas in Antarctica that were free of ice.
US Goal: The U.S. Navy did not go to Antarctica in 1946 to explore. They went to verify if the German maps were real.
1945
Mystery of the Missing U-Boats
The final clue came immediately after the war ended.
- Disappearing Act: The war in Europe ended in May 1945. Most forces surrendered immediately. Two German submarines (U-530 and U-977) vanished.
- Late Arrival: They stayed missing for months. Finally, in July and August of 1945, they surfaced in Argentina and surrendered.
- Suspicious Findings: When the Argentine navy searched the boats, they found strange things. There were no torpedoes. The captains had destroyed the navigation logs. The crews refused to speak.
Escape Route: U.S. Intelligence believed these submarines used those extra months to transport high-value people and equipment to the Antarctic base before fleeing to South America. This panic is likely what triggered Operation Highjump the very next year.
Sources
- Admiral Dönitz Quote: Nuremberg Trial Transcripts (1946) / Wartime Press Releases (1943).
- 1938 Expedition: Lüdecke, C. (2004). “The Third German Antarctic Expedition.” Polar Record. (Confirms the historical event and the mapping mission).
- Ghost U-Boats: U.S. Naval Intelligence Reports (1945). (Official records regarding the surrender and interrogation of the crews of U-530 and U-977 in Mar del Plata, Argentina).
