Operation Highjump: The Antarctic Battle and the Nazi Base Buried Under the Ice

On 26 August 1946, the United States Navy planned to send a huge force to Antarctica. Thirteen ships, 33 aircraft, and about 4,700 people were assigned to build Little America IV, map the coast, and test operations in ice and snow. Its official name was the United States Navy Antarctic Developments Program. In military use, it was Operation Highjump.

The scale alone raised questions. Nazi Germany had sent the ship Schwabenland to Antarctica in 1938–39, taken aerial photographs, and marked a region called New Swabia. After the war, thousands of former Nazi officials escaped to South America. Highjump appeared at the moment when the Allies feared that German engineers, submarines, and weapons might still exist somewhere no one could inspect.