Wettertrupp "Haudegen"

[Franz repper]

On the 9th September 1944 Wettertrupp "Haudegen" was formed by the German navy, and was assigned the task of establishing a weather station at Rijpfjorden, on Nordaustlandet, the second-largest island in the Svalbard archipelago. The station worked without incident throughout the winter of 1944/45.

At the beginning of 1945 Wettertrupp "Haudegen" received a communication asking if the unit would stay in place not until the autumn of 1945, as planned, but until the autumn of 1946. They would be provided with two seaplanes for supply flights. In May 1945 the personnel of the Wettertrupp heard about the total capitulation of Germany on the radio, but they decided to continue their work. They began to send out their reports in clear text and without code.

On the 3rd September 1945 a Norwegian ship arrived at the weather station and embarked the Wettertrupp. On the 4th (or 5th, depending on which source you read) September 1945 Dr. Wilhelm Dege, the commander of the detachment, signed an official capitulation document.


more info and photos here http://www.spitzbergen.de/HTML-Dateien/ ... 20WWII.htm

[Stigroadie]

So were these the last 'unit' of German forces to surrender?
Very sporting of them to transmit in plain, tis the code of the sea.

[Franz repper]

So were these the last 'unit' of German forces to surrender?
Very sporting of them to transmit in plain, tis the code of the sea.

Yes if you look at it that way ,And they were very nice guys in the end