Stephen Haddelsey - Operation Tabarin : Britain's Secret Wartime Expedition to Antarctica 1943-45 DJV read online
9780752493565 English 0752493566 Full of extraordinary characters, this tale of a secret mission is based upon previously unpublished diarires, letters, and reportsIn 1943, with Rommel's Afrika Korps in full retreat after El Alamein, Churchill's War Cabinet met to discuss the opening of a new front. Its battles would be fought not on the beaches of Normandy but amidst the glaciers of the Antarctic. Intended to safeguard the Falkland Islands from Japanese invasion and to deny harbors in the sub-Antarctic territories to German surface raiders and U-boats, the expedition also sought to reassert British territorial rights in the face of Argentine provocation. This would achieve its ultimate expression four decades later in the Falklands War--but the British bases secretly established in 1944 would also go on to play a vital part in a global "conflict": the Cold War. Based upon contemporary sources, "Operation Tabarin" tells for the first time the story of the only Antarctic expedition to be launched by any of the combatant nations of World War II and one of the most curious episodes in what Ernest Shackleton called "the white warfare of the south." The expedition leader was the redoubtable "Scout" Marr, who had sailed with Shackleton. James Murdie was a key figure, a veteran of the Endurance expedition. Captain Victor Marchesi spent three seasons looking for U-boats armed with a revolver and sent letters with British Falklands stamps to embassies all over the world to establish British sovereignty., In 1943, with Rommel's Afrika Korps in full retreat after El Alamein, Churchill's War Cabinet met to discuss the opening of a new front. Its battles would be fought not on the beaches of Normandy but amidst the glaciers of the Antarctic. Intended to safeguard the Falkland Islands from Japanese invasion and to deny harbours in the sub-Antarctic territories to German surface raiders and U-boats, the expedition also sought to re-assert British territorial rights in the face of Argentine provocation. This would achieve its ultimate expression four decades later in the Falklands War - but the British bases secretly established in 1944 would also go on to play a vital part in a global 'conflict': the Cold War. Based upon contemporary sources, Operation Tabarin tells for the first time the story of the only Antarctic expedition to be launched by any of the combatant nations of the Second World War and one of the most curious episodes in what Ernest Shackleton called 'the white warfare of the south'.The expedition leader was the redoubtable 'Scout' Marr, who had sailed with Shackleton. James Murdie was a key figure, a veteran of the Endurance expedition. Captain Victor Marchesi spent three seasons looking for U-boats armed with a revolver and sent letters with British Falklands stamps to embassies all over the world to establish British sovereignty!, In 1943, with the German Sixth Army annihilated at Stalingrad and Rommel's Afrika Korps in full retreat after defeat at El Alamein, Winston Churchill's War Cabinet met to discuss the opening of a new front. Its battles would be fought not on the beaches of Normandy or in the jungles of Burma but amid the blizzards and glaciers of the Antarctic.Originally conceived as a means by which to safeguard the Falkland Islands from Japanese invasion and to deny harbours in the sub-Antarctic territories to German surface raiders and U-boats, the expedition also sought to re-assert British sovereigntyin the face of incursions by neutral Argentina.As well as setting in train a sequence of events that would eventually culminate in the Falklands War, the British bases secretly established in 1944 would go on to play a vital part in the Cold War and lay the foundations for one of the most important and enduring government-sponsored programmes of scientific research in the polar regions: the British Antarctic Survey.Based upon contemporary sources, including official reports and the diaries and letters of the participants, Operation Tabarintells for the first time the story of this, theonly Antarctic expedition to be launched by any of the combatant nations during the Second World War and one of the most curious episodes in what Ernest Shackleton called 'the white warfare of the south'.
9780752493565 English 0752493566 Full of extraordinary characters, this tale of a secret mission is based upon previously unpublished diarires, letters, and reportsIn 1943, with Rommel's Afrika Korps in full retreat after El Alamein, Churchill's War Cabinet met to discuss the opening of a new front. Its battles would be fought not on the beaches of Normandy but amidst the glaciers of the Antarctic. Intended to safeguard the Falkland Islands from Japanese invasion and to deny harbors in the sub-Antarctic territories to German surface raiders and U-boats, the expedition also sought to reassert British territorial rights in the face of Argentine provocation. This would achieve its ultimate expression four decades later in the Falklands War--but the British bases secretly established in 1944 would also go on to play a vital part in a global "conflict": the Cold War. Based upon contemporary sources, "Operation Tabarin" tells for the first time the story of the only Antarctic expedition to be launched by any of the combatant nations of World War II and one of the most curious episodes in what Ernest Shackleton called "the white warfare of the south." The expedition leader was the redoubtable "Scout" Marr, who had sailed with Shackleton. James Murdie was a key figure, a veteran of the Endurance expedition. Captain Victor Marchesi spent three seasons looking for U-boats armed with a revolver and sent letters with British Falklands stamps to embassies all over the world to establish British sovereignty., In 1943, with Rommel's Afrika Korps in full retreat after El Alamein, Churchill's War Cabinet met to discuss the opening of a new front. Its battles would be fought not on the beaches of Normandy but amidst the glaciers of the Antarctic. Intended to safeguard the Falkland Islands from Japanese invasion and to deny harbours in the sub-Antarctic territories to German surface raiders and U-boats, the expedition also sought to re-assert British territorial rights in the face of Argentine provocation. This would achieve its ultimate expression four decades later in the Falklands War - but the British bases secretly established in 1944 would also go on to play a vital part in a global 'conflict': the Cold War. Based upon contemporary sources, Operation Tabarin tells for the first time the story of the only Antarctic expedition to be launched by any of the combatant nations of the Second World War and one of the most curious episodes in what Ernest Shackleton called 'the white warfare of the south'.The expedition leader was the redoubtable 'Scout' Marr, who had sailed with Shackleton. James Murdie was a key figure, a veteran of the Endurance expedition. Captain Victor Marchesi spent three seasons looking for U-boats armed with a revolver and sent letters with British Falklands stamps to embassies all over the world to establish British sovereignty!, In 1943, with the German Sixth Army annihilated at Stalingrad and Rommel's Afrika Korps in full retreat after defeat at El Alamein, Winston Churchill's War Cabinet met to discuss the opening of a new front. Its battles would be fought not on the beaches of Normandy or in the jungles of Burma but amid the blizzards and glaciers of the Antarctic.Originally conceived as a means by which to safeguard the Falkland Islands from Japanese invasion and to deny harbours in the sub-Antarctic territories to German surface raiders and U-boats, the expedition also sought to re-assert British sovereigntyin the face of incursions by neutral Argentina.As well as setting in train a sequence of events that would eventually culminate in the Falklands War, the British bases secretly established in 1944 would go on to play a vital part in the Cold War and lay the foundations for one of the most important and enduring government-sponsored programmes of scientific research in the polar regions: the British Antarctic Survey.Based upon contemporary sources, including official reports and the diaries and letters of the participants, Operation Tabarintells for the first time the story of this, theonly Antarctic expedition to be launched by any of the combatant nations during the Second World War and one of the most curious episodes in what Ernest Shackleton called 'the white warfare of the south'.