The Why Files: Operation Podcast - 64: Operation Highjump: Hunting the Secret Nazi UFO Base In Antarctica

Episode Date: July 6, 2022

OPERATION: HIGHJUMP   Operation Highjump commenced in August 1946. It was the largest, most heavily armed naval task force ever sent to Antarctica.  Leading the mission was Admiral Richard E Byrd, one of the most famous naval officers in history.   The official purpose for the expedition was scientific research and military training. But that was just a cover story. Operation Highjump had other goals.   One was to extend American sovereignty over Antarctica. Something that was denied many times by the US government.  Another was to locate and destroy a secret Nazi base.  AND, capture the nazi's new secret weapon: the flying saucer.   UFOs were seen all over the area; suspected to be Nazi test flights. Admiral Byrd was sent to find out.   When he finally arrived to Antarctica, he found a lot more than that.   Let's find out why. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thewhyfiles/support

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Operation High Jump commenced in August 1946. It was the largest, most heavily armed naval task force ever sent to Antarctica. Leading the mission was Admiral Richard E. Byrd, one of the most famous naval officers in history. The official purpose for the expedition was scientific research and military training. But that was just a cover story. Operation High Jump had other goals. One was to extend American sovereignty over Antarctica, something that was denied many times by the U.S. government.

Another was to locate and destroy a secret Nazi base and capture the Nazis' new secret weapon, the flying saucer. UFOs were seen all over the area, suspected to be Nazi test flights. Admiral Byrd was sent to find out. Did they find flying saucers? Oh, they found a lot more than that. In December 1938, aware that he was on the brink of war, Hitler dedicated considerable resources to searching for mysterious ancient artifacts said to have incredible power.

One of these expeditions launched on December 17th, 1938. The SS Schwabenland was sent on a secret mission to Antarctica. On board were scientists and engineers, but also members of the Thule Society, a German occultist group. The Thule Society believed that a highly advanced race of human-like beings called Aryans existed somewhere deep inside the Earth, and the entrance to their world was at the South Pole. The classified mission of the SS Schwabenland was to find a location for a secret underground base and make contact with the Aryans living in the Hollow Earth. And once contact was made,

negotiate for access to their technology. The ship reached the Antarctic coast a month later. For the next three weeks, they mapped hundreds of thousands of square miles of the continent. About 150 miles inland, aerial reconnaissance found what is described as an Arctic oasis,

an area about 300 square miles that was free of ice, filled with warm water, and even contained plant life. In the ocean beneath the oasis was a geothermal vent that kept the area relatively warm. This was the ideal place for a base, especially for U-boats. This is where the Nazis would establish the infamous underground facility known as Base 211. Over the course of World War II, Base 211 became a massive complex, as large as a small city. Initially, it was designed as an offensive structure, where U-boats and missiles could be deployed. But as the tide of war turned against the Axis powers, it became clear that the base would be an ideal way to escape. In the final months of the war, huge amounts of equipment,

supplies and personnel were transported to Antarctica. At the same time, thousands of Nazis escaped justice and were smuggled to South America, with most of them hiding in Argentina. One of the infamous German officers to disappear was Hans Kammler. Kammler was in charge of Hitler's secret weapons program. Kammler's engineers had created a prototype long-distance supply plane with a range of over 4,000 miles called the Ju-390. Only two of these were made. One of them belonged to Kammler. And as of April 1945, neither Kammler nor his plane have ever been found. And just a few months later,

thousands of UFO sightings were reported all over South America. The American government feared that Kamler and his scientists had escaped to Antarctica, where they were continuing their work, operating out of a secret military base hidden deep underground. But these were just rumors. There was only one way to find out. Go to Antarctica.

You searched for your informant, who disappeared without a trace. You knew there were witnesses, but lips were sealed. You swept the city, driving closer to the truth, while curled up on the couch with your cat. There's more to imagine when you listen.

Discover heart-pounding thrillers on Audible. You searched for your informant, who disappeared without a trace. You knew there were witnesses, but lips were sealed. You swept the city, driving closer to the truth while curled up on the couch with your cat. There's more to imagine when you listen. Discover heart-pounding thrillers on Audible. Okay, before we talk about what Admiral Byrd saw in Antarctica... No, come on, just get to the weird stuff. I will, but it's important that you understand what kind of man Richard Byrd was. He was not some pseudoscience conspiracy theorist kook.

He was a legitimate badass. Here are the bullet points. Richard Byrd reached the rank of Rear Admiral by the age of 41, the youngest admiral in Navy history. Now that by itself is impressive. But how about this? He was a recipient of the Medal of Honor, the Navy Cross, the Flying Cross, and the Silver Lifesaving Medal.

In all, he received 22 citations and commendations, including nine for bravery and two for extraordinary heroism. He was, to this day, one of the most highly decorated officers in the history of the Navy. Now, his resume goes on, but I think you get the point. If Admiral Byrd says he wants to be the first man to fly over the North Pole, he does it. And if the United States sends a major expedition to the South Pole to conduct a top-secret mission, well, there's no more qualified person on the face of the earth to lead it than Admiral Richard E. Byrd. Operation High Jump commenced in August 1946. The official purpose of the mission was to train

personnel and test equipment in cold temperatures, to explore Arctic geology, study the weather, and develop techniques for establishing air bases in frigid climates. Admiral Byrd led a Navy task force of almost 5,000 men aboard 13 ships, including a brand-new state-of-the-art aircraft carrier loaded with dozens of planes, bombers, and helicopters. This task force was armed to the teeth. There were two destroyers, tankers, supply ships, icebreakers, two heavily armed seaplanes, and an attack submarine, all fully stocked with the best weapons in the entire Navy. That's a lot of firepower for training exercises and studying the weather. Right? That mission was the cover story. No personnel training or equipment testing ever took place.

No practice maneuvers, no military exercises, no scientific study of any kind was ever done. According to eyewitness testimony, declassified records, and Byrd's own journal, Operation High Jump had other purposes. One goal was to extend American sovereignty over the Antarctic continent, something that was denied many times publicly by the U.S. government. The other goal was to locate and destroy the secret Nazi military complex known as Base 211, and to capture any flying saucers they could. The Armada arrived on January 15th and immediately started building a base called Little America. But then the Operation High Jump story takes a turn. Originally meant to be a six

to eight month mission, after just 40 days, the base is evacuated and the task force withdraws. This massive, expensive, and important mission is suddenly terminated. So what happened? And this is where Admiral Byrd, a legend in his own time, becomes a legend for all time. The Navy task force retreated to Chile, and as soon as they made port, rumors spread about strange findings and disasters that forced the mission to be cut short admiral bird himself spoke to the media and rather than deny the stories he expressed deep concern about the real possibilities of devastating aerial attacks on the u.s this doesn't sound like a guy on a scientific mission it sure doesn't bird warned that it was imperative for the United States to take immediate defensive measures against hostile forces in the Arctic and Antarctic.

The Admiral went on to say that he wasn't trying to alarm anyone. Too late. But the cruel reality is that in case of a new war, the United States could be attacked by flying objects that had the ability to move from pole to pole at incredible speeds. Admiral Byrd reiterated this in a few different statements. He warned that there was a new enemy that could attack any country at any time, anywhere, no matter the distance. When Admiral Byrd got back to Washington, he was immediately debriefed. And though he had just spent two weeks making statements in the press, after a lengthy interrogation,

Admiral Byrd never uttered another word about Operation High Jump. The mission was immediately classified top secret, and any sailor who spoke about the mission would be arrested and imprisoned. The Navy then published a brief summary of the mission's achievements and admitted some sailors were killed, but they didn't say how many. And officially, all the deaths were accidents, and the bodies were buried there, not brought home. During one of his flights, Admiral Byrd was missing for three hours

in an episode of Lost Time, but that was officially blamed on radio failure. The official reason for terminating the mission early was poor weather conditions, and that was that. However, you know how Admiral Byrd was missing for three hours and experienced lost time? Well, Byrd was meticulous at documenting everything. But when he returned to the States, his journals were confiscated and classified. But the government didn't get everything. He had a secret diary that he gave to his son right before

he died. And if any of what he claims to have seen is true, well, it changes everything. According to Admiral Byrd's diary, he fuels up for a flight early in the morning. The weather is clear and mechanically the plane checks out. At 8.15, at an altitude of 2,300 feet, he checks in. 0-8-15 hours. Radio check with base camp. Situation normal. At 10 after 9, he notices a color pattern in the snow. Nothing extreme, but he circles the area to get a closer look. He makes visual contact with camp and radios in his findings. Then, his instruments start to act strange. He writes that

both his compasses are gyrating so much that he can't even use them. So he uses the sun to navigate and maintains a visual of camp. He reports that his controls are feeling sluggish. He's concerned about the wings icing up. There's a little ice, but no indication of a problem, so he continues flying toward what he perceives as a mountain range. Zero nine forty nine hours. Twenty nine minutes elapsed flight time from the first sighting of the mountains. It is no illusion. They are mountains and consisting of a small range that I have never seen before.

He crosses the mountain range and descends toward what he describes as a green valley with a small river running through it. There should be no green valley below. Something is definitely wrong and abnormal here. We should be over ice and snow. To the port side are great forests growing on the mountain slopes. Our navigation instruments are still spinning. The gyroscope is oscillating back and forth.

He drops down a bit and circles back for a closer look. He reports the green as being moss or tight grass. The light seems different here. He can see the ground easily, but he can no longer see the sun. Now this starts to worry him because he's using the sun to navigate, but he gets distracted by something he didn't expect. On the green valley below, a large animal is grazing. It appears to be an elephant.

No, it looks more like a mammoth. This is incredible. Yet there it is. Decrease altitude to 1,000 feet and take binoculars to better examine the animal. It is confirmed. It is definitely a mammoth-like animal. Report this to base camp. Admiral Byrd flies over green pastures that stretch for miles.

And he's so amazed by what he's seeing, it takes him almost 30 minutes to realize it's not cold anymore. Frost on his forward window is gone. Same with the bits of ice that were on the wings. He removes his gloves. The window of the canopy is warm to the touch. He records an external air temperature of 74 degrees Fahrenheit.

His instruments are now back online, but his radio is out. And remember, in the official report, Admiral Byrd was out of radio contact for three hours. So he flies for another hour over what looks to be a countryside or a pasture. On the horizon, he sees the impossible, a large, shining city. The plane shudders. Admiral Byrd grabs the controls, but they're not responding. He notices the plane feels light and buoyant. Then, on both sides of the plane, strange aircraft are rapidly closing in. They're disc-shaped and seem to be radiating light.

And somehow, they're running completely silent. Now, thinking this is now a really good time to head back, Admiral Byrd tries the controls again. No luck. The plane's engine suddenly cuts out, but somehow continues flying, controlled by some unseen force. The craft are right up alongside his plane now, close enough that Admiral Byrd can see markings.

In that instant, his wonder turns to terror. The markings are swastikas. You searched for your informant, who disappeared without a trace. You knew there were witnesses, but lips were sealed. You swept the city, driving closer to the truth, while curled up on the couch with your cat. There's more to imagine when you listen. Discover heart-pounding thrillers on Audible. According to documents leaked in 1991, things back at Camp Little America take a strange turn.

Just two days after arriving, bright lights were seen on the horizon. The sailors thought it was another ship, but they were below the Antarctic Circle in uncharted waters. The lights then ascended at a 45-degree angle into the sky very quickly. They tried to make radar contact, but were out of range. Three hours later, five more lights appeared in the sky and began flying directly toward the ships. Anti-aircraft guns and 20-millimeter cannons were fired, but had no effect. A radio operator stationed on the USS Brownson

gave testimony of how strange craft suddenly appeared from the ocean. This is corroborated by Lieutenant John Sayerson, who said objects shot vertically out of the water at tremendous speeds. One object flew between the masts of a ship with such force that the radio antenna oscillated back and forth from the turbulence. An aircraft from the USS Kuratuk took to the sky but was immediately struck by a beam of energy and destroyed. About 10 miles away, the torpedo boat USS Maddox burst into flames and began to sink.

According to the report, this was the first attack of several that would occur over the next few weeks. February 26 would be the last engagement with the unknown craft. The Navy Task Force ordered retreat and left the area, a full six months before their mission was supposed to end. Although Lieutenant Sayersen couldn't identify the lights, he wondered if they were what he called German wonder weapons being operated by survivors of the recently defeated Third Reich operating out of a secret base under Antarctica. His testimony has fueled speculation that still exists. And to this day, investigators are trying to determine what really happened during Operation High Jump. Admiral Byrd's radio, which hadn't been working for at least an hour, suddenly comes back to life.

Though the signal was distorted, a voice starts speaking English, with a slightly German accent. Welcome, Admiral, to our domain. We shall land you in exactly seven minutes. Relax, Admiral, you are in good hands. The plane gently lands itself, and Admiral Byrd is met by several men, all tall with blonde hair. Arians?

Sounds like it. Byrd joins the strangers on a platform that levitates and rushes them toward the city at great speed. He's directed to an elevator that takes him quickly and silently deep underground. He is to have an audience with the master. Admiral Bird is led into another room where an older man is seated at a long table. Admiral Bird is asked to sit down. The Master says his people are called the Ariani, and they've been observing humans for a long time, but only now are they choosing to interfere. The Master says that Admiral Byrd's race is too immature for atomic energy, and are at risk of destroying themselves. The Master says every time they try to make contact, their ships are fired upon and

pursued by fighter planes. So instead, they chose Admiral Byrd to carry this message. Because he's a famous and well-respected figure, the Master hopes that the world will believe him. After the meeting, the Admiral is escorted back to his plane. And after flying for a few minutes, a voice comes through the radio that control of the aircraft is now his. A voice says, Auf Wiedersehen, and disconnects. Definitely Aryans. When Admiral Byrd arrives at the Pentagon in March 1947, he is debriefed and interrogated for hours. He relays the message from the master and advises the president. He's ordered to remain silent about the operation, and indeed, Admiral Richard E. Byrd never spoke a word about this mission again. The final entry in his diary is a number of years later. Admiral Byrd feels what

he calls the long night coming, but doesn't want this knowledge to die with him. Just as the long night of the Arctic ends, the brilliant sunshine of truth shall come again, and those who are of darkness shall fall in its light, for I have seen that land beyond the pole, that center of the great unknown. Admiral Richard E. Byrd, United States Navy, 24th of December, 1956. And Admiral Byrd passed away three months later. This secret diary was found by his son, Richard Byrd Jr., and subsequently released, as was his father's wish. And 18 months after that, the Antarctic Treaty was signed, forbidding anyone from going to Antarctica without special permission from one of 12 signatory governments. And even with special permission, you may only go in a few

small designated areas. Antarctica is bigger than Europe, bigger than Australia, bigger than the entire United States. Yet all that land is off limits. Why? Was there a secret Nazi base? Is there a civilization living underground? The UFOs described by the sailors in 1947 behave an awful lot like UFOs we're seeing right now. Since we can't go to their world, they could be trying to come to us, with the same warning they gave Admiral Byrd. So maybe instead of trying to destroy these craft and destroy each other, we might want to listen to what they have to say. And who knows, the entire fate of the world may depend on it.

You searched for your informant, who disappeared without a trace. You knew there were witnesses, but lips were sealed. You swept the city, driving closer to the truth. While curled up on the couch with your cat. There's more to imagine when you listen. Discover heart-pounding thrillers on Audible. Okay, talk about a story having it all. UFOs, Nazi bases, government cover-ups, even Hollow Earth. And I've done a lot of research on Hollow Earth, so if you want to see that video,

let me know in the comments. Anyway, I'll tell you right up front. There's a lot of the story that can be debunked, but not all of it. Let's start with Admiral Byrd's secret diary. It's not real. First of all, the flight in the diary takes place in the North Pole, so we're already off to a rocky start since Antarctica is as far south as you can get. And some of the log entries are almost identical to actual published log entries from the Admiral. The same types of instrument failures, engine issues show up in both places for some reason. Also, whole paragraphs of what the master said to Admiral Byrd seem to be plagiarized from the 1937 film Lost Horizon, where the main character is talking to the Dalai Lama

who issues the same kind of warning. In 1964, a book about the Hollow Earth was released by Walter Siegmeister under the pen name Raymond Bernard. Admiral Byrd is mentioned quite a bit in the book. Bernard went on to write lots of books about UFOs and Hollow Earth. And later, when Byrd's secret diary appeared,

guess who wrote the foreword? Yep, Raymond Bernard. But the dead giveaway for me? The secret diary is full of exclamation points, like lots of them. If you read any of Byrd's other logs, no matter how excited he gets, he doesn't write like he's posting on Reddit. He writes like a gentleman. So what about the Nazis? Here's where it gets tricky. The Schwabenland did go to Antarctica in 1938, but its mission was to secure new ports for whaling, to supply Germany with its own whale oil for margarine. Exactly. Germany wasn't at war yet, but Hitler was planning it. A lot of oil and fat-based products were imported.

Hitler wanted to make sure that these industries could continue and his army could be fed in case foreign supplies were cut off. The Nazi mission did claim some land for Germany, and it's widely thought that they did look for a location for a base and maybe even tried to build one, but no evidence of a base has been found. However, Nazi artifacts have been found in the Arctic, in the north, which could be why this story continues to circulate. But so far, nothing in the south.

Could be underground. It could be. I'm not saying nothing's there. I'm just saying we haven't found it yet. What, he found it and aren't telling anybody? Well, that's always a possibility. The U.S. government did lie about the real purpose of Operation High Jump. And it's true Admiral Byrd never spoke about it publicly,

except for those cryptic comments in the Chilean newspaper El Mercurio. El Mercurio is a real paper, and Admiral Byrd did give them an interview. Obviously, the article was released in Spanish. But when it was translated back to English, his words were twisted around to make the story sound more dramatic. Never let the facts get in the way of a good story.

Right. Byrd never said there are ships that can fly pole to pole at tremendous speeds. He said the United States could be attacked by planes coming from the poles, and it should be ready for that. Operation High Jump had a press contingent, about a dozen reporters giving daily reports. There really wasn't much going on, so rather than send back a three-word story, lots of ice, the reporters added their own flair. For example, Bird did find a small lake

that had uniquely warm temperatures with algae growing in it, but it was reported as a land of blue and green lakes and brown hills in an otherwise limitless expanse of ice. And a UFO attack? Right. In 1991, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, millions of secret documents were released. And one of those, written in 1947, was a description of Operation High Jump.

And in 2006, a Russian documentary was released based on that secret intelligence report. The Soviets did believe that Operation High Jump was a mission to find and destroy a Nazi base. And look, with all that firepower, I don't think that's a stretch. The reports of the battle with UFOs comes from the Soviet documents. But it's iffy on the facts, and they got some of the names of the ships wrong. But they did get some right. And the U.S. military has a history of changing a ship's name

and rewriting the ship's story if it serves Navy policy. Always. The Soviet report said that UFOs weren't trying to destroy the American ships, which they easily could have done. They just wanted the ships to turn back. The mission was cut way short. The official reason for that is weather. But that's a lot of resources wasted

because of weather. Were there really UFOs protecting something down there? Or is this disinformation deliberately leaked to the Soviets by U.S. intelligence? I don't know. I've debunked as much as I can for you. Even though a lot of the story is false, not all of it is. And it seems as the only way we'll get answers is to go to Antarctica. But if there's one thing that every government in the world agrees on, it's that whatever is down there needs to stay there. But I'll leave you with these final thoughts. Just a few months after Operation High Jump, a UFO allegedly crashed in Roswell, New Mexico. The location of the crash is only a few miles from the world's first nuclear explosion. And Admiral Byrd did

go missing for three hours and arrived back at camp three hours late. He was in a small, short-range airplane. So why didn't he run out of fuel? Thanks so much for hanging out with me today. My name is AJ. That's Hecklefish. This has been the Y-Files. If you had fun or learned anything, do me a favor,

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and know that you are appreciated. You searched for your informant who disappeared without a trace. You knew there were witnesses, but lips were sealed. You swept the city, driving closer to the truth, while curled up on the couch with your cat. There's more to imagine when you listen. Discover heart-pounding thrillers on Audible.