Operation Tabarin

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Activities in Antarctica During the 20th Century
International agreements
International Polar Year (1932–33) International Geophysical Year (1957–58) Antarctic Treaty System (1959)
British Commonwealth activities
Scott's 1st expedition (1901–04)
Shackleton's 1st expedition (1907–09)
Scott's 2nd expedition (1910–13)
Mawson's 1st expedition (1911–1914)
Shackleton's 2nd expedition (1914–17)
Shackleton's 3rd expedition (1921–22)
Mawson's 2nd expedition (1929–31)
The Graham Land Expedition (1934–37)
Operation Tabarin (1943–45)
Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition (Fuchs-Hillary 1955–58)
French activities
Charcot's 1st expedition (1903–05)
Charcot's 2nd expedition (1908–10)
German activities
Drygalski's expedition (1901–03)
Filchner's expedition (1911–12)
The New Swabia Expedition (1938–39)
Norwegian activity
Amundsen's expedition (1910–12)
U.S. activities
Byrd's first expedition (1928–30)
Operation Highjump (1946–47)
Operation Windmill (1947–48)
Ronne's expedition (1947–48)
Operation Deep Freeze (1955–56)

During World War II, Operation Tabarin was a small British military expedition launched from the UK in 1943 to the Antarctic to establish permanently-occupied bases.

1 Reasons for the expedition
2 The expedition
3 Reaction
4 Post-war developments
5 See also
6 External links
7 References

[edit] Reasons for the expedition

There were several reasons for Tabarin. Prior to the start of the war, German aircraft had dropped markers with swastikas across Queen Maud Land in an attempt to create a territorial claim. In 1943, British personnel from HMS Carnarvon Castle removed Argentinean flags from Deception Island. There were also concerns within the Foreign Office about the direction of United States' post-war activity in the region. So, one reason was to establish solid British claims to various uninhabited islands and parts of Antarctica, reinforced by Argentinean sympathies toward Germany.

Secondly, there was a need to deny opportunities to the enemy. Germany was known to use remote islands as rendezvous points and as shelters for raiders, U-boats and supply ships. Also, in 1941, there had been a fear that Japan might attempt to seize the Falkland Islands, either as a base or hand them to Argentina, thus gaining political advantage for the Axis and denying their use to Britain. Deception Island, in the British South Shetland Islands, possessed a sheltered anchorage with an old Norwegian whaling station. In 1941, the British (aboard HMS Queen of Bermuda) had taken the precaution of destroying coal dumps and oil tanks there, to prevent their possible use by the Germans.

It has also been suggested that the operation may have partially been a disinformation exercise, nominally to detect suspected German naval replenishment activity - information which was, in fact, being obtained from the cracking of the Enigma machine. Whether or not this was the case may be revealed when the remaining government files are released.

[edit] The expedition

Led by Lieutenant James Marr, the fourteen strong team left the Falkland Islands in two ships, HMS William Scoresby (a minesweeping trawler) and Fitzroy, on Saturday January 29, 1944. Marr had accompanied the British explorer Ernest Shackleton on his Antarctic expeditions on the 1920s.

Bases were established during February near the abandoned Norwegian whaling station on Deception Island (February 3), where the Union Flag was hoisted in place of Argentinean flags, and at Port Lockroy (February 11) on the coast of Graham Land. A further base was founded at Hope Bay on February 13, 1945, after a failed attempt to unload stores on February 7, 1944.

British territorial claims were further enhanced by the issue of postage stamps.

[edit] Reaction

The decision to launch Tabarin was not, apparently, a political decision. Winston Churchill was out of the country and a memo from him, following news of the bases in the press, also indicates that he was apparently unaware of the decision. In it, he expresses concern that the move may harm relations with the United States during the preparations for Operation Overlord (the invasion of Normandy). A reply from the Foreign Office indicated that the operation was launched not because the USA had failed to recognise British claims to the territory, but to reassert British territorial claims against Argentine and Chilean incursion.

[edit] Post-war developments

Following the end of the War, in 1945 Operation Tabarin bases were handed over to the civilians of the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey (FIDS), subsequently renamed the British Antarctic Survey (BAS).

The ownership of the South Shetland Islands has yet to be decided. British claims, and Argentinean and Chilean claims, to the islands have been put to one side to allow scientific research to continue. The United States and Russia have reserved their right to make territorial claims.