A Brief History
On April 22, 1944, an Allied “sledge patrol” attacked a German Bassgeiger weather station in Greenland, as part of the ongoing and important, although often overlooked, North Atlantic Weather War during World War II.
Digging Deeper
The battles and weapons of World War II get most of the popular attention, but another highly important part of waging war is accurate weather prediction. Many operations are dependent on compliant weather, such as air operations including bombing and paratroop drops, naval movements, and even land battles. Amphibious operations such as the D-Day landings at Normandy in 1944 were dependent on weather forecasts, which the Allies had accurately predicted, and the Germans did not.
Snow, rain, hurricanes, winds, and extreme temperatures all factor into “meteorological intelligence.” In the days before satellites, weather stations across the North Atlantic were needed to predict European weather, and thus plan military operations. An often forgotten war was fiercely waged over those stations, and now you know!
Question for students (and subscribers): Were you aware of the Weather War? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
If you liked this article and would like to receive notification of new articles, please feel welcome to subscribe to History and Headlines by liking us on Facebook and becoming one of our patrons!
Your readership is much appreciated!
Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Guldager, Ole. Americans in Greenland in World War Two. Artic Sun, 2019.
Harmsen, Peter. Fury and Ice: Greenland, the United States and Germany in World War II. Casemate, 2024.
The featured image in this article, a photograph of German Weather Station Kurt set up on the Hutton Peninsula, Labrador on 22 October 1943, is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.
You can also watch video versions of this article on YouTube.
