This week’s obscure history — Did you know: The Nazis built an automated weather station in Canada* in 1943 and no one noticed until the 1970s. At that point, retiring ex-Nazis began admitting new, minor ultra-classified and secret projects from the war. The site, which was the only land-based Nazi operation in North America during the war, was located after 1980. Seems like scavengers had perhaps gotten to it earlier, without realizing what it was.
Also aiding the “long lost” nature of the site: The station suffered a critical malfunction almost immediately and ceased transmission and they weren’t about to attempt a second landing party right away. Only one crew member from the first mission survived the war. A second crew was sunk on the way to set up a new station in 1944. Other ill-fated U-boats, of course, had similarly poor luck off the North American coasts.
*Technically, the area at the time was not yet part of Canada and was being administered from Britain.
