Operation Tabarin: Britain's Secret Wartime Expedition to Antarctica 1944-46

by Stephen Haddelsey, Allan Carroll

In 1943, Churchill’s War Cabinet met to discuss the opening of a new front. Its battles would be fought amidst the glaciers of the Antarctic. Intended to safeguard the Falkland Islands from Japanese invasion and to deny German U-boats, the expedition also sought to re-assert British territorial rights in the face of Argentine provocation. Indeed, the British bases secretly established in 1944 would also go on to play a vital part in a global "" the Cold War. Operation Tabarin tells for the first time the story of one of the most curious episodes in what Ernest Shackleton called "the white warfare of the south."

Genres: History

256 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2014

Reviews

[JD · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very detailed account of this top secret mission and the very interesting individuals who undertook it during World War 2. All the politics and decision making behind it is covered, as well as the earliest expeditions to the region. It gets a bit long to read with too much detail, but just as you are about to give up another adventure by these daring men comes alive in the pages and you are hooked again. Highly recommended to anyone interested in polar exploration.

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a narrative of a British exploratory and scientific mission to Antarctica, which took place over a 2-year period from early 1944 to early 1946. The blurb for the book, at the top of its GR page, tries to paint the mission as an attempt to foil German U-boats from using natural harbours in the Antarctic, or to forestall a Japanese invasion of the Falklands. Quite what the collection of biologists, geologists and meteorologists on the mission would have done to prevent either is an open question. The book itself makes clear that politically, the mission was really intended to reinforce British territorial claims in the Antarctic, against the rival claims of Argentina. At the time, human habitation of a particular area was seen as greatly strengthening territorial claims.

After the first chapter, the book settles down to relate the story of the mission, in great detail. It is in many ways an adventure story, relating the hardships and the hazards faced by the members. As always with these stories, the reader can only admire the fortitude of those who lived and worked in such extreme and dangerous conditions. A number of those who participated went on to have successful scientific or academic careers in the following decades. Most never went back to Antarctica, but they all regarded their time on that continent as the most memorable period of their lives. The last chapter highlights that it was the work undertaken during Operation Tabarin that led to the creation of the British Antarctic Survey, and the valuable scientific work undertaken by that organisation. I could have done with a few more maps, but a decent read if you have an interest in the subject matter.

[Daniel Green · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful insight into the early days of Antarctic exploration and an infrequently discussed aspect of WWII operations.

[Chris Wray · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Second World War and Antarctic Exploration have long been particular interests of mine, and this wonderful book combines both. What's not to like!

Stephen Haddelsey begins by looking at the pre-Tabarin expeditions to the Graham Land region. In particular, the BGLE expedition under John Rymill spent two years in Graham Land and "formed the bridge between the Heroic Age and the modern age of properly equipped, state-funded expeditions." This trend was to continue in the post-Tabarin era, with the establishment of the British Antarctic Survey and similar state-funded scientific and geographic bodies.

The fact that Operation Tabarin took place in the midst of a global conflict is remarkable, and while it had undoubted scientific and geographical aims (in common with the expeditions that preceded and succeeded it), it also had military and imperial ones. In terms of military aims, Tabarin was to deny the use of potential refuges on Graham Land to German commerce raiders. I hadn't realised the full extent of commerce raiding in the Southern Ocean, which largely targeted the Norwegian whaling fleet. In fact, one of the most successful commerce raiders of the war, the German cruiser Pinguin, seized more than 20,000 tons of whale oil. In this regard, the main contribution of the Tabarin personnel was to sabotage oil tanks and other supplies left behind at an abandoned whaling station to deny their use to the Germans. In terms of imperial aims, Tabarin was to strengthen the territorial claims of Britain in the region, over against those of Chile and, especially, Argentina. This was an altogether more significant contribution to British interests than their military contribution, and makes an interesting link forward 40 years to the Falklands War.

Haddelsey's account of the expedition's time in the South is briskly and capably written, and he gives a great sense of what the experience was like for the men who served there. He also competently sketches the men themselves, and by the end, I felt I had a reasonable understanding of the main characters. James Marr, the expedition commander, is particularly memorable. His story during and following the expedition is a sad one, as he was worn out and never really recovered from his time in the Antarctic. The expeditions geographic and scientific achievements were modest, and one of the primary members admitted that, "the expedition had not been in the least bit sensational, either in its experiences or its discoveries; instead it had been representative of the kind of physically demanding geographically and scientifically useful, but fundamentally undramatic and unglamorous labour, which makes up so large a part of exploration in all parts of the globe." In common with other accounts of Polar exploration, all the men who served on Tabarin were deeply impacted by their time in Antarctica: "It was an unearthly kind of place really and you never forget it, you never forget it: it was beautiful in its grim way...the grandeur of it - it gets into you, you see. It's like when you look at the night sky and you begin to wonder what's up there; and it takes your mind outside this little earth...You never forget it, and it gives you a different outlook, somehow, on the problems of the world's peoples."

Haddelsey rightly concludes that, "If the Antarctic affected the veterans profoundly, their influence on it has also been significant. Even the briefest glance at the huge mass of scientific and geographical work completed by the expedition and its successor bodies during the last seventy years - including an invaluable contribution to the science of climate change - can leave no observer in any doubt that Operation Tabarin left an indelible mark on the Antarctic continent and on the planet as a whole. It is a legacy of which Marr, Taylor, Back, Lamb and their companions could be justifiably proud."