War North of 80: The Last German Arctic Weather Station of World War II

J.L. Granatstein, Distinguished Research Professor of History Emeritus,
York University, served as Director of the Canadian War Museum from 1998
to 2000. His latest works are Who Killed Canadian History?, Who Killed
the Canadian Military, and Hell’s Cor

Weather forecasting is a weapon of war, and during World War II the
Allies and the Nazis struggled to get the information they needed and
sought to prevent the enemy from doing so. Wilhelm Dege led the last
German weather team in the Arctic and, indeed, so remote was his
location that he and his team did not surrender until September 1945,
the last Germans to do so. This volume, written by Dege after the war,
has been ably translated by Arctic expert William Barr and has added
material by Dege’s son, Eckart.

The book is fascinating, an examination of one of the least-known
aspects of World War II. The Germans had manned stations in northern
Norway and Greenland, and they put automatic devices in, among other
sites, Labrador. (This station was not found until 1981, and it now sits
among the exhibits of the new Canadian War Museum.) Dege’s account of
his treatment after his surrender is also well worth reading.