The Secret Land

Missing from the documentary is a convincing explanation of why the Navy undertook Operation Highjump: the task force was hastily assembled from ships that were being demobilized after WW2 and it was hastily dispatched --- if memory serves, one ship was never even able to join the convoy due to operational issues. The official line was that Highjump was designed to test Navy preparedness for high latitude operations against the Soviet Union (as well as surveying parts of Antarctica); if that were actually true, wouldn't the Navy have spent more than a couple of weeks assembling and fitting out craft for the experiment? And why send the submarines and Marine combat soldiers at all? There is a "conspiracy theory" regarding Highjump: that Byrd was investigating a possible Nazi submarine base in "Neuschwabenland" --- the huge Antarctic area claimed by Germany in the late '30s, which includes ice caverns (recently discovered, or rediscovered) that are accessible only by submarine. At any rate, Byrd landed opposite Neuschwabenland and deployed his forces in classic fashion -- the naval contingent was divided and advanced on his flanks while his aircraft probed the center. After two planes were lost (shot down?), Byrd cut the mission short. Strangely, his reports and his personal diary covering the period remain secret to this day.