Articles | Volume 93
https://doi.org/10.5194/polf-93-19-2025
https://doi.org/10.5194/polf-93-19-2025
Scientific article
 | 
16 Oct 2025
Scientific article |  | 16 Oct 2025

Seelöwen mit Pinguinpelz: Tätigkeiten Deutscher Hilfskreuzer in der Antarktis während des Zweiten Weltkriegs

Pablo G. Fontana

Cited articles

Anonym: “German Raiders in the Antarctic during the War”, Polar Record, 4, 402–403, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0032247400042601, July 1946. 
Admiralty Secretariat: ADM 1/12148 “Kerguelen Island. General Review of Mines Laid by HMAS Australia”, United Kingdom National Archives, 1942. 
Bade, J. N.: Erlangen – Flucht aus Neuseeland: Die abenteuerliche Fahrt eines Lloyddampfers von Neuseeland nach Chile über Auckland-Inseln beim Ausbruch des Zweiten Weltkrieges, edited by: Denzel, M., Jahrbuch von europäische Seegeschichte, 9, 159–82, ISBN 978-3-447-06164-3, 2009. 
Brekke, A.: Norway in the Antarctic, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Oslo, 1993. 
Brennecke, J.: Die deutschen Hilfskreuzer im Zweiten Weltkrieg, Koehlers Verlag, Herford, ISBN 9783782205191, 1991. 
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Short summary
During World War II, the only acts of warfare in Antarctica took place due to the operations of the German Navy's auxiliary cruisers. These were armed merchant ships disguised as vessels of other nations to avoid detection by Allied patrols. Their mission was to sink or capture enemy ships. In Antarctica, they were responsible for the largest naval capture operation of the entire conflict, which led to the only war engagement between two nations on this continent.
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