AFF | Awesome Fun Facts

In October of 1943 a German U-Boat arrived in Martin Bay, Labrador. Within 24 hours a weather station was set up a quarter mile inland. The station was given the codename “Kurt,” presumably after the meteorologist who manned the station, Dr. Kurt Sommermeyer.

The station only operated for about two weeks according to German records, and wasn’t discovered until 1977 by a team of archeologists. This was probably because of how far north Martin Bay is, making it quite isolated.

Setting up the station must have been a huge and tiring task as the equipment was extremely heavy. There were ten canisters that weighed around 220 lb. each, as well as other equipment for communications and other miscellaneous things.

All of this had to be unloaded from a submarine, taken to land in rubber dinghies and then carried a quarter mile inland over unfamiliar land... in the dark. There just isn’t much sunlight when you’re that far north in October. All the effort doesn’t really seem worth it seeing as how the station only operated for two weeks.