The madness of the Second World War has left its traces even in remote areas as Spitsbergen. The discovery of grenade launcher ammunition on Adventtoppen, on the north side of Adventfjord opposite Longyearbyen, has drawn attention in July 2013 (see spitsbergen-svalbard.com news from July).
Now we know the story behind it. The information is from interviews by Prof. E. Dege in the 1980s and 1990s with Werner Koehl. Koehl was leader of the reconnaissance patrol “Schneehuhn” (“Ptarmigan”) that was on a reconnaissance operation in Spitsbergen in August 1944 with the submarine U-307.
Prof. Dege kindly added the following to the story about the discovery of the ammunition in July (own translation):
“The reconnaissance patrol went up from central Hanaskogdal on 07 August 1944 to the ridge between Adventtopen and Hiorthfjellet and discovered on the ridge a fully developed (but not occupied) position of the (Norwegian) garrison in Longyearbyen. They found sleeping bags, provisions, (pharmaceutical) drugs, and the said grenade launcher ammunition. The ammunition was too heavy for the patrol to carry, so they concealed them under some rocks nearby. After this, the patrol watched the activities in Longyearbyen and Moskushamn for a while from a barack of the abandoned mine Hiorthfjellgruva, situated in an altitude of 600 m on the south slope of Hiorthfjellet, before they went back again to Diabasodden, where they were picked up on 11 August 1944 by U-307.”
Visible traces of the Second World War in Spitsbergen, harmless in this case: airplane wreck in Hiorthhamn, opposite Longyearbyen.