Operation Tabarin

Operation Tabarin was a World War II military undertaking by the Admiralty and the Colonial Office in 1943 to establish a permanent British presence in the Antarctic. The bases built were the first ever to be constructed in Antarctica.

Reasons for the expedition
There have been several reasons cited for Tabarin. Prior to the start of the war, German aircraft had dropped markers with swastikas across Queen Maud Land in an attempt to create a territorial claim, see New Swabia. In 1943, British personnel from HMS Carnarvon Castle removed Argentine flags from Deception Island. There were also concerns within the Foreign Office about the direction of United States post-war activity in the region. So the chief reason was to establish solid British claims to various uninhabited islands and parts of Antarctica, reinforced by Argentine sympathies toward Germany.

A suitable cover story was the need to deny use of the area to the enemy. The Kriegsmarine was known to use remote islands as rendezvous points and as shelters for commerce raiders, U-boats and supply ships. Also, in 1941, there existed a fear that Japan might attempt to seize the Falkland Islands, either as a base or to hand them over to Argentina, thus gaining political advantage for the Axis and denying their use to Britain. Deception Island, in the British South Shetland Islands, possessed a sheltered anchorage with an old Norwegian whaling station. In 1941, the British (aboard HMS Queen of Bermuda) had taken the precaution of destroying coal dumps and oil tanks there, to prevent their possible use by the Germans.

It has also been suggested that the operation may have partially been a disinformation exercise, nominally to detect suspected German naval replenishment activity - information which was, in fact, being obtained from the cracking of the Enigma machine.

The expedition
Led by Lieutenant James Marr, the 14-strong team left the Falkland Islands in two ships, HMS William Scoresby (a minesweeping trawler) and Fitzroy, on Saturday January 29, 1944. Marr had accompanied the British explorer Ernest Shackleton on his Antarctic expeditions in the 1920s.

Bases were established during February near the abandoned Norwegian whaling station on Deception Island, where the Union Flag was hoisted in place of Argentine flags, and at Port Lockroy (on February 11) on the coast of Graham Land. A further base was founded at Hope Bay on February 13, 1945, after a failed attempt to unload stores on February 7, 1944.

British territorial claims were further enhanced by the issuing of postage stamps.

Reaction
The decision to launch Tabarin was not, apparently, a political decision. Winston Churchill was out of the country and a memo from him, following news of the bases in the press, also indicates that he was apparently unaware of the decision. In it, he expresses concern that the move may harm relations with the United States during the preparations for Operation Overlord, the coming invasion of Normandy in June 1944. A reply from the Foreign Office indicated that the operation was launched not because the US had failed to recognise British claims to the territory, but to reassert British territorial claims against Argentine and Chilean incursion.

Post-war developments
Following the end of the war in 1945, the bases were handed over to civilian members of the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey (FIDS), subsequently renamed the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) in 1962.

The ownership of the region is in abeyance. British, Argentine, and Chilean claims to the islands have been put to one side to allow scientific research to continue. The United States and Russia have reserved their right to make territorial claims.