Abandoned Arctic Soviet Outpost

Drastic85 · #1 ● 12-08-2013, 09:33 AM

Welcome to the deserted Soviet settlement of Pyramid, around 800 miles from the North Pole and literally frozen in time.

This ghost town is in fact in Norway - on Spitsbergen island in the Arctic Ocean - where Russia retains rights to occupy the icy territory.

No-one has lived permanently in Pyramid since 1998 and it is now a bizarre tourist attraction offering the world's most northerly Lenin monument.

**kellyhound** · #2 ● 12-08-2013, 11:12 AM

very "cool"

In 1941 Operation Gauntlet, all Norwegian and Soviet settlements on Svalbard were evacuated, and a German presence was established with a meteorological outpost, although a small Norwegian garrison was kept on Spitsbergen.

The German Operation Zitronella took this garrison by force in 1943, and at the same time destroying the settlements at Longyearbyen and Barentsburg.

In September 1944, together with the supply ship Karl J. Busch, the submarine U-307 transported the men of Operation Haudegen to Svalbard.

Operation Haudegen (i.e. swashbuckler) was the name of a German operation during the Second World War to establish meteorological stations on Svalbard.

The station was active from 9 September 1944 to 4 September 1945. It lost radio contact in May 1945, and the soldiers were capable of asking for support only in August 1945.

On September 4, 1945 the soldiers were picked up by a Norwegian seal hunting vessel and surrendered to its captain.

The group of men were the last German troops to surrender after the Second World War.

After the war, the Soviet Union proposed common Norwegian and Soviet administration and military defense of Svalbard.

This was rejected in 1947 by Norway, which two years later joined NATO.

The Soviet Union retained high civilian activity on Svalbard, in part to ensure that the archipelago was not used by NATO.