Weather Station Kurt on display at the Canadian War Museum

Weather Station Kurt, officially Wetter-Funkgerät Land-26, was a weather station erected by a German U-boat crew in northern Labrador, Newfoundland in 1943. The Canadian War Museum (CWM is Canada ’s national museum of military history A weather station is a facility with instruments and equipment to make observations of atmospheric conditions in order to provide information to make weather forecasts Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word, itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot ( undersea boat) and refers Modern Labrador Just like its island neighbour Newfoundland early settlement in Labrador was tied to the sea as demonstrated by the Montagnais, Innu and Newfoundland and Labrador (ˈnuːfɨn(dlənd ən(d ˈlæbrəˌdɔr (Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador is a province of Canada, the tenth and latest to join the Confederation Year 1943 ( MCMXLIII) was a Common year starting on Friday (the link will display full 1943 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The installation of Weather Station Kurt was the only armed German military operation on land in North America during the Second World War. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including

Weather in the Northern Hemisphere predominantly moves from west to east. Northern Hemisphere is the half of a Planet that is North of the Equator —the word hemisphere literally means 'half ball' This gave the Allies an important advantage since they could predict the weather far more accurately than the Germans. In general allies are people groups or nations that have joined together in an association for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose On September 18, 1943 U-537 was sent from Kiel, Germany with orders to resolve this problem. Events 96 - Nerva is proclaimed Roman Emperor after Domitian is assassinated Year 1943 ( MCMXLIII) was a Common year starting on Friday (the link will display full 1943 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. For the city in the United States, see Kiel Wisconsin. For the name see Kiel (name. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. The submarine was loaded with a mobile weather station, named WFL-26, nicknamed "Kurt. " The station, manufactured by Siemens, had an array of measuring instruments and a powerful transmitter. It was designed to be fully automated. Also on board the submarine were meteorologist Professor Kurt Sommermeyer and two assistants.

On October 22 the submarine arrived at Martin Bay in isolated northern Labrador. Events 202 BC - Hannibal Barca, leader of the Carthaginians, is defeated by the Roman legions under Scipio Africanus After waiting for fog to obscure them from air patrols, the Germans disembarked and spent the next four hours installing the station. The station was camouflaged and marked as belonging to the "Canadian Weather Service. " However, the station only broadcast for a few days before falling silent. A second U-Boat was sent to do repairs and replace the batteries, but was sunk by the allies in the northern Atlantic.

The station was forgotten for many years until the late 1970s, when a retired Siemens engineer named Franz Selinger who was writing a history, went through Sommermeyer's papers and learned of the station's existence. He contacted Canadian Department of National Defence historian W. A. B. Douglas, who went with a team in 1981 and found the station still largely intact. Weather Station Kurt was brought to Ottawa and is now on display at the Canadian War Museum. The Canadian War Museum (CWM is Canada ’s national museum of military history

References

• 'U Boats Against Canada', Michael L. Hadley, McGill-Queens Press, 1990.