There are always secrets during wartime. Sometimes the secrets have to do with missions, other times they may have to do with what will happen when the war is over. Let me give you an example of what I am talking about. I think most of us know Winston Churchill hated the Nazis and especially Adolf Hitler. He had secret plans for what he was going to do to Hitler at the end of the war. It is said secret documents came to light which show Churchill had plans to execute Hitler in the electric chair. I guess he thought this would send more of a message than just hanging him or putting him in front of a firing squad. Churchill was said to be so angry that he wanted to wipe out civilian populations in German villages during the war in retaliation for the atrocities which were committed in Czechoslovakia. It is interesting to note the electric chair had never been used in Britain.

Unfortunately for future generations we have lost several hydrogen bombs. This isn’t even counting the ones the Russians have lost. Classified documents released from former workers at the Thule base indicate that a B-52 bomber crashed in 1968 and was carrying a hydrogen bomb. Problem is the plane was never found nor was the bomb. It is believed the bomb probably lies on the seabed near the base. At the time NATO partner Denmark was extremely upset with the United States. Denmark was responsible for Greenland’s security and it had a strict prohibition against nuclear weapons. The United States had released the documents saying all the weapons on the plane had been accounted for, but the document never said they had been recovered.

A secret base existed in the Arctic and was run by the United States and located in Greenland. It was part of Project Iceworm. Remember what I said in the paragraph above, which was Denmark had a prohibition against nuclear weapons in Greenland. I’m reminding you of this, because the purpose of this base was said to be to install sites for launching nuclear missiles. The camp was built under the ice and it was a virtual city and was operated from 1959 until 1967. Some claim it had started out as a scientific research station but the military took it over. It was quite large and sort of reminded one of the ice covered base in one of the Star Wars movies. It was said to be almost 10,000 feet in length and consisted of at least twenty-one different tunnels. Here is a little irony, the melting ice in that area could soon expose the former base. It was said this base had a nuclear reactor.

It has been said that while Winston Churchill made statements indicating the British people would never give up, in secret he had been preparing to be overrun. Churchill was said to be collecting every innovation the British people had made preparing to ship all this information to the United States. A memorandum had been obtained known as the Frisch-Peierls memorandum, which had been drafted one month before Germany attacked. It had been written by two British scientists who determined that it was possible to build an atomic bomb which would be small enough to be flown and could be dropped on an enemy. At the time Albert Einstein doubted it was possible. A trunk was packed which was about the size of a suitcase and inside of it the Brits had put papers on many of the technological breakthroughs including the Bowen’s Cavity Magnetron No. 12 which enabled radar to be vastly improved. The memorandum on the atomic bomb was also included as was Whittle’s plans for a turbojet engine and other very useful devices.

World War I also had its secrets. One of the big secrets was our troops had not been trained sufficiently
before they were sent into the war. Most of them had not been trained in the many tasks which are required for soldiers to accomplish, besides just fighting an enemy. The generals knew this and so did President Woodrow Wilson and yet in 1917 the president who said we would never get into the war sent American soldiers to Europe. Hawks in this country proposed the peace conference knowing the Germans would never agree and we would be forced to enter the war. The British had developed a propaganda apparatus which controlled the news media giving them the opportunity to slant the news that way they wanted it. Hey this sort of sounds like what we do today doesn’t it? Britain had cut the cables from Germany, but left their transatlantic cables open so they would be able to relay the news they wanted to the United States.

One of the great secrets of World War II had to do with Operation Mincemeat. The British decided they could use disinformation to their advantage. They obtained the body of a tramp who died when he ate rat poison and they dressed him as an officer of the Royal Marines. They placed papers on his body which identified him as Captain William Martin. They also put other papers on his body which suggested the allies were going to invade Greece and Sardinia and were going to make believe they were going to invade Sicily. This was done to cover the fact Sicily was the real target. They took the body by submarine and released it near the shore of the southern coast of Spain. When the Germans found the body they were convinced the papers were legitimate and prepared for an invasion in the wrong place. The plan had worked.

As I said every war has had its secrets, even the ancient ones. The ancient Greeks built a wooden horse and got the Trojans to move it into their city of Troy where the Greeks were able to open the gates at night and let their army in. If there is a war, there are secrets it is just the nature of the beast. Sometimes the secrets are kept to not let the enemy know a person of importance has died. This type of secret might also be kept from one’s Army so as not to ruin their morale. One of the problems seems to be when the war ends the victor continues its secret ways.