Gold Bullion, Uranium, Loot… What really happened? Will we ever know? The ‘Monsun Gruppe’ Before continuing my attempt to reconstruct what I believe to be the fate of the crew of U-196 after they reached New Zealand, it might be useful to give readers an overview of the events surrounding U-196 at that time. Beginning in December 1942, the German navy had been requested to make a series of U-boat sailings to Japan, carrying highranking…
New Zealand might seem like a far-flung place isolated from the rest of the world, but we still have our fair share of weird and wonderful mysteries that remain unsolved. In fact, according to a report from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), obtained under the official information act, by Newshub in August this year, there had been 30 reports of UFOs seen in the New Zealand skies, including a "discshaped silver UFO with erratic vertical and…
Sixty years later, an underwater research group has discovered U-196 partially submerged, stern down, in the sand and apparently not fully flooded in 15 meters of water. It is surmised that U-196 refuelled from the German convoy raider ‘Orion’, somewhere near Palau, before the German surrender brought inevitable internment, then headed south as the Japanese navy was preparing for a general withdrawal to the home islands. Approaching New Zealand…
A look at some of the weird and sometimes very sad unsolved crimes and mysteries of New Zealand. A relatively new country by most standards, New Zealand is most likely not at the top of the list when it comes to unsolved crimes and mysteries, but there have been some spine-tingling events that have taken place on our quiet isles throughout the years, some of which have been highly documented and some that have remained under the radar. In the…
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