Sirius Dog Sled Patrol: A Closer Look at the World’s Most Extreme Patrol Team

THE SIRIUS DOG SLED PATROL
A Closer Look at the World’s Most Extreme Patrol Team
Student: Jeroen van Dijk Course: Ontdekkingen in de Poolgebieden Studentnumber: s2341379
Course code: LGX232B05.2016-2017.1B Teacher: Dr. A.J.M. (Annette) Scheepstra Submission date: 09-01-2017
The Sirius Dog Sled Patrol: A Closer Look at the World’s Most Extreme Patrol Team
Introduction
The Sirius Dog Sled Patrol, named after the brightest star in the Earth’s sky that is also referred to as the “Dog Star”, is an elite Danish naval unit. The North-East Greenland Sledge Patrol, as it is informally known, is popular for its efforts aimed at conducting long-range reconnaissance patrols designed to enforcing the Danish sovereignty in the Danish wilderness of the Eastern and Northern Greenland. The magnitude of this area is indeed quite impressive since it mainly includes the largest national park in the entire world. Given this, the naval unit performs its patrols in pairs without additional human contact (Marquard-Petersen, 2015). The Sirius Patrol, on the other hand, has the capacity to involve inclusively the military with the primary purpose of maintaining the Danish sovereignty. Furthermore, the patrol represents Denmark’s military presence in the North of Greenland to the Cape North of Fleming Fjord (Marquard-Petersen, 2015). As established by Brooks (2011), the flying distance between these two points is 2,100 km, with the length of the coastline standing at a far greater distance of 16,000 km.[Beginning in October 2012, the newly formed Joint Arctic Command system has responsibility for managing Sirius. The sledge unit, in this case, used to operate under the Greenland Command unity, and administratively functioned under the Royal Danish Navy (Stringer 2015: 24-31).]
Until this day, the unit remains strategically stationed at Daneborg, with its personnel located at Station Nord, Mastership, and Danmarkshavn. The groups make use of close to 50 depot huts that are scattered across the patrolled region. It uses small boats and aircrafts from the south of the country to supply the depot huts with personnel (Petersen, 2011). On the other hand, the Sirius Patrol naval system consists of six-dog sledge teams and two men who handle close to 15 dogs. During travels, each team is required to carry approximately 350-500kg of luggage depending on the distance between the depots.
This paper consequently seeks to delve into the aspects of the Sirius Dog Sled Patrol system, focusing on its geopolitical history, seasonal organization, and extreme adaptability in this hostile environment.
Geopolitical History
The International Court of the League of Nations, with the principal mission to maintain world peace, made a ruling on the Danish-Norwegian dispute over Greenland in order to guarantee its sovereignty (National Geographic, 2012). In extent, the formation of the sled patrol unit took place in the summer of 1941 during the Second World War with the primary aim of conducting long-range reconnaissance patrols along the Northeast Coast of Greenland, thereby preventing the German presence in this region (David, 2016). Despite of the preventive measures, however, the Germans took an opportunity to establish several secret weather stations on the east coast at the beginning of August 1942. Consequently, they acquired invaluable meteorological information for their U-boat campaigns against Britain’s and America’s merchant marine in a bid for the thalassocracy (such as “rule of the sea”) over the Atlantic Ocean (David, 2016).[Also conveniently termed Erik the Red’s land (ibid.).]
According to Grønnow et al. (2011), the Sirius Dog Sled Patrol’s continued discovery and attack of these weather stations placed many constraints on the Germans, but the patrol itself also had to suffer multiple defeats. On 13 March 1943, for example, the Germans retaliated by ambushing a three-man patrol near Sabine Island, killing the group leader, Corporal Eli Knudsen. The rest of the team immediately abandoned their equipment and retreated to one of their stations located at Eskimonæs to warn Ib Poulsen, the overall commander of the Sirius Dog Sled Patrol. The Germans subsequently remained silent for more than a week, but then all of a sudden burned the patrol station to the ground on 23 March. However, the team was fortunately unhurt, but had to make a 400-mile trek to the station at Ella Island without sleds, food, or equipment. After this horrifying event, two more skirmishes occurred between the Sled Patrol and the Germans, leaving the Greenland force with two more dead and four wounded by the end of the conflict in 1944. That being said, the last German weather station (Edelweiss II) got captured successfully by U.S. Army forces on 4 October 1944. Additionally, The German transport ship Externsteine, which resupplied German weather stations, was readily seized by the United States’ coast guard ship Eastwind. In hindsight, one could say that Greenland played a very important role in North Atlantic air traffic during the war (such as a “stopover”), but the envisaged role as a major base for anti-submarine warfare assets was hampered by adverse weather, winter darkness, and difficult logistics.
Seasonal Organization
According to van Praet (2010), the organization of the Sirius Dog Sled Patrol is mainly divided into two periods, depending on whether the ice turns out to be thick enough. The first period begins with the autumn patrol in November. Already early in this month, the sun sets for the last time at the beginning of November, thus paving the way for darkness and winter storms that get progressively worse and frequent. In this kind of weather, as one could imagine, getting home before Christmas for the members of these units remains mostly impossible (David, 2016). However, around January, when the weather of the land stabilizes and the sun reappears, the units take longer journeys that span through to June when the ice begins breaking apart. During this period, the six sledge units are able to cover the largest part of the coastline (Kjærgaard, Leone & Fink, 2015).
The second period, subsequently, is considered to begin with the spring patrol in March. This mo...