![\"Aerial](\"\/images\/fundacionalbenga2.jpg\" "\\"Aerial")
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National Socialism<\/strong> was a historical reality, but around this reality myths -a word that is never employed to mean a lie-, have built up at great speed. They have rooted deeply in people\u2019s beliefs, with elements typical of a horror movie, gruesome details, and always wrapped in secrecy.<\/p>\n When the Second World War ended, a great number of submarines from the Third Reich fleet were drifting around the world<\/strong>. History books tell that following contradictory orders some were scuttled while others surrendered to the Allied forces.<\/p>\n And around these events, the myths originated<\/strong>. Myths that bring Hitler, several Nazi submarines and their crews, and \u201cNazi gold\u201d, to these Southern lands<\/strong>. Under the influence of some weird retarded effect, as if they were harsh echoes of horror or of resounding explosions brought to South America by the wind, the Patagonian shores were filled with rumors of submarines disembarking in the fog, of patches of vessels glimpsed during low-tide, and of foreigners speaking with a thick German accent.<\/p>\n These rumors seemed to concentrate on a specific spot<\/strong>. A desolate place with lonely beaches that appears to be in the middle of nowhere. In the province of R\u00edo Negro<\/a>, more specifically in San Mat\u00edas Gulf, 140 km. (87 mi) from Viedma<\/a> and 100 km (62 mi) from Las Grutas<\/a>, such place is called Caleta de los Loros<\/strong>.<\/p>\n In the time-lapse between the first surrender, that of the U-530, and the second, that of the U-977, many people claimed to have seen unknown submarines in the area<\/strong>. Some of those claims are extracts from documents of the Argentine Navy<\/strong>. Two of those documents, dated the same day, state: As regards unofficial versions<\/strong>, one of the first ones seems to be pilot Mario Chironi\u2019s<\/strong>: \u201cIn 1957, while I was flying over the area of Caleta de los Loros, I spotted something there, sunken, barely emerging from the water. I thought it was a ship. Later, they began to talk about a German submarine. (…) I remember the tide was low and I saw a partially sunken ship, whose prow was a little above the waterline, at the mouth of the canal.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0The Expert in Salvage and Diving Operations Carlos Massey<\/strong>, a specialist in refloating who has worked for the Argentine Naval Prefecture, seems to validate what Chironi claims to have seen: \u201cOne day, by the end of August, I was called to a meeting at the naval base (…) and when I got there I learned that I had to evaluate, along with other experts, the possibility to salvage two German submarines sunk at the end of the war. The Navy had accurate details about their location, because a Neptune plane had flown over them some seven years before. They were about 15m deep and some eight hundred meters off the coast, almost parallel to each other and slightly more apart by the sterns. In the photographs we were shown we could distinguish the silhouettes of the vessels and even the sails, which appeared darker in color.”<\/em><\/p>\n Some years later, a resident of the area named Vidal Pereyra<\/strong> reported: \u201cIn March, 1980, some friends of mine came over and said: \u2018There\u2019s a Northern wind, let\u2019s go see the submarine.\u2019 When we arrived at the beach we could see the prow very clearly; it was aground some 200 meters off the coast. Afterwards I never saw it again, but a lot of people from around here know the story, and I even think there\u2019re photographs.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n And yes, there are photographs. Or at least one, according to the amateur photographer Eduardo Fr\u00edas<\/a><\/strong>: \u201cIt was an extraordinary low tide day and I rented a light aircraft to see if I could find them. The person who had told me about the submarines and where they were was Carlos Taborda, President of the Provincial Board of Education. We were flying over the area and suddenly we spotted them. I took pictures of them, we carried on towards San Antonio, turned around, and when we came back the tide was already high, the light had changed and we didn\u2019t see them anymore.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Whether it is one or two the submarines lying at the bottom of the sea \u2013or, according to the most skeptical ones, none- the truth is that they continue to stir up doubts and pursuits.<\/p>\n The results of this inquiry were unsuccessful<\/strong>. Brochado later claimed in several interviews with the media that there is nothing out there.<\/p>\n However, rumors continue to circulate and have even inspired the making of a documentary<\/strong>. Production Company Cuatro Cabezas<\/em> embarked on board the ship \u201cIce Lady Patag\u00f3nico\u201d in 2003 to film the search for the renowned submarines<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Whether to believe it or not, beyond any evidence and rumors \u2013or the complete lack thereof- always depends on oneself\u2026<\/p>\n *Note<\/strong>: The statements referred to here have been extracted from an article published in La Naci\u00f3n<\/em> newspaper<\/strong>.<\/p>\n <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sorry, this entry is only available in Espa\u00f1ol. Generalmente los seres humanos no son conscientes de que el mundo est\u00e1 en movimiento. Pero bajo los pies de la actualidad la historia sigue tejiendo sus redes, sus mitos y sus leyendas. El nacionalsocialismo fue una realidad hist\u00f3rica; pero alrededor de esta realidad los mitos, que en… Read on<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":0,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[135,133],"class_list":{"0":"post-3585","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-patagonia-hoy","7":"tag-curiosidades-patagonicas","8":"tag-mitos-y-leyendas"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patagonia-argentina.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patagonia-argentina.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patagonia-argentina.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patagonia-argentina.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patagonia-argentina.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3585"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.patagonia-argentina.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3585\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7209,"href":"https:\/\/www.patagonia-argentina.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3585\/revisions\/7209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patagonia-argentina.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patagonia-argentina.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patagonia-argentina.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Submarine](\"\/images\/u530.jpg\")
The Patagonian shores were the setting for such events. After the German surrender, the submarine U-530<\/strong>, under the command of Otto Wermuth, surrendered on July 10th, 1945<\/strong>. On July 25th, a report from the Argentine Navy ordered air and sea patrols in the area due to the presence of a submarine near Claromec\u00f3<\/strong>. In the subsequent months, several secret documents from the Navy indicate the sight of submarines or periscopes<\/strong> near San Clemente del Tuy\u00fa and Necochea. On August 17th, 1945, the submarine U-977 surrendered<\/strong> in Mar del Plata under the command of Heinz Schaeffer.<\/p>\n![\"Caleta](\"\/images\/camino_costa.jpg\")
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\n\u201cFrom the Naval Squadron. July 18th, 1945. 19.15. C.4063. GR20. Relaying signal from Mendoza stating EGA periscope San Antonio Este. Intend reinforce search there.\u201d<\/em>
\n\u201cFrom Escumar to Escumar ships. Received 23.00 hrs, July 18th. Hydrophone pursuit informs submarine bomb charged until nightfall. Nothing to report. Position: near El Fuerte.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n![\"Image](\"\/images\/u977.jpg\")
<\/em><\/p>\n![\"Divers](\"\/images\/fundacionalbenga1.jpg\")
<\/em><\/p>\n![\"Boats](\"\/images\/fundacionalbenga3.jpg\")
So much so that in November, 1996, one of the most spectacular expeditions was carried out in Caleta de los Loros<\/strong>. A team led by Luis Artigas Brochado, from the San Antonio Oeste Institute of Marine Biology,<\/strong> conducted the inquiry with the collaboration of pilot Mario Chironi.<\/p>\n