The secret Cold War city the US built under ice: Incredible footage reveals the hidden missile base in Greenland that would have destroyed the Soviet Union in minutes

Link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3973686/Denmark-urged-clean-US-military-waste-Greenland.html

Incredible footage has emerged showing how the US Military dug deep below Greenland's ice cap to create a hidden site for launching ballistic missiles at the height of the Cold War.

The original plan was to build 2,500 miles of tunnels which would have covered an area of 52,000 square miles – which is bigger than the size of England.

By the time it was abandoned in 1966 due to the ice cap starting to crush the camp, soldiers had already built two miles of tunnels and a facility that boasted a hospital, theatre, church and a shop for 200 of its inhabitants.   

 

 

 

 

 

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By the time Camp Century was abandoned, soldiers had already built two miles of tunnels and a facility boasted a hospital, theatre, church and a shop for 200 of its inhabitants

 

 

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The project was abandoned in 1966 because the unstable ice above threatened to crush the camp

 

 

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The original plan was to build 2,500 miles of tunnels which would have covered an area of 52,000 square miles – which is bigger than the size of England

 

 

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The camp was given the codename Project Iceworm and troops disguised themselves as polar researchers

Camp Century was built in between 1959 and 60 in northwestern Greenland, officially to test sub-ice construction techniques. 

The real plan was top secret - creating a hidden launch site for ballistic missiles that could reach the Soviet Union.

It was given the codename Project Iceworm and troops worked under the disguise of polar researchers under the ice, according to The Sun.  

A narrator in the video footage says: 'Camp Century is buried below the surface of this ice cap. 

'Beneath it, the ice descends for 6,000 feet.

'In this remote setting, less than 800 miles from the North Pole, Camp Century is a symbol of man’s unceasing goal to conquer his environment, to increase his ability to live and fight if necessary under polar conditions.

'This is the story of Camp Century: the city under ice.'

 

 

 

 

 

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Camp Century was built in between 1959 and 60 in northwestern Greenland, officially to test sub-ice construction techniques

 

 

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Footage has emerged of US Military picking their spot ahead of the start of the project in 1959

 

 

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A section of the 2,000 miles of tunnels already built before the project was abandoned in 1966

 

 

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Military personnel busy building the underdground camp way under the ice cap in Greenland

The project was abandoned in 1966 because the ice cap began to crush the camp. 

The US removed a portable nuclear reactor that had supplied heat and electricity, but left an estimated 200,000 liters of diesel oil and sewage, according to an international study published in August.

Scientists are warning that as global warming melts the ice cap, the waste could surface and pollute the environment. 

Greenland is calling on Denmark to clean up an abandoned under-ice missile project and other US military installations left to rust in the pristine landscape after the Cold War.

The 1951 deal under which NATO member Denmark allowed the US to build 33 bases and radar stations in the former Danish province doesn't specify who's responsible for any cleanup.

Tired of waiting, Greenland's local leaders are now urging Denmark to remove the junk that the Americans left behind, including Camp Century, a never-completed launch site for nuclear missiles under the surface of the massive ice cap.

'Unless Denmark has entered other agreements with the United States about Camp Century, the responsibility for investigation and cleanup lies with Denmark alone,' said Vittus Qujaukitsoq, Greenland's minister in charge of foreign affairs.

 

 

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An abandoned US Air Force vehicle outside the eastern Greenland settlement of Kulusuk where there used to be a US Air Force base as part of an early warning radar system

In an October 24 letter to Danish Foreign Minister Kristian Jensen, obtained by The Associated Press, Qujaukitsoq asked about Denmark's plans for Camp Century, adding that an international study said the waste includes 'radioactivity, oil and PCB pollution.'

PCBs stands for polychlorinated biphenyls, a man-made chemical once widely used in paints, plastics and other products, but were banned after they were demonstrated to cause cancer and other ailments.

At a meeting on November 17 in Nuuk, the Greenland capital, to discuss the issue, Jensen said Denmark's Environment Ministry was investigating the environmental risks.

'I hope it can be done as quickly as possible,' he told a news conference, declining to give any specifics.

Jensen later told The Associated Press in an email that 'it is still too early to say who will be involved in a possible cleanup. 

 

 

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A rusty container of lubricant oil for a U.S. military vehicle stands among abandoned US military material in 2005

The US military was interested in Greenland during the Cold War due to its strategic location in the Arctic.

Under the 1951 agreement, the US also built four radar stations as part of an early warning system to detect incoming Soviet bombers.

The US Air Force still uses the Thule Air Base, about 1,200 kilometers (745 miles) below the North Pole. 

Military airfields in Narsarsuaq, Kulusuk and Kangerlussuaq have become civilian airports.

Several other military installations have been abandoned, some in remote areas, in the hope they would be entombed forever in the thick ice cap that covers most of the vast island.

Local authorities have started clearing some of the sites, but don't have sufficient resources, said Rasmus Eisted of Danish engineering company Ramboll, which has been involved in some cleanup projects.

Eisted singled out a junkyard in Kangerlussuaq containing miscellaneous military equipment from the time it was a US Air Force Base known as Sondrestrom. 

The continuing cleanup task was larger than first anticipated, he said.

Aleqa Hammond, a former Greenland premier who now represents the mostly Inuit population of the Arctic island in the Danish Parliament, said Greenland could bring Denmark before a UN panel on indigenous issues unless it deals with the junk.

'Denmark is responsible for cleaning up after the Americans,' Hammond said. 

'I see a potential political crisis between Greenland and Denmark.'