In August 1941, in the preparation for Operation Gauntlet (the occupation of Spitsbergen), the Royal Navy destroyed the weather station on Bear Island and later, one on Spitsbergen (after it had transmitted false information to discourage air observation). Spitsbergen was an important location: it enabled the Germans to monitor weather conditions on the Allied convoy route to northern Russia. The Germans made several attempts to establish and maintain weather stations in the Svalbard archipelago including Spitsbergen and Hopen (Hope Island: stations Svartisen and Helhus) and these were never suppressed. Other locations used included those on Jan Mayen Island, Bear Island (, 1944–1945) and eastern Greenland with teams and automated stations. The "Kriegsmarine" operated the manned Schatzgräber station on Alexandra Land in the Soviet Franz Josef Land archipelago from November 1943 to July 1944.