Automatic weather stations were used in the Arctic by the German Meteorological Services from 1942 to 1945 to supply synoptic meteorological data for weather analysis and forecasting in Europe and the Atlantic once Danish and Norwegian weather stations in the Arctic had ceased operations or had come under control of the Allies in 1941–42 and when operations by German weather ships in the area were unsuccessful. The aim of this account is to give some impression of the development and operation of these automatic weather stations which have remained previously little known.