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Biggles' Second Case by W. E. Johns was serialised in 8 parts in Boys Own Paper from February to September 1946. The book was first published in 1948 by Hodder and Stoughton. There have been 6 subsequent editions in the English language. The events in the book take place just after World War 2 in the French Indian Ocean territory of Kerguelen.

The story was adapted into comic form in French and published by Artima as the 7th and 8th issues of their Biggles small format comic series. The two-part story appeared in February and March 1964 under the titles Biggles au Pôle Sud - 1 and Biggles au Pôle Sud - 2.

In 1991, a graphic novel adaptation of Second Case was published in French by Belgian publisher Emissions Lefrancq with the title Les pirates du Pôle Sud (The Pirates of the South Pole).

Chapter XII was excerpted and published as Against the Odds in the compilations Best Adventure Stories (1950) edited by Eric Leyland.

Synopsis[]

The newly formed Air Police is asked to track down a rogue German submarine which has refused to surrender at the end of the war and is believed to have a secret operating base in the Southern Indian Ocean.

Plot[]

Note: The sections below contain spoilers. In particular, the plot subpage (click here) has an extended summary of the narrative in the book

Characters[]

The Special Air Police[]

  • Air Commodore Raymond
  • Biggles
  • Algy Lacey
  • Ginger Hebblethwaite
  • Bertie Lissie

Friends and allies[]

Others[]

Aircraft[]

Ships[]

Places[]

Visited[]

Mentioned[]

Other Research Notes[]

References to the past[]

Incongruities[]

  • When Bertie and Algy find Biggles' burned-out aircraft on an ice-floe, they see two polar bears in the distance, creatures which are not found in the Southern Hemisphere.

Chronology[]

(see also table at Timeline of the Biggles Stories)

  • It is 6 months since the events in Sergeant Bigglesworth C.I.D. which could have been set no earlier than the end of the Second World War in September 1945. Equally, this second case can be set no later than the range November 1946 - March 1947 which is the date for the third case, Biggles Hunts Big Game.

Editions[]

International titles[]

  • French: Les pirates du Pôle Sud (Presses de la Cité 1948)
  • French: Biggles au Pôle Sud (Presses de la Cité 1954)
  • Icelandic: Benni í eltingaleik (Nordri 1949)
  • Norwegian: Biggles rydder opp (Forlaghuset 1949)
  • Swedish: Biggles på ubåtsjakt (Wahlströms 1949)
  • Finnish: Biggles sukellusvenejahdissa (Tammi 1969, 1990)
  • Portuguese (Brazil): Biggles caça o submarino (Edições de Ouro 1976)
  • Czech: Biggles a ponorka U-517 (Toužimsky & Moravec 1996)
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