Synopsis
1941. Wartime Newfoundland. Keeping vigil on the easternmost point of North America, and providing a strategic haven to battle-ready U.S. troops during World War II, the island colony of Newfoundland was an essential contributor to the Allied cause. And, when the war was at its fiercest, this Atlantic sentinel would receive devastating body blows from a hidden, elusive enemy. Two key players bore witness to the ensuing drama. Sir Frederick Banting: soldier, scientist, Nobel Prize winner. The enigmatic co-discoverer of insulin and his views on biological warfare would give rise to heated and long-lived controversy. Little did Major Banting know, word of his actions had reached the ears of the Führer himself, who determined the Canadian soldier-scientist would not live to see his goal of using biological weapons against Germany fulfilled. Karl Otto Stroesser: saboteur, spy, murderer. Receiving orders directly from the upper echelons of Adolf Hitler's Abwehr syndicate, he is the instrument of Nazi Germany's private war waged upon Newfoundland. It is through the actions of this cunning, relentless killer that the island colony would witness some of the greatest tragedies ever to unfold in its history. Steeped in political intrigue, power struggles, and espionage, The Banting Enigma looks behind the scenes at Newfoundland's role in World War II—and its deadly repercussions.