In World War I he served as artillery radio operator both in the Eastern and Western fronts and was awarded the Iron Cross, 1st class.

Following a harsh journey with Wegener to the central Eismitte station in severe weather and ice conditions his toes froze and had to be amputated.

While overwintering at the station on the Greenland ice-sheet he made observations with scientists Johannes Georgi and Ernst Sorge, gathering a wealth of glaciological and meteorological data.

[5][6] In 1932 Loewe and his colleague Ernst Sorge travelled again to Greenland to serve as technical consultants to Universal Pictures for the movie S.O.S.

[8][9][10] The Scott Polar Research Institute provided Loewe a stipend for a year, which was renewed after the period ran out.

Finally, in 1937 Loewe left England with his family and emigrated to Australia, a move that had been proposed to him by Sir Raymond Priestley, one of the founders of the Scott Polar Research Institute and Vice-chancellor of the University of Melbourne.

He led the institute for over twenty years and researched coastal fog, dust storms and "free atmosphere" conditions.

He took part in the unsuccessful 1947–48 Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions (ANARE) reconnaissance endeavor on HMAS Wyatt Earp.

In February 1948 it left again towards the Antarctic coast, but awful weather and pack ice conditions made it impossible for the ship to approach the shore.

In 1950 Loewe became the Australian observer with the French Antarctic Expedition (Expéditions Polaires Françaises), which built the, now abandoned, Port Martin station on the coast of Adélie Land in 1951–52.