Talk:Iokanga

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Yokanga / Iokanga River in WW2[edit]

Laurence Rees, World War II Behind Closed Doors: Stalin, the Nazis and the West (2009) P.66-69:

"...this was, for the Soviets, one of the greatest secrets of the war... during the September 1939 meeting with Stalin and Molotov. The German Foreign Minister had asked if the Soviets could provide a base in Murmansk for the repair of U-boats and, in principle, this had been agreed. But from that moment the Soviet authorities were worried that the British - or anyone else - might discover that they were providing military assistance to the Nazis. ...the Soviets offered the nearby bay of Sapadnaja Liza [ Zapadnaya Litsa ] instead... it was henceforth only to be known as 'Basis Nord' (Base North). The German supply ship Sachsenwald entered Base North on 1 December 1939, the first of several vessels to be stationed there. ... In mid-April 1940 the Germans were asked to move their base further along the coast to the even more remote Jokanga Bay [mouth of Iokanga River ]. Molotov told the German naval attaché in Moscow that the move was necessary because of Soviet fears that Allied aircraft... might identify the German ships. ...the German liaison officer, Auerbach, visited the new Base North for the first time on 20 May... Life was grim for the German sailors at Base North. In April 1940 Dr Kampf, doctor on the German supply ship Phoenicia, complained in his diary... The story of Base Nord... is important because its existence shows the schizophrenic attitude of the Soviets towards assisting the Germans. On the one hand, the Soviets undoubtedly provided the Germans with a military supply base; but on the other, ideologically the Nazis remained a possible enemy. So in effect they were allies, and yet they were potential belligerents."

Phew, that's it. We could add it to the footnote in the article. My fingers are tired so if you want more, please buy the book ;-) It is pretty thorough - Roosevelt and Churchill don't come out looking good at all. Oh and here http://www.pbs.org/behindcloseddoors/about/index.html is the DVD series.

PS Rees uses very good footnotes, which show he has sourced all this from Bundesarchiv Freiburg, Germany. -Chumchum7