Baltic
CAPTURING SUURSAARI ISLAND
Major-General Pajari, unaware that he is standing in a minefield on a makeshift speaker’s podium, giving his speech at the Suursaari victory parade on 28 March 1942. (Sa-Kuva) One of the most daring and unique Finnish operations during the period of trench warfare was the capture of Suursaari Island in the Gulf of Finland, 43km south of Kotka and 56km…
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The Allies Take Tunisia
The desert pendulum had at last stuck, pointing west. There were now only two more battles for 8th Army to fight, and by this time the Allied air forces were so strong–during March an average of more than 700 sorties were flown every day– that the Luftwaffe was unable seriously…
SMS Lützow: The Skagerrak Battle
One of the only photographs extant that clearly shows the shape of LĂĽtzow’s fore funnel after it was fully jacketed. German Battle Cruiser SMS LĂĽtzow Hipper’s Flagship badly damaged by British shell fire. For the sake of consistency, the times from the LĂĽtzow war diary have been altered from summer…
The Baltic Part I
Interpretation of the Gustloff’s final moments by Irwin J. Kappes The Soviets, with a little help from their Scandinavian neighbours, made up their mind for them in the Baltic. On 27 September 1944, the neutral Swedish government announced that its Baltic harbours were no longer open to German shipping of…
The Baltic Part II
By the beginning of April the Baltic was the only area where the Kriegsmarine could make a real contribution to the war. It couldn’t win it any longer, but it could do something to rescue its comrades in arms and other German citizens from falling into the hands of the…
CAPTURING SUURSAARI ISLAND
Major-General Pajari, unaware that he is standing in a minefield on a makeshift speaker’s podium, giving his speech at the Suursaari victory parade on 28 March 1942. (Sa-Kuva) One of the most daring and unique Finnish operations during the period of trench warfare was the capture of Suursaari Island in…
THE FIRST LITHUANIANÂ STATE
Battle of SaulÄ— in 1236 The most serious threat to the early Balts came from the west. At the beginning of the thirteenth century, Catholic orders of knights seeking to Christianize the Baltic region began a series of crusades. The first of these crusading orders, the Order of the Brothers…