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Posted on 06/29/2005 3:03:31 AM PDT by SAMWolf
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 are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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| Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel free to address their specific circumstances or whatever issues concern them in an atmosphere of peace, understanding, brotherhood and support. The FReeper Foxhole hopes to share with it's readers an open forum where we can learn about and discuss military history, military news and other topics of concern or interest to our readers be they Veteran's, Current Duty or anyone interested in what we have to offer. If the Foxhole makes someone appreciate, even a little, what others have sacrificed for us, then it has accomplished one of it's missions. We hope the Foxhole in some small way helps us to remember and honor those who came before us.
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As their escorts turned away, the ships of the doomed Allied convoy followed orders and began to disperse in the Arctic waters.  Starting Point - Hvalfjord, Iceland Originally, an informal agreement provided for the delivery of all goods to Soviet ships at British and American ports. The responsibility for ferrying supplies back to the Soviet Union would then rest entirely with the Soviets. But there were not enough ships in the Soviet navy to handle such a monumental task, and eventually the convoys to the Soviet Union came to consist mainly of British and American ships. Axis domination of the Mediterranean left only two Allied supply routes to the Soviet Union open. One, through Iran, required a sea journey of more than 13,000 miles. The second was a more practical northern route of less than 2,500 miles, but it crossed the cruelest sea of all, the Arctic Ocean. This Arctic route became known as the Murmansk Run. Sailing around the northern tip of Norway, the convoys would be exposed to one of the largest concentrations of German U-boats, surface raiders and aircraft anywhere in the world. Attacks by more than a dozen subs and literally hundreds of planes at one time would not be uncommon. Strict orders forbade the halting of any ship for even a moment for fear of being attacked by prowling German U-boats, and individuals who fell overboard or survivors seen adrift on the waters had to be ruthlessly ignored. In the first two years of the run, more than one-fifth of the supplies sent to Murmansk would be lost.  Admiral Sir Dudley Pound - who cast PQ17 to the wolves Late in August 1941 a small, unnumbered convoy of seven ships made the trip from Iceland to the Soviet port of Archangel in 10 days without incident. The convoy, which had been hurriedly assembled, made the trip both as an experiment and as a gesture of good faith. That September a military mission was sent to work out a formal aid program for the beleaguered Soviets. Negotiations at first were difficult. The Soviets dismissed all discussion concerning aid and demanded the immediate opening of a second front. They were convinced that only an offensive somewhere else could reduce the pressure the Germans were putting on them. Several times the talks broke up after bitter disagreement. Marshal Josef Stalin often pointed out that while the Soviet Union was saddled with the burden of carrying 90 percent of the war, all the British were offering was "the loss of a few ships in support of the common cause." It was only after it looked as if the negotiations would break down altogether that the Soviets were finally willing to listen to aid proposals. The British and American representatives agreed to furnish all the planes, tanks and other war materiel that the Soviets felt they needed. For an industrial giant like the United States, the manufacturing would be the easy part; getting the goods safely halfway around the world would prove more difficult.  Originally, the Allied convoys went unnamed and unnumbered. After several round trips were successfully completed, a coding system was established. All convoys bound for the Soviet Union were designated "PQ," and those returning were designated "QP." At first the Germans had to ignore the Allied crossings because they had few warships available to track the supply convoys. By the end of 1941, seven convoys had delivered 750 tanks, 800 planes, 2,300 vehicles and more than 100,000 tons of general cargo to the Soviet Union. Convoy PQ-8 was attacked by a U-boat but safely reached Murmansk on January 19, 1942. By early February 1942, 12 northbound convoys including 93 ships had made the journey with the loss of only one ship to a U-boat. Although the early convoys encountered little German opposition, they still had to traverse the treacherous Barents Sea, part of the Atlantic Ocean. Winter brought nearly four months of unbroken darkness, which helped conceal the convoys from the enemy but made navigation difficult. Polar ice also pushed down from the north, forcing all ships to make a closer voyage to German-held Norway. The subzero winds howling off the polar cap could easily reach hurricane velocity and whip waves to a height of 70 feet. At such temperatures, sea spray froze immediately and created a top-heavy covering on anything exposed to it. The ice had to be chipped away to prevent the Allied ships from capsizing. Binoculars iced up, as well as guns and torpedoes. Freezing decks could become mirror-smooth, making it impossible for the crewmen to walk on them.  Any man who fell into the sea during the Arctic winter was as good as lost. On January 17, 1942, the British destroyer Matabele was torpedoed and sunk. Although a rescue ship arrived on the scene within minutes, only two survivors out of a crew of 200 were safely pulled from the water. The rest had all frozen to death. Visibility was also frequently a problem. When the warmer waters of the Gulf Stream blended with the frigid Arctic waters, the result was often an unimaginably thick fog and occassionally blinding snow. Ships had to drastically reduce speed to prevent collisions. Escorting or intercepting the convoys became even riskier.
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Uncouth sailors?!?!?!? No Way!!!
Saw that video the other day when I was researching the F-4 thread. Cool!!
I have never fully understood why they didn't try to supply the Russians across the Pacific. They could have Russian flagged the vessels after December, 1941. Since Russia was a neutral as to the Japanese, they should have been able to pass freely. It would have been a longer voyage than the North Atlantic, but once they got to the Russian ports, the equipment could have been put on trains to the west.
That's something that should be corrected, there must be a few survivors of this theater still with us.
I will be using wooden sticks! First day on the job wasn't so bad. Had trouble getting any sleep, afraid I would miss my 2 a.m. alarm. Got about 2 hours sleep, went into work at 2:45, off at 7 a.m., change of clothes then it was my task today to be the "door greeter" at our weekly chamber meeting. Look cheery and greet everyone. Zzzzzzzzz. I managed to stay awake. Sam has to pick up his sister at the airport around noon and once he returns I think I'll try to catch some zzzzzzz's.
I've got the donut making down, but still confused on the bagels and breads processing.
LOL.
((Hugs)) EGC. I'm tired today, first day of my new part-time job at the local grocery in their bakery dept.
There's a little problem with supplying Russia over the Pacific. It's called Siberia, a vast, trackless steppe with no roads, and the only way to transport materiel from say Kamchatka to the front is by air. Not practical, especially during WWII.
Not much call for 90 volt, IIRC, batteries these days.
Hi miss Feather
Bloody Engineers! Forever tearing apart the natural world. Leave the poor birds, toads and snail darters alone.
Please excuse me, I have to get back to the details of a 7,000 amp/3 phase residential electric service.
CQ CQ CQ...
Whoa, did I miss a Bird R Us announcement somewhere?
I know what you mean. Why can't we go back to the Pliocene age when we walked lightly upon the earth and were at one with our mother the earth and our friends on the forest floor?
I decided to take on a part time job so I could work for that insurance and some extra $. The grocery store we are next to let me have a job frying donuts in their bakery. Now we'll see how long I can hold out!
The Trans-Siberian Railroad runs (and at that time ran) from the Pacific port of Vladivostok to Moscow. Of course, Russian trains use a wider gauge than most Western countries, so it is even easier to transport bulky material like tanks.
Logistics was so important to the war effort, especially for an island nation like Britain. When I toured Churchill's WWII bunker I saw his situation room, where with the maps showing all the fronts, there was also a map showing the location of each convoy and a chart showing shipping sunk and shipping produced. It got pretty dicey for Britain early in the war.
Ahso. My last employer didn't have maternity coverage available, at any price. Miss BittyGirl was on the way. Msdrby was still covered by a Texas teacher insurance plan, but her eligibility would end shortly, mere days, after BG was due. My brow sweated slightly those days.
We are going to expect fresh pastries every morning in the foxhole. :^)
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