Page 191 - The Chief Culprit

152 y e Chief Culprit

transferred its air bases to the very front edge of that border. From the bases in Lithuania it
could support the advance of Soviet troops right up to Berlin. Additionally, the Soviet navy
received naval bases in Tallinn, Riga, and Liepāja. e primary forces of the navy and reserves
were immediately transferred there. From Liepāja to the routes taken by caravans carrying
ore, nickel, and wood to Germany, there was a very small distance. A strike from this area
could be sudden and crippling.
For Hitler, this would have been the curtain call. Hitler understood that at any moment
the Soviet fleet could cut the only tie binding the faraway Swedish ports with the metal-
forging bases in Germany.