Convoy PQ 16 - Background

Background

In the winter and spring of 1942, U.S President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Soviet Union premier Joseph Stalin continually pressed for more convoys to Russia, to deliver War Stores to help them sustain their fight against Germany, despite the knowledge that the naval forces were stretched to the limit. Finally Stalin sent an urgent message to British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in May 1942 in which he said, "I am fully aware of the difficulties involved and of the sacrifices made by Great Britain in the matter (the Russian convoys). I feel, however, incumbent upon me to approach you with the request to take all possible measures in order to ensure the arrival of the above-mentioned materials in the USSR".

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