Word: finlander
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Dates: during 1930-1939
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...from their coastal bases on the Italian peninsula last week rose the dripping hulls of 80 Savoia-Marchetti seaplane bombers. Their glossy-headed young pilots turned them north, over Ostmark, over Bohemia-Moravia, over German Poland and East Prussia and up the Baltic to the besieged shores of Finland...
Officially they did not cross Germany, on their way to bomb the Latvian air bases of Germany's pledged partner Russia. But if the Savoia-Marchettis did not cross German territory, then they arrived in Finland through some fourth dimension, for the British Intelligence Service pointed out that they did not take and were not given permission to take the roundabout route across the German-Allied western battle zone...
Obscured on one hand by the world's moral indignation at the Finnish invasion, on the other by Russia's childish duplicity in announcing its reasons for starting the war, is one plain strategic fact. The Baltic States, including Finland, are primarily buffers between the two big Baltic powers: Germany and Russia. Buffers can also be jump-off points for invasion, and in invading Finland, Joseph Stalin was clearly protecting himself against the friend he has never met, Adolf Hitler. At the same time, no matter what are her other commitments with Russia, Germany cannot look with equanimity...
...Moscow, Tass, official Soviet news agency, not only reported (from Scandinavian sources) the arrival of the Italian planes in Finland, but stated that they had even landed to refuel in their flight across Germany. Furthermore, said Tass, it had heard that Germany herself was forwarding planes, munitions and even gasoline to Finland. To this Germany issued a cagey denial...
...Rome, where any kind of diversion in the Baltic is a welcome respite from Russian pressure on the Balkans, the game was played for all it was worth. Students marched to cheer the Finnish Minister, yelled "Abbasso il Comunismo!" and signed up for service in Finland "if transportation could be found." In other words, one of Germany's allies was now fighting its other ally, just as one of Finland's friends (Germany) was fighting other friends (Great Britain and France) on the Western Front-a situation not too abnormal for 1939 world diplomacy...