The roots of the 120th Fighter Wing date back to the early morning hours of June 22, 1941 when the German military launched a surprise attack on the Soviet Union. "Operation Barbarossa," a simultaneous ground and air offensive caught the Russians off guard and nearly decimated their military.
By the end of the first week, the Red Air Force had lost 4,000 aircraft, a number that represented half the air force. Joseph Stalin appealed to the U.S. and Great Britain with a request to be included in the Lend-Lease program. Pres. Roosevelt enacted lend-Lease in March of 1941 as a way to provide equipment and supplies to our British allies without actually entering the war. The British had been fighting the Germans since September 1939.
Upon approval to assist the Soviets, the biggest question became the one of how to get the material to the Soviet Union. Stalin was reluctant to allow American pilots on Soviet soil, but the North Atlantic was controlled by German U-boats. Many Allied ships went down before Stalin agreed to an Arctic flying route.
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