Basis Nord

The base was part of a partnership that developed between Germany and the Soviet Union following German-Soviet Non-Aggression treaty of 1939, along with a broad economic agreement of 1940.

[3] In 2008, Basis Nord featured in a prominent BBC–PBS investigative history series, World War II Behind Closed Doors: Stalin, the Nazis and the West, and a book of the same name by Laurence Rees in 2009.

[13] In October, the Soviets initially offered to provide a base to the west of Murmansk, which the Germans noted lacked anchorage shelter and facilities.

[13] While it made secret agreements with Germany for territorial division and military aid, the Soviet Union attempted to maintain a thin cloak of neutrality.

The Soviet Union's Northern Fleet headquarters was informed by Moscow that the Germans were to be able to use the base to support their blockade of the British Isles.

[21] In December 1939, western European media began to publish reported rumors of a northern German submarine base operating in the Soviet Union.

[23] In April 1940, Germany invaded Norway to attain a base for naval raiding in the North Atlantic and to secure shipments of iron-ore from Sweden through the port of Narvik.